Fir Vale proposes admissions change

Story: Aishah Baroo

Fir Vale School is proposing a change to their admissions procedure from September 2015 to pursue a policy of “fair banding” and has issued a consultation document.

The widespread policy of “fair banding” has been adopted by many academies across the country. Its purpose is to ensure that a school admits pupils of mixed ability levels. If the proposal is adopted, this will mean the school will organise admissions directly as the Fir Vale School Academy Trust. Fir Vale School will be one of the first in the region to pursue this fair banding policy and leave the City Wide Learning Agreement, which other new academies in Sheffield have signed up to.

Children’s ability tested

The total intake of pupils will be set at 1,050 with 210 places per year group. There are five ability bands in total and each band will accommodate 42 pupils. The “fair banding” process will be applied if there are more applicants than the 210 places available. All applicants, including those from the feeder primary schools, will have to sit a Cognitive Ability Test (CAT) in November of Year 6. The scores of this test will determine their appropriate ability band. If there are too many applicants for any of the ability bands then priority will be given to children who meet the criteria set out by the school. As stated in the consultation document, some of the priority factors include children who already have a sibling at the school or children with Special Educational Needs.

Children chosen by lottery

It is likely that in Burngreave and Fir Vale more applicants will be in the lower ability bands than in the higher ability bands, and so there will be more competition to for places in the lower bands. Unlike the existing admissions policy, applicants at feeder primary schools linked to Fir Vale School (like Byron Wood or Firs Hill) will not have any priority. All other applicants will be subject to a lottery system which will determine whether they have received a place in a particular band. Once all the bands are full the remaining applicants will be placed in a waiting list for that band.

Catchment no longer a priority

The new admissions policy will be significantly different to the current admissions policy which is determined by the Local Authority. Traditionally, applicants for the school have been given high priority if they live within the catchment area. However, the new proposal means it will make no difference even if you live very close to Fir Vale School, as the ‘catchment area’ is not mentioned in their new criteria. For the rejected applicants, this could result in a long journey to another school if you do not acquire your first choice.

If a child who lives in the catchment area for Fir Vale School is rejected for a place under the new admissions policy, they can apply for other Secondary Schools in the locality. However, they will not be in the ‘catchment area’ for that school which operates the Council’s admissions policy. Therefore any applicant who is rejected by Fir Vale School will automatically become disadvantaged when applying for other schools in the area.

In-Year admissions means that applicants will not have been able to sit the CATs test as they will have missed the specified date. In this case, applicants will receive an admission based on their KS2 SATs results (assessment at the end of primary school). This could put added pressure on primary school children. SATs results have always been forwarded to schools so that the secondary school can allocate children into the appropriate ability set. The new admissions proposal will essentially mean that KS2 SATs results will be used to determine entry into the school.

The full proposal can be accessed through the school website at http://www.firvale.com. Any comments regarding the new Admissions proposal can be emailed to enquiries@firvale.com or posted to the Head teacher at the Fir Vale School address. Any comments or feedback must be expressed before the deadline of 5.00pm on the 1st March 2014.

The Messenger would also like to hear your views call 242 0564 or email mail@burngreavemessenger.org

The Burngreave Messenger has received some comments from the school and local residents which can be read at Fir Vale Admissions Proposal responses.