School Admission Arrangements
How places are offered at schools and academies
School admission arrangements are the overall rules (including the procedure, criteria and supplementary information) used in the allocation of school places, and must comply with the School Admissions Code.
Arrangements are determined (set) by 'admissions authorities'.
Types of school, what they're called and who's responsible for them can be confusing. The Citizen's Advice Bureau has a helpful explanation of school types.
West Berkshire Council is the admission authority for community and voluntary controlled schools in West Berkshire.
We also produce the admission policy for maintained nursery schools though we don't process applications for nursery school places (these should be made directly to the school).
Voluntary aided, foundation schools and academies set their own admission arrangements as each school's governing body is their own admission authority - you should contact them directly for more information.
Local authorities are required to have schemes to co-ordinate admission to schools.
The West Berkshire co-ordinated admission scheme applies to all maintained schools and academies in the area.
Consultations
Admission Authorities must determine admission arrangements annually. If changes are made, we run a consultation.
West Berkshire Council Determined Admission Arrangements and Co-ordinated Schemes
2018/19 Determined Admission Arrangements
West Berkshire Admission Arrangements for Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools 2018/19 [4Mb]
2019/20 Determined Admission Arrangements
Determined admission arrangements for community and voluntary controlled schools [4Mb]
2019/20 Co-ordinated Scheme
Co-ordinated Scheme 2019/20 [48kb]
2020/21 Determined Admission Arrangements
West Berkshire Admission Arrangements for Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools 2020/21 [4Mb]
2020/21 Co-ordinated Scheme
West Berkshire Co-ordinated Admission Scheme for 2020/21 [38kb]
If you think that the admission rules made by an academy or maintained school are unlawful, or against the School Admissions Code, you can object to the Department for Education's Schools Adjudicator.
Objections must be submitted by 15 May 2019. The forms for objecting are on the Gov.uk website.
Voluntary Aided, Foundation and Academy Schools
These schools are responsible for setting their own admissions policies.
The admission arrangements (and any supplementary forms required to apply for a school place at these schools) can be found on the individual school websites:
Primary Schools
Secondary Schools
West Berkshire Council Determined Nursery School Admission Arrangements
2018/19
Nursery Admission Policy 2018 [27kb]
2019/20
Nursery admission policy 2019 [30kb]
2020/21
Nursery admission policy 2020 [30kb]