Page 3 Agenda Item 1 Admissions Forum 11 October 2011 – Item 2 Minutes of Sutton Admission Forum Tuesday 14 June 2011, 10.00am, Civic Offices Present Core Membership Local Authority Cllr Kirsty Jerome A Cllr Moira Butt Primary schools – Louise Austin (Primary Head) Dorchester Primary Community Karen Rhodes (Primary Head) Rushy Meadow Primary A Terry Gorley (Primary Governor) Robin Hood Junior Primary schools – Brian Stevens (Primary Chair) St Dunstan’s C of E Primary Voluntary-Aided A Margaret Sinclair (Primary Head) St Mary’s Infants Secondary schools Jane Pascoe (Secondary Chair) Stanley Park High School – Community Will Smith (Secondary Head) Greenshaw High School Secondary schools Rosemary Satchell (Secondary Chair) Cheam High School – Foundation Barbara Greatorex (Secondary Head) Wallington High School for Girls A Simon Brown (Secondary Chair) Glenthorne High School Secondary schools A* Philip Howard (Secondary Governor) The John Fisher School – Voluntary Aided Diocesan Board Carol Jerwood Church of England A Simon Parr Roman Catholic Parent Members A Gemma Fitzpatrick tba tba tba Local Community To be confirmed Representative A = Absent A* = Absent, but represented by an alternate. Others Present Pam Cooper Cheam Park Farm Infants’ School Samantha Chung Stanley Park Infants’ School Marian Primarolo Stanley Park Infants’ School Damien Charnock Wilson’s School John Hordley St Philomena’s School pp Philip Howard Paul Harding Carshalton High School for Girls Steve Hume Glenthorne High School pp Simon Brown Karin Rowsell Nonsuch High School for Girls Peter Smart Wallington County Grammar School Brenda Morley Overton Grange School Peter Simpson Joint Acting Strategic Director Nigel Simms Head of Pupil Based Commissioning Sharman Lawson Executive Head, Planning and Commissioning Peter Gasparelli Head of Admissions Bob Dixon LBS School Governance – Minuting Clerk 1 Agenda Item 1 Page 4 Admissions Forum 11 October 2011 – Item 2 1. INTRODUCTION & APOLOGIES Cllr Jerome welcomed members to the meeting. Apologies had been received from Simon Brown (Glenthorne High School), Peter Butterworth (Overton Grange School), Terry Gorley (Robin Hood Junior School), Jackie Saddington (Cheam Park Farm Junior School), Shirley Gruffydd (Holy Trinity CofE Junior School), Martin Kearsey (Devonshire Primary), Gary Kirkwood (Foresters Primary School), Dave Christmas (Brookfield Primary School) and Gemma Fitzpatrick. RESOLUTION noted Cllr Jerome welcomed Marian Primarolo to the Forum as an observer. Members were also advised that Gemma Fitzpatrick had resigned as Parent Member; she was thanked for her contribution to the Forum. 2. MINUTES & MATTERS ARISING a) Minutes of the meeting held on 8 February 2011 had been circulated. b) Paul Harding said that he did not agree with Minute 5, detailing changes with admission arrangements for schools currently consulting. In particular, he did not recall the Forum having been told of the introduction of a 6km priority circle for Wallington Girls; he was sure that other Headteachers were equally unaware since comment would have been made at the Forum meeting. Cllr Jerome said that the information had been published in the papers available to the meeting1 and she was sorry if members felt that the matter had not been addressed sufficiently thoroughly. Mr Harding responded that he felt more information should be given in the actual papers presented to the meeting. Cllr Jerome agreed that this could be done but asked that schools assist by highlighting any changes when publishing their consultation documents. These documents would have to be mounted on the Council website even if schools became responsible for their own admission criteria under academy status. Rosemary Satchell supported Mr Harding’s concerns, accepting that the detail might have been available but that there should have been more discussion. On behalf of Wallington Girls, Barbara Greatorex said that the consultation process had been conducted as usual, with the documents being placed on the Council website and individual schools notified. She also mentioned a paper produced by Sharman Lawson in December 2010, circulated to all secondary schools, which had detailed the changes, including the introduction of a 6km circle. 1 Clerk’s Note; The paper presented to the Forum identified 7 schools that were consulting, gave a reference to the full consultation papers on the Council website and stated that paper copies of the consultation documents would be available at the Forum meeting. 