A revised Code that strengthens the admissions system and puts children and parents firmly at the heart of the process was presented to Parliament today. The School Admissions Code, which all admissions authorities must comply with, sets out legal requirements for setting fair and transparent admission arrangements, ensuring fair access for all. It incorporates changes brought in by the Education and Skills Act 2008 which became law last week. A revised Appeals Code was also presented to Parliament today.
The main changes to the two Codes include:
- placing a duty on admission authorities to engage with parents and the wider community when setting their admission arrangements, in order to meet the needs of their local area;
- giving priority for state boarding school places to children of armed forces personnel;
- improving the application and allocation process so that parents will only ever need to apply for a school place to the local authority in which they live instead of the authorities where their preferred schools are located;
- prescribing national closing dates for primary and secondary applications; helping parents by creating a simpler more uniform system;
- improving the information parents receive on the admissions process, so they are fully engaged and informed;
- allowing schools to advise parents of their ethos during the application process and ask that their children respect this ethos: and
- making improvements to Admission Forums so they are representative of parents and the local area, and consider the fairness of admission policies for that area.
- the right of MPs and elected councillors to support parents at admission appeals hearing as long as there is no conflict of interest.
