Admissions are changing. Are you prepared?

As you may know, regulations came into force on 19 December 2014 amending the School Admissions Code 2012. In particular the revised Code:

a) permits admission authorities to give priority in their admission arrangements to children eligible for the early years pupil premium, pupil premium or service premium funding;

b) permits admission authorities of primary schools to give priority in their admission arrangements to children eligible for the early years pupil premium, pupil premium or service premium funding, who are in a nursery class which is part of the school or who attend a nursery which is established and run by the school;

c) amends the timetable by which admission arrangements must be consulted upon, determined and published by admission authorities, and the timetable for resolving disputes regarding the lawfulness of admission arrangements through objections to the independent Schools Adjudicator;

d) clarifies the provisions relating to the admission of summer born children who wish to delay entry into reception; and

e) introduces a number minor technical drafting changes to clarify certain provisions and to bring the Code up to date with legislative changes since 2012.

The majority of these changes are now in force and will apply to admission arrangements determined in early 2015 for the normal admissions round in September 2016.

We recommend that schools and academies take this opportunity to review their current admission arrangements to ensure they comply with the revised Code. We would be happy to assist.

Please contact Chris Hook on 0191 211 7929 or anyone of our Education team if you would like any further information.