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MINUTES OF TOWER HAMLETS ADMISSION FORUM Thursday 14th December 2017 10.00 am

Venue: Raine’s Foundation School, Approach Road, E2 9LY

Members: 1. Dee Bleach (DB) Primary Community Schools*

2. Terry Bryan (TB) Head of Pupil Services*

3. Sue Ward (SW) Free/Academy Primary Schools* 4. Penny Harvey (PH) The London Diocesan Board for Schools* 5. Jenny Miller (JMi) Parents Advice Centre 6. Vacancy Early Years Voluntary Non-Statutory 7. Lynn Cottle (LC) Nursery Schools* 8. Shahanur Khan (SK) Collective of Bangladeshi Governors* 9. Salma Mahbub (SM) Parent Governor Representative 10. Dennis Jenner (DJ) LA Education Appeal Panel Member* 11. Shahana Begum (SB) Parent Carer Council Representative* 12. Neherun Nessa Ali (NA) Parent Carer Council Representative* 13. Mary Ryan (MR) Archdiocese of Westminster 14. Sarah Counter (SC) Free/Academy Secondary Schools 15. Patrice Canavan (PC) Secondary Community Schools* 16. Mafijur Rab (MRa) Council of Mosques 17. John Bradshaw (JB) Head of Pupil Referral Unit 18. Elizabeth Dickson (ED) Primary Voluntary Aided Schools* 19. Robert Hullet (RH) Secondary Voluntary Aided Schools*

*indicates present at meeting Observer: Paramjit Bhutta (PB) Secondary Free/Academy School* Officers present: Mohammad Ahmed (MA) Primary Admissions Operations Manager Kelly Mack (KM) Secondary Admissions Operations Manager

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1. Apologies for Absence Apologies were received from Mary Ryan (MR), Mafijur Rab (MRa), Jenny Miller (JM), Bernadette Ogazi attended in her place

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2. Declaration of Interest This item gives opportunity for forum members to declare an interest in any agenda item which directly affects the school at which they are a governor, member of staff or which their children attend, or in which they might have a direct pecuniary interest. None declared

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3. Minutes of meeting held on 14th December 2017

SK confirmed that he had left his apologies with the Pupil Service team prior to the last meeting, this was not noted on the minutes.

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4. Matters Arising – none that are not covered under minutes Chair

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5. Pupil Place Planning Update – TB updated the forum on the following:

Proposed new 3FE primary school at former Bow Boys’ School site Consultation on the proposed specification for the school has been deferred pending a decision on whether the school is required to meet the projected demand for places. Alternative possible uses for the site are now under consideration and decisions on the future priority for development of the site will be made after the Mayoral election in summer 2018.

Proposed 2FE primary school at Wood Wharf –On 31 October Cabinet agreed in principle to enter into a lease for the premises (shell and core of which will be provided by the site developer) to allow school to open from September 2022 – LBTH will manage fitting out of building from June 2021 and conduct a Free School Presumption (FSP) process to identify the education services provider. Funding of £5m has been agreed from a combination of DfE basic need grant and Section 106 (developer contribution monies) to complete the fit-out.

Proposed new 6FE secondary school at London Dock site –Consultation on the proposed building project has been conducted prior to the scheme being submitted for planning consent. Once consent is obtained, further work will be suspended until after a further review of the demand for secondary school places has been conducted in September 2018. A decision will then be taken as to whether the scheme should be re-activated for implementation and delivery by September 2022.

Proposed new secondary school at Westferry site – LBTH continues to seek agreement from the developer to enter into an agreement for lease of the site. It is believed that the DfE continues to pursue access to the site for development to accommodate Canary Wharf College. Cabinet on 22 November received a petition and several Oversight & Scrutiny questions making the case for the Mayor and other Councillors to press the case with the DfE for the FSP process to be open and transparent.

Meeting demand for High Needs places – projections of demand for high needs places work has begun to identify options for extending provision at Phoenix, Beatrice Tate and Cherry Trees. Capital funding for high needs in the sum of approximately £3.5m will be available from DfE over the period 2018-2021 and a capital budget pressure has been raised to recognise the additional resources needed to implement an increase in capacity in this sector.

London East Alternative Provision (LEAP) – Consideration is beginning of the possible options for enhancing KS3 provision at LEAP.

- TB noted that the current number of students entering AP was increasing and it was not sustainable. The LA was therefore working with secondary HTs to explore ways in which it can might help schools to support children earlier, reducing the potential for them require AP. The 2nd phase of the FAP review was focussing on this area and he would invite the lead officers to update the forum on this work in due course.

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Primary Review - the review will commence in the spring term 2018 with data being sent out to individual primary schools prior to an initial consultation stage. Representatives are being sought for the Primary

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Review Advisory Group, which will oversee the conduct of the review. It is hoped that specific proposals for reorganisation will be agreed by Cabinet towards the end of the summer term, with the publication of statutory proposals to implement agreed changes in provision being issued during the autumn/spring 2018/19.

