Note from the county council

Parents, carers, schools and community groups are being invited to have their say on Hertfordshire County Council’s school admission arrangements for September 2013.

The consultation on Hertfordshire school admissions arrangements for 2013/14 opens on 3 January 2012.

The key proposal is to allow an increase in the number of school preferences from three to four. This means parents would be able to apply to four schools, rather than three as is current practice.

Local authorities can allow parents to express preferences for between three and six schools. Most of Hertfordshire’s neighbouring authorities allow more than three preferences. This has increasingly led to the belief that children living in a neighbouring authority may have a greater opportunity to gain a place at a preferred school than a Hertfordshire child.

The county council believes that increasing Hertfordshire’s preferences from three to four will reduce the perceived unfairness and also allow parents to include a ’safety net’ preference.

As a result of the draft School Admissions Code, published on 2 November, views are also being sought on the following proposals:
– a rule to prioritise children of school staff
– the treatment of twins/multiple birth children
– in year admissions

The county council is also seeking views on proposals to amend its priority area rules and “nearest” school definitions.

Full details of the proposals include:
– nursery admissions oversubscription criteria
– admission arrangements and oversubscription criteria for all community and voluntary-controlled schools
– schemes of co-ordination for primary and secondary schools and academies and in year admissions
– sixth-form admission arrangements
– published admission numbers

The consultation runs from 3 January to 29 February 2012.

The admissions arrangements for all Hertfordshire schools, together with the full consultation document are available to view online at: www.hertsdirect.org/admissions2013