Coordinated admission scheme for schools in Leeds 2022 to 2023

1. Introduction

This scheme requires inter-authority co-ordination by the local authorities for Leeds, North Yorkshire, Kirklees, Bradford and City of Wakefield.

The scheme also requires all admission authorities in Leeds to work together closely and to share information as required in line with the agreed timescales.

Where any admitting authority wishes to exceed its published admission number (PAN) for the forthcoming September intake (reception and years 3 and 7) they must notify the Leeds City Council Admissions Team by the date specified in the timetable to allow time for effective coordination and the necessary system changes to be made.

1.1 Leeds Admission Authorities

In Leeds there are a number of different admission authorities, as follows:

A list of all primary, infant and junior and secondary schools in the Leeds City Council relevant area is provided at 5. 

This also confirms who the admitting authority for each school is at 31 December 2020 when this scheme was determined. 

Should any schools adopt foundation status, become academies or free schools their Governing Bodies or Academy Trust will take up responsibility as admission authorities.

Coordination schemes do not affect the rights and duties of admitting authorities of academies, free schools, foundation or voluntary aided schools to set and apply their own admission arrangements, but schools must ensure that their own arrangements are compatible with this coordination scheme.

This coordination scheme is in place to ensure a fair and transparent route for the consideration of parental preferences when allocating school places.

1.2 Right to apply for a school place

As a Local Authority, we must enable parents and carers to say where they would prefer their child go to school. The law does not give parents a right to 'choose' which school their child will attend.

Admission Authorities must comply with any preference expressed by a parent or carer about which school they would prefer their child to be educated in, subject to certain exceptions.

Exceptions

The law recognises that it might not be possible to always offer the school place that is requested, for a number of reasons:

• because admitting the child would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources (the prejudice limit is indicated by the published admission number);
• because the child has been permanently excluded from two or more schools and the most recent of the exclusions took place within the last two years;
• because the school's statutory infant class size limit of 30 has been reached

1.3 Synergy

Our admissions team use the Synergy Admissions application as the information system to manage applications and allocations. This provides a portal for applicants (Parent Portal) and a portal for schools (SAM).

The distance measurements provided by the admissions team use LLPG coordinates on each school and residential property. Straight line distance is then measured between the two sets of coordinates using GIS mapping.

Synergy Admissions is populated with the priority or catchment areas determined in each school's admissions arrangements. Applications are matched to addresses and oversubscription criteria, allowing all schools to identify which priority of their admissions arrangements the application meets when ranking their applications in SAM.

2. Applications in the Normal Round (to start Reception, Year 3 in Junior school or Year 7 in September 2022)

Parents of children who are resident in Leeds, must apply to us for a school place in Reception, Year 3 in junior schools, or Year 7 in a Leeds school or a school in any other local authority area.

An online application facility will be available during each application period as described in the timetable and there will also be a paper Common Preference Form (CPF) available on request for use for anyone without access to the online system.

Parents will be able to include up to 5 preferences in their order of preference. 

Where other local authorities provide for additional preferences those parents will need to include the preference for a Leeds school as one of their first five preferences to ensure Leeds parents are treated equitably.

All preferences will be considered equally and where more than one offer is possible, the listed order on the application will then be used to decide which single offer is made.

Parents may give their reasons for each preference on application, however only the published oversubscription criteria can be used to rank applications.

We will make appropriate arrangements to ensure:

1. that parents can apply via the online application system up to the deadline for applications
2. that the paper CPF is available on request
3. that the online application system and CPF are accompanied by a written explanation of the co-ordinated scheme and this is available for parents

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure every parent resident in Leeds who has a child due to start reception, transfer from infant school into junior school, or start secondary school can apply online, or access a copy of the CPF.

After the closing date for applications the school admissions team will forward details of the applications to each admission authority within the Leeds area, and to other local authorities if a preference has been made for a school in another area.

This scheme preserves the powers and responsibilities of individual admission authorities (Governing Bodies or Academy Trusts), who must determine and apply their admissions arrangements to all applications.

Admission authorities are required to inform the Leeds City Council admission team of the ranked order of all applications when they have applied their admissions arrangements by the agreed deadlines.

