College scraps criteria change
Maidenhead: Feedback from parents leads to rethink
Desborough College has scrapped proposed changes to its oversubscription criteria – which could have given priority to students outside the Maidenhead catchment area.
The Pioneer Education Trust, which runs Desborough College, faced pushback from parents after proposing admission arrangements for September 2025 which would have prioritised children attending the Trust’s other ‘feeder schools’, Foxborough Primary School in Langley or Trevelyan Middle School in Windsor.
These students would have been given higher priority to the children with siblings at Desborough and those living within the ‘designated area’ of the college.
Following a consultation in January, The Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) upheld an objection filed by Maidenhead parent Jo Smith, in a decision published on April 23.
The objection alleged that introducing priority for
Year 7 pupils ‘on the basis that they attend one of two schools within the same multi-academy trust as the school’ was unfair.
It was also alleged that the ‘feeder schools’ were not selected on ‘reasonable grounds’ and affording priority to applicants because they are pupils at the other schools causes ‘unfairness’.
Jo, who has been selected as Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Maidenhead, previously told the Advertiser that she believed ‘if residents don't object now, this just goes through on the nod’ and around 36 objections were received to the proposal. The Trust said the ‘feeder school’ proposal would have enabled children to continue their ‘educational journey within the same... environment of the Trust they were already a part of’.
The OSA said the Trust ‘recognised the strength of feeling locally’ concerning the changes upon receipt of the objection and agreed to remove the ‘feeder school’ oversubscription criterion alleged to be ‘unreasonable and to cause unfairness’.
A spokesperson for the Trust said: “As part of meeting the statutory Admissions Code, schools are required to provide oversubscription criteria which would help to allocate places to young people in the event there are more applications than there are places available. During our recent consultation with parents and other stakeholders for the College, we recognised from feedback there was some concern regarding the initially proposed oversubscription criteria, which would have enabled the possibility for families to choose to continue their child’s educational journey within the same highquality, enriching and inclusive environment of the Trust they were already a part of. However, as a result of the consultation, we decided to change the order of the oversubscription criteria to align with the requests of our College community.
“The lawfulness of the original oversubscription criteria was not considered as part of the decision of the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA), as noted in its report, as we had already decided to make the change based on the consultation (though it is important to note the criteria are in line with the Admissions Code).
“However, as the statutory deadline for amends to the policy had already passed, it was necessary for the OSA to uphold that aspect in order for us to amend our policy beyond the deadline.
“We are grateful to the OSA for enabling us to make this change in order to meet the needs of the community we serve.”