Another judgment on Charter's Admissions Policy

[fairadmissions]

The Campaign for Fair Admissions To the Charter School has had another objection upheld By the Office of the Schools Adjudicator.

Following a previous ruling which stated that the Charter School should immediately correct its admissions procedure to include Wanley Road as a safe walking route to the school, the recent objection was to the school's lack of clarity in its amended policy and insisted that the school publish a map to show which routes are included in its measurements.

You can read the Full determination by following this link:

http://tinyurl.com/coow7z4

[intexasatthe moment]

Thank you fairadmissions .

The school do seem to be making heavy weather of producing a clear admissions policy .

Well done those who went to the effort of raising this with the Adjudicator .

[FatherJack]

Fair Admissions...Has this now been corrected?

[etta166]

I thought that all Southwark schools now used a straight line distance measurement rather than the safest walking route. Or is this just a primary level?

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi Etta166.

All Southwark's Secondary Schools are all voluntary aided or Academies; so all administer their own admissions policies. A few eg Harris Academies, Haberdasher's Askes' use straight line distance. Charter still uses safest walking route, but since the adjudicators decision this includes Wanley Rd. Kingsdale selects its intake by random allocation and Bacon's likewise but in conjunction with a catchment element. Schools with a religious affiliation tend to select on religious belief and distance combined. Some church schools have feeder primaries eg St Francesca Cabrini is a feeder to St Michael's in Bermondsey. Some academies have linked primaries eg Harris Free School and Harris Academy@Peckham. Some have additional selection for speciality subjects eg Kingsdale, sport and music; Prendergast and Haberdashers, music.

All of Southwark's mainstream community primaries select on straight line distance. Church schools select on a mixture of church attendance/religious belief and straight line distance. For C of E primaries typically 50% are community places; for Catholic schools it varies from school to school and from year to year, dependant on the number of Catholic applicants.

Some of Southwark's Primaries are now academies; ie they set their own admissions policies. You need to check with the individual academy as to their admissions policy eg whether they have a sibling policy and whether they have other priority criteria eg priority to children who would be eligible for free school meals under government legislation.

Renata

[intexasatthe moment]

I just want to acknowledge the huge amount of work that must have been put in by those campaigning to get The Charter School to produce and abide by a fair and clear admissions policy .

I imagine that individuals have also incurred the displeasure of the head ... a brave thing to do when one considers how much power the head has .

For years the school have had appeals based on the question of whether a footpath can be considered as a safe walking route or whether the distance from school be measured by a much longer bus route .

The appeals have been succesfully upheld but the school has persisted in refusing to recognising the route .

The adjudicators exsaperation is clear from the first judgement

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9GB1PQuo9iAODYyYzZiMWEtYzEzYS00Y2U3LWE4M2MtNTJiMzhiNjc5YzZl.

All Southwark's secondary schools are their own admissions authorities ,this case illustrates that parents can't just assume that they are fairly administered and applied and that sometimes further action is needed .

( further action doesn't come close to conveying the huge amount of time and effort that must have gone into this ) .

And for the record ,professionals who are paid to advise on admissions are referring to this latest judgement as a landmark ruling which has the potential to affect every admission authority using safe walking distance as an admission criteria .

[DaveR]

I have read the judgment. In summary:

Charter use exactly the same process as the LA used i.e. they use a mapping contractor to determine safe walking distances.

Neither the principle nor the process is unfair.

The mapping contractor uses the latest available information to make their determinations.

Consequently, the school didn't want to publish a map because if they do it at the time that the annual admissions policy is published, there is a risk it will be out of date by the time the admissions period closes.

As a result of your complaints, the school will either have to (i) publish a map, monitor any changes, and then work out how to communicate any changes to every single applicant before the deadline or face appeals, or (ii) ask the mapping contractor not to use the latest available information.

Bravo! Well done! Fairness all round.

[intexasatthe moment]

And your views on the fact that after the first appeal regarding use of Wanless Rd was succesful ,the school carried on refusing to recognise the route and further appeals had to be brought ?

[intexasatthe moment]

Have you read the first judgement ?

Any views on that ?

[DaveR]

I have now, and I now understand the subtext i.e. the real allegation against Charter is that it is using its admissions policy to skew the social mix of the intake. I have no idea whether this is right or not, albeit the fact that the policy has not changed since it was administered by the LA kind of suggests not.

I do have some difficulty with the idea that clarity and fairness in the policy are somehow equivalent. Ultimately, if a change in policy results in a child getting a place who wouldn't have done so before, there is another child who now will have to go elsewhere. Is there any evidence that as a result of these changes, the newly admitted pupils are somehow more deserving than those who will lose out?

[intexasatthe moment]

What do you mean by deserving ?

I don't think The Charter school's admission policy is designed to rank applicants as to how deserving they are .

Unless you mean deserving in terms of who fits their admissions policy most closely .

And to ensure that happens a clear and fair policy is needed . Fair in the sense that if it states safe walking distance is a criteria that criteria should be applied in the same way to all safe walking routes ,not picking some and excluding others .

Fair in the sense that where a judgement is called into question and referred through the proper channels the outcome is recognised by the school .

[fairadmissions]

The only way in which these children would be more deserving or a place than those who "lose out" is because they do actually live closer to the school, measuring shortest safe walking route.

[fairadmissions]

The Campaign for Fair Admissions to the Charter School never set out to change the school's Admissions Policy, simply to ensure that the procedure was properly followed.

[championofthehill]

I just looked at Charter's website and there doesn't seem to be a map. Why are they delaying putting one up after this ruling?

[intexasatthe moment]

Maybe they've not had time ?

[minder]

Intexas - it's Wanley Road not Wanless. I grew up around the area with friends many years ago (lived in Dylways) so just have to correct the spelling.

[intexasatthe moment]

Aaargh ...sorry ,thanks minder .

[championofthehill]

It would be useful if the school would put the map up in time for people to use it if they're considering applying this year.

[prickle]

Not sure if a map on website is a crucial deciding factor when choosing to put it on list. Surely given the school's popularity, anyone within several miles radius would be putting it down on the off chance?

[intexasatthe moment]

Mmmm ...but if people living in a certain area are aware that neighbours have been unsuccesful in applications in the past ( because the footpath route has not been allowed and the longer bus route has been used to determine distance )they might feel it's not worth applying .

A map on the school website showing the route might counteract a local belief that there's no point in applying .

[championofthehill]

Also there were a lot of upset people in February who said they wouldn't have wasted an application to the school if they had known about the earlier ruling at the time they had filled out their applications last autumn. As the furthest distance offered by the school seems to be shrinking each year, any other factors might be relevant.

[FatherJack]

Southwark News features a piece on the safe routes map. The Head at Charter, Dave Sheppard, says "the school has been in touch with the agency who do the mapping and it will be in time for this year's admissions round. We will have it published within the month".