1.0 Purpose of report
1.1 To provide information about the response to the proposed admission arrangements for community and voluntary controlled schools for the school year 2026 to 2027 and to seek approval for recommendation to the council for determination.
2.0 Summary
2.1 As the admission authority for all community and voluntary controlled schools in North Yorkshire, the council must have agreed admission arrangements that govern the allocation of school places in place by 28 February each year to apply to admission applications for the following school year. This is to comply with legislation and to regulations that are set out in the School Admissions Code, 2021.
2.2 A six-week consultation on the proposed admission arrangements for the 2026 to 2027 academic year has been undertaken and included the admission policies and published admission numbers (‘PAN’s’) for individual schools.
2.3 This report provides a summary of the responses received to the consultation and sets out proposals for the school's admission arrangements for the academic year 2026 to 2027.
2.4 The proposals in this report relate to the governance of school admissions only and are separate to the arrangements for home to school travel, which are governed by the council’s home to school travel policy.
3.0 Background
3.1 As the admission authority for all community and voluntary controlled schools in North Yorkshire, the council consults annually on admission arrangements. The council is currently required to determine its admission arrangements, which includes admissions policy and published admission numbers, annually by 28 February each year. When changes are proposed to admission arrangements, all admission authorities must complete a consultation by 31 January. Where the admission arrangements have not changed from the previous year there is no requirement to consult, subject to the requirement that admission authorities must consult on their admission arrangements at least once every seven years, even if there have been no changes during that period.
3.2 Consultation must last for a minimum of six weeks and take place between 1 October and 31 January in the determination year. This means that schools are consulted in the autumn term each year for admissions nearly two years later. The process is therefore based, to some degree, on schools’ best estimates of the numbers of requests for places informed by the council’s forecasting model, which takes into account the patterns of parental preference over the years. Since North Yorkshire Council is the only body that may determine the matter, it falls to the council to determine the arrangements in February each year.
3.3 The Education (Relevant Areas for Consultation on Admission Arrangements) Regulations 1999 (SI 1999 No. 124) require local authorities to determine relevant areas for consultation on admission arrangements. The relevant areas for schools maintained by North Yorkshire Council are as follows:
3.3.1 For community and voluntary controlled schools, the relevant area for consultation is the entire county of North Yorkshire, plus the City of York and the area of Bradford Metropolitan Authority served at secondary level by South Craven School.
3.3.2 For voluntary aided, foundation, trust schools and academies the relevant area for consultation is North Yorkshire Council and admission authorities within a radius of three miles of the school, including admission authorities in neighbouring local authority areas.
It is proposed that the relevant areas for consultation remain unchanged
3.4 All admission authorities must participate in co-ordination and provide the council with the information it needs to co-ordinate admissions for the normal admission rounds by the dates agreed within the scheme.
3.5 Although there is no longer a mandatory requirement for local authorities to undertake in-year co-ordination for schools for which they are not the admission authority, they can coordinate in year admissions with the agreement of the relevant admission authorities. It is proposed that the council will continue to coordinate in year admissions within North Yorkshire.
3.6 The consultation took place between 28 October and 18 December 2024, with the headteachers and governors of three nursery schools, 295 primary schools (79 community, 63 voluntary controlled (VC), 19 voluntary aided (VA), 106 convertor academy schools, 24 sponsored academy schools, three free schools and one Foundation Trust). The local authority also consulted 42 secondary schools (11 are community, one voluntary aided (VA), 21 convertor academy schools, eight sponsored academy schools and one free school), parents and other groups in the local area, the 13 neighbouring authorities, and with the relevant diocesan authorities. and was published on the council's website. All schools were asked to display a poster promoting the consultation and providing a link to the consultation with details of how to obtain a hard copy of the consultation documents.
3.7 Schools were asked to express their agreement or otherwise with the proposals relating to their own proposed published admission number, the proposed admissions policy for community and voluntary controlled schools, the proposed admissions policy for local authority maintained nursery schools and classes, pre-reception classes and pre-schools under school governance. In addition, they had the opportunity to make any other comments. Not all school respondents commented on every proposal within the consultation.
3.8 At the closing date of 18 December 2024, a total of 239 responses had been submitted. Of the 235 school respondents, the majority of responses were from schools and in respect of their published admission numbers. No schools made comment in respect of the proposed arrangements for community and voluntary controlled schools in-year coordination of nursery policy. Of the four other respondents, one parent agreed with the proposals, as did one neighbouring authority and one multi academy trust. One parent made the following comment:
- for Whitley, reducing the class size will mean that local families will be forced to look at further afield schools. There aren’t many schools available in the area and it will impact parental choice and availability
3.9 As in previous consultations, it has been seen that many consultees simply respond to the agree/disagree questions. In an effort to encourage greater interaction with the wider range of consultees, all respondents were asked to put forward comments on any aspect of the consultation.
4.0 Proposals
4.1 The proposed co-ordinated admission arrangement documents have been updated to reflect the relevant dates for 2026 to 2027 and are attached to this report at Appendix 1.
4.2 The council should retain the in-year co-ordination of admissions, including on behalf of own admission authority schools. A copy of the co-ordinated in-year admission arrangements document is attached to this report at Appendix 2.
