Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

a)  To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 1^st February 2024

b)  Matters Arising

The Minutes of the meeting held on 1st February 2024 were agreed and signed as a true record.

Further to Minute 30, Mr D Jackson (Co-opted Member) raised a question regarding the root causes and process for the permanent exclusion of pupils on E.H.C.P plans.

Briefing Note of the Director for Education and Skills

The Board considered a briefing note of the Director for Education and Skills which provided an update on the current process and position in relation to School Admissions and Sufficiency and outlined actions in place to respond to sufficiency challenges.

Under Section 14 of the Education Act 1996, Coventry City Council has a statutory duty to ensure sufficient school places and fair, appropriate access to education. It is the Council’s role to plan, commission and organise school places in a way that raises standards, manages supply and demand.

The Coventry One Strategic Plan, first presented to Council on 2nd October 2018, and annually thereafter, with the most recent report on the 13th of February 2024, sets out the city pupil forecasts for special, primary, and secondary, broken down across planning areas. It outlines the capital funding strategy proposed by the Local Authority and the Coventry Education Partnership to respond to rising or falling pupil cohorts across the City and provide additional school places required between 2023- 2027.

School places within the city are allocated by the City Council’s School Admissions team. The Local Authority (LA) has the following statutory duties in relation to School Admissions:

·  to determine and administer the admission arrangements for community schools.

·  to determine an annual co-ordinated scheme for reception and transfers for all schools and academies in the city.

·  to co-ordinate the annual admissions process for reception and transfers (normal intake year) including receipt of every application, exchange of information with other admission authorities including other LAs, resulting in the communication of a single offer of a school place to a parent.

·  the LA’s co-ordination responsibility begins from the launch of the application process in September (including compilation and statutory publication of an annual prospectus) until the end of the summer term before admission to school, therefore includes communication of any subsequent offers from waiting lists.

·  to advise parents about applying for schools in-year, to provide parents with information about which schools have places, and to provide a common application form.

·  To work alongside the Fair Access Protocol team to ensure that vulnerable children, and those who are having difficulty in securing a school place in-year, are allocated a school place as quickly as possible, minimising the time the child is out of school.

·  We also have a duty to ensure that every child is receiving a suitable fulltime education so monitor the outcome of every application.

Admissions officers receive all applications from Coventry residents applying for a school place. They handle the intake, processing, evaluation, and determinations of submitted applications. They verify the accuracy of information and confirm that application packages are complete and contain all details relevant to the application – Baptism certificates, details on any siblings already at the preference school. They ensure adherence to all regulations and department policies, with specific reference to the school admission code.

The City Council receive applications through two different processes – these are the co-ordinated process and the in-year process.

·  Co-ordinated process: for pupils applying for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

Briefing Note of the Director of Law and Governance

The Board noted the Work Programme with the agreement that the following item be added to the items for noting in the Work Programme for 2024/25:

-  SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) and Early Years Provision

Any other items of business which the Chair decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

Any other items of business which the Chair decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.