Report to the Schools Adjudicator from Brighton & Hove Local Authority 2022

Report Cleared by

Name: Richard Barker

Title: Head of School Organisation

Phone: 01273 290732

Email: Richard.Barker@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Date submitted: 31 October 2022

Report by

Name: Saul Johnston

Title: School Admissions Manager

Phone: 01273 293653

Email: Saul.Johnston@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Office of the Schools Adjudicator

Coordination 

How well did coordination of the main admissions round work?

Looked after and previously looked after children

How well does the admissions system in your local authority area serve the interests of looked after children at normal points of admission?

• Very well

How well do the admissions systems in other local authority areas serve the interests of children looked after by your local authority at normal points of admission?

• Very well

How well does your admissions system serve the interests of children who are looked after by other local authorities but educated in your area at normal points of admission?

• Very well

How well does the admissions system in your local authority area serve the interests of previously looked after children at normal points of admission?

• Very well

Please confirm that your local authority has included children adopted from state care outside England in its definition of previously looked after children in admission arrangements for schools for which it is the admission authority

• Yes  

How confident are you that all other admission authorities in your area have included children adopted from state care outside England in their definitions of previously looked after children in admission arrangements for schools for which they are the admission authority?

• Confident all have

Special educational needs and/or disabilities

Please provide any comments you wish to make on the admission of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities at normal points of admission:

• Community schools in the city have an exception circumstance admission priority which meets the needs of children with special educational needs and/or a disability that can be only met at a particular school.

By ‘in-year’ we mean admission at the start of any school year which is not a normal point of entry for the school concerned (for example at the beginning of Year 2 for a five to eleven primary school) and admission during the course of any school year after the end of the statutory waiting list period (31 December) in normal years of admission.

A. Effect of code changes on in-year submissions

Please provide any comments you wish to make on the effect of the changes to the Code’s provisions for in-year admissions. It would be particularly helpful to have comments on whether you think the changes have made it easier or not for parents to secure places for children in-year?

• Brighton & Hove have always coordinated in-year admissions for all schools in the area which does make it easy for parents to secure school places for their children. If the schools of preference are all full and the child is out of school an alternative place is offered at the closest school to the family’s address with an available space. 

Looked after children and previously looked after children

How well does the in-year admission system serve children who are looked after by your local authority and who are being educated in your area?

• Very well

How well do the in-year admission systems in other local authority areas serve the interests of your looked after children?

• Very well

How well does your in-year admission system serve the interests of children who are looked after by other local authorities but educated in your area?

• Very well

How well does your in-year admission system serve the interests of previously looked after children?

• Very well

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities

How well served are children with special educational needs and/or disabilities who have an education, health and care plan that names a school when they need to be admitted in-year?

• Very well

How well served are children with special educational needs and/or disabilities who do not have an education, health and care plan when they need to be admitted in-year?

• Well

Please give examples of any good or poor practice or difficulties which support or exemplify your answers about in-year admissions for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities:

• Increasingly schools are indicating a difficulty with admitting children in-year who have special educational needs but not an education, health and care plan due to funding pressures and the inability to provide appropriate support for pupils.

Fair access protocol

Has your fair access protocol been agreed with the majority of state-funded mainstream schools in your area? (An existing protocol remains binding on all schools up until the point at which a new one is adopted.)

• Yes for primary
• Yes for secondary

How many children were admitted to schools in your area under the fair access protocol between 1 August 2021 and 31 July 2022?

How well do you consider hard to place children are served by the fair access protocol in your area?

• Well

Please provide any comments you wish on the protocol not covered above. It would be particularly helpful to have any comments on the impact of the Code changes on the operation of the FAP in your area and the ability to secure places for vulnerable children:

• The changes in practice have had little effect on the operation of FAP in Brighton & Hove, the vulnerable children securing a school place through this process are still served well. 

Directions

How many directions did the local authority make between 1 August 2021 and 31 July 2022 to maintained schools for which the local authority is not the admission authority to admit children (including children looked after by the local authority but resident in another area)?

• None