1. education
2. school

ITEM 15
www.surreycc.gov.uk
Making Surrey a better place
School admissions and
transport update
Spring term 2015
For ease of reference this newsletter is split into two sections:
Section A – relevant to own admission authority schools only
Section B – relevant to all schools
Section A - Own admission authority schools only
1. Consultation and determination of admission arrangements 2016
Any admission authority which is proposing to make changes to their admission
arrangements for 2016 should have already commenced their consultation in order to fit in
the statutory 8 weeks consultation before 1 March 2015. As such, if we have not yet
received your consultation we shall now presume that you do not intend to make any
changes to your admission arrangements for 2016. If however you do still intend to consult
please let us know as soon as possible by emailing Helen Boyes at
[email protected].
Please note that failure to consult for the full 8 weeks or to notify consultees may lead to a
challenge that the school has not consulted effectively and may be grounds for subsequent
complaints and appeals.
All admission authorities must determine their admission arrangements by 15 April 2015,
even if they have not consulted. After determination they must notify all schools within the
relevant area (and diocesan body if a faith school) and place a copy on their website by 1
May 2015, where they must remain for the year. A copy of the determined arrangements
must also be sent to Helen Boyes at [email protected] by 1 May 2015.
The determined admission arrangements must include all the information the school intends
to use to determine which children will be admitted to the school, including the whole
admissions policy, any parish or catchment maps, any supplementary information or
priest reference forms they intend to use and their sixth form policy and form (as
appropriate). Where a school has increased their published admission number they must
notify the local authority and make specific reference to this change on the school’s website.
Once determined, admission authorities must follow their published arrangements, and
failure to do so would amount to a breach of the admission authority’s statutory duty.
At all stages, governing bodies are advised to place items regarding admission
arrangements on their full governing body meeting agenda and to fully minute details
of their decisions. Failure to provide evidence that admission arrangements have
been consulted on appropriately or formally determined may result in the schools
adjudicator finding that they have not been lawfully determined.
2. Primary and secondary allocations 2015
We are required to publish a breakdown of the allocations by criteria for each school after
the initial allocation of places. This helps parents understand the outcome of each school’s
allocation. Parents will be told that this will be available on Surrey’s website by the following
dates, secondary - 9 March 2015 and primary - 1 May 2015. If we have any difficulties in
preparing this information we may contact schools direct and in those cases we would
appreciate it if urgent attention could be given to our request.
3. New DfE School Admissions Code
As you may be aware, a new School Admissions Code came into force on 19 December
2014. The new School Admissions Code introduces a number of freedoms as well as some
new requirements. It can be found in full at www.gov.uk/government/publications/schooladmissions-code--2.
The main changes are as follows:
Those which take effect immediately

requirement for all children adopted from local authority care to be given top priority for a
school place and not just those adopted under the Adoption and Children Act 2002
Action required - admission authorities must make sure they now vary their
admission arrangements for 2015 to give effect to this mandatory requirement of
the Code and to ensure this change is also reflected in the arrangements they
determine for 2016 entry

provision for all admission authorities (not just academies and free schools) to give
priority to children who attract the pupil and service premium, subject to statutory
consultation (see also advice issued by the DfE in December 2014 on using the pupil
premium, service premium or early years premium in admission arrangements www.gov.uk/government/publications/using-the-pupil-premium-or-service-premium-inadmissions)

provision for admission authorities of primary schools to give priority to children who are
eligible for the early years pupil premium, the pupil premium or service premium and
who have attended a nursery which is part of the school, subject to statutory
consultation (see also advice issued by the DfE in December 2014 on using the pupil
premium, service premium or early years premium in admission arrangements www.gov.uk/government/publications/using-the-pupil-premium-or-service-premium-inadmissions)
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
requirement for admission authorities to comply with a decision of the School's
Adjudicator within two months of the determination or the deadline for determination,
whichever is the lesser

confirmation that admission authorities must make clear in their admission arrangements
the process for requesting admission out of the normal age group, that they must make
decisions in the best interests of the child concerned and that when informing parents of
their decision, they must set out clearly the reasons for their decision (see also updated
advice issued by the DfE in December 2014 on the admission of summer born children www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission)
Action required - admission authorities must make sure they include the process
for requesting admission out of the normal age group in the admission
arrangements which they determine for 2016 entry
Those which take effect for entry in 2017/18

change to the length of time that admission authorities need to consult on admission
arrangements from eight to six weeks

change to the dates between which admission authorities must consult from '1
November to 1 March' to '1 October to 31 January'

change to the deadline for admission authorities to determine their admission
arrangements from 15 April to 28 February

change to the deadline for admission authorities to send a copy of their determined
admission arrangements to the local authority from 1 May to 15 March

change to the deadline for admission authorities to send a copy of their determined
admission arrangements to the local authority from 1 May to 15 March

change to the date by which objections should be made to the Schools Adjudicator from
30 June to 15 May
Action required - Admission authorities are advised to take note of the amended
dates that will apply to consultation and determination of admission
arrangements for 2017 and to ensure that policy review dates and schedules for
governing body agendas are updated as appropriate for Autumn 2015 and Spring
2016
4. Own Admission Authority Schools web review
In November 2014 we asked all own admission authority schools to review their website to
ensure they were compliant with the School Admissions Code regarding the publication of
admission arrangements. We sent each school a check list to complete and return. By the
response date of 19 December 2014 we had received a response from 114 out of 186 own
admission authority schools. We are now in the process of chasing up a response from
schools which have not replied and will then carry out an audit of websites to ensure they
comply with the School Admissions Code.
As a reminder paragraph 1.47 of the School Admissions Code states:
"Once admission authorities have determined their admission arrangements, they
must notify the appropriate bodies and must publish a copy of the determined
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arrangements on their website displaying them for the whole offer year (the
academic year in which offers for places are made)"
One common issue that we have identified is that many schools have replaced their 2014
admission arrangements with those for 2015. However, in order for parents to understand
how in year applications will be considered, we recommend that schools continue to display
their admission arrangements for the current academic year (2014) as well as those that will
apply for the following academic year (2015).
In addition, paragraph 1.45 of the School Admissions Code confirms that if a school is
consulting on their admission arrangements for a future year, these must be displayed in full
on their website together with details of the person to whom comments should be sent and
the areas on which comments are sought.
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Section B – All schools
5. Consultation on admission arrangements for Surrey’s community and voluntary
controlled schools 2016
All schools are reminded that Surrey County Council's consultation on school admission
arrangements for community and voluntary controlled schools in 2016, the primary and
secondary coordinated schemes and Surrey’s Relevant Area is now available online at:
www.surreysays.co.uk
The changes being proposed for 2016 are as follows:
1. Bagshot Infant School – introduction of a reciprocal sibling link with Connaught Junior
School
2. Hammond Community Junior School - introduction of a feeder link from Valley End CofE
Infant and Windlesham Village Infant schools
3. Meath Green Junior School – introduction of feeder link from Meath Green Infant School
4. Wallace Fields Junior School – introduction of a tiered feeder link from Wallace Fields
Infant School
5. Worplesdon Primary School – introduction of admission criteria for entry to Year 3
6. Cranleigh Primary School - removal of Year 3 PAN
7. Own admission authority schools to be included in assessment of nearest school –
introduction of a clear policy on which schools should be included
8. Start date to primary admissions round – proposal to publish a later start to the primary
admissions round of 2 November 2015 rather than 1 September 2015
9. Surrey’s Relevant Area - slight change to the way faith schools decide which other
schools they should consult with
Full details of the changes and the proposed admission arrangements and coordinated
schemes can be found online as part of the consultation documents.
The consultation ends on Thursday 22 January 2015. After the closing date responses will
be collated and presented to the council's decision-making Cabinet on 24 February 2015.
Its decision will then need to be ratified by the full county council on 17 March 2015. Once
determined the final admission arrangements will be placed on Surrey's website.
6. Admission of children below compulsory school age and deferred entry
As you may be aware, a new School Admissions Code came into force on 19 December
2014. It can be found in full at www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissionscode--2.
Paragraph 2.16 of the new School Admissions Code provides the following clarifications:



that a child is entitled to a full time place in the September following their fourth birthday
that a parent can defer their child’s entry to school until later in the school year but not
beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age and not beyond the
beginning of the final term of the school year for which the offer was
made
that if a parent wishes it, children may attend part time until later in the school year but
not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age
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Own admission authority schools are asked to ensure that their admission arrangements
comply with the Code in this respect and all schools are asked to ensure that they respond
to parental requests for full time/part time attendance or deferred entry, as permitted by the
Code.
7. Primary closing and offer date for 2015 admission
Schools are reminded that the closing date for admission to primary school is 15 January
2015. Late applications that are late for good reason, such as a house move or other
change of circumstances, may be accepted up to 13 February 2015 but independent
evidence which supports those reasons must be provided with the form. If schools are
aware of parents who have not applied please encourage them to do so or let us have their
details so we might contact them directly.
Any application which is treated as late will not be considered until all on time applicants
have been processed. However, after the initial allocation of places, late applicants should
still be placed on the waiting lists for any preference school and be ranked according to the
school’s admission criteria.
Schools are also asked to note that the offer date for primary places is Thursday 16 April
2015. This is a national offer date, prescribed by Regulations and the School Admissions
Code and is not within the remit of Surrey County Council to change.
8. Fraudulent Applications / Addresses of Convenience
During the admissions process you may come across pupils for whom you have suspicions
surrounding the address supplied by the parent. It may be that you come across an address
in which you believe the family do not live, or which you believe is only a temporary address
which the family may have used unfairly to gain a school place. In cases such as this, you
can refer them for investigation using Surrey's Address of Convenience Protocol. Often
schools, using their local knowledge, are best placed to spot possible suspicious
applications. We will investigate any application referred to us and can withdraw an
application or place if it is deemed that it has been gained fraudulently. The protocol itself,
along with a referral form, can be found on our website www.surrey.gov.uk/admissions
under ‘Policies and reports’.
9. Admissions IT system
Following a procurement process, Surrey has awarded the contract for providing its School
Admissions system to a new supplier called Tribal. We will work with Tribal over the next
two terms in order to go live with the new system from the beginning of September 2015.
This change in software will deliver improvements to the admissions process as well as
providing online functionality for schools to:
 view details of their applications and offers
 rank their applicants (own admission authority schools)
 manage their waiting lists (own admission authority schools)
 validate siblings
 view the destination school of leavers
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Inevitably this change will require much work in order to ensure a successful
implementation but we believe that the functionality, flexibility and ease of use of the new
system will make it worthwhile. We will keep you informed of progress over the forthcoming
months.
10. Coordination timetable 2015
Schools are asked to remind themselves of the forthcoming dates within the timetable for
coordination of normal round admission for 2015.
Important dates – primary
15 January 2015
Closing date for primary applications - please encourage
parents to apply on time
3 February 2015
Own admission authority schools will receive a file containing all
applications for their schools, in order to apply their admissions
criteria
9 March 2015
Own admission authority schools must send back their file with
all their applicants ranked, to Surrey school admissions
16 April 2015
Primary allocation day. Offer letters will be posted to applicants
who applied by paper and applicants who applied online and
cannot be offered their first preference school. All those who
applied online will be able to view the outcome of their
application online on the evening of 16 April 2015 and will also
receive an email with their offer
30 April 2015
Deadline for parents to accept or refuse the place they have
been offered
15 May 2015
The last day for applicants to appeal for one of the schools
listed on their form if the appeal is to be heard by 17 July 2015
Important dates – secondary
12 January 2015
Own admission authority schools must send back their file with
all their applicants ranked, to Surrey school admissions
2 March 2015
Secondary allocation day. Offer letters will be posted to
applicants who applied by paper and applicants who applied
online and cannot be offered their first preference school. All
those who applied online will be able to view the outcome of
their application online on the evening of 2 March 2015 and will
also receive an email with their offer
By 16 March 2015
Deadline for parents to accept or refuse the place they have
been offered
By 13 April 2015
The last day for applicants to appeal for one of the schools
listed on their form if the appeal is to be heard by 16 June 2015
11. Secondary school induction days for summer 2016
Following the established pattern of holding secondary school induction days on the first
Tuesday and Wednesday in July, the dates for summer 2016 are:
 Tuesday 5 July 2016, or
 Wednesday 6 July 2016.
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