Agenda and minutes

[The Chair to welcome everyone to the meeting. The Scrutiny Officer will then read out a list of those invited to the meeting to confirm who is in attendance.]

Cllr Rita Potter, Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting and advised it was also being live streamed to the press and public.

[The Chair will explain how the meeting will proceed, how questions are to be asked and any matters of meeting etiquette.]

Cllr Potter explained the process to be followed during the meeting for asking questions.

Apologies were received from the following member of the panel:

Cllr Lovinyer Daley

There were no declarations of interest recorded.

[Bill Hague, Head of School Business and Support, to present report]

The Chair invited Bill Hague, Head of Service, School Business and Support, to present the report. The Head of Service advised the panel that the report is being presented for pre-decision scrutiny before it is considered for approval by Cabinet on 22 February 2023.

The Head of Service advised the panel that every seven years the service undertakes a public consultation on the admission arrangements for community and voluntary controlled schools. The aim is to ensure the admission arrangements are fair, equitable and easy to understand.

As part of the review the admission arrangements for secondary and primary schools operated by academy trusts in Wolverhampton was considered to check how their admission arrangements differ to the processes used by the Council’s.

The Head of Service advised the panel that several academy trusts have taken advantage of the option to include children of school staff in their school admission criteria list. The change has been considered to be helpful for academies in the recruitment and retention of teaching staff, particularly in those subject areas where there is a shortage.

The Head of Service advised the panel that in accordance with the requirements of the Schools Admission Code (2021) an external consultation was held about adding this change as a sixth criteria to the school admission arrangements list. The Head of Service advised the panel that 69 people completed the survey and overall, 62 per cent of respondents supported the change to the admission criteria. 

The Head of Service added that the proposed change is likely to have minimal impact on other families as the numbers involved are likely to be small.

This change has now been made to the revised oversubscription criterion relating to children of staff.

The panel were invited to scrutinise and comment on the report.

The panel while welcoming members of the public who took part in the consultation commented that the figures for responses only represent a very small percentage of the total number of applications from parents.

The panel queried where most of the challenges are in terms of demands on the service.

The Head of Service commented about the pride in Wolverhampton representing schools in the West Midlands region on the Department for Education (DFE) working group for school admissions. The group helps shape national school admission policy.

The Head of Service commented that issue that takes most time is managing the impact on the service of the option in the school admission code which allows parents to apply to change school at any time during the year.

This presents a challenge as there no responsibility in law for local authorities to co-ordinate in year admissions applications.

The Head of Service commented that Wolverhampton took decision that there is a professional and moral obligation to continue to coordinate in year school admissions. The policy means that if a parent living in Wolverhampton needs to change school, they can apply to the Council rather than having to contact the school to check what spaces are available.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

[Bill Hague,Head of School Business and Support, Laura Gittos, Head of Governance, and Jaswinder Kaur, Democratic Services and Systems Manager, to give presentation]

The Chair invited Laura Gittos, Head of Governance, to give the presentation.

The Head of Governance advised the panel that it would be joint presentation with Jaswinder Kaur, Democratic Services and Systems Manager.

The Democratic Services and Systems Manager advised the panel that School Standards and Framework Act 1998, gives responsibility for the making arrangements for appeals against the refusal of a school place with the admission authority of the school.

The school and the admission authority must act in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code 2022 and other relevant legislation.

The Democratic Services and Systems Manager advised the panel that the aim of the code is to ensure that school appeals are conducted in a fair and transparent way. The code is prescriptive in terms of deadlines to be met for hearing appeals.

The Democratic Services and Systems Manager explained the school appeal arrangements and the additional processes to assist parents, for example, the service will contact parents in advance of the appeal to check if they want to submit any additional evidence, if they are familiar with usingMicrosoft Teams and to explain the different stages of the appeal process so parents understand what will be happening.

The Democratic Services and Systems Manager outlined the school appeal process and advised the panel that the appeal will be heard by three independent appeal panel members who have received full training on the code. The appeal panel members will be supported by a clerk who will record the proceedings and offer impartial advice to all parties.

The Democratic Services and Systems Manager explained the process after the appeal hearing and advised that a parent after receiving the decision letter can make a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman if they feel either the Council or the panel has not followed the proper procedures in the appeal hearing.

The Head of Governance outlined the findings from a review of the School Appeals Unit conducted with the Democratic Service and Systems Manager. The Head of Governance gave details of the action planned or taken against each of the areas identified for development.

The Head of Governance advised the panel that the School Appeals Unit is a statutory service and is looking to develop and improve it further.

The panel were invited to comment on the presentation.

The panel queried how the views of parents are captured to find out what they think about the appeal process and how it is used to improve the service.

The Democratic Service and Systems Manager advised the panel that the colleagues do ask parents for feedback about their experiences at the end of the appeal hearing. In addition, the service regularly reviews its processes to see what improvements can made to ensure that the policy is fit for purpose.

The panel queried the support provided to parents whose first language is not English or who may not be able to best articulate their case at the appeal hearing.

The Democratic Service and Systems Manager  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.