School places shake-up approved

Members of North Yorkshire County Council's executive have backed the proposals to introduce a massive overhaul of the policies to admit pupils to the town's three state secondary schools after the Government enforced new national rules.

More than 40 official complaints were made by parents living in urban neighbourhoods of Harrogate who claimed that their children could lose out to pupils from rural districts on their first choice of school.

The need to change the system for Harrogate High School, Harrogate Grammar School and Rossett School, which have a total of 3,000 students, came about after the Government introduced the new national admissions code in 2008.

The county council's executive member for schools, Jim Clark, admitted that the changes to the admissions policies had been among the most complex issues the authority has dealt with in recent years.

Coun Clark said: "We have gone through an extremely wide-ranging consultation and taken on board all the views expressed, taking account of emails and reports submitted to us to the very last minute.

"We have acknowledged the views of rural communities and recognise too that there are communities in urban areas.

"I strongly believe that good schools make for strong and sustainable communities and we need good schools to build the communities of the future for our country.

"Harrogate is an area of excellence for education in England and we now believe that the method we have come up with is a fairer admissions system.

"This is a complex issue and we acknowledge that no one solution will please everybody, but the debate has been well-informed and demonstrates that the people of North Yorkshire and Harrogate are passionate about the education of their children and that is as it should be."

The shake-up represents the biggest overhaul since the secondaries became comprehensives in the late 1960s.

Under the current system, families in Harrogate's rural boundaries hold an advantage, introduced to give children from the countryside a chance to choose their school.

Their choice is given priority over those of pupils from urban areas, although this has caused resentment in town over fears children are missing out on their first choice of school.

Three schools adjudicators who examined the issue have all ruled that while Harrogate's current system is lawful, it is "inadvertently" unfair.

North Yorkshire County Council's director of children and young people's services, Cynthia Welbourn, said: "We have had to weigh many things during this consultation period – what the law says, what good practice permits us to do, the history of these communities and what is due process.

"This solution is probably as good as we can get it."

The extensive consultation exercises came to an end towards the end of last year after 5,500 parents of children aged up to the age of 10 at feeder primary schools and nurseries were asked their views about eight different proposals.

The county council then revealed the preferred option which aims to ensure children living in both rural and urban districts are given the same amount of choice.

The new system will mean 21 per cent of places at over-subscribed schools will go to new students from rural areas, with the remaining 79 per cent of places going to children from Harrogate itself.

The proposals are now due to go before a full council meeting Wednesday next week.