- TB emphasised that the LA’s focus was on the best way to organise its primary provision and that it was determined to avoid a situation where it might become necessary to look at school closures. The right provision in the right places at the right time. It would be beneficial for there to be one or two representatives from the Forum on the review group. Janice Beck, Head of School Building and Development would be seeking nominations for the Review Group through the respective chairs of the HTs Phase consultative.

6. LA Consultation on School Admissions Arrangements for 2019/20

The AF responses were noted on the survey with the following comments: 1. Proposed Co-ordinated Schemes for Community Nursery

Schools/Classes in 2019/20

AF Response: No further comment from AF

2. Do you agree with the proposal to include an additional criterion that gives priority for children of staff who have worked at the school for at least two years and or new staff who are recruited to fill a demonstrable skills shortage?

AF Response: Yes

PH and PB said that there were initially not in favour of this criterion but had now decided that it was in the best interests of schools who may be struggling to recruit and ultimately for parents and their children.

TB noted that this criterion would affect relatively few children, but in the event of a large numbers of applications the number of places could be capped according to the school’s size and type.

PH noted that as large numbers of own admission authority schools had introduced this criterion it was beneficial for all schools to also do so to ensure all were on a ‘level playing field’.

3. Do you agree with the proposal to include an additional criterion that gives priority for children of staff who have worked at the school for at least two years and or new staff who are recruited to fill a demonstrable skills shortage?

AF Response: Yes

See above

4. Proposed Co-ordinated schemes for Reception and Year 7 in 2019/20

AF Response: No further comment from AF

5. Do you agree with the proposed change to the timetable and arrangements for school transfers?

AF Response: Yes

TB noted that moving children between schools causes disruption to the child’s education and their eventual attainment, at a time when schools are struggling with limited resources to ensure the best outcomes for their pupils. This proposal would allow for more dialogue between schools and parents where there is disagreement, reducing the potential

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for children to change schools in ‘heat of the moment’.

TB confirmed that early transfers would still be considered and take place under the following circumstances:

- where exceptional medical or social need was demonstrated;

- where siblings were attending different schools

- In circumstances where a family had moved house and were undertaking an unnecessarily long journey to the existing school.

Some members felt that any request for children to transfer schools was better actioned ‘sooner rather than later’ to avoid any lost school days.

6. Do you wish to comment on the planned admission numbers for schools in Tower Hamlets?

AF Response: No comment, given that the planned numbers were sufficient to meet the anticipated demand.

7. Coordinated Admissions 2018 Intake

Secondary Transfer 2018: Report tabled.

LA officers presented figures for the total number of applications received for secondary transfer. The AF noted the increase in total number applications and this was in line with pressure on secondary school places that had been anticipated.

There was a discussion on schools that had received relatively fewer applications and were likely to remain significantly undersubscribed for Sept 2018. It was also noted which schools continued to be very popular with parents and likely to remain heavily oversubscribed.

KM noted that this was the first year without paper applications. She asked the heads present how they felt the online applications process had worked this year. The response was favourable and heads felt that the workshops, organised by Pupil Services and schools, had ensured that there had been no issues and all seemed to have gone smoothly.

DJ identified the following from Secondary Transfer Appeals earlier this year:

- a need clarification within the LA’s policy on the sibling criteria as regards siblings in Year 11 and Sixth Form

- where the distance for the last person admitted is the same as for the first person refused, there should be an explanation in the policy on who would be offered the place

Primary Admissions 2018:

MA notified that the deadline for applications for September 2018 was 15th January and that apply online workshops would continue until the closing date.

Nursery 2018 – update from working group:

LC advised that the nursery working group had met and had discussed many issues relating to the coordination of nursery admissions. ED had received notification from VA heads that VA schools have agreed to join the coordinated process.

It was agreed by the working group that the date of birth range for nursery applicants would be the year preceding the Reception age range. The application process would be the same as it is for Reception

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and only online applications would be accepted via the Eadmissions website.

It had been agreed that a nursery prospectus would be produced to inform and advise parents on the new arrangements and this would be distributed to schools, nurseries and childrens centres from September in the admitting year.

The nursery working group will meet every three weeks; current discussions will involve a common model for the allocation of full and part time places. It has been agreed that the LA will offer part time places only and once places are offered families will be able to request full time places from the nursery involved.

Next meeting is on 15 January and will be attended by Head of Early Years, Pauline Hoare and Salish Patel from finance.

MA and LC will be meeting colleagues at Bexley Nursery Admissions on 21 December to gain an understanding of how their co-ordinated nursery admission arrangements work and to share good practice.

8. Free Schools and Academies – report tabled

A report on latest roll position for academies and free schools in LBTH was presented to the AF.

TB asked if a map showing schools across the borough would be helpful to the AF when considering capacity and surplus – the AF were in agreement.

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9. AOB

DJ noted that the DfE required local authorities (LA’s) to write to parents of children in Year 9 to advise them of schools, within travelling distance of the LA area, that admit children in Year 10, University Technical Colleges or UTC’s. DJ asked whether pupil services had done so. TB conformed that the letter has been sent direct from the LA to parents of pupils in Year 9.

10. Date, time and venue of next meeting

Thursday 25th January 2018 – 1.30pm Stepney Green Maths, Computing and Science College

Ben Jonson Road E1 4SD

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