A new policy for allocating school places at community and voluntary controlled schools could be introduced.
Central Beds Council’s executive committee endorsed the new approach, which would remove catchment areas, on Tuesday.
From September 2014 places at an oversubscribed school would be allocated to children who meet the following criteria:
Children who are ‘looked after’ or were previously ‘looked after’ – a term that encapsulates the various procedures the council has for looking after the children in its care, children with siblings at the school and children who live nearest to the school determined by straight line distance.
A consultation will begin on Monday and run until Monday, January 21.
Councillor Mark Versallion, Executive Member for Children’s Services, said: “These proposed changes are about giving parents and carers more choice and putting in place a system which is fairer and easier to understand than the existing one.
“Parents and carers will get the chance to express a preference for a school, rather than their options being confined by a boundary drawn up some time in the past.
“Under the new system we will continue to support the most vulnerable to achieve, by prioritising the needs of looked after children, as well as help families by giving precedence to the applications of pupils with siblings at their preferred school.”
See www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/consultations for the full document.