DfES School Admissions Code Consultation
1 December 2006
Response from the Independent Schools Council
The Independent Schools Council (ISC) represents 500,000 children in 1,276 independent schools. ISC exists to promote choice, diversity and excellence in education; the development of talent at all levels of ability; and the widening of opportunity for children from all backgrounds to achieve their potential.
The Independent Schools Council has already been in contact with the School Admissions and Class Size Unit and welcomes the opportunity to offer assistance to Local Choice Advisers in their role providing independent choice advice to parents.
As the School Admissions Code recognises, the more information on what school choices are available, the more parents are armed to navigate the system successfully and get a school place that meets the needs of their child. At present, some 7% of children attend independent schools and some 12.8% of A-level entries come from independent schools; with the education provided by these schools judged to be the best in the world.
Those parents who choose ultimately to send their children to independent schools are joined by many more who have considered the independent schools in their area alongside local authority, academy, foundation or voluntary-aided schools. Recent programmes on the admissions process by Channel 4 show independent schools feature as part of the local landscape of schools in the minds of parents, and many children will take part in both local authority and independent school admissions processes.
The School Admissions Code emphasises that Choice Advisers should help families optimise their choices using all the information to hand, plus use of local knowledge of what individual schools have to offer. It also highlights the importance of parents having confidence in the advice they receive being unaffected by any political or administrative considerations. It would therefore be important to all parents that Choice Advisers be in a position to present information on admissions arrangements for independent schools in their area.
This information might be especially important for parents of children with Disabilities or Additional Learning Needs or those parents who were planning to work abroad for any length of time. For the former group, it would be useful for Choice Advisers to have an overview of the Special Schools, whether maintained or independent, that might be available and which independent or maintained schools had, for example, smaller class sizes that might be more appropriate where a child had particular behavioural issues. For those parents planning to move abroad, an overview of the range of boarding provision available might provide valuable assistance to ensure consistency in educational provision for their child.
From a practical point of view, ISC would be able to offer assistance to Local Authorities and their area's Choice Adviser/s to help them, and update, their understanding and knowledge of independent schools in their area.
Whilst ISC does not represent all independent schools, it represents 1,272 schools educating some 84% of the pupils within the independent sector. ISC currently conducts an annual census which collects information on its schools' pupil numbers, fee levels, assistance offered with fees, staffing numbers and ratios. This census information is consolidated into our online database, which is searchable by county, regional area, number of pupils, whether the school caters for boys/girls or is mixed, age range, religious tradition and subjects offered, alongside a number of other categories. From this information, it should be possible to draw together, with ISC's assistance, information that Choice Advisers may wish to know in order to understand the independent schooling choice available within their Local Authority area.
Further to this, in April 2007, ISC is to collect information for an Independent Schools Handbook intended for publication in September 2007. The Handbook is designed to provide parents with the information they need to make informed decisions about the school most appropriate for their child's needs. The information which it contains is therefore going to be of the same nature as Choice Advisers would wish to communicate to parents. ISC would be extremely interested in discussing how such a Handbook or an adaptation of its data could be of maximum utility for Choice Advisers to understand their area's independent school community.
ISC could also contribute general information about the sector for the Choice Advisers' online forum to provide an overview of its practice, regulations and procedures and/or assist in the creation of training materials on the sector for those undertaking the independent professional qualification through the Support and Quality Assurance network. ISC would encourage independent schools to invite Choice Advisers to visit their schools so that they could see the setting in action.
ISC feels that, as part of respecting the individual philosophies and beliefs of parents, it is vital that information be provided to reflect the full range of educational choice available within local areas and would be happy to pursue collaboration with Choice Advisers and Local Authorities to achieve this aim.
Learning for Tomorrow's World: First Results from PISA 2003, OECD 2003
Just over half of parents (51%) would send their child to an independent school if they could afford it. MORI: Attitudes Towards Independent Schools, September 2003, p.14.
Admission Impossible, http://www.channel4.com/health/microsites/A/admission_impossible/index.html