Consultation on School admission arrangements 2013/14

Introduction

Bristol City Council is responsible for setting the admission arrangements for all schools for which it is the Admission Authority; that is, Community and Voluntary Controlled schools in the city. 

For voluntary aided schools, Academies, foundation schools or free schools each school governing body or Academy Trust is their own admission authority. Please see below for more details.

See the list of the Bristol schools who are their own Admission Authority under Related documents on the right.

About the Consultation

Between 1 January 2012 and 1 March 2012 Bristol City Council, as the admission authority, is consulting on admission arrangements (i.e. admission policies and published admission numbers) for children joining a community or voluntary controlled school for the first time in September 2013.

The consultation version of the Draft admissions arrangements for 2013/14 has been published and details as to how to respond. Under the School Admissions Code all relevant parents and other groups with an interest in the local area have a right to take part in this consultation process.

This consultation includes the proposed new intake oversubscription criteria and co-ordinated admission schemes for the 2013/14 school year. A number of issues including changes to Special Educational Needs funding and the development of split-site primary schools need to be reflected in the arrangements.

Please be aware that some additional changes may be required to comply with the new School Admissions Code currently before Parliament.

If you would like to read the proposed admission arrangements for a neighbouring Local Authority or for a school that is not in Bristol please see that Local Authority’s own website.

How to respond

All consultations must be concluded by March 1, 2012. 

If you wish to make a comment on the consultation you may do so by letter or email to School Admissions.  Comments should be submitted in writing by February 24, 2012.

Schools that are their own Admission Authority

In some circumstances, a governing body or Academy Trust may decide not to consult for a particular year, where it proposes to make no change to the previous year’s admission arrangements or has consulted within the previous 3 years. 

In the case of an Academy’s or voluntary aided school’s consultation, their consultations will be available to view on their websites. Some own admission authority schools have asked for their arrangements to be published on this website. These can be viewed under Related documents on the right. Copies may also be obtained on request from the school or Academy. 

Comments may be made directly to the chair of the governing body or Academy Trust (or the chair of the governors’ admissions committee) at the school or Academy address by the deadlines given on their websites. Comments received by the Council which relate to an Academy’s or voluntary aided school’s consultation will be forwarded to the relevant admissions authority for consideration.

What happens next:

The Council, and the relevant governing body or Trust in the case of each Academy and voluntary aided school, will consider any responses received in determining their final admission arrangements in line with their agreed timescales. 

The Code states that these final admission arrangements must be determined by 15 April and published within 14 days.  Bristol expects to provide feedback on or around 16 April 2012.