2.1 Supplementary Information Form (SIF)

All preferences expressed online or on the CPF are valid applications. Where any admission authority requires that additional information is needed for them to rank the application, applicants will be informed of this by the admission authority. These forms can only be used where additional information is required for the admission authority to apply their oversubscription criteria to the application.

A SIF is not an application form in its own right. The applicant is required to submit a preference through the online system or CPF. Where a school chases any applicants for a SIF, they should contact all applicants and not just selected applicants.

2.2 Testing

There are no maintained primary, infant, junior or secondary schools in Leeds that require a test in order to gain admission.

Some secondary schools offer a priority based on aptitude in sports or performing arts. Each admission authority publishes their own information about the testing arrangements. Where an applicant attends and is granted aptitude priority, this will mean the application will be prioritised for a place, but the school cannot make an offer of a place.

2.3 The application process

Our online parent portal is the main route for all Leeds residents applying for new Reception, junior school or Year 7 place. Paper copies of the prospectus and CPF are available on request.

If a school receives a CPF (paper form) directly, the school should:

• gather in the completed forms and issue the parent a receipt
• check them for factual detail
• offer advice to the parent if the parent has misunderstood some aspect of the procedure
• send the forms in a batch, keeping a record of all forms sent before the deadline
• advise the parent of a child from another local authority to contact them to apply

If a child lives in another local authority area but would like to apply for a Leeds school place, they should apply to their home local authority and include their preference for the Leeds school(s). The home local authority will send the preference(s) to us and we will ensure the application is ranked by the appropriate admitting authority and then notify the home local authority whether an offer can be made. The home local authority will undertake its allocation process and communicate the offer to the applicant.

After the closing date, we will undertake a range of verification processes including:

• address checks
• Child Looked After claims checks
• Education Health and Care Plan checks
• make decisions on exceptional social and medical claims
  

Applicants may be contacted and asked to provide further information to support their application. Information must be provided by the final date for verification evidence (see timetable).

Verified claims will be visible in SAM but schools retain the duty for checking that any applicant claims have been verified prior to ranking.

2.4 Allocation of places

This scheme ensures that each child only receives one single offer and that each preference is considered equally.

Where multiple offers are possible for any child, we will refer to the preference list on the child's application and allocate the highest ranked school possible.

We will only make a decision about the offer or refusal of a place where:

• we are acting in our separate capacity as an admission authority, or
• a child is eligible for a place at more than one Leeds school, or
• a child is not eligible for a place at any school that the parent has listed  and the child lives in Leeds – we will make a placement offer (see below)

We will notify all admitting authority schools of all applications they have received, via the SAM module. Each application will be recorded with a straight line distance measurement from the school using the defined LLPG coordinates. Schools are required to review and rank each application in line with their published oversubscription criteria by the published deadlines (see timetable).

If we cannot offer parents or carers a place for their child at any of the schools they preferenced, a place will be allocated at the closest school that has places available at the time of making the offers. This is called a placement offer. A placement offer can be made at any school with a vacancy available, including Voluntary Aided, Foundation schools or Academies.

Where the child does not live in Leeds, the home local authority is responsible for their education and allocating an alternative offer.

We will notify all admission authorities in the relevant area of the offers to be made at their school by the deadline in this scheme.

We will endeavour to work with other local authorities so that only a single offer is made and we will notify the home local authority if a place is to be offered or not by the deadline in this scheme. The home local authority will make offers on behalf of Leeds to applicants living outside of Leeds.

2.5 The offer of a place

Parents will be notified by us that they are being offered a place at an allocated school on national offer day - see the timetable for confirmation of dates.

The offer will give the following information:

• the name of the school at which a place is offered
• where applicable, the reasons why the child is not being offered a place at each of their higher preference schools asked for
• information about their statutory right of appeal against any decisions to refuse places at the other nominated schools

Parents offered a Community or Voluntary Controlled school will be required to accept the offer of a school place by the date specified in the timetable and offer information. All other schools within Leeds and schools in other LAs may also require parents to accept the offered school by a specified date.

Failure to accept the place by the deadline may result in the place being withdrawn and offered to another applicant.

