Agenda item

Members to review admission at reception and secondary entry for September 2022 and wider school place planning processes.

7.1  Each year the Commission reviews local admission processes for both reception and secondary school level entry and the wider school place planning role of the Council.  This helps the Commission maintain oversight of school places across and ensure that there is sufficient local capacity.  Hackney Education provided a report on school admissions outcomes and school place planning

7.2  The Cabinet member introduced this item noting that for the overwhelming majority of parents, a Hackney school was their first preference for their child.  A majority of parents also secured a place for their child at either their first or second preference school which was in line with regional averages.  The report highlighted the ongoing issue with falling school numbers in primary settings which would eventually feed into secondary school numbers.  This was a regional issue being felt across schools in London.

7.3  The Director of Education noted that the School Estates Strategy was agreed earlier this year by Cabinet which would respond to the issues raised by falling school rolls and the need to increase in-borough SEND Provision.  The Head of School Organisation and Commissioning noted the following from the report:

There was a 1.8% decrease in the number of children applying for reception places in Hackney in 2022 compared to 2021.  This was part of a longer trend which has seen a decrease of 18% of applications for reception places since 2017.  Whilst London figures demonstrated a similar pattern of admission, this was more pronounced in Hackney (there being only a 9.4% fall across London since 2017);

Local Schools remain popular with over 9/10 parents choosing a Hackney school at their first preference.

In terms of the 36 families who were not given any preferred primary schools, they were offered a place in the nearest school with vacancies.  Given the number of vacancies across the sector, most were offered places reasonably close to where they lived.

Secondary admissions showed a similar pattern to that recorded for reception, with a 3.4% reduction in applications from 2021 to 2022 and a reduction of 8.7% since 2017.  It was noted that the decline in the number of applications to Hackney schools since 2017 runs counter to London wide data where there has been a 4.2% increase since 2017.  It was not clear as to why this was the case, though there had been a recent trend for families to move from inner to outer London boroughs and further beyond.

86.5% expressed a first preference for a Hackney secondary school and 89% were allocated a school from one of their three preferred choices which corresponded to London wide data.

151 families (6.6%) were not offered a place at any of their preferred schools which was just above the London average.

Questions from the Commission

7.4  In respect of school place planning, a significant fall in the demand for reception places is anticipated for 2023 and beyond?  Are any further reductions in the PAN envisaged for 2023/24?  Are there any patterns or trends among those schools noticing the most fall in demand for places?  How are schools required to reduce their numbers identified?  Is this linked to areas of social disadvantage? 

The PAN listed are permanent and need to be consulted upon with the local community at least 20 months in advance.  Some schools do ask for a temporary PAN to help them through short-term dips in pupil numbers and applications. In many cases the schools themselves request PANs to assist them in budget planning.  Hackney Education did however initiate a number of discussions with schools where falling numbers were recorded.  It was noted that this was a joint discussion and agreement between the school and Hackney Education.

It was emphasised that parents have a legal right to choose the school which they would prefer to send their child, and in this context, it can be difficult to reduce numbers at schools which are popular or oversubscribed.  The overall distribution of schools and number of vacancies across the borough was skewed, with greater capacity noted in the south-west of the borough.  The Estates Strategy would help manage this issue.

7.5  For those children without a secondary place, can the Council explain its policy and approach to place allocations?  It was noted that in some areas of the borough, children may have to pass up to 4 other schools to attend a secondary school place which has been allocated which does have vacancies?  This issue was exemplified in the report at Table 3 which demonstrated that 52 children from E5 were not offered a place on admissions day, yet Mossbourne Academy which was in E5 admitted 24 children from outside the borough.  Similar situations were noted for children located in E9 postcode wards (on the Kingsmead Estate).

The Cabinet member noted that they were  aware of this issue and were working with officers and local schools to develop a response. 

Officers noted that the Council does have the power to change the admissions criteria for community secondary schools (Stoke Newignton and Haggeston) but admissions criteria for the other remaining 10+ secondary schools are set by voluntary aided bodies (as in faith schools) individual governing bodies or Multi-Academy Trusts (for academies).  Thus the Council’s position for the majority of these schools was that of seeking to influence admissions criteria. 

Central government sets out statutory criteria (such as LAC) and other issues which can be considered by the school in determining admissions criteria e.g.  presence of siblings and distance lived from the school. This was the position for children living on the Kingsmead Estate who wanted to attend City Academy. This Academy has a standard admissions procedure, but given the demand for the service, there is little scope for local admissions from ‘black spots’ once places have been allocated to LAC and children with siblings.  A longer term approach would be needed for Hackney Education to engage and consult with local secondary schools to highlight those areas where access is difficult, and to encourage them to change admissions policies.  It should be noted that the Council cannot impose any changes.

