Hampshire Admission Forum
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Hampshire Admission Forum Date 11 December 2014 Time 10.30am – 12.30pm Location Denning Room (Podium level), Hampshire County Council, Elizabeth II Court, Winchester, SO23 8UJ Present Core: Chris Anders Community Secondary Heads Rep (Park Community School) Anne-Marie Brister, Portsmouth RC Diocese Louise Crolla HCC, Admissions Lt Col Gareth Davies Services Families Rep – Army Welfare Service Helen Dean Guildford Diocese Graham Ellwood EMTAS, Ethnic Minority & Traveller Achievement Service Martin Goff HCC, Admissions Linda Hutchings HCC, Services for Young Children Philippa Mitchell Primary Heads Rep (The Butts Primary) Angela Morrow Federated Community Primary Heads Rep (Fryern Federation) Cllr Patricia Stallard Hampshire County Councillor Sylvia Vine Hampshire Governor Forum Visiting: Kirstie Baines Headteacher, Durley Primary School Tony Hughes Chair of Governors, Durley Primary School Eileen Ball Headteacher, Hambledon Primary Belinda Medhurst Chair of Governors, Hambledon Primary School 1. Apologies Roz Capey HCC, Admissions Michaela Dominey SEN Rep – Hampshire Parent/Carer Network Michael Hall Guildford Diocese Cllr Roger Huxstep Hampshire County Councillor Christine Lynch Primary Heads Rep (Heatherside Infant) Matthew Quinn Academy Heads Rep (Oaklands Catholic Secondary School) Richard Wharton Portsmouth/Winchester Diocese Welcome to new members Anne Marie Brister, Philippa Mitchell and Christine Lynch (who sent apologies) 2. Minutes of previous meeting Action The minutes were agreed, however an error was noted in the list of LC members - Chris Pritchard was listed but was replaced by Richard Wharton. 1 3. Matters arising Request noted from Cllr Patricia Stallard to receive the minutes sooner. 4. Election of Chair/Vice Chair Forum agreed that Martin Goff would continue as Chair and Roz Capey would be Vice Chair. 5. Admission Arrangements Consultation 2016/17 Policy Consultation with schools At the last Forum meeting the following prescribed changes, following the intervention by the OSA, were discussed. They relate to displaced siblings and the introduction of a tie breaker for children living equidistant from the school, Also other minor changes are proposed: -The introduction of a definition for ‘displaced’ -‘School office’ was replaced with ‘school reception’ as the point at the school to which distance will be measured to. - References to the Admissions Code published date were updated to reflect the latest December 2014 version. - Introduction of a document outlining the random allocation process to be published on the LA’s website. Gareth Davies pointed out that there was a box missing from the second page of the document. Louise to amend. LC Helen Dean questioned 3b of the junior policy, specifically the wording in bold below. b) Children allocated a place at a linked infant school in the normal admission round in the previous year because the child was displaced (see (iv) in Definitions) from the catchment school for their address and they have not moved house. It was felt that this will be disadvantageous to families who had moved house but remained within the catchment area. It was agreed that these families should retain displaced status. Forum agreed new wording to be included in the consultation as follows: b) Children allocated a place at a linked infant school in the normal admission round in the previous year because the child was displaced (see (iv) in Definitions) from the catchment school for their address and they remain living within the catchment area. Summer born children There was some discussion around summer born children. Martin advised 2 that the New School Admissions Code (to be released on 19 December 2014) and non-statutory guidance which was first published in July 13, with an updated version to be published in December 2014) favours admission authorities listening to and supporting parent choice. Parents can submit professional evidence to support their request if they wish, however, Hampshire will (in line with the new guidance) normally accept the parent’s views as a sufficient reason. This is in contrast to some other authorities - Helen Dean referred to Surrey where the head makes the decision. Martin confirmed that the new Code requires that the headteacher of the requested school must be involved in the decision making. Chris Anders asked what Southampton and Portsmouth do. Martin advised that, in our understanding, they are not as permissive as Hampshire. Martin also noted that advice from the DfE is that decelerating a summer born child won’t eventually impact on published GCSE results. Children take all their KS tests when they complete the Key Stage. Nursery Policy for 2016/17. Linda Hutchings confirmed 13 schools in Hampshire with a nursery school unit within them and so apply the County policy. The policy is put together by Admissions in conjunction with colleagues in Services for Young People. Very few units oversubscribe. Schools can now change their age range