What is an Admissions Forum?
In accordance with the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (SSFA 1998) we established a School Admissions Forum.
Admission forums provide a vehicle for admission authorities and other key interested parties to discuss the effectiveness of local admission arrangements, consider how to deal with difficult admission issues and advise admission authorities on ways in which their arrangements can be improved. Their main focus is to consider the fairness of arrangements in their local context. Admission authorities of all maintained schools and academies, when exercising their functions, must have regard to any advice offered by the forum.
Admissions Forums must:
- Consider how well existing and proposed admission arrangements serve the interests of children and parents within the area of the local authority;
- promote agreement on admission issues;
- review the comprehensiveness, effectiveness within the local context, and accessibility of advice and guidance for parents by the local authority, both through the published composite prospectus and the delivery of Choice Advice within the area of the forum;
- consider the effectiveness of the authority's proposed co-ordinated admission arrangements, and advise on whether the authority's proposed co-ordinated admission arrangements differ substantially from the previous year;
- consider the means by which admissions processes might be improved and how actual admissions relate to the admission numbers published;
- monitor the admission of children who arrive in the authority's area outside a normal admission round with a view to promoting arrangements for the fair distribution of such children among local schools, taking account of any preference expressed in accordance with arrangements made under section 86(1) of the SSFA 1998 and in accordance with this Code;
- promote the arrangements for children with special educational needs, children in care and children who have been excluded from school;
- monitor the effectiveness of local authority Fair Access Protocols;
- consider any other admissions issues that arise
