CO-ORDINATED ADMISSION SCHEME FOR SCHOOLS IN LEEDS 2022/2023 1. Introduction 1.1 Admission authorities 1.2 Right to apply for a school place 1.3 Synergy – information system 2. The Normal Admissions Round 2.1 Supplementary information forms 2.2 Testing 2.3 The application process 2.4 Allocation of places 2.5 The offer of a place 2.6 Waiting lists 2.7 Applications submitted or changed after the closing date 3. School transfers - In Year admissions 4. Timetable for normal admissions round 5. List of all schools in Leeds City Council area 1 Introduction This scheme requires inter-authority co-ordination by the local authorities for Leeds, North Yorkshire, Kirklees, Bradford and City of Wakefield. The scheme also requires all admission authorities in Leeds to work together closely and to share information as required in line with the agreed timescales. Where any admitting authority wishes to exceed its published admission number (PAN) for the forthcoming September intake (reception and years 3 and 7) they must notify the Leeds City Council Admissions Team by the date specified in the timetable to allow time for effective coordination and the necessary system changes to be made. 1.1 Leeds Admission Authorities In Leeds there are a number of different admission authorities, as follows: Type of school Admission Authority Voluntary Aided Governing Body Voluntary Controlled Leeds City Council Community Leeds City Council Academy Academy Trust Foundation Trust Governing Body A list of all primary, infant and junior and secondary schools in the Leeds City Council relevant area is provided at 5. This also confirms who the admitting authority for each school is at 31 December 2020 when this scheme was determined. Should any schools adopt foundation status, become academies or free schools their Governing Bodies or Academy Trust will take up responsibility as admission authorities. Coordination schemes do not affect the rights and duties of admitting authorities of academies, free schools, foundation or voluntary aided schools to set and apply their own admission arrangements, but schools must ensure that their own arrangements are compatible with this coordination scheme. This coordination scheme is in place to ensure a fair and transparent route for the consideration of parental preferences when allocating school places. 1.2 Right to apply for a school place As a Local Authority, we must enable parents and carers to say where they would prefer their child go to school. The law does not give parents a right to ‘choose’ which school their child will attend. Admission Authorities must comply with any preference expressed by a parent or carer about which school they would prefer their child to be educated in, subject to certain exceptions. Exceptions The law recognises that it might not be possible to always offer the school place that is requested, for a number of reasons: because admitting the child would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources (the prejudice limit is indicated by the published admission number); because the child has been permanently excluded from two or more schools and the most recent of the exclusions took place within the last two years; because the school’s statutory infant class size limit of 30 has been reached. 1.3 Synergy Our admissions team use the Synergy Admissions application as the information system to manage applications and allocations. This provides a portal for applicants (Parent Portal) and a portal for schools (SAM). The distance measurements provided by the admissions team use LLPG coordinates on each school and residential property. Straight line distance is then measured between the two sets of coordinates using GIS mapping. Synergy Admissions is populated with the priority or catchment areas determined in each school’s admissions arrangements. Applications are matched to addresses and oversubscription criteria, allowing all schools to identify which priority of their admissions arrangements the application meets when ranking their applications in SAM. 2 Applications in the Normal Round (to start Reception, Year 3 in Junior school or Year 7 in September 2022) Parents of children who are resident in Leeds, must apply to us for a school place in Reception, Year 3 in junior schools, or Year 7 in a Leeds school or a school in any other local authority area. An online application facility will be available during each application period as described in the timetable and there will also be a paper Common Preference Form (CPF) available on request for use for anyone without access to the online system. Parents will be able to include up to 5 preferences in their order of preference. Where other local authorities provide for additional preferences those parents will need to include the preference for a Leeds school as one of their first five preferences to ensure Leeds parents are treated equitably. All preferences will be considered equally and where more than one offer is possible, the listed order on the application will then be used to decide which single offer is made. Parents may give their reasons for each preference on application, however only the published oversubscription criteria can be used to rank applications. We will make appropriate arrangements to ensure: a. that parents can apply via the online application system up to the deadline for applications b. that the paper CPF is available on request c. that the online application system and CPF are accompanied by a written explanation of the co-ordinated scheme and this is available for parents We will take all reasonable steps to ensure every parent resident in Leeds who has a child due to start reception, transfer from infant school into junior school, or start secondary school can apply online, or access a copy of the CPF. After the closing date for applications the school admissions team will forward details of the applications to each admission authority within the Leeds area, and to other local authorities if a preference has been made for a school in another area. This scheme preserves the powers and responsibilities of individual admission authorities (Governing Bodies or Academy Trusts), who must determine and apply their admissions arrangements to all applications. Admission authorities are required to inform the Leeds City Council admission team of the ranked order of all applications when they have applied their admissions arrangements by the agreed deadlines. 2.1 Supplementary Information Form (SIF) All preferences expressed online or on the CPF are valid applications. Where any admission authority requires that additional information is needed for them to rank the application, applicants will be informed of this by the admission authority. These forms can only be used where additional information is required for the admission authority to apply their oversubscription criteria to the application. A SIF is not an application form in its own right. The applicant is required to submit a preference through the online system or CPF. Where a school chases any applicants for a SIF, they should contact all applicants and not just selected applicants. 2.2 Testing There are no maintained primary, infant, junior or secondary schools in Leeds that require a test in order to gain admission. Some secondary schools offer a priority based on aptitude in sports or performing arts. Each admission authority publishes their own information about the testing arrangements. Where an applicant attends and is granted aptitude priority, this will mean the application will be prioritised for a place, but the school cannot make an offer of a place. 2.3 The application process Our online parent portal is the main route for all Leeds residents applying for new Reception, junior school or Year 7 place. Paper copies of the prospectus and CPF are available on request. If a school receives a CPF (paper form) directly, the school should: Gather in the completed forms and issue the parent a receipt Check them for factual detail Offer advice to the parent if the parent has misunderstood some aspect of the procedure Send the forms in a batch keeping a record of all forms sent before the deadline Advise the parent of a child from another local authority to contact them to apply If a child lives in another local authority area but would like to apply for a Leeds school place, they should apply to their home local authority and include their preference for the Leeds school(s). The home local authority will send the preference(s) to us and we will ensure the application is ranked by the appropriate admitting authority and then notify the home local authority whether an offer can be made. The home local authority will undertake its allocation process and communicate the offer to the applicant. After the closing date, we will undertake a range of verification processes including: Address checks Child Looked After claims checks Education Health and Care Plan checks Make decisions on exceptional social and medical claims Applicants may be contacted and asked to provide further information to support their application. Information must be provided by the final date for verification evidence (see timetable) Verified claims will be visible in SAM but schools retain the duty for checking that any applicant claims have been verified prior to ranking. 2.4 Allocation of places This scheme ensures that each child only receives one single offer and that each preference is considered equally. Where multiple offers are possible for any child, we will refer to the preference list on the child’s application and allocate the highest ranked school possible. We will only make a decision about the offer or refusal of a place where: a. we are acting in our separate capacity as an admission authority, or b.