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Agenda item

Education Estates Strategy

Cabinet Member: Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Learning, Councillor Alisa Flemming

Officer: Interim Corporate Director Children, Young People & Education, Debbie Jones

Key decision: yes

Decision:

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

 

RESOLVED: To

 

School Admission

1.         agree to recommend to full Council that it determine the proposed community schools’ Admission Arrangements for the 2023/24 academic year (Appendix 1 of the report);

 

2.         approve the continued adoption of the proposed Pan London scheme for co-ordination of admissions to Reception and Junior schools – Appendix 1a of the report; and adoption of the proposed Pan London scheme for co-ordination of admissions to secondary schools – Appendix 1b of the report.

School Place Planning

3.         approve the Capital Programme Budget summary (Appendix 3 of the report).

 

School Maintenance and Compliance

4.         approve the proposed Schools’ Maintenance Plan (Appendix 4 of the report) for 2022/23 with an overall budget cost of £3.7m

 

5.         Delegate authority to the Interim Corporate Director – Children, Young People and Education to vary the proposed Schools’ Maintenance Plan to reflect actual prices and new urgent issues that may arise, including authorising spend against the allowance for emergency and reactive works. The Corporate Director, Children, Young People and Education shall report back to members in respect of any exercise of such authority.

 

School Place Planning

 

6.         note comparison between the available School Places vs 2021 School Capacity (SCAP) Projections Pupil Projections Appendices 2 (primary) and 2a (secondary) of the report.

 

7.         Academy conversion

note the change of status of Kenley Primary School to an academy.

 

1.8    Early Years

note the 2021 Childcare Sufficiency Assessment report – Appendix 5 of the report.

 

        Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)

1.9      note that the SEND Estates strategies are contributing positively to the development of local provision maintaining some of our most challenging and vulnerable children and young people with SEND within their families and communities.

 

Alternative Provision / Pupil Referral Unit (PRU)

10     note information on Alternative Provision / PRU.

 

 

Minutes:

Members received a presentation from Cllr Fleming (Cabinet Member, Children, Young People and Learning). Colleagues heard about the impact of surplus school places which has financial implications. Work continued to manage variations of published admission numbers and to look at opportunities to generate income such as renting out space for community use.

 

Cllr Fleming referred to progress around focus and provision for SEND pupils within the borough.

 

Recommendations for approval were noted and the Chair invited comments. Members said:

 

·         It was very encouraging to see value for money embedded within the plan and in line with the climate change agenda;

·         They recognised the good or outstanding rankings of 90% of schools in the Borough;

·         They referred to training needs and work with colleges and universities to ensure that these opportunities were there;

·         There had been previous reluctance to renting out space from some schools in the past and they were concerned about how this would be encouraged and commitment received. Members acknowledged the work of officers in engaging with Head-teachers to support collaboration in this area.

·         They acknowledged that the report was very comprehensive and appreciated the work of officers. There were slight concerns around surplus places in primary schools in the north of the Borough and therefore a need for urgency in addressing this issue.

Denise Bushay spoke briefly around a review on surplus places which would be put to Cabinet to inform decisions in the future.

 

Members agreed the recommendations.

 

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

 

RESOLVED: To

 

School Admission

 

1.    Agree to recommend to full Council that it determined the proposed community schools’ Admission Arrangements for the 2023/24 academic year (Appendix 1 of the report);

 

2.    Approve the continued adoption of the proposed Pan London scheme for coordination of admissions to Reception and Junior schools – Appendix 1a of the report; and adoption of the proposed Pan London scheme for co-ordination of admissions to secondary schools – Appendix 1b of the report.

School Place Planning

 

3.  Approve the Capital Programme Budget summary (Appendix 3 of the report).

 

School Maintenance and Compliance

 

4.    Approve the proposed Schools’ Maintenance Plan (Appendix 4 of the report) for 2022/23 with an overall budget cost of £3.7m

 

5.    Delegate authority to the Interim Corporate Director – Children, Young People and Education to vary the proposed Schools’ Maintenance Plan to reflect actual prices and new urgent issues that may arise, including authorising spend against the allowance for emergency and reactive works. The Corporate Director, Children, Young People and Education shall report back to members in respect of any exercise of such authority.

 

School Place Planning

 

6.    Note comparison between the available School Places vs 2021 School Capacity (SCAP) Projections Pupil Projections Appendices 2 (primary) and 2a (secondary) of the report.

 

Academy conversion

 

7.    Note the change of status of Kenley Primary School to an academy.

 

Early Years

 

8.    Note the 2021 Childcare Sufficiency Assessment report – Appendix 5 of the report.

 

Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)

 

9.    Note that the SEND Estates strategies were contributing positively to the development of local provision maintaining some of our most challenging and vulnerable children and young people with SEND within their families and communities.

 

Alternative Provision / Pupil Referral Unit (PRU)

 

10. Note information on Alternative Provision / PRU.

Supporting documents: