As the annual consultation period is now just about upon us all, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you about the statutory consultation procedure.
The legal process is detailed in the Code of Practice on Schools Admissions, but can be summarised as follows:
- September/October 2005 – the governors consider the admission policy. Once the governors have agreed a policy for admissions for the academic year 2007/8, the policy should be sent to the Diocese before sending it to anyone else. To enable the process to work well, we would ask that your proposed policy is sent to the Diocese by the end of November 2005.
- Following our response, the governors need to meet to discuss any changes; the policy can then be circulated to governing bodies of all other maintained primary schools in your relevant area (for secondary schools they should consult the governing bodies of all other primary, middle and secondary schools within their relevant area); your own LEA and any LEA within 8Km of a secondary school or 3.2Km of a primary school. If you have amended the original proposed policy, please send a copy to the Diocese. This stage must be completed to include time for the response by 1 March 2006 at the latest. (The relevant area has been defined by your LEA – do contact them if you have a query about this)
- Having completed your consultation, your governors should meet to consider any responses and then determine their final arrangements before 15 April 2006;
- all parties to the consultation must then be notified of the determined arrangements within 14 days of the date of that determination.
- Please Note:
It is our advice that this procedure is undertaken by EVERY AIDED SCHOOL for September 2007 admissions, even if the only changes to your policy are the dates of the application process - Governing bodies are now, under the Education Act 2002, statutorily required to consult with the Diocesan Board of Education - and have regard to its advice - BEFORE consulting with other admissions authorities
It is crucial that this procedure is completed to enable governors to adopt an admissions policy in accordance with the statutory requirements - failure to do so will result in schools being challenged over admissions, e.g. by objections to the Schools Adjudicator, or at appeals.
Admissions Policies – September 2006/7
These will have gone to consultation in January – April 2005. If governing bodies now wish to amend any detail of their policy, the legal procedure is to apply for an in-year variation to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator. Any enquiries should be addressed directly to: Mowden Hall, Staindrop Road, Darlington DL3 9BG, telephone 0870-0012468.
I look forward to receiving your admissions policy soon. In the meantime, if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Admissions & Admissions Appeals Officer
