Proposed Changes to the Oversubscription Criteria For
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Proposed changes to the oversubscription criteria for Community and Voluntary Controlled schools for 2017 intake Lincolnshire County Council is the admission authority for Community and Voluntary Controlled schools. The Council is proposing to make changes to the oversubscription criteria for these schools. These criteria are used to rank applications in the event that more are received than the published admission number for a given school. Oversubscription criteria must comply with the requirements of the School Admissions Code 2014. Manner of consultation, determination and publication The Council will consult for 6 weeks, beginning on 2 November 2015. The consultation will meet the obligations of the Code with regard to the parties to be consulted in the following way: a) parents of children between the ages of two and eighteen: we will ask schools to highlight the consultation in their newsletters, issue a press release and publicise the consultation through the school admissions page of our website and our social media presence, we will ask the Birth to Five service to make early years settings aware of the consultation. b) other persons in the relevant area who in the opinion of the admission authority have an interest in the proposed admissions: we will email all Parish and District Councils in Lincolnshire. c) all other admission authorities within the relevant area (the "relevant area" is the whole of Lincolnshire): we will email all schools in Lincolnshire, many of which are their own admission authority. Emailing all schools in Lincolnshire will also ensure that Community and Voluntary Controlled schools can respond. d) any adjoining neighbouring local authorities where the admission authority is the local authority: we will notify all geographical neighbour local authorities by email, we will request that these local authorities draw the attention of own admission authority schools in their area to the consultation. e) in the case of schools designated with a religious character, the body or person representing the religion or religious denomination: we will email the Lincoln Diocesan Board of Education to seek their views, in particular on the Church criterion where this is operated in certain Voluntary Controlled schools. The Council will publish the determined criteria on the Council's website by 15 March 2016. Anyone wishing to comment on these proposals can email [email protected] or write to The School Admissions Team, Room 141, County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN1 1YQ. The Council will take account of all responses received during the consultation period and determine the criteria for these schools by 28 February 2016. The Council may decide to implement some, all or none of these proposals. The proposed changes relating to Community and Voluntary Controlled primary schools 1. To introduce eligibility for Pupil Premium as an oversubscription criterion, as permitted by the School Admissions Code 2014. 2. To change the place of the Church criterion in the order of the oversubscription criteria (where the Governing Bodies of Voluntary Controlled schools choose to operate this criterion). 3. To calculate "nearest school" and home to school distance by straight line distance. 4. To clarify the wording of the sibling criterion. 5. To cease to operate the Church criterion at Holy Trinity Primary School, Tattershall. First proposed change: Pupil premium The reason for the proposed change is to respond to changes introduced in the School Admissions Code 2014, sections 1.39A and B. The change to the Code under discussion is this: The School Admissions Code 2014 provides freedom for admission authorities of all schools, not just academies, to give admissions priority within their oversubscription criteria to children eligible for a pupil premium. The Department for Education's explanation for making these changes was this: Ministers want to see high-performing schools admit a proportion of disadvantaged children that reflects the demographics of their local area. Disadvantaged children can lose out on a place at a good school even though it may be close by. This priority is designed to encourage disadvantaged parents to increase their ambitions and consider schools they might not otherwise. Second proposed change: the place of the Faith criterion where in use Governing bodies of Voluntary Controlled schools have delegated powers to decide whether to operate this criterion and the details of how an applicant qualifies for priority on this ground, in compliance with the School Admissions Code. At present it is possible in an oversubscribed year that children admitted on this criterion can displace local children; Lincolnshire County Council wishes to prioritise local children wherever possible. The Lincoln Diocesan Board of Education has made it clear that they prefer Voluntary Controlled schools not to operate a Faith criterion. Placing the Faith criterion, where operated, lower in the order is intended to strike a balance between the diocesan position and allowing these schools to retain this criterion as part of their identity where the Governors wish to do so. Third proposed change: measurement of distance for Community and Voluntary Controlled primary schools Faulty distance measurements cause distress to parents and children and can damage the reputations of Lincolnshire County Council and schools. If driving distance is used errors can arise from the building of new roads, which are sometimes available for the public to use before they are represented in even the most up to date mapping data. The proposed use of straight line distance is considered to be more robust because it is immune to changes in the road network. In addition a review of the pattern of oversubscription in primary schools shows more pressure on primary school places in town than rural locations. Given the County- wide demographic data and known patterns of house-building this is as expected. Where there is oversubscription very close to schools in towns the use of driving distance can produce unexpected results because of the operation of one way systems and the existence of pedestrian routes unavailable to vehicles. This carries a reputational risk to Lincolnshire County Council and schools and is potentially vulnerable to successful challenge, for example at independent school admission appeals. Walking distance is not a viable option because the necessary electronic mapping data is not available; electronic mapping is necessary for the successful and efficient operation of the coordinated arrangements for the intake year in schools. We are therefore proposing to change to straight-line distance for these primary schools both as the final ranking criterion and for the assessment of the nearest school criterion. Fourth proposed change: to re-word the definition of "sibling" for greater clarity The School Admissions Code requires that admissions arrangements are clear. We have given the proposed new definition later in this document. Fifth proposed change: to cease to operate the Faith criterion at Holy Trinity Primary School, Tattershall The school's Governors have requested this proposed change. The Governors have delegated power to apply the Council's admission arrangements, but the Council remains the admission authority and must consult on this change on the Governors' behalf. Proposed admission arrangements for Community and Voluntary Controlled primary schools for 2017 intake This policy applies for primary, infant and junior schools. The County Council has delegated to the governing bodies of individual community and controlled schools the decisions about which children to admit. Every community and controlled school must apply the County Council’s oversubscription criteria shown below. In accordance with legislation the allocation of places for children with the following will take place first; Statement of Special Educational Needs (Education Act 1996) or Education, Health and Care Plan (Children and Families Act 2014). We will then allocate remaining places in accordance with this policy. For entry into reception in September we will allocate places to parents who make an application before we consider any parent who has not made one. Attending a nursery or a pre-school does not give any priority within the oversubscription criteria for a place in a school. Parents must make a separate application for the transfer from nursery to a primary or infant school. Parents must also make a separate application for the transfer from infant to junior or primary school. The oversubscription criteria are listed in the order we apply them. Definitions of terms indicated by numbers are given separately below. 1. Looked after children and all previously looked after children (1) 2. Brother or sister attending the school at the time of application, or who will be attending the school at the expected time of admission (2). 3. Nearest School: measured by straight line distance (3). 4. Eligibility for any element of pupil premium at the time of application (4). 5. Church criterion where in operation at certain Voluntary Controlled schools (5). 6. Increasing order of straight line distance (3). If the distance criterion is not sufficient to distinguish between two or more applicants for the last remaining place then a lottery will be drawn by an independent person, not employed by the school or working in the Local Authority Children's Service Directorate. The intended overall effect of the proposed oversubscription criteria