SOLUTIONS > ROLE
SCHOOLS ADMISSIONS OFFICER
Smarter eligibility for
school admissions
Determining safe walking distances to school can involve a mix of statutory guidelines and local geography, and (sometimes) catchment areas which can change year to year as schools try to manage their intake.
Your decisions need to meet local policy in both a fair and robust way, and be auditable in the event of appeals.
QPaths is the UK’s leading software for getting this right. Its API enables automated responses for straightforward cases, freeing up your team to focus on more complex assessments.
Supporting schools admissions at every step
When you need to determine walking distances that account for unsafe paths:
QPaths automatically calculates walking distances that avoid paths you’ve flagged as unsafe
When you need to process hundreds of applications:
QPaths’ bulk upload functionality tests hundreds of walking paths within minutes
When you need to respond to appeals and queries with confidence:
QPaths provides clear, auditable results that support faster, evidence-based resolutions
Fast, safe, accurate
Accurate, transparent eligibility decisions shared with anxious parents in good time are key to reducing complaints and appeals.
With QPaths you can share visual references to help parents understand eligibility decisions and navigate new safe walking routes. And when appeals do happen, QPaths can shorten the process by providing a decision audit trail along with maps and accurate distances to validate your decisions.
53% of all applications were automatically marked as eligible. That’s it, no human intervention – bus passes posted, emails out to parents.
Aubrey Smith
Central Bedfordshire Council
Supporting schools admissions at every step
When you need to understand and explain the impact of policy changes:
QPaths quickly calculates how different eligibility criteria affect decisions – backed by transparent data
When you need to focus your time on complex or borderline cases:
QPaths automatically processes clear-cut applications, saving you hours of repetitive manual checks
When you need to find the nearest school:
QPaths uses up-to-date Ordnance Survey maps – including footpaths, rights of way, and bridleways – to accurately measure distances
Self service for faster responses
Cut down on the number of applications you need to manually process by giving parents an instant response to their eligibility questions via API.
Save time
Cut down on manual processing and respond to clients sooner. With QPaths you can accurately batch process thousands of requests in minutes. Now even faster!
Feel supported
Fast responses from a friendly team! We’re expert in our tools and, through our contact with local authorities across the UK, able to advise on how others approach tasks.
Consult. Prove. Deliver.
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More ways QRoutes
helps Admissions Officers
Children’s safety is the priority when identifying walking routes. QPaths allows you to define what is ‘unsafe’ to fit your framework, e.g. unlit pavements, dangerous road crossing points, high pollution levels, so you can exclude them from results. The ability to ensure that all the walking routes you define are safe and fit for purpose gives you complete peace of mind.
QPaths’ measuring software uses up to date Ordnance Survey maps, which include footways, rights of way, bridleways etc to make the distance calculation for eligibility purposes so you can quickly identify a child’s closest qualifying school and the distance to it.
QPaths finds appropriate routes that other tools miss, so more children can walk safely to and from school. You can share visual references and accurate mapping data to help parents understand and navigate new routes.
We absolutely love how easy QPaths is to use. The accuracy and efficiency we have gained in assessing our applications has been invaluable. The team at QPaths are also incredible in the service and support they provide.
Charlotte Masterson-Cox
Eligibility Officer, School Transport Service Children’s Services
Hampshire County Council
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