Minutes

18      APPOINTMENT OF EDUCATION APPEALS PANEL MEMBERS – The Director: Governance and Communities submitted a report seeking approval to appoint independent members who may be called upon to sit on either the Education Admission Appeals Panel or Independent Review Panel to hear appeals in respect of school admissions and exclusions.

The council was the admissions authority for community and voluntary controlled schools within the borough area and was responsible for ensuring compliance with the Department for Education (DfE) Schools Admissions Code and School Admission Appeals Code (the Code).  The Code covered the arrangements for appeals made against refusal of a place at a school.  Appeals were heard by an independent Appeals Panel, which consist of three or five members, including at least one "education expert” and at least one "lay member"

The council was also required, in line with the DfE statutory guidance ‘Suspension and Permanent Exclusion from maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units in England including pupil movement’, to arrange an Independent Review Panel hearing in response to a parent request following a permanent exclusion of their child from school.

The council made arrangements for Education Admission Appeals Panel and Independent Review Panel hearings on behalf of maintained schools and provide this service to Academy schools under a Service Level Agreement.

The existing pool of volunteer panel members, which comprised 13 individuals, was very experienced but relatively small in the context of recent demand for panel hearings.  The size of the pool of members could cause problems in dealing with appeals within the required timescales.  It was also mandatory to have at least one “education expert” and one “lay member” in the make up of the panels, which could be difficult given the small pool of panel members and their availability. 

Therefore, it was considered desirable to extend the number of available panel members.  Accordingly, the council’s Communications Team commenced a recruitment campaign advertising for new members to express an interest in joining the panel.

Following closure of the recruitment campaign a number of applications were received, of these eight were considered suitable to join the panel.  The 13 existing panel members had also formally submitted an application to be re-appointed.

Resolved – (a) That the eight new applicants, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, with a view to new members receiving training and being gradually introduced onto panels during 2023, be approved, and (b) that the existing 13 panel members, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, be re-appointed.

19      SCHOOL ADMISSION ARRANGEMENTS FOR 2024/25 COMMUNITY AND VOLUNTARY CONTROLLED SCHOOLS – The Director: Children and Families submitted a report informing the Cabinet Member of the outcome of the consultation with schools in respect of admission arrangements for 2024/25 and seeking approval to implement the proposed admission arrangements for 2024/25 academic year.

The council was required to determine by 28 February 2023 its admission arrangements for the academic year 2024/25, including admission numbers, for each community and voluntary controlled school.

Admission arrangements were to describe how school places were allocated, especially with reference to the oversubscription criteria. This confirmed how applications were prioritised when the number of applications exceeded the number of places available.

The admission number referred to the number of school places that the admission authority must offer in the relevant age group of the school.

The School Admissions Code 2021 required that oversubscription criteria must be reasonable, clear, objective, procedurally fair, and comply with all relevant legislation, including equalities legislation.

Changes were made to the arrangements for 2019/20 after a full public consultation.  Having consulted publicly for the 2019/20 arrangements, the council was not required to consult again for seven years (i.e. until the 2026/27 arrangements) unless it made changes to its arrangements such as changing the oversubscription criteria or seeking to reduce a school’s admission number.

With one exception, governing boards supported both the admission arrangements and the proposed admission number for their school.

Resolved – That the proposed admission arrangements for the 2024/25 academic year, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, be approved.