County Hall Hertford, SG13 8DF

Date: 30 January 2004

To all parents of pupils transferring to secondary school in September 2004

Dear Parents Name

ALLOCATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PLACES FOR CHILDREN TRANSFERRING SCHOOLS IN SEPTEMBER 2004.

I am writing to let you know of an unexpected development which means that it may not now be possible to offer you a secondary school place for your son or daughter until 31 March 2004.

You may recall from the "Moving On" booklet that the date on which we were intending to allocate places was 4 March. However this timescale depends upon our ability to co-ordinate the application of admission rules across all Hertfordshire schools.

The problem that has arisen is that an objection to the admission rules of 5 schools, which we thought had been resolved, is now being investigated again by the Schools Adjudicator. This process will not be completed until the second half of February at the earliest.

The reason for my letter is to let you know that if the Adjudicator does decide to change the admission rules for any of these schools, then all of this year's 16,000 applications will need to be processed again. This is because of the "knock-on" effect the changes will have to the allocation of places at other schools if some children no longer qualify and have to be given places elsewhere. If there are no changes, then we hope to be able to keep to our original timetable.

I apologise most sincerely for any inconvenience or anxiety that this change causes. As I hope you will appreciate, this is a matter that is beyond the control of the County Council. I can assure you that we will continue to do everything in our power to eliminate or reduce any delays in allocating a secondary school place for your son or daughter.

There is no need for you to take any action. If the allocation process needs to be re-run we will use your original preferences. I shall write again once the Adjudicator has made his ruling.

Yours sincerely

John Harris
Director of Children. Schools and Families

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2 February 2004