| AA | Admission Authority |
| ACE | Advisory Centre for Education |
| AN | Admission Number (same as PAN) |
| BAS | British Ability Scales (a series of tests used by educational psychologists) |
| CAF | Common Application Form |
| CATs | Cognitive Abilities Tests (Reasoning Tests used in some schools) |
| CEM | Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (independent provider of educational assessment tests, based at Durham University) |
| CoP | Code of Practice |
| DCSF | Department for Children, Schools and Families, see DfE |
| DDA | Disability Discrimination Act (now the Equality Act) |
| DfE | Department for Education, formerly DCSF |
| DPA | Data Protection Act – superseded by General Data Protection Regulation, 25th May 2018 |
| EFA | Education Funding Agency (carries out certain functions in relation to Academies on behalf of the Secretary of State, e.g. dealing with complaints about Academy appeals) – merged with the Skills Funding Agency to become the “ESFA” in 2017. |
| ESFA | Education and Skills Funding Agency (carries out certain functions in relation to Academies on behalf of the Secretary of State, e.g. dealing with complaints about Academy appeals). |
| EP | Educational Psychologist |
| EqA | Equality Act |
| FCO | “fair, consistent, & objective” (the standard required of a Selection Review process) |
| FOI | Freedom of Information (Act) |
| GDPR | General Data Protection Regulation, 2018 |
| HTR | Head Teacher Recommendation (used in Bucks) |
| IAN | Indicated Admission Number (indicated, that is, by the Net Capacity formula) |
| IAP | Independent Appeal Panel |
| IMHO | In my humble opinion |
| KS1 | Key Stage 1 (reception, year 1, year 2) |
| KS2 | Key Stage 2 (years 3-6) |
| LA | Local Authority |
| LGO | Local Government Ombudsman |
| NC | National Curriculum (e.g. NC tests: the proper name for SATs. Optional NC tests: tests taken in years 3-5 that give a NC level |
| NFER | National Foundation for Educational Research (now GL Assessment) |
| NVR | Non Verbal Reasoning |
| OoC | Out of County / Out of Catchment |
| PAN | Published Admission Number |
| PO | Presenting Officer (representative of the admission authority, who presents the school’s case) |
| Q&As | Questions and Answers |
| SAAC | School Admission Appeals Code |
| SATs | Standard Assessment Tests |
| SENCO | Special Educational Needs Coordinator |
| SpLD | Specific Learning Difficulty |
| SR | Selection Review |
| SRP | Selection Review Panel |
| VA | Voluntary Aided |
| VR | Verbal Reasoning |
| WISC | Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (a series of tests used by educational psychologists) |
| YPLA | Young Peoples Learning Agency (carried out certain functions in relation to Academies on behalf of the Secretary of State, e.g. dealing with complaints about Academy appeals). Replaced by EFA (see above). |
