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How We Perform
Pupil Admissions - How We Perform
The Pupil Admissions Team has set a number of local standards that demonstrate our commitment to you.
Our Service Standards are:
- To acknowledge receipt of Reception, Junior and Y6-Y7 transfer forms and confirm the order of preferences within 3 working weeks.
- To process mid-term/casual application forms within 10 working days of receipt.
- To ensure that allocation letters for Secondary admissions are sent to you on the national allocation date (1 March or nearest working day if 1 March falls at the weekend)
- To ensure that every Sheffield pupil transferring to secondary school, is allocated a school place by July, prior to the start of the new term.
- To ensure allocation letters for entrance into Reception and transfer to Junior School are sent to you on the date published in our booklet.
- To meet national targets for online applications, ie 10-20% of applications must be received online.
- To process Home to School Transport applications within 10 working days of receipts.
The following shows how we have performed against the above service standards during the 2007/2008 academic year.
Secondary Admissions
- Y6-Y7 applications acknowledged in 3 working weeks (2007/08) 95.2%
- Mid-term applications processed in 10 working days (2006/07) 92.7%
- Allocation letters sent to customer on 1 March (2007/08) 100%
- 10-20% of Y6-Y7 applications received online (2007/08) 24%
Primary Admissions
- Reception applications acknowledged in 3 working weeks (2007/08) 97%
- Mid-term applications processed in 10 working days (2006/07) 74.6%
- Allocation letters sent to customer on 30 March (2007/08) 100%
- 10-20% of Reception applications received online (2007/08) 15.8%
- 10-20% of Junior applications received online (2007/08) 9.4%
Home to School Transport
Home to School Passes processed 10 working days (Sept 06 – April 07) 98.6%
Our Customer Service Standards are:
- We will answer your call within 4 rings
- Give our name when answering the telephone
- We will wear our name badges to identify who we are
- We will be polite and courteous
- We will treat you fairly and sensitively and in confidence
- We will respond to letters within 10 working days (20 days for more complex letters)
- We will acknowledge e-mail enquiries within 5 working days
How we perform against customer service standards:
In order to monitor whether we answer the telephone in 4 rings and give our name and name of the service, the Council has undertaken a “mystery shopper exercise.
The results of the 1st quarter (July – September 2006) are:
Secondary Admissions
100% of calls were answered within 4 rings.
92% of calls, the officer give their name.
85% of calls, the Officer gave the name of the service.
15% of callers received an engaged tone.
Primary Admissions
100% of calls were answered within 4 rings.
75% of calls, officers gave their own name.
92% of calls, officers gave the name of the service.
8% of callers received an engaged tone.
Schools Crossings
75% of calls were put through to an answer machine.
100% of calls were answered within 4 rings.
Home to School Transport
90% of calls were answered within 4 rings.
70% of calls, the officer gave their name.
60% of calls, the officer gave the name of the service.
10% of callers received an engaged tone.
The results of the 2nd Quarter (October – December 2006) are:
Secondary Admissions
100% of calls were answered within 4 rings.
92% of calls, the officer gave their name.
92% of calls, the officer gave the name of the service.
31% of callers received an engaged tone.
Primary Admissions
100% of calls were answered within 4 rings.
100% of calls, officers gave their own name.
100% of calls, officers gave the name of the service.
33% of callers received an engaged tone.
Home to School Transport
100% of calls were answered within 4 rings.
100% of calls, the officer gave their name.
80% of calls, the officer gave the name of the service.
30% of callers received an engaged tone.
School Crossings
50% of calls were put through to an answer machine.
100% of calls were answered within 4 rings.
100% of calls, the officer gave their name.
100% of calls, the officer gave the name of the service.
Results of 3rd Quarter (Jan-March 2007)
Secondary Admissions (0114 2735790)
100% calls answered in 4 rings
100% of calls, Officers gave their own name
88% of calls, Officers gave the name of the service
29% of calls were engaged.
Primary Admissions (0114 2735766)
100% calls answered in 4 rings
88% of calls, Officers gave their own name
100% of calls, Officers gave the name of the service
0% of calls were engaged.
Home to School Transport (0114 2735831)
100% calls answered in 4 rings
88% of calls, Officers gave their own name
71% of calls, Officers gave the name of the service
29% of calls were engaged.
School Crossings (0114 2735818)
100% calls answered in 4 rings
80% of calls, Officers gave their own name
80% of calls, Officers gave the name of the service
20% of calls were engaged.
Results of 4th Quarter (April-June 2007)
Secondary Admissions (0114 2735790)
100% calls answered in 4 rings
71% of calls, Officers gave their own name
100% of calls, Officers gave the name of the service
29% of calls were engaged.
Primary Admissions (0114 2735766)
100% calls answered in 4 rings
100% of calls, Officers gave their own name
100% of calls, Officers gave the name of the service
29% of calls were engaged.
Home to School Transport (0114 2735831)
100% calls answered in 4 rings
100% of calls, Officers gave their own name
71% of calls, Officers gave the name of the service
43% of calls were engaged.
School Crossings (0114 2735818)
100% calls answered in 4 rings
80% of calls, Officers gave their own name
100% of calls, Officers gave the name of the service
40% of calls were engaged.
The Team is has recently begun collecting data to record how well we perform against other customer service standards. This web page will be updated once data has been collected.
In response to this exercise the Team has discussed the results. The Team has discussed options to alleviate the problem of lines being engaged. There are certain times of the year when the team is very busy and therefore this is a very difficult problem to resolve. The Team has therefore agreed to make information available on the website and in the Guide for Parents booklet about the busy times of the year for the Pupil Admissions Service. In addition customers are advised of alternative ways to contact the service. If you find you are unable to get through to us on the public numbers, please make use of our e-mail facility ed-primary.admissions@sheffield.gov.uk or ed-secondary.admissions@sheffield.gov.uk Alternatively, if your enquiry is about the progress of your application, we update our webpage Checking the Progress of Your Application on a weekly basis. Although this page cannot tell you about your individual application, it tells you the date of the applications currently being processed.
We apologise if you are one of our customers who has been unable to get through to us on the telephone and hope you understand that we do our best to be available.
As a result of the mystery shopper exercise the School Crossing number no longer has an answer machine. It was recognised that this is not compliant with Council standards and therefore when the Crossings Officer is out of the Office, her land line is divertedto her mobile telephone.
Comparison With Other Authorities
Standard
Processing mid-term applications
Sheffield 10 working days
Barnsley 15 working days
Doncaster 10 working days
Rotherham 10 working days
Wakefield 20 working days
Responding to e-mails
Sheffield 5 working days
Barnsley No standard set
Doncaster 24 hours
Rotherham Acknowledge 24 Hrs. full response in 5 days
Wakefield 10 working days
Answering the telephone
Sheffield 4 rings
Barnsley 6 rings
Doncaster 5 rings
Rotherham 5 rings
Wakefield 4 rings
Having undergone a benchmarking exercise with other Authorities the was happy that the standards set were appropriate and sufficiently challenging.
If you have a comment on how we perform or you would like to make a suggestion on other statistics that you would like to see monitored. Please make a comment on our feedback/survey sheet.
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