Which school in York?

All admissions authorities in the City of York area are consulting parents and carers on new policies and the number of places available for the school year starting in September 2018.

The consultation includes all admissions policies for church schools, academies and local authority maintained schools, and includes the planned number of places available at each school in the year of entry to primary, junior, secondary schools and sixth forms. The views of parents, carers, schools as well as governors, teachers and other interested parties are being sought before the closing date of 16 December 2016.

York’s school attendance is ninth best in UK

Of the 150 local authorities across the country, attendance data for the autumn and spring terms 2015-16 show that City of York Council is the ninth best performer of all other local authorities.

Compared nationally, York’s overall attendance level has further improved since 2014-15 when absence was 4.2 per cent. In 2015-16, it improved to 4.0 per cent for same period. York’s performance is better than the national trend which shows that levels of absence fell from 4.5% to 4.4% in the same period. Levels of pupils who are regarded as persistently absent in York – absent for 10 per cent of available sessions – are shown to be the eleventh lowest in the UK with 8.8 per cent for York compared to the national figure of 10.3 per cent.

Compared regionally, York has the second lowest figures for absence in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Regional figures are 4.4 per cent for overall absence and 10.8 per cent persistent absentees respectively.

Absenteeism can be due to a number of factors including parental neglect, truancy, holidays or non-essential appointments. Pupils who miss between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of school tend to have lower attainment levels than average, with only 35 per cent achieving five A* to C GCSEs, including English and maths.

The full data is at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-autumn-2015-and-spring-2016

Nearly 95 per cent of York children get a place at their first choice of primary school

Today (Monday 18 April), primary school admission figures are published for entry in September 2016 and City of York Council is pleased to announce School children that 94.4 per cent of York children have got their first preference and that 98.5 per cent got one of their first three preferences.

The percentage of children achieving their first preference has increased by 2.1 per cent between 2015 and 2016.

The number of online applications for primary school places has continued to increase. Parents who applied online will be notified of their child’s place by email at 10am today, letters are being posted today to parents and those with online accounts can log in to the council’s parent portal at www.york.gov.uk/parentportal.

In 2016 all children within the local authority area have secured a primary school place. The majority of children got one of their first three preferences; with the number of children whose preferences were not able to be met being reduced from 36 in 2015 to 27.

To meet growing demand for places in the west of York, 15 additional places were created by working with Acomb Primary School. Meanwhile, work continues in Southbank to meet a forecast growth in demand for places in the area.

This year’s admissions figures, compared with last year’s are outlined below:

	2015	2016
	qty	%	qty	%
1st	1828	92.3%	1853	94.4%
2nd	83	4.2%	71	3.6%
3rd	26	1.3%	10	0.5%
4th	4	0.2%	1	0.1%
5th	3	0.2%	0	0.0%
Placed outside preferences	36	1.8%	27	1.4%
Total	1980	100.0%	1962	100.0%
Applied Online	1706	86.2%	1795	91.5%

More children walking to primary school in York

Even more schools in York have been recognised for their work in helping to make their local areas safer by reducing car journeys and using sustainable forms of transport such as walking, cycling and scooting.

Three school are following in the footsteps of Archbishop of York Junior School, who achieved the gold award in Autumn 2015, by becoming the latest schools to sign up to a national road safety campaign.

Our Lady Queen of Martyrs RC Primary School, Bishopthorpe Infants School and Robert Wilkinson Primary Academy have all achieved a bronze award and are a step closer towards gaining a ‘silver accreditation’.
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Canon Lee school taken into “special measures” following OFSTED report

A York secondary school has found itself in “special measures” following an independent OFSTED report which has found it to be “inadequate”

The action is without precedent in a City which has always prided itself on having the best schools in the country.

Ofsted report Oct 2015

Both staff and governors are criticised in the report.

Recently a temporary head was appointed to run the school

No response from the York Council has yet been published.

Public invited to consultation on school admissions in York

All admissions authorities in the City of York Council area are consulting parents and carers on new policies and the number of places available for the school year starting in September 2017.

The consultation includes all admissions policies and the planned number of places available at each school in the year of entry to primary, junior, secondary school and sixth forms. The views of parents, carers, schools as well as governors, teachers and other interested parties are being sought before the closing date of 15 December 2015.

The fairness and accessibility of information available, application processes, planned admission numbers, admission policies and oversubscription criteria are all currently being consulted on. All comments will be forwarded to the relevant admissions authority for their consideration before agreeing these arrangements
Following consultation, each admissions authority will formally set its admission arrangements by 28 February 2016. These will be published on each admissions authority’s websites by 15 March 2016 after which date objections can be raised to the Schools Adjudicator.

Three Coordinated Admissions Schemes are being consulted on for entry into all Primary (Reception), Junior (Year 3) and Secondary (Year 7) schools. The consultation also includes policies for York’s Community and Voluntary Controlled schools, as well as the 12 Admissions Policies for Academy and Voluntary Aided schools in the city. All documents offered for consultation are in their draft (pre-determined) form.
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Primary school applications open

Parents and carers of children born between 1 September 2011 and 31 August 2012, are invited to apply for a place in the reception class at their chosen York state primary school.

