Issue details

The Council is consulting upon the following documents:

Scheme of co-ordination for the normal points of transfer (starting primary school; starting junior school; starting secondary school)

Rules and over-subscription criteria for community and voluntary controlled schools in Oxfordshire

Published Admission Numbers for community and voluntary controlled schools in Oxfordshire

Voluntary scheme of co-ordination for in-year transfers between schools

Paragraph 1.45 of the 2021 School Admissions Code requires Admission Authorities to consult when changes are proposed to admission arrangements that will apply for admission applications the following school year or at least once every seven years. The consultation must be for a minimum of 6 calendar weeks between 1 October and 31 January.

The consultation for the documents listed above will run from 1 December 2025 to 26 January 2026. The council will publicise via social media, Schools News, emails to schools and emails to other authorities and potential interested parties. The consultation will also be published on the Let’s Talk Oxfordshire consultation pages: School admissions consultation 2027/28 | Let's Talk Oxfordshire

The term ‘admission arrangements’ means the overall procedure, practices and oversubscription criteria used to allow parents to apply for school places, process those requests and decide on the allocation including any device or means used to determine whether a school place is to be offered. In the case of the council, this includes a standard admission policy for all community and voluntary controlled schools. For other schools (academy, foundation, free or voluntary aided – known as Own Admission Authority or OAA schools) their own arrangements/rules and Published Admission Number form part of the overall arrangements/rules. The admission arrangements also include the Published Admission Number (PAN) for each community and voluntary controlled school.

The Council is the Admission Authority for all community and voluntary controlled schools within Oxfordshire. Therefore, the Council is responsible for determining the admission arrangements, over-subscription criteria and Published Admission Numbers (PANs) for these schools.

As required by the School Admissions Code, the council provides a co-ordinated scheme for phased transfers. These are:
• Starting infant/primary school for the first time in Reception (4 year olds)
• Transferring from infant/primary to primary/junior school (7 year olds)
• Starting secondary school for the first time (11 year olds)
All Admission Authorities in Oxfordshire must participate in the scheme for the above phased transfers. By determining this scheme it becomes part of the admission arrangements/rules for all schools in Oxfordshire whether they are community, voluntary controlled or OAA schools.

Paragraph 2.23 of the 2021 School Admissions Code makes the existence of a scheme to process in-year applications voluntary. In Oxfordshire the policy continues to be to operate a co-ordinated in-year scheme. All community and voluntary controlled schools must be part of this scheme because the Council is the Admission Authority. OAA schools are assumed to be participants in the scheme as well unless they have opted out. A small number of OAA schools have opted out. By determining this scheme it becomes part of the admission arrangements/rules for all participating schools in Oxfordshire whether they are community, voluntary controlled or OAA schools (unless they have opted out where they must continue to comply with the 2021 School Admissions Code which places responsibility on them to co-operate with the local authority).