Disclosure Log

Question

I request the following recorded information relating to education provision and planning within the authority.

1. School Place Planning a) Any policy, guidance, methodology or criteria used by the Council to determine pupil placement where more than one school has available places. b) Any documents explaining how catchment areas are applied in practice where parental preference differs from catchment allocation. c) Any internal guidance used by officers when deciding whether to allocate a pupil to a non-catchment school.

2. Admissions and Placement Decisions a) Records showing the number of out-of-catchment placements made for each primary school for the last three academic years. b) Any criteria used to approve or refuse out-of-catchment applications. c) Any reports, briefings or internal communications discussing pressure on specific schools or uneven distribution of pupils.

3. Transport and Placement Impact a) Policies governing the provision of school transport where a nearer school has available places. b) Records or reports analysing transport costs arising from placements outside the nearest available school.

4. Capacity Management a) Any internal reviews, strategy documents or planning reports discussing surplus places and over-subscribed schools. b) Any modelling, forecasting or planning assumptions used when determining Published Admission Numbers (PAN).

Answer

I request the following recorded information relating to education provision and planning within the authority.

1. School Place Planning

a) Any policy, guidance, methodology or criteria used by the Council to determine pupil placement where more than one school has available places.

Please find attached the School Admissions Policy and the WG School Admissions Code. Ultimately pupil placement is determined by parental preference assuming there is sufficient space in the requested school.

b) Any documents explaining how catchment areas are applied in practice where parental preference differs from catchment allocation.

Included in the policy is our oversubscription criteria, and here is the link to our catchment map - Check school catchment areas | Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council

c) Any internal guidance used by officers when deciding whether to allocate a pupil to a non-catchment school.

Please see the attached policy. ultimately if there is space in the school which the parent is applying to, then the child will be offered a place regardless of where they reside.

2. Admissions and Placement Decisions

a) Records showing the number of out-of-catchment placements made for each primary school for the last three academic years.

Please see the attached document titled FOI 12000 Q2a

b) Any criteria used to approve or refuse out-of-catchment applications.

Please see the attached policy

c) Any reports, briefings or internal communications discussing pressure on specific schools or uneven distribution of pupils.

N/A

3. Transport and Placement Impact

a) Policies governing the provision of school transport where a nearer school has available places.

Please find attached the Home to School Transport Policy.

b) Records or reports analysing transport costs arising from placements outside the nearest available school.

Nil

4. Capacity Management

a) Any internal reviews, strategy documents or planning reports discussing surplus places and over-subscribed schools.

Please find attached:

Measuring the capacity of schools in Wales circular

FOI 12000 Q4.a

b) Any modelling, forecasting or planning assumptions used when determining Published Admission Numbers (PAN).

Please see attached the document titled FOI 12000 Q4.b