§ Mrs. BrookeTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received on the obligation of community schools to admit up to their published admission number if they have sufficient applications on a set date. [124135]
§ Mr. Miliband[holding answer 7 July 2003]: None. Admission authorities have a statutory duty to comply with parental preference, and if applications are made for available places, they should admit pupils up to the school's published admission number. The local education authority is normally the admission authority for community schools. They should not reserve places, for example, in the expectation that there may be later applications from families moving into the catchment area.
§ Mrs. BrookeTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether community schools may reserve places at the beginning of an academic year for pupils who move into the defined catchment area after the cut off date for admissions, but before the start of the academic year. [124136]
§ Mr. Miliband[holding answer 7 July 2003]: The School Admissions Code of Practice published in January 2003 specifically advises against reserving places in the expectation that there may be later applications from families moving into the catchment area.
The Rotherham judgment in 1997 clarified that local education authorities—who decide on admissions to community schools—must not allocate places at their schools to local catchment area parents who have not expressed a preference, over parents living outside the catchment area who have expressed a preference. School places must be allocated to parents who have expressed a preference for them by the application deadline, until all preferences are met or (if the school is oversubscribed) the published admission number is reached.