Minutes

12        SCHOOL ADMISSION ARRANGEMENTS FOR 2025/26 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 2025/26, and seeking approval to implement the proposed admission arrangements for the 2025/26 academic year.

The council was required to determine by 28 February 2024 its admission arrangements for the academic year 2025/26, 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 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 complied 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 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.

Governing boards supported both the admission arrangements and the proposed admission number for their school.

Resolved – That the proposed admission arrangements for the 2025/26 academic year, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, be approved.