Report to the Schools Adjudicator from Brighton & Hove Local Authority 2023

Report cleared by

Name: Richard Barker

Job title: Head of School Organisation

Phone number: 07584217328

Email: richard.barker@brigton-hove.gov.uk 

Date submitted: 26 October 2023

Report by

Name: Saul Johnston 

Job title: School Admissions Manager

Phone number: 01273 293653

Email: saul.johnston@brighton-hove.gov.uk 

Office of the Schools Adjudicator 

Co-ordination

How well did co-ordination of the main admissions round work?

Looked after and previously looked after children

How well does the admissions system in your local authority area serve the interests of looked after children at normal points of admission?

• Well

How well do the admissions systems in other local authority areas serve the interests of children looked after by your local authority at normal points of admission?

• Well

How well does your admissions system serve the interests of children who are looked after by other local authorities but educated in your area at normal points of admission?

• Well

How well does the admissions system in your local authority area serve the interests of previously looked after children at normal points of admission?

• Well

Special educational needs and/or disabilities 

Please provide any comments you wish to make on the admission of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities at normal points of admission:

• Community schools in the city have an exception circumstance admission priority which meets the needs of children with special educational needs and/or a disability that can be only met at a particular school. 

Looked after children and previously looked after children

How well does the in-year admission system serve children who are looked after by your local authority and who are being educated in your area?

• Well

How well do the in-year admission systems in other local authority areas serve the interests of your looked after children?

• Well

How well does your in-year admission system serve the interests of children who are looked after by other local authorities but educated in your area?

• Well

How well does your in-year admission system serve the interests of previously looked after children?

• Well

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities 

How well served are children with special educational needs and/or disabilities who have an education, health and care plan that names a school when they need to be admitted in-year?

• Well

How well served are children with special educational needs and/or disabilities who do not have an education, health and care plan when they need to be admitted in-year?

• Well

Fair access protocol

Has your fair access protocol been agreed with the majority of state-funded mainstream schools in your area? (An existing protocol remains binding on all schools up until the point at which a new one is adopted.)

• Yes for primary
• Yes for secondary

How many children were admitted to schools in your area under the fair access protocol between 1 August 2021 and 31 July 2022?

If you have seen a change in the number of children referred to your Fair Access Protocol between 1 August 2022 and 31 July 2023 compared to the previous academic year please indicate what you consider the key reasons for this change to be? 

• The total numbers are less compared to last year which could be due to more available places in the city for in-year admissions because some schools have admitted above their usual admission number and there have also been less children considered under section 3.10 of the code and required placement through the Fair Access Protocol.   

How well do you consider hard to place children are served by the fair access protocol in your area?

• Well

Please provide any comments you wish on the protocol not covered above: 

• FAP panels meet every two weeks (secondary) and three weeks (primary), and pupils almost always placed within this time frame. 

Directions

How many directions did the local authority make between 1 August 2022 and 31 July 2023 to maintained schools for which the local authority is not the admission authority to admit children (including children looked after by the local authority but resident in another area)?  

• None

Other points on in-year admission

For the schools for which the local authority co-ordinates in-year applications, in the year between 1 Aug 2022 and 31 July 2023, about the same number of applications were received.

For what proportion of schools in your area did the local authority co-ordinate in-year admissions during the 2022/2023 academic year?

• All

If you wish, please provide any other comments on the admission of children in-year not previously raised (you may wish to include here any comments about cases where it has not proved possible to find places for children): 

• Almost all applications for in-year admissions are considered and parents/carers notified within the required timescales.  All schools in the city participate with the council’s in-year coordinated scheme which assists parents/carers when applying for and securing school places quickly in-year.