Agenda item

This report seeks approval of the admissions policies and published admission numbers for community and voluntary controlled schools – schools for whom the City of York Council is the admission authority – for the school year beginning in September 2024. It also seeks approval of the coordinated admissions schemes for the City of York area – for which the City of York Council is the coordinating Local Authority – for applications to start the school year beginning in September 2024.

Resolved: That;

                     i.        The York High School reduction in the Published Admission Number (PAN) from 180 to 150 pupils be delegated to the Corporate Director Children and Education.

                    ii.        The proposed published admission numbers for all City of York Council schools for the school year beginning in September 2024, as set out in Annex A of the report be approved.

                  iii.        The coordinated schemes and admissions policies for all City of York Council schools taking part in the consultation for the 2024-2025 school year, as set out in Annexes B – AA of the report be approved.

Reason:     To meet the statutory requirements of the School Admissions Code of Practice.

The Executive Member considered a report that sought approval of the admissions policies and published admission numbers for community and voluntary controlled schools – schools for whom the City of York Council was the admission authority – for the school year beginning in September 2024. The report also sought approval of the coordinated admissions schemes for the City of York area – for which the City of York Council was the coordinating Local Authority – for applications to start the school year beginning in September 2024.

The School Admissions Manager outlined the report explaining the consultation on the draft admissions policies and changes to schools and academies Published Admissions Numbers (PANs). She advised that the consultation for schools in the Nicholas Postage Catholic Academy Trust was currently taking place and ended on 31 January 2023, with their draft admissions policies having being circulated to stakeholders. She explained that the consultation for admissions policies was the responsibility of schools and academy trusts and that York held consultation earlier to allow stakeholders to forward their comments to the council and Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) directly.

She noted the options available to the Executive Member. She then explained the changes to PANs and changes to draft admissions policies. At this point in the meeting, the in the context of the Executive Member being a Governor at York High School, he delegated authority to approve the York High School reduction in the Published Admission Number (PAN) from 180 to 150 pupils to the Corporate Director Children and Education. This was approved by the Corporate Director Children and Education.

The Executive Members asked officers a number of questions to which they responded that:

·        They regularly discussed with schools whether a PAN should be changed, and any PAN reductions were on the understanding that they would contact the school if the PAN needed to be increased for place sufficiency.

·        Regarding admissions appeals where the school or MAT was the admissions authority, council legal team clerks would coordinate appeals and the schools/MATs would represent themselves at admissions appeals.

·        The legal team clerks were independent of local authority admissions and they followed timeframes in the appeals process. On occasion, there may be a late appeal when the appeal was submitted late. It was acknowledged that there had been problems with capacity in the legal team and the Assistant Director Education and Skills was asked to ensure that where feasible appeals were heard before the end of the school year with the exception of late appeals. It was confirmed that where the local authority was the admissions policy, that admissions appeals would take place before the end of the school year.

·        The council adhered to the Armed Forces Covenant and any changes to the covenant would be reflected in school admissions arrangements.

·        School admissions worked to national offers days and should this fall on a weekend it would be the following weekday.

·        Regarding the allocation of places, parents were encouraged to use all of their options and they were advised to use their catchment school as one of their options.

·        The infant class size limit of 30 was a national requirement on class size limits.

The Executive Member thanked officers for their work and then

Resolved: That;

                      i.       The York High School reduction in the Published Admission Number (PAN) from 180 to 150 pupils be delegated to the Corporate Director Children and Education.

                     ii.       The proposed published admission numbers for all City of York Council schools for the school year beginning in September 2024, as set out in Annex A of the report be approved.

                    iii.       The coordinated schemes and admissions policies for all City of York Council schools taking part in the consultation for the 2024-2025 school year, as set out in Annexes B – AA of the report be approved.

Reason:     To meet the statutory requirements of the School Admissions Code of Practice.