Agenda item

(1)               Mr Bagshaw advised the Forum that on the 12 June 2008 the Government launched a consultation document in respect of further proposed changes to the Admissions Code.  He circulated copies of the consultation document.

(2)               Mr Bagshaw referred to the suggestion that there should be a reduction in consultation the period to three years from every year.  His concern was that where governing bodies and management teams changed within time the requirements of when consultations should be carried out could be lost or forgotten.

(3)               The role of the Admission Forum

(a)               In some LAs the Forums have not worked effectively and the DCSF was concerned that some Forums had taken poor decisions through lack of understanding of the admissions legislation. Mr Bagshaw made the point that this was not the case in Kent and that it’s Forum had a good scrutiny process.  The DCSF was looking at the possibility of greater parental representation.  He held the opinion that the last Admissions Code had given the Forums powers to act but that the new proposals seemed to be going back to how Forums used to operate.

(b)               Mr Vye referred to the Annual Report and the duty placed on the LA to produce this.  He felt that it was still important for the Forum to work on this as a Scrutiny Group.  Mr Vye asked the Members to e-mail Mr Bagshaw with their comments, preferably during September.

(c)               Mr Bagshaw advised the Forum that the new revised Code would probably come into effect in January 2009 and that in future years it may not be necessary for the Forum to publish a report if the LA was already doing so.  However the Forum would still have an important role in scrutinising the LA report and providing a commentary before being returned to the DCSF.

(d)               Mrs Angell referred to primary school admission arrangements.  Mr Bagshaw advised that he expected there to be a National Offer Day for primary schools in the same way as secondary school places are offered where the LA offers a place rather than individual schools and that the LA co-ordinates the admission arrangements with other Las to avoid duplicate offers.

(e)               Mr Watts advised the Forum that casual in year admissions caused the service community the most problems.

(f)                 Mr Vye enquired about parental satisfaction surveys.  Mr Bagshaw replied that all material published by the Admissions Team contained feedback questionnaires as to whether it had been clear to understand. The responses were monitored to ensure that parents continued to find the process clear and simple to understand

(g)               Mrs Cottam referred to Paragraph 1.26 and asked whether there would be grounds for grammar schools to challenge the Code as it seemed to be discriminating against Selection and grammar schools.  Mr Bagshaw agreed with this point and that he would be happy to seek legal advice and would be liaising with the Cabinet Members on this issue anyway.  Mrs Cottam took the view that as Kent was a selective authority the proposals should be challenged.  Mr Vye’s view was that the LA should do this and not the Forum.

Ø                  Mrs King supported Mrs Cottam’s view and agreed that Kent should challenge this.  Mr Vye reiterated that because of the differences in the membership of the Forum it would be difficult to put the case from the Forum.

Ø                  Mr Wetherell supported the proposal but sought definition of “successful and popular”.

Ø                  Mr Watts felt that it would be difficult for the lawyers to give advice as the revisions to the Code had not been approved yet.  Once the Code was drafted a legal challenge could then be made.

Ø                  Mr Bagshaw felt that paragraph 1.26 undermined the work of the Area Education Officer on future planning needs, and referred to the difficulties in the Dartford area.  Mr Ridings reported that he was the Governor of a popular grammar school that had received 368 applications for the 240 intake.  He would be concerned at taking such a high number of pupils as it would wreck the planning of the three high schools in the area.

Ø                  Mr Vye agreed that this proposal should be put on the next meeting agenda for first Forum discussions.