Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Committee Room 2 - Council House. View directions

Contact: Gurdip Paddan  Tel: 024 7683 3075 email:  gurdip.paddan@coventry.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Minutes of the meeting held on 6 February 2015 pdf icon PDF 65 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 February 2015 were agreed as a true record.

 

 

 

 

2.

Matters Arising

Templars Primary School admission numbers

Minutes:

a)  Minute 12 - It was reported that Eden Girls School had withdrawn their consultation for 2016 and are now consulting for their 2017 policy instead.

 

b)  Templars School request to increase their admissions number was agreed by the Schools Adjudicator. The Chair expressed concern that the views of the Forum had not been listened to.  .

 

c)  Minute 15 - A meeting was being held next week with Secondary School Heads on strategy and setting in place the processes and protocols for delivering expansion of places across the City.

 

d)  Minute 17 – Free school meal application figures had improved slightly but a programme had been put in place to integrate the work into Revenues and Benefits. The transition work was being completed between software systems and should be in place by the end of the calendar year to help to improve take up and entitlement to pupil premium funding in time for the January 2016 census.

 

e)  Finham Park 2 – The site for the school had been identified as the old land registry building on Torrington Avenue and would be opening September 2016.

 

 

3.

Admissions for September 2015 pdf icon PDF 66 KB

Reports from sue Heawood

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Secondary School allocation figures were considered. For its first year of opening applications were made separately for Finham Park 2 which meant that that some families had applied for this school and had also applied for other schools in the City. Therefore there were a range of changes for some students following the double offers in March as families chose which school to accept. This had a particular impact on schools in the south west of the City.

 

Also Coundon Court increased their admission number by 15 and this was not taken into account until after initial offers were made. Other schools admitted pupils over their admission number due to the decision of appeal panels.

 

It was noted that WMG Academy admits pupils into Year 10 (not Year 7) and the figure on the offer date in March was 49 pupils but had significantly increased to 96. A general discussion ensued on the number of students that delay their decision on moving to WMG and the impact on other schools.  It was suggested that the Chair bring this issue to the attention of Kirston Nelson, Director of Education.

 

For primary admissions into reception maps were circulated which highlighted the spaces available. Compared to last year there were a wider set of schools with spaces available across the City.  This had eased pressure with 90% of pupils securing their first choice this year.  It was noted that 60 spaces were available at Sidney Stringer Primary which had also opened this year and made offers outside the co-ordinated arrangements as Finham Park 2. Again this caused some movement but did not have an adverse effect on most neighbouring schools as the impact was spread in a ripple effect. Overall there are currently 6% spaces available across the City.

 

4.

In-Year admission 2014/15

Report from Sue Heawood

 

The report will be available at the meeting

Minutes:

A copy of the In-year admissions reports was circulated and reviewed.  It was requested that it would have been useful to have sight of school admission numbers within report tables in future.

 

The Forum felt that the picture reflected higher levels of movement in areas of greater deprivation. There was concern expressed regarding the financial pressures and impact on schools in managing high levels of in-year admissions.

 

The greater levels of movement in primary schools were often linked to house moves when parents would prefer a move to a very local school, whereas this could be less of an issue at secondary level. Limited placements for sibling groups moving in-year in primary schools could mean that children moved school more than once before being able to be accommodated in the same school as siblings.

 

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

5.

In-Year air access protocol 2014/15 pdf icon PDF 103 KB

Report from Sharon Cassidy

Minutes:

A report on the implementation of the In-year Fair Access Protocol 2014/15 was circulated.  All Schools and Academies are required to participate in their local authority area’s protocol in order to ensure that unplaced children, especially the most vulnerable are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible.

 

Details and statistics were provided on the arrangements for hard to place pupils, those at risk of permanent exclusion and those who had been permanently excluded.

 

The report noted that East and West partnership arrangements that had  operated across the City in 2014/15 to arrange placements for fixed term exclusions over 5 days,  6 week preventative places and managed transfers were due to change for 2015/16. A series of new Behaviour Pathway arrangements were being set up with headteachers. This was expected to impact on the current fair access protocol arrangements

 

RESOLVED that the report be noted and Jeannette Essex be invited to the next meeting to share details of Behaviour Pathways work.

 

6.

2017 Admission Schemes and Consultation pdf icon PDF 89 KB

Report from Sue Heawood

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Forum received the Coventry Primary, Infant and Junior School Co-ordinated Admissions scheme: 2017/18 and the Coventry Secondary School Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme: 2017/18.  The documents explained the arrangements for dealing with admissions to schools in 2017 which remained broadly the same as for 2016 with some minimal changes on dates. Also, where faith schools and academies require parents to complete a supplementary form it must now be sent directly to the school. This is in line with the individual school policies.

 

Questions were raised regarding how Catholic baptismal certificates are passed to all requested schools. Catholic heads group would be advised on the need to share information effectively and Admissions staff would clarify the cross referencing arrangements which take place for the annual process. 

 

There were no planned changes to the admission numbers or oversubscription criteria for community and voluntary controlled primary schools. Details will be circulated to these schools consulting on proposed admissions numbers and confirmation of other details remaining the same.

 

Twelve schools who are their own admissions authority have gone out to consultation where they have converted to academy status recently, where they have not consulted for 7 years or where they wish to make significant changes such as Eden school. There has been previous contact from some schools such as Blue Coat and Sidney Stringer multi academy trust that they are planning to make some changes so we expect further schools to consult. Schools have until 20 December to start their consultation to meet the new timescales. Where changes are significant these will be highlighted when information is circulated about the consultation arrangements. 

 

RESOLVED that the report be noted. 

 

7.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

There were no other items of business.

8.

Date of next meeting

The next meeting will be held on Friday 29 January 2016.

Minutes:

The next meeting will be held on 29 January 2016 at 1.30pm.