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Friern Barnet School - proposed change to Admission Arrangements for Barnet community schools 2024/25

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This consultation has closed

Overview

Barnet Council is the admissions authority for 39 community primary schools and Friern Barnet Secondary School. The Council is required to formally consult on any proposed changes to the admission arrangements for community schools. There are no proposed changes to the oversubscription criteria for Barnet community schools. However, the Council is consulting on a proposed reduction to the Published Admission Number (PAN) for Friern Barnet Secondary School, from 162 to 150 places. We would like to hear your views on the proposed PAN reduction.


What we are proposing

Friern Barnet School has seen a decline in the demand for

Overview

Barnet Council is the admissions authority for 39 community primary schools and Friern Barnet Secondary School. The Council is required to formally consult on any proposed changes to the admission arrangements for community schools. There are no proposed changes to the oversubscription criteria for Barnet community schools. However, the Council is consulting on a proposed reduction to the Published Admission Number (PAN) for Friern Barnet Secondary School, from 162 to 150 places. We would like to hear your views on the proposed PAN reduction.


What we are proposing

Friern Barnet School has seen a decline in the demand for places and as a result the school has been undersubscribed in recent years. At present, Friern Barnet is operating with a PAN of 162 with a surplus of places and the school has put forward a proposal to reduce this PAN to 150. The proposed PAN reduction will support the school’s financial planning and ensure the most efficient use of available resources.

This request is supported by the changing population trends in the borough. Barnet’s secondary school roll projections indicate that Friern Barnet School will continue to be undersubscribed through to the end of the decade. The projections also show that there will still be sufficient places for local children if the PAN for this school is reduced. However, if demand for places unexpectedly increases in the future, the PAN will be reviewed and existing capacity will be reutilised without the need for a formal consultation. No other changes to the admission arrangements for community schools are proposed.

You can view the full proposed arrangements for 2024/25 here.


Your views are important to us

This consultation is an opportunity for you to give your views and contribute to the decision-making process of the council. We want to hear from all as many residents as possible on the proposed change. To take part, please complete our short online questionnaire here.


What happens after the consultation closes?

The council will share your views with Friern Barnet School’s Governing Body and use the consultation findings to inform the final decision. We will publish the results of the consultation, our decision and how we are acting on the results of the consultation on this web page in February 2023.

This consultation has closed

  • We asked, you said, we did

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    We asked

    We asked for your views on the proposed reduction to the Published Admission Number (PAN) of Friern Barnet Secondary School, from 162 places to 150 places, on the grounds that the school has been undersubscribed for some years and the demand is unlikely to increase in the foreseeable future.

    You said

    We received seven responses to the online questionnaire. Three respondents strongly agreed or agreed to the proposed reduction, one neither agreed nor disagreed, one tended to disagree, and one strongly disagreed.

    Respondents in favour of the proposal gave the reasons that the school has been undersubscribed for some years and the proposed reduction would enable more efficient use of resources.

    The first respondent who disagreed with the proposal gave the reason that there are an increasing number of new developments within the borough, and this may place pressure on secondary schools. However, our school roll projections, which take into account estimated pupil yield from new developments, indicate that demand for secondary places in the area will decline in the coming years. In the unlikely event that a rise in demand is seen, the school will be able increase the admission number, without the need for a formal consultation. The second respondent suggested that we should look at placing some of the pupils from the heavily oversubscribed schools in the area to the undersubscribed schools. Whilst we already offer Friern Barnet places as an alternative school option to local applicants whose school preferences cannot be met, we have a statutory duty to meet parental preference where possible, and we cannot enforce admission to alternative schools.

    We did

    The PAN for Friern Barnet School has formerly been reduced from 162 to 150 places, with effect from 1 September 2024.