Chances of OOC in Wellington boys & Greenshaw

[tiffinboys]

I know you are very well informed and as you know, I have huge respect for your view, but I would beg to disagree. Wilson's is part of the Pan London arrangement. True, but that does not bring the school under Sutton LA. Academies are independent of LAs. Only they have to process their admissions using Secondary Schools Admission Arrangements of LA, so that only one offer is made on the national allocation day.

School can increase PAN without consultation, if governors want to. No one else can force them to go beyond their determined PAN, but they can offer more places. As Greenshaw did last year (75 open places, instead of 60) and even Wilson did, I think, two years ago when they increased the admission numbers at the time of Allocation day.

In fact, this is going to be a issue at TGS, as they have been increasing the PAN despite apparent shortage of space. Rumours are that PAN in being further increased to 210.

[Ladymuck]

I'm not disagreeing that the schools, as academies, have the power to increase their PAN, I'm simply saying that in this instance the schools did not increase their PAN in this way. They were allowed by Sutton LA to make a number of offers in excess PAN under the pan London agreement, but their actual PAN did not increase. Wilson's took in only 180 boys, despite over-offering more spaces, because they expected to be turned down by parents who lived too far to take up the places as well as the parents who would stay in/opt for the independent schools nearby. When they went to their waiting list (as Greenshaw also did) they only went to their original PAN of 180, not the 200+ offers sent out on NOD. There is a difference between increasing their PAN (which I agree, they can do independently, and without agreement of Sutton), and offering places on National Offer Day in excess of their determined PAN (which is the case for Wilsons and Greenshaw last year as seen in the Sutton secondary admission document, and explained therein as a measure which was allowed as the total pupils would reduce to PAN prior to 1 September, which was of course the case for both schools).

Whilst the academies are under pressure to increase their PANs, they don't want to do so in an uncontrolled way as this would leave them open to appeals. If Wilsons had decided to increase their PAN by 36, but then only took 180 boys, they would be open to appeal. The parents would win on the basis that their boys had passed the test, and the school had spaces available as demonstrated by the increase in PAN. Wilson's has increased its PAN twice over the last 12 years, in each time by a class of 30. But in the most recent case this was linked with a new building block for years 7 and 8.