Primary and secondary schools coordinated admissions scheme 2021

Where a school in another LA is listed on the application, the application details will be forwarded to the LA where the school is situated by:

• 15 December (secondary scheme)
• 15 February (primary scheme)

Initial exchange of preference information with neighbouring LAs will be completed on a mutually agreed timeline.

The LA will notify the admission authority for each in-county voluntary-aided, foundation school or Academy of the timely preferences expressed for the school by:

• 15 December (secondary scheme)
• 15 February (primary scheme)

Or, on the next working day.

Each admission authority will then apply its own admission rules to the list of applicants for the school or academy.

Officers of Buckinghamshire Council will complete this process for community and voluntary-controlled schools.

The governing body for each Academy, foundation or voluntary-aided school will manage this for their school, and return a ranked list of children, based on the admission rules for the Academy or school to the LA by the deadline.

The admission authority for each Academy or school will consider all applications (including late applications) for their Academy or school, apply the admission rules and provide the LA with a ranked list by:

• By 16 January (secondary scheme)
• 2 March (primary scheme)

If either of these dates is at a weekend then the deadline will be at the same time on the next working day. Selective Academies will rank all applications, but places will only be offered to qualified candidates.

The LA will act as a clearing-house for the allocation of places by the relevant admission authorities.

The LA will only make any decision with respect to the offer or refusal of a place in response to:

• any preference expressed where it is acting in its separate capacity as an admission authority; or, 
• If an applicant is eligible for a place at more than one school; or, 
• Where an applicant is not eligible for a place at any school that the parent has nominated

The LA will allocate places.

Where a child can be allocated a place at the Academy or school ranked first, this will become the firm offer. It will then be noted that the child will not need to be considered for a place at any lower ranked school(s) or Academies, and the pupil’s name will be removed from those lists.

Where a child is not allocated a place at the first ranked school or Academy but is provisionally allocated a place they ranked second, this will be held provisionally pending further rounds in which it may become possible to give a higher preference. The same process as explained under 'firm offer' would be followed regarding the offer of any places released at lower preference schools and Academies.

The above steps will be repeated for all nominated preferences until it is not possible to offer any higher ranked school or Academy as a result of repeating the process.

Once all repetitions (iterations) of the allocation round are complete, all allocations then in existence become the firm offer.

For each preference, children who remain unallocated at this point in the process will be treated as being refused a place by the admission authority at any school or Academy for which they are eligible to be considered for admission.

For children who have not been allocated a place in the iterative process, as explained above, where possible the LA will offer a place at the next nearest school or Academy with places remaining (by agreement this may be in another LA area), in the following order:

1. children where a Buckinghamshire upper/all-ability school has been included on the application. This might include qualified children where a grammar school place cannot be offered.
2. if places remain, to children where a school in another area has been included on the application. This might include qualified children where a grammar school place cannot be offered.
3. We will not offer a place at the next nearest school with a place to unqualified children whose parents only expressed Buckinghamshire grammar school preferences on their application and knew their child’s result. Parents in this group had the opportunity to include an upper/all-ability or school in another area on their application had they so wished and chose not to. However such parents are able to express alternative preferences for a later round.

The admission authority for the school or Academy will consider each of the children offered a place at the school on the same basis as if the LAs decision were a preference made by the child’s parent/carer falling within section 86 of the 1998 Act.

Further rounds of this procedure may be undertaken if necessary.

Following the allocation the LA will also write to any child known to it where no application been received or where not yet allocated a place, inviting a preference where none has been made and indicating those schools in the county where vacancies still exist following the completion of the allocation. This process will also be followed where a child is not qualified for admission to a grammar school/selective Academy but only selective schools have been applied for.

The LA will coordinate with other LAs to determine a single offer. This coordination will continue until all applications received before the beginning of the autumn term are processed.

Other LAs will also be applying their schemes. If an LA notifies Buckinghamshire that it can offer a place to a Buckinghamshire resident, it will compare this place with the possible offer of a Buckinghamshire school and the parent’s highest preference will be the one that becomes the actual offer.

Offers of places in other LAs will be processed by Buckinghamshire Council in the next available allocation round.