by up to two years without the previous long process of consultation . Hordle Primary made a case to change their age range and has moved to a 3-11 and created a nursery. School specific criterion for 2016/17 Louise highlighted the removal of Great Binfields who no longer wish to measure distance by walking distance; and removal of Cove Junior, Guillemont Junior and Southwood Infant schools, which provided transitional arrangements for siblings put in place to support families when the catchment areas were changed in 2014. There were two new requests for Forum’s consideration: Northern Junior requested the addition of a school specific criterion that gives priority to catchment children attending the linked infant school, as is the case at five other junior schools 3(iii). Northern Infant and Junior school are federated. This was agreed by Forum. Lymington Junior also wished to give priority to children attending the linked infant school. In 2014 and 2012, 2-3 out-catchment children attending the linked school were unable to gain places which is what the school were seeking to remedy. Whilst there was no objection to the inclusion of a school specific criterion at 3(iii), the school already admits all of its catchment children, including those at the linked school, and therefore won’t help those out-catchment siblings seeking places. Forum concurred the existing position of 4(ii) for out-catchment children attending the linked 3 school was the highest position possible as any parent applying out- catchment is taking a risk and places cannot be guaranteed. School has option to offer over PAN but this may not necessarily mean that their intention is achieved. Nursling request for a change to the wording was considered. Forum agreed that the last sentence: “For members of Churches not listed above, the school may approach the Diocese for advice” should be removed as it is not clear enough for parents. Forum also agreed to Helen Dean’s recommendation to add “in England and Ireland Evangelical Alliance” after Churches Together. The remaining requests were from schools asking for a continuation of a previously agreed school specific criterion, of which there were no objections. However, Martin highlighted that although Sarisbury Infant and Junior School had requested keeping their school specific criterion for 2016, we would need to consider its removal for future years. The criterion was originally put in place to help keep siblings together due to the Whiteley oversubscription. However, with the addition of a new school in Whiteley (Cornerstones), there will soon be enough provision for Whiteley children within Whiteley. Sylvia Vine pointed out errors in Saint James’ CE Primary, Southwood Infant and Cove. Each referred to an incorrect date of September 2013. Louise to amend. Hambledon Primary – linked school review. Eileen Ball, HT and Belinda Medhurst, CoG presented their case to Forum to support their request to change the secondary link for Hambledon Primary from Cowplain to Swanmore. Eileen explained that Hambledon Infant was in a dire position 6 years ago. There was a lack of confidence, numbers had dropped. Parents were taking children out prior ot the end of Year 2 because they didn’t want their children to attend the linked junior school (Denmead). The school then successfully sought primary status and since, numbers have doubled and there is a renewed confidence. Outstanding Ofsted. The school used to only accommodate 30% catchment children this has now grown to 70%. Eileen feels that the school won’t succeed if the Cowplain link continues. There is no natural link to Cowplain. Hambledon is the only rural school in their cluster. There is also no sensible walking route to Cowplain although children are entitled to HCC’s HTST service (usually provided by way of a public service bus pass). Swanmore is also in a rural area and therefore has a better understanding of the needs of families in their area. There is a huge drive from parents to be linked to Swanmore. Swanmore are also in favour of the link. The optimum position for Hambledon Primary would be for the school to be in Swanmore’s catchment area but if not possible, a linked school. 4 Both Kirstie Baines, a former HT of Hambledon Infant and Cllr Stallard expressed their agreement with Eileen and Belinda’s comments that Hambledon families will not go to Cowplain. Cllr Stallard noted that Hambledon is more rural and so psychologically and geographically has more in common with Swanmore. Also, the journey to Cowplain is more difficult. Forum questioned whether Swanmore was oversubscribed. Martin advised that Swanmore doesn’t fill from catchment. It relies on applications from out- catchment applicants. It was also noted that creating a link wouldn’t guarantee a place. There were a number of discussions that followed: What was Cowplain’s view. Eileen advised that Cowplain wish to retain their link with Hambledon. Chris Anders advised that there will be pressure on places in Havant in 2019 but currently Cowplain is under-subscribed.