All details and answers to frequently asked questions can be found at www.york.gov.uk/guideforparents. The guide, updated for 2016 admissions, contains information on school admissions and appeals processes as well as information on admissions statistics, oversubscription criteria and other information for parents and carers. Also online are details for service families and information on fair access.

School contact details are also available through this website, to help parents and carers to find out when any open days might be held or to arrange school visits.

A spokesman said: “We have enough places for all known primary school children in York. While the national deadline for applications is 15 January 2016 and seems a long way off, we would advise parents to consider and act on this important matter as soon as possible. They will be told which school their child has a place at on 18 April 2016.”

For more detailed information, please email: education@york.gov.uk or call 01904 551 554.

York schools’ attendance is among UK’s highest

Attendance at City of York Council’s schools for 2013-2014 continues to be amongst the very best nationally, according to figures released by the Department for Education (DfE), with York returning the UK’s lowest number of persistent absentees for primary schools.

Data published on Friday 26 March for the first five half terms of 2013-14, shows that York is the UK’s joint second best-performing local authority for primary school attendance at 96.7%. City of York Council primary schools also had the joint lowest numbers nationally for persistent absentees at 1.3%.

This excellent performance was also reflected in secondary schools with attendance at 95.4%, placing York in the 20 top-performing local authorities out of 150 councils. The percentage of pupils in secondary schools regarded as persistent absentees was City of York Council’s lowest since records began with only 4.6% counting as persistent absentees.

Currently any pupil who is absent for 15% or more of their sessions is regarded as a persistent absentee, however from September 2015 this will change so that pupils with absence of 10% or more will count as a persistent absentee.

Pupils who miss between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of school tend to have lower attainment levels than average, with only 35 per cent achieving five A* to C GCSEs, including English and maths.

Jon Stonehouse, Director of Children’s Services, Education and Skills at City of York Council, said: “The work of teaching staff, police and council partners in the health sector as well as parental commitment all contribute to this excellent outcome which helps ensure that children overcome any barriers to attendance and have access to a good education. I would encourage any parent concerned about issues that they feel may lead to their child missing lessons to contact their school straight away.”

Westfield school receives national recognition for work with ‘disadvantaged’ pupils

Three primary schools in York have received a letter from a Government Minister recognising their work with ‘disadvantaged’ pupils.

Westfield school

Clifton Green Primary, Poppleton Road Primary and Westfield Primary schools all received a congratulatory letter from David Laws, Minister for Schools, following the excellent results of their disadvantaged pupils.

To receive a letter of congratulations, schools had to show:

consistent high attainment of their disadvantaged pupils between 2012 and 2014 in reading, writing and maths;
that high proportions of their disadvantaged pupils are making the expected progress in reading, writing and maths;
consistently high or improving attainment for other pupils;
that they got a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ rating in their latest Ofsted inspection.

Schools in York are working with the council, and a wider range of partners, to close the attainment gap between the results of disadvantaged pupils and their peers.

Tracey Ralph, Headteacher at Westfield Primary School, said: “The letter was specifically about Key Stage 2 test results, but we are successful with pupils sustained improvements in standards and it is lovely for the staff to receive recognition for all their hard work, along with our parents, community and governors who have helped our children achieve this. ”
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Badger Hill primary school wins money for buildings

Liberal Democrat Schools Minister David Laws MP has today announced government money to rebuild Badger Hill school in York.

The money will come from the Priority Schools Building Programme, a £2bn government scheme spearheaded by the Liberal Democrats to rebuild those schools across the country suffering most from wear and tear. A full list of benefiting schools can be found by clicking here

Schools included in the programme are now able to start developing detailed plans, and are expected to be completed in the next few years.

Liberal Democrat Schools Minister David Laws MP said:

“I am delighted to be able to announce money that will allow Badger Hill to make badly needed improvements to their building.

“School buildings that aren’t up to scratch unfairly hold our children and young people back. Every child deserves the opportunity to achieve their full potential, and improving Badger Hill will make sure that many more children in York receive a good education.”

Local Liberal Democrats say,

“Last week the Conservatives set out plans to cut school budgets if they are in power by themselves after the election. We am proud that Liberal Democrats are continuing to make the case and win more investment for local schools.

Elsewhere in the city, work on new primary schools for Carr Infants in Acomb and Lord Deramore’s in Heslington are both due to begin later this year. Already set to be expanded in the City are St Barnabas and fellow PFI- primary, St Oswald’s CE in Fulford, where there has been increased demand for pupil places.

Only a few weeks ago figures were released which revealed that York faced a major shortfall in school place availability over the next few years.

The Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) was established in 2011 to address the needs of those schools in the worst condition across the country.
The list of 261 successful schools for the first phase of the programme was announced in May 2012. Significant work on those projects is already underway. As of 26 January 2015, 15 school buildings are already open, a further 72 have contracts signed and the remaining projects are well into in the development or planning stages.
In May 2014 the Coalition Government announced a further £2 billion for the second phase of the programme. A list of the schools to benefit from the second phase of the PSBP has been published today, here
The government has also today announced £4bn of school maintenance funding to be shared by local authorities across England.
This week David Cameron set out Conservative plans to cut school budgets by up to 10% in real terms, if his party wins an overall majority in this year’s general election. Liberal Democrats have protected schools spending in this parliament, and are committed to protecting schools, early years and 16-19 education budgets in real terms in the next parliament.

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