We recently collected some real life horror stories of schools that weren't fully aware of their rights under the Admiss
Admissions Horror Stories As we are sure you know, schools all over the country are reaching breaking point as oversubscription for school places sweeps the nation. We recently collected some real life horror stories of schools that weren’t fully aware of their rights under the Admissions Code and suffered as a result. Read on to discover what mistakes they made, how they could have fought back and how you can avoid starring in your very own admissions horror story... Chapter 1 The perils of not understanding your local Fair Access Protocol The Fair Access Protocol (FAP) gives the Local Authority (LA) the power to place children at your school in-year. But this is only the case if the FAP complies with the School Admissions Code. Not understanding the requirements and lacking the confidence to challenge the LA can mean you end up with many more pupils than you deserve, as one school found out… Having assumed that the LA had adopted a Code-compliant FAP and that their processes were then in line with it, the school continued to accept pupil after pupil under the FAP. When the LA attempted to place the fifth pupil, the school sought advice on whether they had to accept him. The legal advice identified that the FAP was not Code compliant and that the LA had been placing the majority of the pupils with this school regardless of need or which school suited the pupil best, breaching the FAP and the Code requirements. Had the school known the requirements and challenged the LA, they would only have had to accept one of the pupils, reducing the burden on an already oversubscribed school. What can you do to avoid the same thing happening to you? Three things: 1. Understand what the Code requires of a FAP 2. Seek advice if in doubt 3. Don’t be afraid to challenge the LA Optimus Education’s School & Academy Admissions & Appeals conference (29th January in London) will provide you with the legal and practical guidance to ensure you avoid falling foul of common and costly breaches of the Code. Visit the event website Download a copy of the brochure
