What do you think of this?

[mystery]

It is possible that any school could have a last minute change to admissions policies forced on it by the School's Adjudicator. Parents may not know what the new policy is going to be while they are making key decisions during September and October as to which schools to put on their Common Application Forms.

It is possible for a parent (or others) to object to a schools' admissions policy by 31 July each year to the Schools Adjudicator e.g. by 31 July 2010 for admission in September 2011. Because of the school holidays, these objections do not usually get considered until during September. Then the Adjudicator has to decide whether or not to direct the school to change its policy, and if so, in what way. It is then up to the LEA to communicate these changes.

What do you think of this system? I think it might be worth those of us who are bothered about it constructing a letter to Michael Gove about.

It is of course right that there should be some kind of recourse for an unfair admissions policy, but I'm not sure that this one is quite the right one. It can be used too frequently, too much at the last minute, and is not very open. e.g. if it is an LEA that objects, they apparently do not have to publish the full details of their objection.

[T12ACY]

I think that you, quite reasonably, have a bee in your bonnet!

[Sally-Anne]

The School's Adjudicator already agrees with you on the timing aspect, mystery. This extract is one of 11 recommendations made in the S.A. report covering the period September 2008 - August 2009:

A major cause for concern is the date up to which objections can be made to admission arrangements. Specifying a date by which objections must be made is a definite improvement on the previous requirement to lodge an objection within six weeks of the arrangements being determined by the LA or the school. However, the deadline of 31 July is problematic. Most objections that arrive in July cannot be investigated properly as schools approach the end of the school year, and then close for the summer holiday. This leads to considerable uncertainty for all concerned. Although it is understood why this deadline was set, to allow parents as much time as possible to object, an earlier date of would at least allow investigations to begin, and hopefully in many cases be concluded, before August when many schools are closed.

Presumably a new report should be published shortly and that will show whether there has been any progress.

[mystery]

Thanks for that Sally. I really didn't like the idea of a bee in my bonnet; it made me feel very sorry for the bee.