Lambeth and Bromley are to share planning and admissions policy for primary schools with the Funding Agency for Schools, according to The TES of May 12.
This is incorrect in several particulars. In Lambeth, the funding agency now shares planning responsibility with the local education authority in respect of primary schools (since more than 10 per cent of primary pupils are now in grant-maintained schools): admissions policy remains the responsibility of the individual schools.
In Bromley, the funding agency has sole responsibility for planning the provision of secondary-school places (since more than 75 per cent of secondary school pupils are now in GM schools). Again, admissions policy is the responsibility of the schools, not of the funding agency.
The headline you chose to announce your largely erroneous paragraph (“Quango takes two”) does not reflect the reason for the changes in the relocation of responsibility for planning: these changes come about because schools undergo democratic parental ballots in order to achieve GM status. The funding agency’s involvement is a consequence of this democratic process - not a proactive effort to “take” anything from anyone.
ROGER WITTS Head of communications Funding Agency for Schools