• Coronavirus: Admission appeal panels could be held by phone or video call

    The government is considering allowing admission appeals to be heard by telephone or video call, after a senior official said appeal panels should not meet during the coronavirus outbreak. In a letter to councils, national schools commissioner Dominic Herrington said that “given the current restrictions we do not consider it is sensible to go ahead with…

    11.39 Apr. 6th, 2020 | News

  • Variation requests soar as primaries downsize, and 6 other OSA annual report findings

    The official in charge of regulating schools’ admissions arrangements has published her annual report. Shan Scott, the chief schools adjudicator for England, said her report gave an overall impression of an admissions system “that as a whole works effectively in the normal admissions rounds, and in those rounds, the needs of vulnerable children, and those…

    11.35 Feb. 24th, 2020 | News

  • Grammar school ordered to tweak admissions policy following second home row

    A heavily oversubscribed grammar school has been ordered to amend its admission arrangements after a parent complained that it discriminated against wealthy individuals with second homes. The objection was lodged after Dr Challoner’s Grammar School, in Buckinghamshire, rejected an application from a child who lived three miles from the school – well within its catchment…

    17.32 Aug. 31st, 2018 | News