Lib Dems welcome new admission policy for Northampton School for Boys.

12.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 27th Sep 2007

Last December at the County Council Meeting Liberal Democrat Councillors called for changes in school admission policies to make them more equitable and consistent. In particular at Northampton School for Boys. Now, thanks to complaints to the Ombudsman by parents, those changes are being implemented.

Cllr. Brian Hoare, Leader of the Lib Dem County Councillors says; "We are very pleased that the Ombudsman's decision has brought the school's admissions policy into line with the majority of schools in Northampton and creates a much fairer system by using the "banding procedure" that we called for last year."

Cllr Hoare, who represents Abington Ward, added; "Over the years I have received many complaints from parents in my ward for whom the Northampton School for Boys is their local secondary school, but they have been unable to get their sons accepted there. I am hoping that with the banding procedure in place there will be a better chance that more local pupils will be able to attend this excellent school."

• Last year nearly one in two pupils who put Northampton School for Boys down as their first choice failed to get admitted. NSB doesn't have elastic walls, so it couldn't take them all. The school did manage to find room for a third of its pupils who had to travel more than 5 km to get to school, clogging up the roads on the school run while many boys who lived nearby were turned down. In comparison Northampton School for Girls, despite its less central location had only 15% of its pupils travelling more than 5 km.

• Last year all but 3 secondary schools in Northampton operated a banding system to ensure that they take a fair share of pupils from the full range of academic abilities. The ones that did not were The Academy, Thomas Beckett School and the Northampton School for Boys.

• Banding is part of an admissions criteria which is used to ensure that oversubscribed schools take an equal proportion of children with varying educational abilities, and not just those of high ability.

• If banding were applied to all schools in Northampton then intake to schools would be more even and travelling distances to school would decline.