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Annual secondary school transfer briefing

Published

School Admissions; Secondary Transfer 2023

 

Introduction

The 1st March 2023 is National Allocation Day when parents/carers of children throughout England will learn which secondary school place has been offered to their child for September 2023. For children who are starting primary school, their parents/carers will hear about their allocation on 17th April 2023.

 

All parents/carers of children in Gloucestershire who applied for a school place on-line will receive an email confirming the school place after 9:00am on 1st March 2023. Those parents who did not apply on-line will receive a letter.

 

Background

 

The LA has been aware of a large cohort of children moving through the school system. This is a result of an unusually high birth year in 2011/12. This year group has been managed effectively through the primary sector and will transfer into secondary schools in September 2023.

This cohort of children is a single ‘birth bulge year’ which the LA has been planning for, however additional factors have impacted on the number of children that require Year 7 secondary places in Sept 2023 and work has been undertaken in discussion with schools, to identify and secure additional forms of entry in secondary schools for this one-year bulge. It should be noted that the following year in Sept 2024, numbers drop again. 

In September 2023, the additional numbers will be accommodated through the provision of additional classes (forms of entry) being provided at a number of schools, on a temporary basis. There is sufficient physical/building capacity in our secondary schools for the additional students, however some schools are reluctant to accept additional numbers in light of the current teacher/pastoral staff recruitment challenges and the possible impact on their improvement journey.

This will mean that some students will not be able to be offered a place at their nearest or local school and may be offered a place a further distance away. 

 

The Process

The County Council Co-ordinates Year 7 admissions to all maintained schools and academies. The national closing date for secondary school applications was 31st October 2022 and parents/carers in Gloucestershire were given the opportunity to apply for up to five schools. Parent/carers were strongly advised to make use of their 5 preferences to reduce the risk of not being allocated their school of choice, and then the LA would have to allocate the nearest school with space to the home address.  This may not be their nearest school as it will have filled up with children who listed it as a preference and therefore can be some distance away.

 

Allocations of school places are determined by the level of preference stated by the parent and the oversubscription criteria for schools (where too many children request places at particular schools).  The oversubscription criteria for community and voluntary controlled schools is determined by the County Council; Governing Bodies of all foundation, voluntary aided schools and academies are responsible for their own criteria.

 

Where a parent’s/carer’s preferred schools are unable to offer places, the child will be offered a place at the nearest school with places available.

 

2023 Allocations

 

The statistics for on time applications are as follows:

 This year 6772 Gloucestershire children will be offered a secondary school place

  • 83% have been offered their 1st preference (2022 was 86% so down 3% on last year)
  • 8% have been offered their 2nd preference (2022 was 7% so up 1% on last year)
  • 94% have been offered a preference (2022 was 96% so down 2% on last year)
  • 6% have not received a preference (2022 was 4% so up 2% on last year)

Factors affecting 2023 allocations:

 

  • 2012 was an unusually large birth year with approximately 5-6FE additional children on roll – we have managed and monitored this large cohort through primary.
  • The Grammar schools have maintained and some have taken an increased number of out of county students;
  • The significant increase in the number of children with, Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) who may have expected to attend a special school, are being placed in mainstream with support, as insufficient special school places are currently available – national situation. This means some schools are reluctant to take additional mainstream children as part of this cohort.
  • The unknown impact of economic situation means we may be seeing a higher % of pupils staying in state schools rather than going private (previous years estimate is 3-4FE) – applicants are keeping their options open and we will not know the outcome of this until late March once parents accept/reject places offered.
  • Fewer Gloucestershire children (1FE) are seeking a school place out of county than last year.

 

Grammar/Selective schools

 

In Sept 2023, the selective schools will be offering places collectively to 373 out of county children. This figure is up from 306 in 2022 and up a further 151 from 2021.

 

Current position for mainstream admissions

 

All on time applications have been offered a place and parents/carers will be notified on March 1st (National Allocation day).

 

As the LA was aware of the large cohort for 2023, capacity had already been secured in Gloucester City and Stroud. Working collaboratively with schools we have also secured extra provision in Cheltenham and Newent.

 

Late Applications

 

Late applications will be considered and allocated to schools with places available, after the ‘on-time’ applications have accepted/rejected their offers of a place. We are unable to clarify the impact at this time but will update 21-28 March 2023.  Late applicants are less likely to get a school of choice or a local school if places have been filled by on time applicants. This may have an impact on school transport budget for this cohort. Parents/carers who made a late application have already been written to prior to allocation day explaining the process.

 

Advice for parents/carers

Parents/carers who applied on-line will only receive an email notification of their allocated school and will be able to accept their place on-line from 1st March. All other parents/carers will receive a reply form with their allocation letter and it is important that they return these to the Co-ordinated Admissions team by 8th March 2023 in order to guarantee their child’s place for September.

 

Some parents will be anxious that their child has not been offered a place at their preferred school.  It may be helpful to know that places will always become available after the initial allocation round and we have therefore tried to make it clear in our information that there is a second stage of allocations where we may be able to reconsider their preferences. This happens when some parents refuse the school place offered (moving out of the area or attending independent school etc.) so we are then able to offer that place to the child at the top of the waiting list.

 

If parents would like their preferences to be reconsidered, they should state this on the reply form. Since we cannot guarantee that a place at the preferred school will become available, we strongly recommend that parents/carers who ask for reconsideration, also accept the school place offered to them initially - this will not affect reconsideration of their preferred school, but will ensure that they have the certainty of a school place for their child in September.

 

The results of this reconsideration will be sent to parents/carers after 29th March 2023.  It is therefore recommended that only those who are still unhappy with their child’s school allocation after this date contact the Co-ordinated Admissions team.  Parents/carers have a third opportunity to secure their preferred choice by means of a formal appeal and will receive information about this process with their final decision letter. The Governing Bodies of most secondary schools or academies are responsible for arranging their own appeals.

 

If you are contacted by any parent after the initial allocation on 1st March, it would be helpful if you could outline this process and explain that the Co-ordinated Admissions team will endeavour to reconsider parental preferences, where possible, during the second round of allocations (between 9th March – 28th March 2023). 

 

If Members have any questions regarding the admissions process, please contact:

 

Clare Medland,  Joint Head of Education Planning & Infrastructure on 01452 328686 (clare.medland@gloucestershire.gov.uk)

 

Or

 

Gareth Vine, Joint Head of Education Planning & Infrastructure on 01452 427547 (gareth.vine@gloucestershire.gov.uk)

 

 

Parents should be advised to contact Co-ordinated Admissions staff within the Education Planning & Infrastructure Team at Shire Hall, Westgate Street, Gloucester, GL1 2TP, t: 01452 425407 or email: school.admissions@gloucestershire.gov.uk.