NEW ADMISSIONS CODE ENSURES FAIR AND EQUAL ACCESS

09 January 2007
New rules on school admissions in England will mean that all children, regardless of background, have a fair and equal chance of taking up a place at their preferred school under the new mandatory School Admissions Code which has been laid before Parliament.

The strengthened Code puts an end to covert selection in schools, by outlawing a range of unfair admission practices in all maintained schools, including selective and comprehensive schools, Academies, faith schools and state boarding schools. It lays down clear boundaries to ensure that their admission arrangements and other school policies do not disadvantage children from particular social or racial groups, or those with a disability or special educational needs. The Code also makes the admission system more straightforward, transparent and easier to understand for parents. It gives clear guidance on parents’ new powers to object to a school’s oversubscription criteria if they believe it does not comply with the new Code.

This is the first time that every local authority, admission authority and governing body in England has had a statutory responsibility for ensuring that admissions polices and practices do not disadvantage any children. The mandatory requirement “to act in accordance with” the Code ensures that no school can circumvent it. It strengthens the former Code , which merely required all parties to “have regard to its guidance”. The new Code, which comes into force in February for admissions from the 2008 school year, builds on the ban on school admission interviews for parents or children imposed by the Education and Inspections Act 2006. Education and Skills Secretary Alan Johnson said: “The Code creates a system where all children, regardless of their background, have a fair opportunity of gaining a place at the school they want to attend.

“Most schools have fair admission arrangements. The new School Admission Code puts mandatory measures in place to ensure that this is the case at all schools, including the few schools that persist in using unfair or unnecessarily complex arrangements that can disadvantage some families and reduce the life chances of thousands of children. We want to put families at the centre of the decision making process around their children’s future. That’s why we have given parents new rights to object to oversubscription criteria that do not comply with the new Code and funded a Choice Advice support service to help the most disadvantaged make the best choice of school for their child. The new Code will ensure the system is fair, clear and easy to understand for all.”

The new School Admission Code will:

• prevent any school asking about a parent’s financial, marital, work, educational or social status or background;
• prohibit the use of unfair oversubscription criteria that can discriminate against particular groups. Oversubscription criteria prohibited by the new Code will include:
  giving priority to children based solely on whether their parents have made a particular school their first preference. This ends the practice called ‘first preference first’ which forces many parents to play an ‘admissions game’ with their children’s future, and unnecessarily complicates the admissions system;
  stipulating conditions that affect the priority given to an application such as taking account of other schools parents have applied for;
  giving priority to children based on their particular interests, specialist knowledge or hobbies
  giving priority to children whose parents are more willing or able to support the school financially;
• Impose a mandatory requirement on admission authorities, schools and Admission Forums to have arrangements in place to cater for children who need a school place outside the normal admission round. This means the most vulnerable children and those whose families move home during the school year, including the children of service personnel, are not disadvantaged. It builds on existing duties to give top priority to children in care and children with statements of special educational needs, even if schools are full.
• Tackle covert selection methods by ensuring other school policies do not discourage parents from applying, for example, by setting out clear guidelines on choosing a school uniform that is widely available in high street shops and on the internet; and providing school transport for low income families. The Code also contains clear arrangements for monitoring and enforcing its provisions. It details parents’ new rights to object to the independent Schools Adjudicator to arrangements which they believe are unlawful or do not comply with the Code’s mandatory requirements
• Providing guidelines to local authorities on increasing opportunities to local authorities on the provision of Choice Advice service to targeted parents.

The new Code also promotes giving priority to the younger siblings of children already at primary schools and all secondary schools, including those that select up to 10 per cent of pupils by ability and aptitude – a move which ensures parents can save money on transport and uniforms. For those few schools that use partial selection by ability or aptitude for more than 10% of their intake and the sibling criteria, the new code places a firm onus on them to ensure that their arrangements as whole do not substantially restrict places for other children. The families who have children at these schools when this new Code comes into force will be unaffected.