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ITEM EX11

EXECUTIVE – 5 FEBRUARY 2003

SCHOOL ADMISSION FORUM

Report by Acting Chief Education Officer

1. The DfES have issued Regulations and a revised Code of Practice on school admissions and school admission appeals, which came into effect on 20 January 2003. The first admission round affected will be for applications for places in schools from September 2004.
2. Under the previous Code of Practice, the LEA voluntarily established an informal Admission Forum that has met 3 times per year since June 1999. Under the new Regulations the establishment of an admission forum for each LEA becomes a legal requirement.

Functions and Procedure

3. Admission forums provide a vehicle for admission authorities and other key interested parties to get together to discuss the effectiveness of local admission arrangements, seek agreements on how to deal with difficult admission issues and advise admission authorities on ways in which their arrangements can be improved. Admission authorities must have regard to any advice given by the forum for their area.
4. A more detailed description of the functions of admission forums, taken from the Regulations, is given in Annex 1. This also summarises the requirements of the Regulations as to procedural matters relating to the forums. Subject to those requirements and the membership provisions set out below, the Regulations stipulate that it is for forums to regulate their own procedure.

Membership

5. The Regulations require that membership of forums comprise the following:

Representation

Members of the LEA 1 to 5
Church of England Diocesan representatives 1 to 3
Roman Catholic Diocesan representatives 1 to 3
Headteachers or governors of community & voluntary controlled schools 1 to 3
Headteachers or governors of voluntary aided schools 1 to 3
Parent governor representatives 1 to 3
Representatives of the local community up to 3

These make up the ‘Core Group’ and responsibility for their appointment rests with the LEA. The authority may appoint other non-LEA members "who appear to the core members to represent the interests of any section of the local community".

6. Within this framework the Executive needs to decide the basic size and composition of the Oxfordshire Forum. The Core Group could be any number between 6 and 23. In the light of discussions in the existing Admission Forum on 12 November 2002 officers recommend that the membership of the new Admission Forum should be as follows:

Representatives from	No.	Organisation to make nomination(s)
County Council	3	Political Groups (1 from each Group)
Church of England Diocese	1	Oxford Diocesan Board of Education
Roman Catholic Diocese	1	Bishops of Birmingham & Portsmouth
Community & Voluntary Controlled Schools (1 each from secondary, special, primary)	3	Secondary Schools Head Teachers Association Special Schools Head Teachers Association Primary Schools Head Teachers Association
Voluntary Aided Schools (1 CE, 1 RC)	2	Primary Schools Head Teachers Association
Parent Governors (1 each from secondary, special, primary)	3	Oxfordshire Governors Association
Local community	3	Oxfordshire Racial Equality Council; Early Years Development & Childcare Partnership; Armed Services
TOTAL	16

7. A member would be deemed to be appointed to the Forum upon notification of his/her nomination being given to the person acting as secretary.

RECOMMENDATION

8. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to establish an Oxfordshire Admission Forum constituted as set out in the report.

ROY SMITH
Acting Chief Education Officer

Background papers: Nil

Contact Officer: Roy Leach, Senior Education Officer, Schools Branch. Tel: 01865 815693

January 2003

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