PRESENT: -
Elected Members: -
Councillors
Eckhardt, Sidell, Mrs Simpson, and Smith (substituting for Councillor Whiteley).
Community/Voluntary
Aided Schools Representatives: -
Mrs
S Bond
Parent
Governor Representatives: -
Mrs
A Dunkerley and Mr P Bacon.
Early
Years Representative
Mrs
S Collinson
J
Irving, M Windle, B McIntyre and A Dawson also attended the meeting.
The
Forum met at Pittwood House, Scunthorpe.
120 APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR - Resolved - That Councillor Mrs
Simpson be and she is hereby appointed chair of the forum.
Councillor
Mrs Simpson thereupon took the chair.
121 APPOINTMENT OF VICE CHAIR - Resolved - That Mrs Dunkerley
be and she is hereby appointed vice chair of the forum.
122 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE - Apologies for absence were received
from Mrs M Travers, Mrs S Choudry, Mr S Morris, Mrs M Lister, Mr R Marshall,
Mr M Green, Councillor D Whiteley, Councillor A Davison, Mrs J Barnes, Mrs C
Riches, Mrs J Steward, and Mrs L Thorpe.
123
DECLARATIONS OF
PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS - None.
124
MINUTES - Resolved
- That the minutes
of the proceedings of the meeting held on 12 February 2008, having been printed
and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded
and be signed by the chair.
125 MEMBERSHIP OF THE FORUM - The Service Director Children,
Strategy and Partnerships submitted a report providing an update on the membership
of the forum, following requirements in the School Admissions Code, and resignations
from the forum.
The
report gave details of the current core membership of the forum. Mr D
Devovan, who had represented Community and Voluntary Controlled schools, had
retired at the end of August 2008. A letter had been sent to all community
maintained schools with regards to nominations for a new core member, but no
nominations had been received, therefore the matter would be raised at the next
Primary Heads meeting.
Mrs
Joan Barnes, Principal of the new St Lawrence Academy, had been invited to become
a core member of the forum, and had accepted.
One
further change to the core membership was that Councillor Rob Waltham would
replace Councillor Margaret Sidell as part of the local authority group.
From
2007, all maintained schools, except special schools, within the area of the
local authority could nominate a member, if not otherwise represented in the
core membership. Following a letter to all schools nominations were received
from:
-
Melior
School - Mr P Sparham - Governor
-
South
Axholme - Mrs M Lister - Head Teacher
-
Vale
of Ancholme School - Mr S Morris - Governor
-
Wroot
Travis Primary School - Mrs C Cook - Head Teacher
Discussion
took place with regards to ease of access to agendas and reports for non-core
members.
It
was agreed (a)
That the membership of the forum be noted, and (b) that a letter be sent
to Mrs Barnes of the St Lawrence Academy, welcoming her to the forum.
126 MEETING PARENTAL PREFERENCES 2008/09 - The Service Director
Children, Strategy and Partnerships submitted a report detailing the outcomes
of the allocations to secondary, junior and primary/infant schools, for the
academic year 2008/09, as at the date of allocation.
In
respect of transfer from infant to junior schools, 97.12% obtained a place for
their child at the school of their preference and for first admissions 96.30%
were successful.
All
pupils refused a place at their preferred or allocated school were offered a
right of appeal; appeals had taken place over the summer months since allocations
were made. All pupils in North Lincolnshire had been allocated a school
place but not all at their first preference.
The
success rate in the secondary sector had been very high during the existence
of North Lincolnshire Council. The percentage of parents gaining a secondary
school place was 95.70%. In comparison to the rest of the country, the
council were placed thirteenth for success rates of first preferences.
The
report also detailed those secondary schools unable to allocate parents with
their first preference; a table was included in the report indicating the number
of places allocated and refused.
Resolved - (a) That the outcomes of school allocations for
the 2008/09 academic year be noted, and (b) that information on the number of
appeals held during 2008/09 be submitted to the next meeting.
127 THE ST LAWRENCE ACADEMY - ADMISSION ARRANGEMENTS - The
Service Director Children, Strategy and Partnerships submitted a report informing
the group of the admission arrangements for the St Lawrence Academy.
The
St Lawrence Academy was established on 1 September 2008. Officers of the
council had been in discussion with consultants acting for the Academy in determination
of admission arrangements. The admission arrangements had now been approved
and adhered to the School Admissions Code.
The
council, as part of the arrangements with other admission authorities in North
Lincolnshire and other neighbouring councils, would co-ordinate all applications
for places for the intake year, this included applications for places at the
Academy.
The
report and accompanying appendix gave full details of the approved admission
arrangements.
Resolved
- That
the admission arrangements for the St Lawrence Academy be noted.
128
ADMISSIONS PROCESS - TIMELINE - The Service Director Children,
Strategy and Partnerships submitted a report detailing recent changes to the
admissionsprocess.
As
there had been changes to the admissions process each year for the past few
years, it was thought that it may be of interest to members of the forum to
note the timeline for the process of administering admissions over a 12 month
period.
Resolved
- That
the timeline be noted.
129 SCHOOL ADMISSIONS CODE - DCSF CONSULATION 2008 - The Service
Director Children, Strategy and Partnerships submitted a report giving details
of consultation on a new package of proposals to strengthen the admissions process.
