There are only 3 weeks left to make objections to the Schools Adjudicator about school admission arrangements for 2013. Comprehensive Future has produced a briefing on how to object. http://www.comprehensivefuture.local/PDF/Objecting%20to%20schools%20admission%20arrangements.pdf
By mid April all schools should have determined their admission arrangements and by May 1st all local authorities should have on their website the ‘determined admission arrangements 2013-14’ for all schools in the area, including free schools and academies, and details how to object. In the small sample of local authority websites which Comprehensive Future has examined a few websites did not have the required information and in some it was difficult to find.
Any person or body ie such as a PTA or governing body can object to any school’s arrangements. If the objection is upheld the adjudicator can require schools to change their admission arrangements. The Annual Report of the School Adjudicator last year reported that 74 per cent of objections to admission arrangements were from parents
Comprehensive Future Secretary Margaret Tulloch said –
We need fair admissions to all schools. We hope that anyone who knows of schools whose admission arrangements are contrary to the law or the School Admissions Code, unfair or not clear will object and that our briefing will help.
Notes for editors
- Comprehensive Future is the campaign for fair admissions. www.comprehensivefuture.local PO Box 444327 London SW20 0WD, email info@comprehensivefuture.org.uk, Margaret Tulloch 020 8947 5758, 07836 741974
- The Schools Admissions Code 1.49 requires local authorities by 1st May to publish details of where admission arrangements for all schools can be viewed and how to object to the adjudicator. https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/SchoolsSO/Page1/DFE-00013-2012
- A form for objections is on the website of the Office of the Schools Adjudicator. The deadline is 30th June 2012. http://www.education.gov.uk/schoolsadjudicator/howwecanhelp/a0076144/objection