7.6  In other boroughs, schools have been closed or required to merge.  What is the position in Hackney, is the Council committed to keeping all schools open? How will falling school rolls impact on the local School Estates Strategy and the need to create additional resources to meet growing demand for SEND services (specialist provision and in-house provision in maintained schools)?

The Council is committed to ensuring that children receive the best quality of education and that every child has access to a good local school.  The School Estates Strategy is fundamental to the delivery of these objectives.  The impact of falling rolls does require the Council to look at options however, including Additional Resource Provisions in schools.  There were currently two empty educational sites (one at Nightingale site at Harrington Hill) and the Council was exploring whether additional specialist education provision on these sites.  Longer term trends do however predict rising populations in Hackney and the Council would be reluctant to take any action which closes future options to respond to this.

Schools have merged in the past, but there were no plans for this course of action in Hackney at present.  All options must be considered, however, to ensure that schools remain sustainable.

The Cabinet Member for Families, Early Years, Parks & Play noted that there had been an increase of £13m of additional funding had been agreed by DfE over the next two years which will support ½ of the new SEND places planned in the School Estates Strategy.  It would however, be too simplistic to assume that schools with declining school rolls can be used to increase SEND provision as there were many assessments needed to make this decision (e.g building suitability, location etc.). Phase 1A was agreed in January and a Cabinet paper for next proposals would be brought forward later in 2022/ early 2023.

7.7  What financial support is being put in place by Hackney Education and the wider Council to ensure the sustainability of local schools?

It was very difficult to provide additional financial support to school as funding was determined by the numbers of children, and declining school rolls was creating financial challenges.  Schools Forum has agreed additional support for those schools which do have to reduce their staffing numbers. 

7.8  What evidence is there that popular local schools in more affluent areas are accepting students above their allocated PAN?  If this is happening, this can exacerbate the problem of falling school rolls elsewhere.

In relation to schools offering above PAN, whilst this was not common practice in other areas, it was noted that a number of local secondary schools do over-offer between 1st March and school census day in October (which counts to their funding). Schools indicated over-offering (by between 6-12 places) was warranted because of the school appeals process and evidence which suggested that numbers fell back before the start of term.  It was acknowledged that this did have an impact on other local secondary schools, and that this year that impact was greater because of the declining size of this cohort overall.  Over-offering can be beneficial however, as it can help the local authority to place children it is statutorily required to do so.  If the cohort continues to decline, the Council would need to reconsider this situation.

7.9  The Commission is aware that Hackney is hosting a number of Ukrainian refugee children as part of a number of national schemes.  Have all re-settling Ukrainian children been given timely access to local education services? 

There have been sufficient places to allow all new arrivals and refugees to take up places in local primary and secondary schools.  The government has been very clear how admissions must operate, therefore Ukrainian children cannot be prioritised over other children who may be waiting for school places and schools must stick to the school admissions code.  The service was not aware of Ukrainian children experiencing long delays, but it was not always able to offer places nearest to their host's home.

7.10  At page 66 of the report pack, the admissions arrangements for children with an EHCP for reception entry notes that 32 children were under assessment as of 15/2/22.  Will all EHCP assessments be completed for children in readiness for September 2022 entry?  Is there a substantial backlog in the service given the number of children waiting to be assessed?

Officers noted that children's additional needs are only beginning to be identified at around 3 and 4 years of age and it is not uncommon for children to have their EHCP completed after they have started reception. 

7.11  Planning for school places for children in the Orthodox Jewish Community remains a significant concern which has been set out in the Stamford Hill Area Action Plan.  Can officers update the Commission on work taking place to work with the Orthodox Jewish Community to help develop in-borough provision (recognising that many will prefer to attend schools in the independent sector).

Around 70-75% of Orthodox Jewish Children aged 5-16 are educated in Independent Schools which are inspected by Ofsted.  Hackney Education is working closely with the Independent Sector to help improve the quality of teaching and Ofsted inspection outcomes.  Additional support provided would have to be on a traded basis.  The two maintained schools (Lubovich and Yesoda Hatora) have made progress but it would be difficult to secure a ‘good’ rating for these schools whilst the curriculum is so narrow.

Children who attend Yeshiva are likely to experience significant change in the coming years as the White Paper makes provisions for such settings to be registered and therefore included within the inspection framework of Ofsted.  It should be noted that the Orthodox Jewish community remains opposed to these new provisions.

7.12  The Chair thanked officers for attending and responding to questions from members of the Commission.  The session has highlighted the importance of the following issues which the Commission would wish to maintain oversight of:

- School Estate Strategy;

- To ensure that further work with schools to remove ‘admissions black spots’;

- To continue to assess what support is provided to schools to ensure that all are sustainable.