London eAdmissions

Using portal technology for joined up eAdmissions

Your London, www.yourlondon.gov.uk was developed to provide a single access point for those looking for information about London's public services and was one of the first joined-up e-projects involving a large number of government services. It has received considerable praise from within the public sector and increasingly, it is providing the platform from which to launch major new online initiatives, including the first joined-up online school admissions programme.

Since 2002, the Pan London Coordinated School Admissions Programme, led by Wandsworth Borough Council, has been working to provide a unified approach to secondary school admissions across London. Parents applying to secondary schools in neighbouring boroughs, can do so via a single application form sent to the borough within which they live. The coordinated approach ensures that no more than one offer is made and that the applicant's order of preference is taken into account. The programme has made the admissions system across London simpler, fairer and has resulted in more parents getting an offer at one of their preferred schools.

By September 2006, to meet e-Government targets, all local authorities with a responsibility for education were required to provide the facility to make school admissions online. This initiative is being coordinated and driven by the eAdmissions National Project, run by Hertfordshire County Council, with support from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

In preparation for this deadline, the eAdmissions National Project carried out a feasibility study, which identified that a shared technology solution would be the most effective way forward for delivering online school admissions across the capital. Further research showed that by harnessing the existing portal technology behind Your London, further savings could be realised. It was estimated that costs could be reduced by more than 50%, when compared to each borough procuring and implementing their own local system. Having established a robust business case for developing a single portal-based eAdmissions service across the capital and after getting sign-up from all of the boroughs, the London eAdmissions project was initiated.

The London eAdmissions service was integrated into Your London by its lead technology partner, System Associates. The company is involved with many joined up and shared services projects including Your London, Local Directgov and the National College for School Leadership's Learning Gateway and is committed to making it easier for citizens and those in public services to locate and share information.

Working closely with the project team, London Connects and Wandsworth Council, an operational version of the London eAdmissions system was developed by System Associates and went fully operational at the beginning of September 2006.

The system aims to make it as easy as possible for parents to submit an online application by providing information for choosing a school, guiding them through the application process and by sending reminders to ensure an application is submitted by the cut-off date.

Researching schools

Before submitting an online application, parents or carers can use a search facility to locate their nearest schools. Links are provided to school information, as well as to other useful information such as Ofsted reports and league tables. Guidance notes are also provided to help parents make the correct choice of school for their child.

Making an application

Anyone looking to apply for a school place in London can access the facility from the home page of Your London and is then guided through the process of applying for a school place. Initially, a user is taken through a secure registration system, before filling in the online application form.

When filling out the form, an applicant can return to it at any time and, even when submitted, the applicant can make changes to the form before the cut-off date. The system mirrors processes already in place for Pan London Coordinated School Admissions and allows applicants to submit an application cross borough for secondary schools. Separate forms need to be filled out for primary schools that are in different boroughs.

Upon submission of an application, a confirmation email, with an application reference number is sent notifying the recipient of the next steps, and giving instructions on how to amend the application if required.

School admission reminders

One week before the admission cut-off date, users who have saved, but not submitted their applications will be sent an email reminding them of the cut-off date for applications.

School place confirmation

Once the local authority allocates a place, the applicant is notified by email and can log on to Your London to view the results.

Feeding applications to local authorities

All local authorities in London use various proprietary systems for their back end Admissions process, meaning that the applications made online via Your London have to be delivered in different formats for different local authorities. The eAdmissions system allows for this and automatically translates the data into the specific, compliant XML required for back-office administration.

Once applications have been submitted, they are drip-fed to the relevant Local Authority at pre-determined intervals, according to how they prefer to work. As standard, applications are fed to each Local Authority after every 10 applications, or on a given day each week, depending on which is sooner. If applications have been revised, a 'versioning' tool allows the original and amended application to be displayed on screen at the same time, so that the administrator can identify the changes that have been made. This can be particularly useful during an appeal, as the history of the application can be viewed very easily.

Reporting and evaluation

The London eAdmissions system offers a new tier of management and reporting tools, allowing the London eAdmissions administrators to set the school admission timetable online and monitor the number of applications submitted. Areas that show low levels of online admissions can be identified and further training and support offered to increase user take-up. The process by which eAdmissions are administered can also be monitored by tracking an application by its number, parent name, child name, postcode or date of birth.

Local authorities have the ability to log in and see data and reports relating to applications for their borough and, as an additional part of the school administration process, primary schools have limited access to the eAdmissions system to monitor whether all Year 6 pupils have applied for a secondary school place. This acts as a safe-guard, ensuring that all children in the area apply for a school place for the following year. Those that have not applied can be reminded through their primary school and helped through the admissions process, if necessary.

Pulling together

The London eAdmissions programme was implemented very quickly, due to the processes, support and experience of collaborative working for Your London. From the outset a focus group of Admissions officers met regularly to discuss the functionality they would like to see from the eAdmissions programme. This provided a steering committee to evaluate the system as it was developed and to help provide a genuinely useful system that complemented and enhanced existing Admissions procedures.

Co-ordinating and engaging 33 London Boroughs was a very important part of the project, without which, it may well have floundered. Few e-Government projects have worked with so many organisations, with a view to implementing common systems and processes. To ensure delivery of the relevant information and content for the eAdmissions system, a project leader was designated for each borough. These project leaders reported directly to the Pan London Coordinated School Admissions team, which supported the programme by engaging all the London Boroughs for the project and alerting each project leader of important timelines and milestones during the project.

The result has been a fully operational eAdmissions system that is easy for the citizen to use, provides a new tier of management tools for school admissions and that is closely aligned to the Cabinet Office Strategy for Transformational Government. The programme is supported by a robust governance by the London Grid for Learning Trust and has dedicated funding in order to sustain the service.

Following the operational release of London eAdmissions, our early evaluation shows promising results. In its first month, the number of online admissions reached more than 3,000. Peter Wiyley, Chair of the London eAdmissions Board comments: "Online Admissions will provide a more flexible approach to applying for school admissions and provide genuine economies of scale for local authorities in London. This is an excellent example of collaborative working and illustrates a more joined-up approach to government services."

View the London eAdmissions site (link opens in a new window)