The School Admissions Code and sixth form applications

What the adjudicator decided

On 12 January 2026 the Office of the Schools Adjudicator published determinations ADA4408 and ADA4425 on Hampstead School and Haverstock School, both community schools in Camden. The objections to their sixth form admission arrangements were upheld. You can read the determination on GOV.UK.

Three findings matter most to anyone running sixth form applications.

• The online application software the schools used counted as a supplementary information form. Collecting medical, welfare and family information through it breached the Code.
• Requiring references with predicted grades as a condition of applying breached the Code.
• Giving provisional offer holders priority on results day over other students who met the entry requirements breached the Code.

What it means for sixth form admissions

Read together, the findings point to a few practical rules for the application stage.

• Collect only information that has a direct bearing on your published admission arrangements (Code paragraphs 1.9 and 2.4). Everything else can wait until a place is accepted.
• References and predicted grades from a referee must not be a condition of applying.
• There should be no hidden criteria. If something decides who gets a place, it belongs in the published arrangements.
• A rejection based on predicted grades should never be final. A student whose results meet the entry requirements should still be able to enrol on results day, on the same footing as everyone else.
• Oversubscription criteria and the published admission number (PAN) apply to external applicants only.

How P16 responds

Admissions Code mode is on by default for new schools. Existing schools switch it on from their settings. It works in these ways.

• The student profile (ethnicity, nationality, languages, religion, SEN, FSM, medical needs, further emergency contacts, future plans, ID documents, ULN, UCI, references and referee grades) is locked until the student submits their enrolment on results day. Name, date of birth, sex, address, one parent or carer contact, looked after status and, where required, UPN are visible from application.
• Decisions use the student's own grades, never a referee's.
• Prohibited fields are blocked from pot rules and results day gates, so they cannot become a hidden priority.
• SEN and FSM from DfE education records are withheld until enrolment.
• Each cohort has a checklist of issues to fix, such as a missing PAN for external applicants or unpublished arrangements.
• Provisional rejection wording makes clear that a rejection based on predictions is not final.

More detail is on the applications feature page, and the controls are listed in the compliance section of our security page.

What your school still has to do

Software cannot make a school compliant on its own. The school remains the admission authority and is responsible for its arrangements.

• Publish your determined admission arrangements and your PAN.
• Make sure your arrangements say that oversubscription criteria apply to external applicants only.
• If your institution is not bound by the Code, such as an FE college, you can switch Admissions Code mode off for your tenant.

Frequently asked questions