Availability of school places for in-year transfers in the borough

Thank you for your email message. We aim to respond to all requests under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 within 20 working days. More information about the way we
deal with information requests is on our web site at
[1]www.merton.gov.uk/foi
 
Information Governance Team
London Borough of Merton.
020 8545 4634
 
 
 

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Please help to reduce waste and do not print this message unless you
really need to.
This message, including any attached files, is intended just for the use
of the individual or organisation to whom it is addressed. Unauthorised
use (for example disclosure, storage or copying) is not permitted. If you
are not the intended recipient please destroy all copies and inform the
sender by return email. Any views or opinions expressed in email are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of
Merton Council. Merton Council reserves the right to monitor, record and
retain any incoming and outgoing emails for security reasons and for
monitoring internal compliance with the Merton Council policy on staff
use. Email monitoring and/or blocking software may be used and email
content may be read. Merton Council may be required to disclose this email
(or any response to it) under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless
the information in it is covered by one of the exemptions in the Act. The
message may contain information that is confidential or sensitive; you
should handle it accordingly.
Please view the council's privacy notice at
https://www.merton.gov.uk/legal/privacy-...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
1. http://www.merton.gov.uk/foi

Dear Mr Luke,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations 2004 Information request

We have now considered your information request as set out below.

You asked:

Please can you provide, for each secondary school in your borough, the following:

- Number of places available by year group and by school in the 24/25 academic year that might accept additional students in-year.
- Where there is no space, the length of any waiting lists for those places, by school and by year group.
- Any analysis relating to contingency planning for a potential increase in students from the private school sector in this academic year, either produced for Merton or received by Merton from central government.

All secondary schools in Merton are presently full in all year groups with the exception of Raynes Park which has a limited number of places available in Year 7 only. Where no vacancies exist in a year group in all Merton schools, applications for Merton residents not in education will be considered via the borough's fair access protocol. This ensures the borough meets the responsibility of ensuring a place in education is offered to every home borough resident that needs one.

Waiting lists are only held by the council for the three community and voluntary controlled schools. The waiting list details for them are shown below. To confirm the number of pupils on the waiting lists for the own admission authority schools, it would be necessary to contact them directly.

Raynes Park
Yr7 - 0
Yr8 - <5
Yr9 - 8
Yr10 - 5
Yr11 - <5

Ricards Lodge
Yr7 - 96
Yr8 - 10
Yr9 - 10
Yr10 - 8
Yr11 - <5

Rutlish
Yr7 - 68
Yr8 - 5
Yr9 - 12
Yr10 - 5
Yr11 - <5

Council officers have received some contact regarding an increase in demand for school places as a result of the government change in VAT policy for private schools. It is difficult to know exactly how many children would move to the state sector as a result of this government change in VAT policy but The lnstitute for Fiscal Studies has published a paper which provides their best judgment that it would lead to a 3–7% reduction in private school attendance. Given the number of children attending independent schools is approximately 10% of the resident population, this would be an increase in demand for state schools of circa 0.5% of the school population. Compared to the general changes in demographics described above, with a significant decrease in the child population of many percentages points now reaching secondary age, the council has no concerns regarding being able to provide sufficient school places. As always, some schools are oversubscribed, but our greater issue is managing a fall in demand, not an increase.

If you have any queries or concerns about this please contact me.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request or wish to appeal against the decision to exempt any part of your request, you should request an Internal Review at [Merton Borough Council request email] or write in to Freedom of Information team, Merton Council, Civic Centre, Morden, SM4 5DX.

If you escalate to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) without following the council’s internal review process, the ICO will refer you back to the council to enable the correct process to be followed.

You can also appeal to the Information Commissioner at: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/offi...

There is no charge for making an appeal.

Yours sincerely

Paul

Paul Stemp
School Admissions Manager
Children, Lifelong Learning and Families​ Department London Borough of Merton
Tel: 020 8274 4906
www.merton.gov.uk

show quoted sections