2009 Howard Admissions results and SCC 2010 Policy Decision - Thank you for your support

Notifications of Howard places awarded for September 2009 were made by SCC in early March, the result being that all children living in the Howard catchment area (predominantly Bookham, Effingham and Horsley) and attending  1 of the 5 partner schools were offered places.  In addition 12 children from within the catchment area who were not at partner schools were offered places.  SCC has put on its website information on offers made to all of its schools, with the results for the Howard and Therfield being as follows:

The cut off point at which the last child was admitted to the Howard was disclosed by SCC as being 4.016 km (2.4 miles) from the Nearest Alternative School, which in this case will have been the distance from Therfield.  There was no cut off point for children not admitted to Therfield, meaning that all children applying were offered places.

The admissions results for 2009 are now almost identical to those achieved prior to 2007, when SCC used the old Admission Priority Area (APA) approach.  Under both the current policy and the old APA policy the cut off point for admissions was at the Eastern end of the catchment area, in recognition of the fact that children on this boundary have a good prospect of obtaining places at Therfield, their next nearest school.  In addition under both policies SCC over offered, recognising that around 15 to 20 places are declined each year at the Howard.  For example in 2006 SCC offered 260 places, compared to 253 in 2008 and 255 in 2009, hence ensuring that as many children as possible from within the catchment area obtain places.  This over offering policy is used by SCC at most Surrey schools.

The figures released by SCC for other schools to the West and South of Horsley show a very different picture, with George Abbot, St Peters and Ashcombe all being full and there being no prospect of Horsley children obtaining places at them.  St Peters was unable to offer places to all children for whom it is their nearest school, George Abbot also did not offer places to children outside the nearest school boundary and while Ashcombe did, Horsley children were not near enough to qualify for places.  Hence SCC need to continue to ensure that their admissions policy enables Horsley children to be admitted to Howard as the three next nearest schools cannot accommodate Horsley children and allocation of places even further afield would result in excessive journey times and significant costs to SCC. 

All of those involved in the school admissions debate recognise that local house building, the potential effects of the recession on private education, high birth years and other factors, are likely to continue to put pressure on spaces at the Howard in some years.  Given this, and the lack of spaces for Horsley children at other local schools, KHitH considers that the retention of the Nearest Alternative School tie breaker is essential for the Howard.  Otherwise, in high birth rate years, Horsley children would again fail to obtain a place at the Howard or any of our next nearest schools.

SCC 2010 Policy Decision

SCC’s initial proposal for 2010 admissions was to leave the Howard admissions policy unchanged from 2009, as this was considered by their admissions team as the most appropriate policy and would also allow for a period of stability.  We supported this proposal because it represented a hard-won compromise and because no other workable solution which balances the concerns of all the communities around the Howard has been identified.  Responses to the consultation supported this proposal – with 526 votes in favour and 202 against, so thank you to everyone who ensured that Horsley’s voice was heard. 

After debate at several committee meetings this policy was approved on 25 March, with one small amendment, this being the inclusion of Royal Kent school in the partner school list.  This change was proposed by Rhona Barnfield, the Headmistress at the Howard, in order to ensure that children at all of the Effingham Learning Partnership schools were treated equally.  SCC explained that this change would only result in 2 to 3 more successful applications to the Howard per year, as very few Royal Kent children live in the catchment area.  KHitH did not object to this change given the fact that any successful applicants would have to live in the traditional catchment area.  The inclusion of Royal Kent should therefore reduce the chances of children who live very close to the Howard not being admitted to it.