4.3 The proposed admission policies for 2026 to 2027 (these contain the criteria for determining admission where schools are oversubscribed) have been updated to reflect the relevant dates for 2026/2027 and include:
4.3.1 North Yorkshire Council admissions policy for local authority-maintained community and voluntary controlled schools (Appendix 3)
4.3.2 North Yorkshire Council admissions policy for Ripon Grammar Boarding School, 2026 to 2027 (Appendix 4)
4.3.3 North Yorkshire Council admissions policy for community schools and voluntary controlled nursery schools, nursery classes, pre-reception classes 2026 to 2027 (Appendix 5).
4.4 The proposed published admission numbers for 2026 to 2027 have been updated, to reflect the schools that requested a change.
4.4.1 The council sets the admission limits of community and voluntary controlled schools in consultation with the governing body of the school. An own admission authority school (voluntary aided, foundation, trust schools, academies or free schools) is not required to include a proposal to increase or keep the same admission number in any consultation on admission arrangements. Conversely, all admission authorities must consult if they propose a decrease in published admission number.
4.4.2 As the admission authority for a community or voluntary controlled school, the council must consult the governing body of each school whether it proposes to increase, decrease or keep the same admission number. As part of the annual process, the council asked the governing bodies of all 153 community and voluntary controlled schools if they wished to make any changes to their published admission number prior to the consultation period. 114 schools agreed to no change, 10 requested a published admission number change and 29 schools did not respond. Of the 10 that requested a change eight requested a decrease that must be consulted on.
4.4.2 The following schools requested a decrease in their published admission numbers for 2026 to 2027:
- Alverton Primary School – from a published admission number of 30 to 20 for Reception
- Green Hammerton CE Primary School – from a published admission number of 17 to 15 for Reception
- Hertford Vale CE VC Primary School – from a published admission number of 18 to 15 for Reception
- Pickering Infant School – from a published admission number of 75 to 60 for Reception
- Romanby Primary School – from a published admission number of 40 to 30 for Reception
- Selby Abbey CE VC Infant School – from a published admission number of 60 to 45 for Reception
- Thirsk Community Primary School – from a published admission number of 42 to 30 for Reception
- Whitley and Eggborough Community Primary School – from a published admission number of 40 to 30 for Reception
4.4.3 The following are attached to this report:
- the details of all primary schools in North Yorkshire, including their address and type (Appendix 6)
- the details of all Secondary Schools in North Yorkshire, including their address and type (Appendix 7)
- the proposed published admission numbers for community and voluntary controlled primary schools for the academic year 2026 to 2027 (Appendix 8); and
- the proposed published admission numbers for community secondary schools for the academic year 2026 to 2027 (Appendix 9)
4.5 The relevant areas for consultation on Admission Arrangements remain unchanged.
5.0 Alternative options considered
5.1 No alternative options were considered as it is a statutory requirement to determine Admission Arrangements on an annual basis by 28 February.
6.0 Financial implications
6.1 There are no financial implications arising from this report
7.0 Legal implications
7.1 The consultation on proposed admissions arrangements for 2026 to 2027 is in accordance with the requirements of the School Admissions Code 2021 and associated legislation. Failure to comply with admission arrangements as determined can lead to challenge by way of objections to the school's adjudicator or complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman.
8.0 Equalities implications
8.1 The council has considered that if the recommendations are accepted, they have universal application, and therefore no adverse impacts upon any person or groups who have protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.
9.0 Climate change implications
9.1 There are no climate change implications arising from this report.
10.0 Reasons for recommendations
10.1 North Yorkshire Council, as an admission authority for maintained schools, must have determined admission arrangements for 2026 to 2027. The arrangements decide the allocation of school places which will apply for admission applications for entry in the academic year 2026 to 2027. The approved arrangements are to be determined by February 2025, this is to comply with the regulations and legislation set out in the Admission Code 2021.
11.0 Recommendations
11.1 That the proposed admission arrangements for 2026 to 2027 be recommended to the council for approval on 26 February, including:
- the proposed co-ordinated admission arrangements
- the proposed co-ordinated in-year admission arrangements
- the proposed admission policy for community and voluntary controlled schools
- the proposed admission policy for Ripon Grammar Boarding School
- the proposed admission policy for community and voluntary controlled nursery schools, schools with nursery classes and pre-reception classes
- the proposed published admission numbers for community and voluntary controlled schools
11.2 That the relevant areas for consultation on the School Admission Arrangements remain unchanged.
Appendices
- Appendix 1 - Proposed NYC co-ordinated admission arrangements 2026 to 2027
- Appendix 2 - Proposed NYC co- ordinated in year admission arrangements
- Appendix 3 - Proposed admission policy for community and voluntary controlled schools 2026 to 2027
- Appendix 4 - Proposed admission policy for Ripon Grammar School Boarding 2026 to 2027
- Appendix 5 - Proposed admission policy for nursery schools, schools with nursery classes and pre-reception classes
- Appendix 6 - Primary schools by type and addresses
- Appendix 7 - Secondary schools by type and addresses
- Appendix 8 - Proposed primary admission numbers for community and voluntary controlled schools 2026 to 2027
- Appendix 9 - Proposed secondary admission numbers for community and voluntary controlled schools 2026 to 2027
Background documents
Department for Education - School Admission Code September 2021
Stuart Carlton
Corporate Director – Children and Young People’s Service
County Hall, Northallerton
21 January 2025