One of the NGA’s core objectives is to promote high standards of education in schools, colleges and other educational institutions. The NGA supports the notion that every child should able to attend a good local school.
The NGA supports the changes made to the School Admissions Code over the last few years to ensure that admission authorities may only use over-subscription criteria which are objective, transparent and fair.
The NGA’s membership is diverse and covers all types of schools. The NGA does not believe that the LA should be the admission authority for all types of school provided that the local admissions forum is vigilant in ensuring that all local schools have objective, transparent and fair admission criteria.
The NGA is concerned that some schools continue to adopt policies which act as ‘proxy selection criteria’ - such as the use of expensive school uniforms. The NGA considers these proxy criteria to be inappropriate.
The NGA supports the use of random allocations (lotteries) only in ‘tie-breaker’ situations to distinguish between pupils with equal claims to admission.
The NGA believes it is important to have an independent and rigorous appeals process.