Comprehensively Fair: Making school admissions work for everyone

In England, parents and carers can choose the schools they want to apply to, usually 3 or 6, depending on the area they live in. There are a number of sources that they can use to make their choices, including Ofsted reports, open days, anecdotal evidence and league table performances.

If their first-choice school is undersubscribed, they are given a place. Around half of schools have more applicants than there are places (sometimes dramatically more). High-performing schools are the most likely to be oversubscribed, so for these schools, which children gain a place depends on a school’s admissions criteria.

Evidence shows parents from poorer backgrounds submit as many school preferences as better-off parents, and take account of school quality when making their choices. This suggests that it is school admissions criteria that disadvantages those from lower socio-economic groups.

Some schools can decide their own admissions criteria (academies, voluntary aided schools, foundation and free schools), while others have the criteria set by the local authority.

Whether they write their own criteria or not, all schools have to follow the school admissions code (see below). This code lays out what schools can and can’t do in their admissions policies.

For most oversubscribed schools, living very nearby is typically the key factor in determining who gains a place. This makes houses near to good schools more expensive, so access to the best schools is then affected by family income – who can or cannot afford to pay the housing premium near to the best schools.

Additionally, faith schools can use faith-based admissions criteria. These schools are often among the most socially selective, partly as a result of the frequently complex faith criteria that families must meet in order to be admitted.

The most recent school admissions code was released in 2014, and says that:

• • All schools must give highest priority to children who are currently or have previously been in care.
  • Admissions policies should not disadvantage children from a particular social or racial group, or those with a disability or special educational needs.
  • Schools can use distance from the school in their admissions policies. When distance is used, permitted distances from the school must be clearly and precisely set out, and catchment areas must be designed so that they are ‘reasonable’. Parents from outside a catchment area can still apply to a school.
  • Schools can give priority to disadvantaged children eligible for the Pupil Premium.
  • Schools may use both banding and ballots in their admissions policies.
  • Religious schools may take account of the religious background or activities of a child. New academies and free schools must reserve 50% of places for non-faith applicants.
  • Schools are allowed to select up to 10% of pupils on the basis of aptitude for sport, the performing or visual arts, languages, or in some cases information technology and design.
  • Schools may designate a ‘feeder’ primary or middle school and give priority to pupils who have attended the feeder school.

The majority of secondary schools in England now set their own admissions policies. Schools and multi-academy trusts have significant freedom, within the terms of the Schools Admissions Code, to adjust their admissions criteria.

It is important that schools consider the socio-economic background of their community, and potential barriers for less well-off families, when setting their admissions policies. Schools who do this are less likely to be socially exclusive.

A variety of strategies, including ballots, banding and priority for disadvantaged families are all permissible under the current School Admissions Code, and many schools already do so.