Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the effect of changes of the Schools National Funding Formula on funding for schools in Calderdale.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Our proposals for funding reform will mean that schools and local authority areas will, for the first time, receive a consistent and fair share of the schools budget, so that they can give every child the opportunity to reach their full potential.
For Calderdale, the proposals would mean an increase in schools funding of 1.3%, and an increase of 9.7% for high needs funding.
We are also committed to providing support for schools to improve their financial health and efficiency. We have produced a collection of tools, information and guidance, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/schools-financial-health-and-efficiency. The collection includes guidance on workforce planning, financial management, benchmarking, and buying for schools.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will undertake a national review of the operation of admissions procedures and the School Admissions Code.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education is intending to make changes to the School Admissions Code to improve the admissions system for parents and schools. This will be subject to a full public consultation to allow anyone with an interest to provide their views. It will also be subject to parliamentary scrutiny. Details of the consultation will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what procedures are in place to ensure that headteachers follow the School Admissions Code.
Answered by Nick Gibb
An individual school’s admission authority is responsible for setting and applying its admission arrangements. The local authority is the admission authority for community and voluntary controlled schools; the school’s governing body is the admission authority for voluntary aided and foundation schools; and for academies, the admission authority is the academy trust.
Anyone who believes a school’s admission arrangements are unfair or unlawful can object to the Schools Adjudicator. If the Adjudicator finds the admission arrangements do not comply with the Code, the admission authority must amend their arrangements accordingly.
Any parent who believes the admission authority has not properly applied the school’s admission arrangements in the case of their child’s application and the child has, as a result, been refused a place at the school, has the right of appeal to an independent appeal panel. If the appeal panel upholds the appeal, the school must admit the child.
The School Admissions Code can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-code--2
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria are used to define challenging behaviour as used in the 2012 School Admissions Code.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is for admission authorities to agree with their local authorities what they regard as challenging behaviour, based on the circumstances of each case.
Each local authority is required to have a Fair Access Protocol in place, to ensure that – outside the normal admissions round – unplaced children are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible and that no school is asked to take a disproportionate number of children with challenging behaviour or children excluded from other schools.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of fair access protocols on pupil referral units.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Fair access protocols exist to ensure that, outside the normal admissions round, unplaced children, especially the most vulnerable, are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible and that no school is asked to take a disproportionate number of children with challenging behaviour or children excluded from other schools.
Fair access protocols do not have a direct impact on pupil referral units.
It is for local authorities, together with the schools in their area, to decide on which children should be eligible for consideration under their fair access protocol, which as a minimum must include children from pupil referral units who need to be integrated back into mainstream education.