Dear Headteacher and Chair of Governors,
This information is for Academies, free schools, voluntary-aided and foundation schools only. (It is copied to community and voluntary controlled schools for information only, as the LA, as your admitting authority, undertakes this task for you.)
I am writing to all governing bodies of own admitting authority schools (academies, free schools, voluntary-aided and foundation schools) to ask if your governing body is intending to consult on your admission arrangements for entry in September 2021.
You are only required to consult for entry in September 2021 if you propose to change the arrangements your governing body determined for entry in September 2020. The School Admissions Code (2014) stipulates that consultation must also take place if a 7-year period has elapsed without consultation on arrangements.
If you are going to consult, your proposed arrangements must be in the public domain for a minimum of 6 weeks between 1 October 2019 and 31 January 2020. If your governing body is going to consult, please let me know if you would like the LA to circulate your proposed admission arrangements when we go out to consultation for Haringey community and voluntary controlled (VC) schools in November this year.
Why the LA consults each year
We consult on our admission arrangements annually irrespective of whether or not there is a proposed change to the arrangements. This is to ensure transparency and openness on the contents of our arrangements and to allow parents, carers and other stakeholders who might not previously been interested in admission arrangements (perhaps because they didn’t have a child of school age) to make a representation which can then be considered as part of the determination of the arrangements.
If you are intending to consult, then please refer to the consultation on your website and ensure you include information on how can respond to the consultation so we can signpost to this when we consult all relevant stakeholders. Please contact me direct for further information.
Determining your admission arrangements for entry in September 2021 (even if you have not consulted this year).
Your governing body must meet to determine your admission arrangements by 28 February 2020. If you have not consulted because the arrangements have not changed you must still minute that the governing body have determined the admission arrangements for entry in September 2021 and in all cases, I must receive a copy of your arrangements to be posted on the LA website by 15 March 2020.
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions about the consultation and determination processes.
Carlo Kodsi, Carlo.Kodsi@haringey.gov.uk
020 8489 1823