Issue - meetings

Report ED13086

The Committee considered a report outlining progress in moving towards online applications for school admissions for primary and secondary schools and free school meals. 

School admissions for primary and secondary schools were managed through the Pan-London Co-ordinate Admissions System, operated on behalf of all London Boroughs using a common application form.  From 2007, online versions of the common application form had been available, and in Bromley the proportion of primary and secondary applications submitted online for the academic year 2013/14 had reached 64% and 49% respectively.  Work was currently being undertaken to increase the proportion of online applications, and to support this, a reduced number of A4 paper application booklets would be produced for the academic year 2014/15, with the introduction of an A5 booklet which included the list of schools, a map and an outline of the application process which promoted online application.  Applications for school places required the submission of additional information to prove entitlement, such as a birth certificate, Council Tax payment and child benefit entitlement.  This was often submitted in paper format although scanned copies of certain documents could be accepted in some cases.

The online application process for free school meals in Bromley had commenced in June 2012 and 50% of free school meal applications were now made online.  Schools actively encouraged parents and carers to apply for free school meals, and applications were required to be renewed on an annual basis or when family circumstances changed.  Eligibility for free school meals was largely determined with reference to online systems maintained by the Department for Education which had links to the tax and benefits systems and was therefore less reliant on paper copies of documents.

In considering the report, the Chairman highlighted that parents and carers who had submitted their child’s school admissions form online still received an offer letter.  The Head of Strategic Place Planning confirmed that the pan-London admissions protocol required an offer letter to be sent which included information around appealing for an alternate school place, but that work continued to be undertaken to streamline the collection of data that supported applications and reduce the need for paper evidence.  The Chairman requested that the issue of sending a written letter in response to online applications be discussed at the next meeting of Officers responsible for the pan-London admission system.

RESOLVED that the update be noted and that the issue of sending a written letter in response to online applications be discussed at the next meeting of Officers responsible for the pan-London admission system.