North Yorkshire Council
Executive
6 January 2026
School Admission Arrangements for the School Year 2027/28
Report of the Corporate Director – Children and Young People’s Service
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 2027/2028, 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 the 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 2027/2028 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 schools admission arrangements for the academic year 2027/2028.
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 3 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.
3.7 Schools were asked to express their agreement or otherwise with the proposals relating to their own proposed Published Admission Number (PAN), the proposed admissions policy for Community and Voluntary Controlled schools, the proposed admissions policy for LA 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 24 November 2025, a total of 26 responses had been submitted from 15 members of the public, 6 schools including 1 Academy Trust and 3 neighbouring local authorities. One response was received anonymously. Twenty-five of the responses were received via the online survey and 1 of the responses was received via email.
A majority of the responses were supportive of the proposals, although some critical comments were received.
A summary of the responses, and copies of all the comments received are provided in Appendix 1 of this report.
4.0 PROPOSALS
4.1 The proposed co-ordinated Admission Arrangements for 2027/28, including appendices, are attached to this report at Appendix 2.
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 proposed Co-ordinated In-Year Admission Arrangements Document is attached to this report at Appendix 3.
4.3 The proposed Admission Policies for 2027/2028 (these contain the criteria for determining admission where schools are oversubscribed) have been updated to reflect the relevant dates for 2027/2028 and include: -
4.2.1 NYC admissions policy for local authority-maintained community and voluntary controlled schools (Attached at Appendix 4)
4.2.2 NYC admissions policy for Ripon Grammar Boarding School, 2027/2028 (Attached at Appendix 5)
4.2.3 NYC admissions policy for community schools and voluntary controlled nursery schools, nursery classes, pre-reception classes 2027/2028 (Attached at Appendix 6).
4.3 The proposed Published Admission Numbers (PAN’s) for 2027/2028 have been updated, to reflect the schools that requested a change.
4.3.1 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 PAN.
The following changes to the published admission numbers were proposed for 2027/2028:
|
School |
Determined Published Admission Numbers (PAN) for 2026/27 |
Proposed PAN for 2027/28 |
|
Barrowcliff Primary School |
60 |
30 |
|
Cowling Community Primary School |
19 |
15 |
|
Grove Road Community Primary School |
40 |
30 |
|
Wavell Community Primary School |
60 |
30 |
|
Boroughbridge High School |
128 |
93 |
|
Risedale Sports and Community College |
150 |
90 |
|
Thirsk School & Sixth Form College |
195 |
190 |
The consultation document incorrectly proposed that the PAN for Pickering Infants and Nursery School should reduce from 60 to 30. This was an error, and it is not proposed that there should be any change to the School’s PAN of 60.
4.3.3 The following are attached to this report: -
· The proposed PAN’s for Community and Voluntary Controlled Primary Schools for the Academic Year 2027/2028 (Appendix 7); and
· The proposed PAN’s for Community Secondary Schools for the Academic Year 2027/2028 (Appendix 8)
4.4 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 2027/2028 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 Schools 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 2027/2028. The arrangements decide the allocation of school places which will apply for admission applications for entry in the academic year 2027/2028. The approved arrangements are to be determined by February 2026, this is to comply with the regulations and legislation set out in the Admission Code 2021
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11.0
11.1
11.2 |
RECOMMENDATIONS
That the proposed Admission Arrangements for 2027/2028 be recommended to the Council for approval on 13 February 2026, including: -
· The proposed co-ordinated admission arrangements · The proposed coordinated 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 (PAN’s) for community and voluntary controlled schools.
That the relevant areas for consultation on the School Admission Arrangements remain unchanged |
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Appendix 1 - Summary of responses to the consultation exercise
Appendix 2 - Proposed co-ordinated admission arrangements for 2027-2028
(including with appendices)
Appendix 3 - Proposed co-ordinated in-year admission arrangements
Appendix 4 - Proposed admission policy for community and voluntary controlled schools
2027-2028
Appendix 5 - Proposed admission policy for Ripon Grammar School Boarding
2027-2028
Appendix 6 - Proposed admission policy for nursery schools, schools with nursery classes and pre-reception classes
Appendix 7- Proposed primary admission numbers (PAN’s) for community and voluntary controlled schools 2027-2028
Appendix 8 - Proposed secondary admission numbers (PAN’s) for community and voluntary controlled schools 2027-2028
Appendix 9 - Equalities Impact Assessment
Appendix 10 - Climate Change Impact Assessment
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:
Department for Education - School Admission Code September 2021
Pete Thorpe
Corporate Director – Children and Young People’s Service
County Hall
Northallerton
6 January 2026
Report Author – Jon Holden, Head of Strategic Planning (CYPS) and Lisa Herdman, Lead for Admissions
Presenter of Report – Jon Holden, Head of Strategic Planning (CYPS)
Note: Members are invited to contact the author in advance of the meeting with any detailed queries or questions.
PLEASE ALSO NOTE THAT IF ANY REPORTS / APPENDICES INCLUDE SIGNATURES THESE MUST BE REMOVED / DELETED PRIOR TO SENDING REPORTS / APPENDICES TO DEMOCRATIC SERVICES. Appendices should include an Equality Impact Assessment and a Climate Impact Assessment where appropriate