Report on SCC Executive meeting 26 February: revised proposal approved including nearest alternative school tiebreaker

On 26 February the SCC executive debated the schools admission policy for 2009 admissions  to the Howard of Effingham school. 

The proposed policy was only finalised a few hours before the meeting and we have yet to receive a definitive version.  However, we believe the following is an accurate description.

SCC’s Executive approved a revised policy which, after children in care, exceptional arrangements and siblings, gives priority in the following order:

1.             Children who live within the most recently described catchment area (i.e. the 2006 Admissions Priority Area) and who attend one of five named partner schools - Oakfield, Eastwick, St Lawrence, The Raleigh and The Dawnay.

2.             Children who live in the catchment area, but do not attend one of the named partner schools; and

3.             any other applicant.

Crucially, within the catchment area (1. and 2. above), the nearest alternative school
tiebreaker will apply.  Outside the catchment area (3. above), the nearest school tiebreaker will
be used.

We continue to believe that the arrangements consulted on for 2009 during December-January would have been equitable and objective.  Those arrangements prioritized applications from children for whom the Howard is their nearest school.  In the event that applications from such children exceeded the intake limit of 240,  priority was to be given to those for whom their nearest alternative school would be furthest away.

However, the policy approved by the SCC Executive on 26 February:

• takes account of the requirement of the Adjudicator to make further refinements to the admissions policy for HoE

• utilises a catchment area in line with the 2006 catchment area for the Howard, encompassing Bookham, Downside, Effingham, Horsley and Ockham, and also which has a boundary which is very close to the nearest school boundary at both the Eastern and Western boundaries

• protects  the access for Horsley children to their only accessible school, protects other children in the catchment area at partner schools,  and also gives a reasonable prospect of a place to those children in our communities not at partner schools

• addresses several of the concerns raised in the consultation.

 We note that in, developing this solution, SCC explicitly acknowledged that Horsley’s access to other schools differs from that in other parts of Surrey.  Horsley does not have access to any of the other schools which are next nearest to it after the Howard, as all of these are either oversubscribed by children living much closer or have different admissions criteria.

SCC has formed this conclusion after looking at the 2008 admissions data.  Accordingly, SCC has agreed with the Schools Adjudicator that Horsley children have no other reasonably accessible school, and that admissions arrangements for the Howard therefore need to ensure that applications from Horsley children to the Howard are prioritised over applications from children who DO have alternatives. We understand that this careful analysis of the applications data for 2008 is the driver for SCC to consider that the nearest alternative school tiebreaker is the best solution for the Howard. 

The policy will not be finalised until the Full Council Meeting on March 4^th.   We are cautiously optimistic that it will be adopted as a workable compromise capable of implementation until the broader issue of increasing secondary school capacity in the area can be addressed.