Proposed changes to the Admissions Code

[tethersend]

The DFE are currently consulting on proposals to:

-give admission authorities the option to prioritise disadvantaged children (those in receipt of Pupil Premium) in their admission arrangements

-make minor changes to improve the clarity of existing provisions, such as placing summer-born children out of year group.

Here

I'll be interested to see what happens.

It won't make it any easier to defer a summer born.

The provisions for pupil premium children seem to be those which already exist for academies; this gives LA controlled schools the same range of options (but does not compell any individual admission authority to use any/all of them).

These seem like good changes but they need as well to make sure that the children given priority under PP (and those already given priority due to LAC) are given proper full priority not just if their parents happen to have a particular faith. The criteria need to come above any faith related criteria.

They already should, Madrigals, as part of the existing duty to consider all cases individually.

My DS2 is educated out of year and the only difference this will make will be to his entry to secondary school. He currently attends an academy and because the admissions authority is the academy they were happy to have him in the year below after observation of him and consultation with us. Our only, albeit massive, concern has been the transfer to secondary but this requires the admissions authority there (probably another academy the way things are going here) to take into account his current year group. I've not seen this in anything I've read so far and I found the most recent document from the DfE clarifying the situation around summer borns very clear, helpful and informative.

He's 'out of year' because he has several SN that have delayed his development and is a late July born. I know many take a dim view of delaying a year here on MN but it's worked well for him and has meant he's not needed any other interventions. Research says one thing but our personal experience is another. We could be proved wrong but it's working now and that's enough for us.

Yes, Madrigals, they should not dismiss a request of that nature out of hand. The current guidelines are very clear about that.

This option to prioritise PP children - is that likely to happen in reality?

I mean - I think it would be great if admission authorities (including some of the newer academies) picked up on it; I just can't see it happening particularly.

Free schools/academies can already give priority to those who receive PP.

This appears to be consulation about minor tidying up, not big changes.

It is. The most significant changes are extending the option to prioritise children attracting the pupil premium to all schools and making it clear that deferring to later in the year or part time attendance are the parent's choice, not the school's. From my correspondence with the DfE that was the intention of the current Admissions Code but, as I pointed out to them, the Code only gives parents the right to request these things.

Yes, it's about giving all admissions authorities the flexibility to prioritise children who receive the Pupil Premium Grant if they so choose. Children who receive the Pupil Premium Plus would still get top priority (apart from in faith schools where LAC and former LAC of the faith must be prioritised over other children of the faith), so no other changes.

The clarification surrounding placing summer-born children out of year group would be helpful, as currently it is up to each admission authority to write their own guidance, and many defer to individual headteachers to make the decision. Some authorities are still applying blanket policies of not placing children outside of their year group, which is against the current guidelines, so further guidance would be useful.

I know in some authorities, prioritising children in receipt of PPG would dramatically alter the intake of many schools, and would address the phenomenon of sharp-elbowed middle class parents buying houses closer and closer to schools, shrinking the catchment area and producing a particular intake of children with similar economic backgrounds.

I'll be interested to see if LAs choose to prioritise PPG children over siblings and how LAs with catchment areas apply the policy.

I think one of the annexes in the link in the OP gives a timescale for the consultation.

Actually, I'm not clear on when the changes, if approved, would be implemented... I was assuming in time for a September 2016 intake, but perhaps it would be for a Sept 2017 intake?