School admission protocols

Fair Access Protocol

The Fair Access Protocol is devised, as required by the School Admission Code 2021, to ensure that unplaced children, outside the normal admissions round, especially the most vulnerable, are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible.   

This protocol applies equally to all schools and academies.

• Fair Access Protocol for In Year Admissions
• Appendix 1 - Fair Access Referral Form
• Appendix 2 - FAP School Information Sheet - Primary
• Appendix 2 - FAP School Information Sheet - Secondary
• Appendix 3 - Information Summary Sheet
• Appendix 4 - FAP Decision Record
• Appendix 5 - Fair Access Panel Key Transition Activities
• Appendix 6 - Request to Extend/Withdraw from FAP Transition Process

Protocol for Pupil Admittance over Published Admission Numbers

Schools and academies can now legally admit pupils over its published admission number.

However, as with any decision made outside of your published admission policy (PAN), this is open to legal challenge by any party (i.e. individual parents or schools/academies in your area who have been affected by this).

It is our responsibility to monitor all admission decisions, including those made by academies, to make sure they are lawful.

We produced a protocol for pupil admittance over a school's PAN. Following this protocol will not preclude any school from legal challenge but it does provide a fair, transparent and consistent process which will help the defence of any decisions made, should this be necessary.

It will be mandatory for all community and voluntary controlled schools to adopt this protocol (as we are the admissions authority for those schools) and other schools may wish to consider it when managing their admissions process.

• Protocol For Pupil Admittance Over Published Admission Number (PAN) - For Local Authority Community And Voluntary Controlled Schools (Updated July 2021)

Service Personnel Protocol

This protocol is devised to ensure that Gloucestershire Local Authority Schools comply with the requirements of the School Admission Code 2014 to ensure that our procedures or criteria do not disadvantage children who arrive in the area outside the normal admissions round and that the particular challenges for children of UK service personnel and other Crown Servants.

• Service Personnel Protocol  Updated May 2022
• Service Personnel Protocol Appendix 1