Online school admissions: 92 LEAs have just 5 months to get it sorted :: PublicTechnology.net :: e-Government & public sector IT news + job vacancies:

By September 2006 150 local authorities (LAs) in England are required to offer an online school admissions system. This is the goal set by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), which is jointly sponsoring the eAdmissions National Project alongside the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

The project, which was launched in February 2004 is being led by Hertfordshire County Council and has so far seen 58 LAs develop an online facility. The remaining LAs are predicting they will be online in time to meet the September deadline.

Take-up amongst parents/carers in areas which have already got online school admissions in place has been encouraging with some LAs experiencing figures in excess of 35%. Whilst this bodes well for the target agreed by the ODPM of 5 to 10% take-up for those LAs in their first year and 10 to 20% for those in their second, the project team will support the LAs in meeting, and exceeding, these challenging targets.

Says Amanda Derrick, Programme Manager for the eAdmissions National Project: “Implementing an online school admissions system successfully, requires significant partnership working between the local authority and organisations such as libraries and schools. Where schools are involved in the admissions process they can play a very important role, offering support and computing facilities to parents/carers who don't have access to online facilities at home.”

Derrick continues: “The online admissions system is designed to afford all the benefits that society has come to expect from secure online services. A survey of over 800 parents/carers who have applied online has shown that 76% said they found it either ‘easy' or ‘very easy'. The main benefits parents/carers have reported are the ability to make changes to their form right up until the deadline date and the instant confirmation they receive that their form has been completed accurately and received.”

School admissions dates vary across the country. Parents/carers are advised to check with their LA for opening and closing dates this year for each admissions round.

Parents/carers may also access additional schools information through their LA's admissions website such as OFSTED reports

Related links to this article:
eAdmissions National Project
Local eGov Expo