Part III School admissions
Chapter I Admission arrangements
Parental preferences
86 Parental preferences.
(1)
A local education authority shall make arrangements for enabling the parent of a child in the area of the authority—
(a)
to express a preference as to the school at which he wishes education to be provided for his child in the exercise of the authority’s functions, and
(b)
to give reasons for his preference.
F1(2)
Subject to F2subsections (3) and (3A) and section 87 (children excluded from two or more schools), a local education authority and the governing body of a maintained school shall comply with any preference expressed in accordance with arrangements made under subsection (1).
F1(2A)
Arrangements made under subsection (1) may allow the parent of a child to express preferences for more than one school; but nothing in this section requires the admission authority for a maintained school for which a child’s parent has expressed a preference to offer the child admission to the school if, in accordance with a scheme adopted or made by virtue of section 89B, the child is offered admission to a different school for which the parent has also expressed a preference.
(3)
The duty imposed by subsection (2) does not apply—
(a)
if compliance with the preference would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources; F3or
(b)
F4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(c)
if the arrangements for admission to the preferred school—
(i)
are wholly based on selection by reference to ability or aptitude, and
(ii)
are so based with a view to admitting only pupils with high ability or with aptitude,
and compliance with the preference would be incompatible with selection under those arrangements.
F5(3A)
In relation to a preference expressed by a parent as to the school at which he wishes secondary education suitable to the requirements of pupils who are over compulsory school age to be provided for his child, the duty imposed by subsection (2) also does not apply if the relevant selection arrangements are wholly based on selection by reference to ability or aptitude and compliance with the preference would be incompatible with selection under those arrangements.
(3B)
In subsection (3A) “the relevant selection arrangements”, in relation to a school, means—
(a)
the arrangements for admission to the school for secondary education suitable to the requirements of pupils who are over compulsory school age, or
(b)
those arrangements and the arrangements for entry to the sixth form of children who have been admitted to the school;
and references in this subsection to entry to the sixth form of children who have been admitted to a school shall be construed in accordance with section 94(7).
(4)
For the purposes of subsection (3)(a) prejudice of the kind referred to in that provision may arise by reason of measures required to be taken in order to ensure compliance with the duty imposed by section 1(6) (duty of local education authority and governing body to comply with limit on infant class sizes).
F6(5)
No prejudice shall be taken to arise for the purposes of subsection (3)(a) from the admission to a maintained school in a school year of a number of pupils in a relevant age group which does not exceed the number determined under section 89 as the number of pupils in that age group that it is intended to admit to the school in that year; but this subsection does not apply if the conditions set out in subsection (5A) are met in relation to the school and the school year.
(5A)
Those conditions are—
(a)
that the school is one at which boarding accommodation is provided for pupils; and
(b)
that the determination under section 89 by the admission authority of the admission arrangements which are to apply for that year includes the determinations mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 89A(2).
(5B)
Where the conditions set out in subsection (5A) are met in relation to a maintained school and a school year, no prejudice shall be taken to arise for the purposes of subsection (3)(a) from either of the following—
(a)
the admission to the school in that year as boarders of a number of pupils in a relevant age group which does not exceed the number determined under section 89 as the number of pupils in that age group that it is intended to admit to the school in that year as boarders;
(b)
the admission to the school in that year otherwise than as boarders of a number of pupils in a relevant age group which does not exceed the number determined under section 89 as the number of pupils in that age group that it is intended to admit to the school in that year otherwise than as boarders.
(6)
F7Where—
(a)
the admission arrangements for two or more maintained schools provide for co-ordinated admissions on the part of those schools, and
(b)
they are approved by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this subsection,
they shall have effect in relation to each of those schools despite anything in subsection (2).
(7)
Where the arrangements for the admission of pupils to a maintained school provide for applications for admission to be made to (or to a person acting on behalf of) the governing body of the school, a parent who makes such an application shall be regarded for the purposes of this section as having expressed a preference for that school in accordance with arrangements made under subsection (1).
(8)
The duty imposed by subsection (2) in relation to a preference expressed in accordance with arrangements made under subsection (1) shall apply also in relation to—
(a)
any application for the admission to a maintained school of a child who is not in the area of the authority maintaining the school, and
(b)
any application made by a parent as mentioned in section 438(4) or 440(2) of the M1Education Act 1996 (application for a particular school to be named in a school attendance order);
and references in F8subsections (3) and (3A) to a preference and a preferred school shall be construed accordingly.
(9)
Where admission arrangements for a school F9, or arrangements such as are mentioned in subsection (3B), provide for all pupils selected under the arrangements to be selected by reference to ability or aptitude, those arrangements shall be taken for the purposes of this section to be wholly based on selection by reference to ability or aptitude, whether or not they also provide for the use of additional criteria in circumstances where the number of children in a relevant age group who are assessed to be of the requisite ability or aptitude is greater than the number of pupils which it is intended to admit to the school in that age group.
87 No requirement to admit children permanently excluded from two or more schools.
(1)
The duty imposed by section 86(2) does not apply in the case of a child to whom subsection (2) below applies.
(2)
Where a child has been permanently excluded from two or more schools, this subsection applies to him during the period of two years beginning with the date on which the latest of those exclusions took effect.
(3)
Subsection (2) applies to a child whatever the length of the period or periods elapsing between those exclusions and regardless of whether it has applied to him on a previous occasion.
F10(4)
However, a child who has been permanently excluded from a school shall not be treated for the purposes of this section as having been so excluded if—
(a)
he was reinstated as a pupil at the school following the giving of a direction to that effect by the relevant authority in accordance with regulations under subsection (3)(b) or (c) of section 52 of the Education Act 2002,
(b)
on a review of his exclusion carried out in accordance with regulations under subsection (3)(b) of that section or an appeal made pursuant to regulations under subsection (3)(c) of that section, the relevant authority decided—
(i)
that it would not be practical to give a direction requiring his reinstatement as a pupil at the school, but
(ii)
that it would otherwise have been appropriate to give such a direction, or
(c)
he was so excluded at a time when he had not attained compulsory school age.
(4A)
In subsection (4) “the relevant authority” means—
(a)
the responsible body as defined by subsection (5) of section 52 of the Education Act 2002, or
(b)
a panel constituted in accordance with regulations under subsection (3)(c) of that section.
(5)
In this section “school” means—
(a)
in relation to any time before or after the appointed day, a school maintained by a local education authority; or
(b)
in relation to any time before the appointed day, a grant-maintained or grant-maintained special school within the meaning of the M2Education Act 1996.
(6)
For the purposes of this section the permanent exclusion of a child from a school shall be regarded as having taken effect on the school day as from which the head teacher decided that he should be permanently excluded.
(7)
Nothing in this section applies to a child unless at least one of the two or more exclusions mentioned in subsection (2) took effect on or after 1st September 1997.