Agenda item

RESOLVED: To

School Admissions:

1.1.         Agree to the proposed community schools’ Admission Arrangements for the 2025/26 academic year (Appendix 1).

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

1.3.         Note that there are no changes proposed to the previously agreed admission arrangements for our community schools.

School Maintenance and Compliance

1.4.         Approve the draft Capital Programme Budget summary (Appendix 2).

1.5.         Approve the proposed Schools’ Maintenance Plan (Appendix 3) for 2024/25 with an overall budget cost of £3,412m for 2024/25 and £3,777m for 2025/26.

1.6.         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 the Executive Mayor in Cabinet in respect of any exercise of such authority.

The Executive Mayor in Cabinet is asked to note the following:

School Place Planning

1.7.         Comparison between the available school places vs 2023 School Capacity (SCAP) Pupil Projections – Appendix 4 (primary) and Appendix 4a secondary).

1.8.         There is sufficiency of school places to meet demand at early years, primary and secondary education phases.

1.9.         Managing Surplus School Places

The local authority is continuing to work in partnership with school leaders to manage the risk of falling school roll, especially in the primary educational phase. The main strategy used at this time is a reduction of the relevant school’s Published Admission Number (PAN) and/or variation of their in-year admission number.

1.10.     Early Years

Croydon Childcare Sufficiency Assessment 2023 (Appendix 5) which measures the demand for, and supply of childcare across the borough indicates that currently there is sufficient childcare available across the borough for all age groups. This is being reviewed to consider the childcare reforms will introduce significant changes to early years education and childcare through the extension of the free childcare on offer. Implementation will be extended in phases, starting from April 2024.

1.11.     Maintained Nursery Schools

Following informal consultation on the future options for Croydon’s five Maintained Nursery Schools, the Executive Mayor in cabinet have considered the outcomes of the consultation and recommendations and requested that officers explore and carry out more detailed modelling of other options suggested as part of the consultation process, to determine if any of these are feasible and will make MNS financially viable.

1.12.     Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)

The demand for Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) continues to increase. The data on prevalence and needs of our SEND community is reviewed monthly in order to inform resource and placement planning.

1.13.     Alternative Provision / Pupil Referral Unit (PRU)

The proposed conversion of Saffron Valley Collegiate to an academy has been moved to 1st April 2024. Additional demand for Alternative Provision places is met by commissioning suitable places via our Approved Alternative Provision Provider List.

The Executive Mayor introduced the Education Estate Strategy report, which focused on school admissions policies, school place planning and school maintenance.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Councillor Maria Gatland, informed Cabinet that the detailed report set out the draft Education Estate Strategy for 2023-2026, and with the focus on the three main statutory responsibilities, there was no change to admissions to community schools and the PAN London coordination continued, further noting the current consultation on the maintained nursery schools. The report noted that there were many more places than pupils across primary and secondary schools, which was a London wide challenge, and the Department of Education (DfE) were working closely with affected schools. There was also higher than average in-year admissions in secondary schools which were all academy schools; a fair access panel had been set up as a result. The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) provision continued to experience pressures and increase. Data were reviewed monthly to inform resource and placement planning.

The Shadow Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Councillor Amy Foster, asked a question relating to seeking appropriate placements for social and emotional health needs, and asked whether there was commitment to working with schools to develop in-house alternative provision places for children of complex and behaviour needs to ensure that Croydon did not become dependent on expensive private education providers for this basis.

The Executive Mayor responded that there were surplus places in schools and the council were continuing to work with schools to address improvements in the SEND provision. The Director of Education, Shelley Davies, confirmed that the service was working closely with schools on developing enhanced learning provision where schools could provide places for children with SEND which was in line with the strategy to educate children within the borough.

The Executive Mayor in Cabinet RESOLVED: To

School Admissions:

1.1.        Agree to the proposed community schools’ Admission Arrangements for the 2025/26 academic year (Appendix 1).

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

1.3.        Note that there are no changes proposed to the previously agreed admission arrangements for our community schools.

School Maintenance and Compliance

1.4.        Approve the draft Capital Programme Budget summary (Appendix 2).

1.5.        Approve the proposed Schools’ Maintenance Plan (Appendix 3) for 2024/25 with an overall budget cost of £3,412m for 2024/25 and £3,777m for 2025/26.

1.6.        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 the Executive Mayor in Cabinet in respect of any exercise of such authority.

The Executive Mayor in Cabinet is asked to note the following:

School Place Planning

1.7.        Comparison between the available school places vs 2023 School Capacity (SCAP) Pupil Projections – Appendix 4 (primary) and Appendix 4a secondary).

1.8.        There is sufficiency of school places to meet demand at early years, primary and secondary education phases.

1.9.        Managing Surplus School Places

The local authority is continuing to work in partnership with school leaders to manage the risk of falling school roll, especially in the primary educational phase. The main strategy used at this time is a reduction of the relevant school’s Published Admission Number (PAN) and/or variation of their in-year admission number.

1.10.     Early Years

Croydon Childcare Sufficiency Assessment 2023 (Appendix 5) which measures the demand for, and supply of childcare across the borough indicates that currently there is sufficient childcare available across the borough for all age groups. This is being reviewed to consider the childcare reforms will introduce significant changes to early years education and childcare through the extension of the free childcare on offer. Implementation will be extended in phases, starting from April 2024.

1.11.     Maintained Nursery Schools

Following informal consultation on the future options for Croydon’s five Maintained Nursery Schools, the Executive Mayor in cabinet have considered the outcomes of the consultation and recommendations and requested that officers explore and carry out more detailed modelling of other options suggested as part of the consultation process, to determine if any of these are feasible and will make MNS financially viable.

1.12.     Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)

The demand for Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) continues to increase. The data on prevalence and needs of our SEND community is reviewed monthly in order to inform resource and placement planning.

1.13.     Alternative Provision / Pupil Referral Unit (PRU)

The proposed conversion of Saffron Valley Collegiate to an academy has been moved to 1st April 2024. Additional demand for Alternative Provision places is met by commissioning suitable places via our Approved Alternative Provision Provider List.