Management Information Sheet

During the summer 2020, the Department for Education ran a consultation on proposed changes to the School Admissions Code and as a result the revised Code is currently laid before Parliament with the view of coming into force on 1 September 2021.

The Code sets out mandatory requirements and statutory guidance for admission authorities, governing bodies, local authorities, school adjudicators and school appeal panels. Below is a brief summary of the changes included which Admission Authorities and Schools should be aware of:

1. In Year Admissions & Fair Access Protocols

   The Code now includes a dedicated section on processes to manage in year admissions. Local Authorities must, on request, provide information to prospective parents about places still available in all schools within their area. To enable this, admission authorities must provide the LA with details of places available, when requested, within 2 days.

   Upon receipt of an in year application the LA should aim to notify the parent of the outcome of the application in writing, within 10 school days, but must notify a parent, in writing within 15 school days.

   Where an applicant is offered a school place following an in year application, arrangements should be made for the child to start school as soon as possible. As you will be aware, when making an offer, the school is sent a copy of that letter and you are reminded that the pupil must be entered onto the admissions and attendance registers from the date of receipt of the notification.

2. Looked After Child Priority

   All schools must give highest priority to Looked After and Previously Looked after Children. The reference to previously Looked after children has been amended to include those children who appear, to the Admissions Authority, to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. A child is regarded as having been in state care outside of England if they were in the care of, or were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other provider of care.

   For Community and Voluntary Controlled schools, I had previously consulted and introduced this extended priority, however own admission authorities will need to review their own admission policy.

3. Admission of service or crown servant children

   Paragraph 2.21 of the new Code provides clarification on the address to use for the admission of service or crown servant children. An admission authority must allocate a place in advance of the family arriving in the area providing the application is accompanied by an official letter confirming the relocation date. Admission Authorities must use the address, subject to evidence, at which the child will live or use a Unit or quartering address when applying the over-subscription criteria.

4. Grounds for Refusing Admission

   As you will be aware an Admissions Authority can only refuse admission where the year group is over-subscribed.

   An Admissions Authority may also refuse to admit a child because it has good reason to believe the child may display challenging behaviour and refer the child to the Fair Access Protocol. The revised code states that Admission Authority's must not refuse to admit a child on behavioural grounds in the normal admission round or at any point in the normal year of entry unless the child has been permanently excluded from two or more schools within two years of the last exclusion. Looked After Children, previously looked after children and those who have an EHCP naming the school cannot be refused on these grounds.

   Refusing a child on grounds of challenging behaviour can only be relied upon if the school has a particularly high proportion of either children with challenging behaviour or previously permanently excluded pupils on roll compared to other local schools and it considers that admitting another child with challenging behaviour would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources.

   For the purposes of the Code, behaviour can be described as challenging where it would be unlikely to be responsive to the usual range of interventions to help prevent and address pupil misbehaviour or it is of such severity, frequency or duration that it is beyond the normal range the school can tolerate. It expected that this behaviour would significantly interfere with the pupil's/other pupils' education or jeopardise the right of staff and pupils to a safe and orderly environment.

5. Changes to improve the effectiveness of Fair Access Protocols

   The Fair Access Manager will be issuing additional information in a future MI Sheet.