Agenda item

IN YEAR ACCESS PROTOCOL

Report attached.

Minutes:

The Assistant Director for Education Services briefed the Sub-Committee on the Fair Access Protocol.

 

It was stated that the School Admissions Code requires each local authority to have in place a Fair Access Protocol which all local schools/academies must adhere to.

 

The Sub-Committee noted that section 3.11 of the School Admission Code stated “All admission authorities mustparticipate in the Fair Access Protocol in order to ensure that unplaced children were allocated a school place quickly.  There was no duty for local authorities or admission authorities to comply with parental preference when allocating places through the Fair Access Protocol”.

 

The Sub-Committee was informed that the IYFAP protocol reflected the Local Authorities responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people as well as attempting to ensure an educational attainment and achievement. All Havering Head teachers and governing bodies have agreed to the aims, principals and procedures of the IYFAP.

The report informed Members that part of the aims of the In Year Fair Access Protocol included:

·         Acknowledging the real needs of vulnerable young people who were not on the roll of a school and to ensure that an appropriate placement was identified and pupils/young people are on roll within 10 school days of the panel;

·         Seeking to find an alternative placement or support for those on roll of a school where it could be demonstrated that they were at risk of permanent exclusion; 

·         Recording the progress and successes of the young people placed through the Panel.

It was mentioned that the Pre Panel met on a monthly basis to discuss each of the pupils in detail taking into consideration the number of vacancies at each school/academy in each year group and the total number of pupils/young people that have been admitted to each school/academy in each year group through the IYFAP process in the last academic year.

The Pre-panel also takes into account the School Admissions Code, the number of pupils/young people admitted through the IYFAP process in the current academic year, the number of pupils/young people admitted through the SEND process in the current year and the needs of the pupil/young person, where the information was known.

The Sub-Committee noted that a pupil/young person would not be referred to a school/academy that was placed in an Ofsted Category, unless under exceptional circumstances.

The report indicated that the number of referrals had risen steadily since the introduction of IYFAP in 2014:

 

2014/2015                 287

2015/2016                 351

2016/2017                 401

2017/2018                 294 (to January 2018)

The Sub-Committee was informed that Social Inclusion Funding was in place in order that schools and academies could apply for “top up” funding towards the costs of approved learning support/pastoral support, and/or alternative provision, for students who were at risk of permanent exclusion.

The Sub-Committeenoted that the service would continue to monitor the admissions arrangements of all schools on a regular basis. The monitoring would include evaluation of referral data and a greater use of the powers available to the authority where schools were a cause for concern.

The Sub-Committee noted the report.

Supporting documents: