Parents of children currently in Year Six at Isle of Wight schools, are now having to submit admission forms for their childrens’ places for secondary schools in September 2011.
Previously, Year Six parents had been told that their child would automatically be allocated a place in one of the schools selected by the local authority, based on which Middle School they were at.
Parents were informed that they didn’t need to apply for a place or complete any forms unless they wished to send their child to a school other than that chosen by the authority.
Year Six pupils are already the year most affected by the move from three tier to two tier.
Why?
The Schools Adjudicator (their role defined) has become involved in reviewing the application process that the IW Council had originally put it in place, following a complaint that it hadn’t been organised properly.
Siblings WILL now influence
One of the key issues that the Adjudicator has altered, is that concerning siblings. Previously the Council ruled that having a sibling at a particular school wouldn’t influence if a child was allowed to go to the same school – much to a lot of peoples unhappiness.
Siblings at the school chosen will now be considered as an important factor when deciding if a child will receive a place at that school.
More details when we can unearth them
Here’s the School’s Adjudicator ruling …
The admission arrangements for Cowes Secondary school, Newport (Carisbrooke) Secondary school and Newport (Fairlee) Secondary school for September 2011 shall be amended as follows:
- 1. Oversubscription criteria which prioritise siblings shall use the following wording:
“who is already at the current high school, and who will still be in attendance at the successor secondary school in September 2011 ”
- 2. The following admission numbers will apply to Year 7 admissions
Cowes – 270
Newport (Carisbrooke) – 216
Newport (Fairlee) – 270- 3. For Year 9, the number of places available in each school for the purpose of admissions in September 2011 will be the higher of
– the actual number of pupils in the relevant age group attending each school’s feeder middle schools in the autumn of 2010 (with that for Osborne Middle contributing to the two secondary schools by being split between them according to the actual number of pupils living in the areas defined by the Council),
– and the admission number previously indicated for the school’s year 9 intake in 2011.The number of places so defined is
Cowes – 270
Newport (Carisbrooke) – 216
Newport (Fairlee) – 270- 4. For Year 8, the number of places available in each school for the purpose of admissions in September 2011 will be the higher of
– the actual number of pupils in the relevant age group attending each school’s feeder middle schools in the autumn of 2010 (with that for Osborne Middle contributing to the two secondary schools by being split between them according to the actual number of pupils living in the areas defined by the Council),
– the admission number determined for Year 7 for 2011.The number of places so defined is
Cowes – 270
Newport (Carisbrooke) – 232
Newport (Fairlee) – 270- 5. The Council will coordinate a normal admission round for Year 7 entry, and
will use preference information previously provided by parents and the same
process to allocate Year 9 places.- 6. For Year 8, places will be allocated initially based on the feeder Middle
School attended, and parental requests for alternative places will be met
wherever possible by placing them in priority order using the oversubscription
criteria and allocating places up to the number of places available, as defined
above.
VB has requested a comment from Colin Peak, Director for Children and Young People and will update this article once we receive it.
Colin Peak, IW Council strategic director of children and young people said: “We are sorry that parents of Year 6 pupils now have to apply for a school place and understand the inconvenience and concern this may cause.
“We do however have to go through the correct process as determined by the school’s adjudicator. I would like to stress that our own admissions policy was correct at the time the letters were sent out, but the situation has changed due to the outcome of a test case elsewhere in the country.
“The adjudicator has acknowledged that these were circumstances beyond our control. However once the local procedure was challenged in light of the test case, we had no choice but to fall into line with what had been decided.
“I would ask all parents of Year 6 pupils to complete the applications before the deadline, and thank them for their patience during this revised process.”
