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<p>Our ambition is for every child, no matter what challenges they face, to have access
to a world-class education that sets them up for life.</p><p>The government places
mandatory requirements on school admission authorities through the School Admissions
Code. Its purpose is to ensure that all school places for maintained schools and academies
are allocated and offered in an open and fair way. The School Admissions Code requires
that admission arrangements do not unfairly disadvantage children from a particular
social group. On 1 September 2021, the department introduced a new School Admissions
Code which aims to improve the in-year admission of vulnerable children and help reduce
to a minimum any time spent out of school.</p><p>Looked after and previously looked
after children are among the most vulnerable in our society and so all schools are
required to give highest priority in their admissions criteria to them. The School
Admissions Code also gives admission authorities the freedom to choose to prioritise
children eligible for the pupil premium or who have a social or medical need, according
to their local circumstances.</p><p>Where a pupil is identified as having special
educational needs, schools should take action to remove barriers to learning and put
effective special educational provision in place. Schools also have a legal duty to
produce an accessibility plan that sets out how, over time, they are going to increase
access to the curriculum for disabled pupils, improve the physical environment of
the school to increase access for disabled pupils, and make written information more
accessible to disabled pupils by providing information in a range of different ways.</p><p>The
department is investing £300 million in the 2021-22 financial year to support local
authorities to deliver new places and improve existing provision for pupils with special
educational needs and disabilities or who require alternative provision. It is for
local authorities to determine how to best use this funding to address their local
priorities, such as investment in accessibility to improve or broaden access to existing
provision.</p>
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