Education and Training Act 2020, ss 71 – 75
If a school has an enrolment scheme, it has to accept all students who live in the “home zone”. Students who live outside the zone can only go to the school if they get a place under the rules of the scheme. Out-of-zone students are selected by balloting (random selection).
Schools can only have an enrolment scheme if it’s necessary to avoid overcrowding. Sometimes there are more students who want to go to the school than there are spaces available. An enrolment scheme is supposed to make sure students are selected fairly and transparently, rather than having the school just choose whichever students it wants.