School Admissions Update

The schools admission process is a long haul for parents, with applications made in the autumn and places only now being offered for this coming September, 2008. At the same time Surrey County Council has been going through the equally long process of deciding how school places will be allocated for September 2009.

This process came to a conclusion at Full Council on the 4th of March. The Equal Preference system stays, so parents can choose three schools without worrying that the order they place them will affect their child's chance of getting in. Beyond that, there's no change from last year for the majority of Surrey's Community and Voluntary Controlled schools, which will use the following criteria when a school is oversubscribed:

1. Looked After Children

2. Exceptional Arrangements

3. Siblings

4. Children for whom the school is the nearest

5. Any other applicant

The tie-breaker in each category is distance measurement by straight line from home to the nearest school gate.

But there were two notable 'sore spots' - Oxted School, and the Howard of Effingham. 'Equal Preference' changed the pattern of admissions for each of them last year, and special arrangements had to be made.

Oxted School is unusual in having a catchment area, and this year's initial proposal was to reduce it in size, excluding a number of villages. There was significant protest, but a compromise using a combination of feeder schools, a return to the wider catchment area, and a 'tie-breaker' of distance from nearest alternative school seems to have balanced the different interests in a way that most people can accept.

Proposals for the Howard of Effingham School have gone through a series of changes. In order not to disadvantage children in the more rural area to the east of the school, the first consultation used the standard criteria but with the 'next alternative school' tie-breaker. This disadvantages children in Fetcham and Bookham, who are nearer to the school, but also nearer to the closest alternative school, which is Therfield in Leatherhead.

Rival protest groups were set up in each area. Both were very effective. They circulated thorough information and good arguments to Councillors. They had T-shirts and banners, came to County Hall, and packed out the public area of the largest committee room. Under this pressure a compromise evolved, with change going on throughout the whole process. A map for a new catchment area was tabled during the Schools and Learning Committee meeting on Admissions. At the Executive meeting to finalise recommendations for Full Council 'feeder schools' were added.

"With the Howard of Effingham, there is a fundamental problem of too many children wanting to go to the same local school, and no obviously fair solution,' said Diana Smith, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Schools and Learning. "All the way along, negotiations and compromises came in late, creating a lot of confusion. There is still a potential problem for families where the Howard of Effingham is their nearest school, but they are excluded on the 'nearest alternative school' rule. They could then miss out on the neighbouring school. For example in Fetcham, where Therfield is the nearest alternative school, Therfield gives priority to children for whom it is the nearest. In my opinion, some arrangement should be made to make sure that children in this situation can be assured of a place at Therfield if they are not offered a place at The Howard of Effingham."

"But of course underlying all of this is the huge discrepancy in outcome at GCSE level for pupils between Surrey's secondary schools. The desirability gap has to be closed, so parents and pupils can be confident every Surrey school is a good school."