Issue - meetings

RESOLVED:

It is recommended that Cabinet make the following recommendations to the County Council:

Recommendation 1

That the published admissions number for Reception at Furzefield Primary School is decreased from 60 to 58 for September 2020.

Reasons for decision

·         It will enable children admitted to the SEND Learning and Additional Needs centre to be educated in the mainstream class more than 50% of the time

·         It will reduce the likelihood of the school having to take qualifying measures to meet infant class size legislation

·         It is supported by the Headteacher and Governing Body of the school

·         There will still be sufficient places for local children if the PAN is decreased

·         It will have no impact on children who are currently on roll at the school

Recommendation 2

That the admission arrangements for Wallace Fields Junior School are amended so that the measuring point used to assess nearest school and home to school distance will be the nearest gate of either Wallace Fields Infant School or Wallace Fields Junior School.

Reasons for Decision

·         There was overall support for this change

·         It will ensure that the school serves the local community around both the infant and the junior schools

·         It will enable more local children to transfer from the infant school to the junior school

·         It will support families by keeping siblings at schools that are within close proximity

·         It will remove uncertainty for some families who have the infant school as their nearest school at Reception but not the junior school at Year 3

·         This proposal is in line with a separate consultation by Wallace Fields Infant School to make the same changes to their admission arrangements. The change to the admission arrangements for Wallace Fields Junior School is subject to the governors of Wallace Fields Infant School also agreeing to the same change at their full Governing Body meeting on Wednesday 16 January 2019

·         It is supported by the Headteacher and Governing Body of Wallace Fields Junior School

Recommendation 3

That children previously in state care outside England who left that care as a result of being adopted are given priority under criterion two for children with an exceptional social/medical need.

Reasons for Decision

·         It is consistent with the advice issued by Nick Gibb, Minister of State for School Standards, and advice issued by the Department for Education in August 2018

·         It provides as much parity as the local authority can provide with children who have been adopted from care in England, who receive priority within criterion one

·         It will ensure that this vulnerable group of children will receive priority in the admissions process for community and voluntary controlled schools, regardless of the country in which the child was in state care, as long as they were adopted from that care.

Recommendation 4

That Surrey’s Relevant Area is agreed as set out in Enclosure 3 to the submitted report.

Reasons for Decision

·         The local authority is required by law to define the Relevant Area for admissions

·         The  ...  view the full decision text for item 13

The Cabinet Member for All-Age Learning presented a report which explained how Surrey County Council was responsible for setting the admission arrangements for its community and voluntary controlled schools and the coordinated schemes. Academies, foundation, free, trust and voluntary aided schools were responsible for setting their own admission arrangements and therefore their admission arrangements were not covered in the report.  She highlighted the second recommendation of the report and reported that the governors of Wallace Fields Infant School had also agreed to the change to the admission arrangements.

RESOLVED:

It is recommended that Cabinet make the following recommendations to the County Council:

Recommendation 1

That the published admissions number for Reception at Furzefield Primary School is decreased from 60 to 58 for September 2020.

Reasons for decision

·         It will enable children admitted to the SEND Learning and Additional Needs centre to be educated in the mainstream class more than 50% of the time

·         It will reduce the likelihood of the school having to take qualifying measures to meet infant class size legislation

·         It is supported by the Headteacher and Governing Body of the school

·         There will still be sufficient places for local children if the PAN is decreased

·         It will have no impact on children who are currently on roll at the school

Recommendation 2

That the admission arrangements for Wallace Fields Junior School are amended so that the measuring point used to assess nearest school and home to school distance will be the nearest gate of either Wallace Fields Infant School or Wallace Fields Junior School.

Reasons for Decision

·         There was overall support for this change

·         It will ensure that the school serves the local community around both the infant and the junior schools

·         It will enable more local children to transfer from the infant school to the junior school

·         It will support families by keeping siblings at schools that are within close proximity

·         It will remove uncertainty for some families who have the infant school as their nearest school at Reception but not the junior school at Year 3

·         This proposal is in line with a separate consultation by Wallace Fields Infant School to make the same changes to their admission arrangements. The change to the admission arrangements for Wallace Fields Junior School is subject to the governors of Wallace Fields Infant School also agreeing to the same change at their full Governing Body meeting on Wednesday 16 January 2019

·         It is supported by the Headteacher and Governing Body of Wallace Fields Junior School

Recommendation 3

That children previously in state care outside England who left that care as a result of being adopted are given priority under criterion two for children with an exceptional social/medical need.

Reasons for Decision

·         It is consistent with the advice issued by Nick Gibb, Minister of State for School Standards, and advice issued by the Department for Education in August 2018

·         It provides as much parity as the local authority can provide with children who have been adopted from care  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13