Management Information Sheet
Consultation on Admission Arrangements and Planned Admission Number Consultation for 2025-26
Introduction - Admission Arrangement
The School Admissions Code requires admission authorities to consult on their admission arrangements only every seven years if no changes are proposed.
It is only necessary for you to consult on your admission arrangements for September 2025 if your governing body or Trust is proposing to make any changes to the oversubscription criteria or to reduce your admission number, or the arrangements have not been consulted on in the last 7 years. You must ensure that you keep an accurate record of the last date of consultation in order to meet the requirement to consult every seven years.
Norfolk County Council is now consulting on proposed co-ordination schemes that will apply to all Norfolk Schools. The proposal is to increase the number of preferences a parent can make from 3 to 4 as part of the co-ordinated admission arrangements.
The consultation closes on 15 December 2023. Following this, the proposed admission arrangements will be referred to the Cabinet Member for determination.
Responding to the Admission Arrangements Consultation
Information and links to all admission arrangements documents (Appendices A to D) and to the survey are available on the following web page:
Norfolk Admission Arrangements 2025/26 - Norfolk County Council.
Introduction - Planned Admission Numbers
Norfolk County Council is the co-ordinating authority for setting school Planned Admission Numbers (PAN) and is the determining authority for Community and Voluntary Controlled (VC) schools. Academies, Voluntary Aided (VA) and Foundation schools are responsible for setting their own PANs; Nursery and Special Schools are not required to set a PAN. All the details and responsibilities are explained in the DfE School Admissions Code.
Determining Your PAN
As the co-ordinating authority Norfolk have suggested proposed PANs for all schools in Norfolk to try and balance the supply of places against changing demands. This has been considered against the pupil forecasts and the DfE School Capacity Return data. These recommended proposals are detailed in the consultation page for your school as explained below. As the co-ordinating authority for admissions in Norfolk we are also required to display the determined PANs for Academies, Voluntary Aided Schools and Foundation Schools.
Where schools are considering changes to their PAN a consultation is often required, the consultation must last for a minimum of six weeks; the Norfolk County Council consultation opens on 31 October 2023 and consultations must conclude by 31 January 2024 and arrangements must be determined by 28 February 2024. The agreement of the governing body to the PAN should be minuted at a full meeting by 28 February 2024 and the determined number returned to NCC for publication.
Voluntary Aided Schools, Foundation schools and Academies are their own Admission Authorities and are responsible for setting their own PANs. Where a change is proposed this must be done in consultation with the County Council and other stakeholders including parents. These schools must consult on their PAN at least once every 7 years even if changes are not proposed; please check that you have done this for your school.
Responding to the PAN Consultation
We are contacting schools electronically through the Norfolk My School website for the proposed Planned Admission Numbers for the 2025/26 academic year. Please use the feedback form on the Norfolk My School website to let us have your agreement to the proposed PAN or to discuss or update the record of your determined numbers and any comments by 19 January 2024.
The consultation page for your school can be accessed via Norfolk Schools The quick link for My School is at the bottom of the page; when you click on it you will be prompted to log in. The 'Admissions Number consultation for 2025/26' is in the 'Buildings' section listed on the left of the page. There is also a link to view a list of proposed PANs for all schools, the 'Planned admissions numbers (Excel)' in the left-hand navigation.
Also available on the My School page are the most recent pupil forecasts for your school which we strongly urge all stakeholders to review before you respond.
In the case of Community and VC schools, if we do not hear from you by 19 January 2024, your agreement to the proposed admission number will be assumed.
County Council Contact
Please use the feedback form on My School as mentioned to ensure the reply is registered in the database. If you need to discuss the PAN in more detail, you can contact the Place Planning Team directly using the e-mail address panc@norfolk.gov.uk and we will be in touch as soon as possible. Please use the e-mail to query or discuss your proposed or determined PAN so that we may maintain a detailed record of the position for all schools; phone calls or contacting staff directly does not allow the team to coordinate the replies consistently. Thank you.