2 Page 5 Agenda Item 1 Admissions Forum 11 October 2011 – Item 2 Steve Hume pointed out that changes in the admissions procedure for one school affected other schools. He also referred to a prior agreement that the balance of selective and non-selective places in the Borough would remain constant, and said that Glenthorne Governors had written to Sharman Lawson expressing their concern that the additional places at Wallington Girls would upset the balance. Barbara Greatorex said that earlier changes in procedures had resulted in a drop of about 40 in the number of in-Borough children being admitted, and the addition of 30 extra places with a priority circle had been an attempt to redress this imbalance. Cllr Jerome reminded members that it was the LA’s responsibility to plan and provide enough places and thanked the 3 schools which had offered extra places. The system for offering places was very complex in Sutton with its mixture of selective/non-selective, mixed/single-sex schools. Damian Charnock pointed out that the adoption of academy status, with schools being responsible for their own admissions policies, would change the situation. The schools had committed to work together to produce a coherent plan which would then be discussed with the LA. c) The Forum discussed the mid-year admissions process, which was now co-ordinated by the LA. There had been initial problems with the IT systems; these were still causing some difficulty but the scale was much less. 3. UPDATE ON NEW SCHOOL ADMISSIONS CODE Peter Gasparelli introduced his paper, which sought to identify the key issues in the draft Admissions Code and Admission Appeals Code which the Government had issued for consultation. It was anticipated that the new Codes would be introduced in January 2012 and apply to the September 2013 intake. Changes related to mid-year admissions might be introduced in September 2012, but would require separate legislation to remove determined schemes already in place. One change introduced by the new Code was that the Admission Forum would no longer be a statutory requirement. He reminded members that this had been briefly discussed at the February meeting, and that the consensus had been to continue on a voluntary basis, with membership and terms of reference to be agreed. It was agreed that a full discussion should take place at the next meeting, by which time the final shape of the Code would be known. Cllr Jerome asked whether the Forum felt a working party should be established to review the role of the Forum, its membership and terms of reference. She said that Cheam Park Farm Junior School had raised the question of primary schools with academy status being a defined category for separate representation. Damian Charnock said that the secondary schools wished to discuss the issue amongst themselves, which would then lead to a decision on whether they wished for a working party. Primary schools would equally discuss the question via the Sutton Primary Heads Group. Cllr Jerome agreed this 3 Agenda Item 1 Page 6 Admissions Forum 11 October 2011 – Item 2 course of action and asked that any decision be communicated to Sharman Lawson and/or Peter Gasparelli. One feature of the new code that would significantly affect the selective schools is that ‘testing before preference’ is now to be a statutory requirement. However, it was not clear in the draft code whether this applied only to testing for selective schools or also to the assessment of bandings or to selection by aptitude, which may affect a number of Sutton schools. Peter Gasparelli said that the LA would be making a response to the consultation, both as an individual Authority and also as part of a pan- London response. The response was in process of being drafted. Some practical difficulties had already been identified, such as implementing the statutory duty to have information displayed on the Council website within 24 hours. Cllr Jerome suggested that schools would wish to respond either individually or as a group. Carol Jerwood said that the Diocese had concerns over infant class size legislation and the rulings on siblings and multiple births and the effect on appeals; the Diocese would be responding to DfE on this area of the proposals. Pam Cooper expressed concern about the removal of the requirement to hold admission appeals on neutral ground, since this could put undue pressure on the applicant. However, Damian Charnock said that secondary schools welcomed the easement, pointing out the loss of management time if their numerous appeals had to be held off site. It was suggested that primary schools, which typically had only one or two appeals, might group together to exchange appeal accommodation between themselves. 4. MEETING TO DISCUSS EAST OF LB SUTTON a) Sharman Lawson introduced the paper which sought to explore ways of meeting demand for secondary places in the eastern part of the Borough from 2013. The move of Stanley Park High School to a new site would have the effect of sliding its catchment area towards the new venue. This may disadvantage the Beddington and Roundshaw areas, which were, however, areas of population growth. Use of Merton schools as back-up was not sustainable in the long term, since that Borough has its own population pressures. The possible options that had been examined were: Ø Establishing priority areas, quoting the example of the Worcester Park circle for Cheam High. Ø Employing the Fair Access Protocol to force places for otherwise unplaced pupils.