The
present admissions code came into effect in February 2007 and applied to September
2008 admissions. The code set out the admissions process but there were
still a number of schools nationally who were not following the code.
The revised code on which the Department for Children, Schools and Families
was consulting was to strengthen the process to ensure all schools complied
fully with the law.
The
consultation covered three broad areas:
-
Changes
to schools admissions which were currently in the Education and Skills Bill
and were awaiting Royal Assent before it became an Act.
-
Proposals
not included in the Education and Skills Bill and if approved would require
a change in legislation.
-
Proposals
that did not require changes in legislation.
The
report gave details of the various changes under each category.
The
deadline for responses to the consultation was 2 October 2008; the council had
already submitted a response. The forum welcomed the report detailing
the proposed key changes to the code, but felt that it would be useful in the
future if the views of the forum could be included in any consultation response
to the DCSF, in order to make use of the forum's varied experience.
Discussion
then took place on the proposed changes to the admissions code, in particular
on proposed changes to the current annual consultation process.
Resolved
- That
the proposed changes in the consultation on admission arrangements be noted.
130 FUTURE OF THE ADMISSIONS FORUM - The Service Director
Children, Strategy and Partnerships submitted a report seeking the forum's views
on four key options to improve the effectiveness of Admissions Forums, which
were included in the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) consultation
document 2008 "School Admissions Code".
The
DCSF believed that in some areas Admissions Forum worked well, but there were
a number of barriers to their effectiveness:
-
Membership
could be too large
-
Could
uphold vested interests
-
Could
be unrepresentative of the area
-
Could
be toothless
As
a means of improving effectiveness the DCSF were seeking views on four options:
Option 1 - "To change the membership of the forum" - Forums
could be made into smaller advisory groups to represent those with school admissions
in the local area. This would include proportional representation to reflect
the types of school in the local area.
The
forum felt that this could complicate the structure of the forum and result
in duplication in some areas.
Option 2 - "To change the focus of the forum" - Forums could
be empowered to consider the fairness rather than the legality of proposed admission
arrangements and policies in the local context.
The
forum felt that the North Lincolnshire Admissions Forum already gave consideration
to these matters.
Option 3 - "To simplify regulations for Admission Forum reports"
- regulations could be amended to ensure that reports did not duplicate the
statutory report of the council. The report could focus on how admission arrangements
and policies work in local context.
The
forum felt that this could unnecessarily create extra work for the forum and
officers of the council.
Option 4 - "To make the establishment of Admission Forums
voluntary" - Currently, the law requires all councils to establish an Admissions
Forum. Under this option, councils could decide with schools and other key bodies
in their areas whether or not they would want to establish a forum.
The
forum expressed concern that this should take place, Mrs Dunkerly in particular,
as a parent and School Governor, advised that she would be very reluctant for
this to occur.
After
discussion of the four options, it was agreed that they would not make
the Admissions Forum more effective in North Lincolnshire's case.
131 SECRETARY OF STATE'S STATEMENT TO PARLIAMENT MARCH 2008 -
The Service Director Children, Strategy and Partnerships submitted a report
giving details of a survey of admission arrangements commissioned by the Secretary
ofState.
The
Secretary of State had commissioned a survey of admission arrangements in three
councils - Manchester, Northamptonshire and Barnet. Following verification
of the findings, the outcome of the survey was presented to Parliament.
It
was found that the large majority of schools in the three councils appeared
to be complying with the Admissions Code. However, a significant minority
of schools failed to meet fully the statutory arrangements and the code.
A disproportionate number of the schools were voluntary aided or foundation,
who were their own admission authorities.
The
report detailed the main outcomes of the survey and any consequential action
that was to be taken as a result.
All
councils also had had to send their admission arrangements to the School Adjudicator
by 30 June 2008 to be examined by a team of barristers to ensure that the arrangements
complied with the law. The response to North Lincolnshire was that the
Adjudicator's office were satisfied that the code was being complied with.
Resolved
- That
the information on the outcomes of the survey be noted.
132 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FORUM - Mr Irving informed that forum
that Admission Forums may publish an annual report. The first report was scheduled
to be published in 2008 following the September 2008 admissions round.
North
Lincolnshire's Admission Forum, although not required, produced a report on
the September 2007 admissions round. This was printed in early 2008 and
circulated to all schools and Chairs of Governors.
The
Schools' Commissioner had to produce a report by 1 April 2009 to the Secretary
of State for Education on fair access admission arrangements and was able to
draw upon each forum's annual report for reference. The content of the
report would cover the prescribed information required by the Education (Admission
Forums) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2007. Under regulations the
report would have to be prepared by the Autumn term 2008.
The
pilot report produced in 2007 was drafted by an officer of the council and presented
for consideration by the forum. The format followed guidance given by
the Department for Children, Schools and Families and also met the requirements
of the statutory regulation.
Resolved
- (a) That
the annual report be drafted by officers of the council for consideration by
the forum, as in the previous year, and (b) that Mr Irving acquires copies of
annual reports from other councils, when available, for information and comparison.
133
DATE
AND TIME OF FUTURE MEETINGS - Resolved - That
the next two meetings of the forum be held on Tuesday 25 November 2008, and Tuesday
10 February 2009 respectively, both to take place at 9.30 am in the International
Room, Pittwood House.