Until the start of term in September, we have a legal obligation to coordinate normal round admissions. This means that only the Leeds City Council Admissions team can allocate places for September in reception, year 3 (Junior schools) and year 7.

2.6 Waiting lists

A waiting list for all schools will be maintained until at least 31 December 2022. For community and voluntary controlled schools the waiting list will remain open until the end of the Summer school term - July 2023.

Between offer day and the first day of term in September 2022, only the Leeds City Council Admissions Team can allocate and offer places in the normal round.

Waiting lists must be held in line with the published oversubscription criteria. Waiting lists must be ranked whenever a child is added to the list, and places cannot be offered on a first come first served basis.

Voluntary Aided, Foundation School and Academies will describe in their admissions arrangements when their waiting lists will close.

2.7 Applications received or amended after the closing date

The national closing date for applications to be received in school, directly to the local authority or online in the normal admission round is:

Cut-off date

Applications received or changed within 4 weeks of the national closing date will be considered as on-time applications, unless a school's individual admission policy expressly prohibits this.

After cut-off date

Any applications received or changed after the 4 week cut-off date until missed deadline date will only be considered after on-time applications, unless there are significant or exceptional reasons for the application missing the deadline, submitted in writing, which have been agreed by us. Cases are considered individually.

After missed deadline date

Any applications received or changed after this date will only be considered after national offer day. Late application offers will be made after the first cut-off for waiting list requests.

After national offer day, changes can be made to applications for Leeds schools, including adding new preferences and changing the preference order. All applications will be ranked in the same way as on-time applications after offer day.

Other Local Authority areas may have different restrictions on applications and changes after offer day.

Missed deadline/Verification date

If after applying, families move house and need to update their application or provide new preferences, or if we, as local authority, contact families asking for additional information to allow us to verify the applicant qualifies for a specific priority, you must provide the requested evidence to us by the verification date (see timetable).

Any late supplementary information forms must be sent to the school concerned as without the SIF it will not be possible for the application to be ranked under the requested criteria.

3. School transfer (In year) applications

Outside the normal admissions round, applications for a school place are known as in-year transfers. This includes applications for a place in reception, year 3 at Junior schools or year 7 after the start of term in September and applications for a place in all other year groups.

Leeds City Council is the admission authority for Community and Voluntary Controlled schools, and we delegate the responsibility for in-year admissions decisions to those schools.

Available places

We must provide information to prospective parents about the places still available in all schools within Leeds and to do this, we provide a list of schools with vacancies on our website which is updated weekly.

All Leeds schools must provide us with the number of places available at their school within 2 days of us making such a request to the school.

Coordinated application system

Leeds City Council does not coordinate in-year applications. The LA does not make in-year offers for any schools. In-year decisions, including offers, are made by schools individually. We offer a centralised in-year application process for Community and Voluntary Controlled schools and any other schools who wish to use this system. Schools must tell us by 1 October 2021 if they are not part of the centralised application process. Families must apply to these schools directly for an in-year school place. At 27 July, the schools who families must apply to directly are:

• UTC

The above schools must notify us, as LA, of any new application and the outcome as soon as reasonably practicable but should aim to be within 2 school days so that we have up to date figures on the availability of places in Leeds and can ensure we are aware of any children who may not have a school place.

The Leeds In-year Common Preference Form (ICPF) should be submitted to the Local Authority via the online application system to request a place in any Leeds school for any year group outside the normal admissions round.

We will send the application to all schools within the Leeds area each school day. Each school will make their own decision on whether they can admit the child, and schools should aim to notify the parents of the outcome of their application in writing within 10 school days, but they must be notified in writing within 15 school days. This written notification must include providing right of appeal with reasons where appropriate and schools must also inform the LA within 2 school days. We will monitor all applications to ensure that families receive a response in a timely manner from the schools.

If families haven’t secure a school place via the centralised application system, we will identify the closest school to home with a space, and advise the family about adding a preference for that school to the child’s application – we will contact the family and school to ask them to work together to secure the child’s admission to that school.

Any in-year applications for a school outside Leeds would need to be made to the Local Authority the school is based in.

4. Normal Round Admissions Timetable 2022/2023 for all Leeds schools

5. List of all schools in Leeds area as of 31 December 2020