Agenda item

Dan Kennedy, Director, Housing, Environment, Education, Performance, Health & Wellbeing, and Sarah Philips, School Place Planning Project Manager, introduced the latest quarterly update on school places.

Key points of the report were highlighted, with particular reference made to the demand for secondary school places. Pupil numbers in primary schools were high but steady, which in turn would affect demand for secondary places for the next 7 years. Options to address this, (alongside how to deal with the few primary schools who had remaining places), had been submitted to lead Members for consideration, and this information would be brought to the Committee once available.

Any decision on the proposals would be made through the Cabinet process. The issues were complex, and required careful consideration of how resources were allocated. Options to address the issues included school expansions, as well as the creation of the DfE approved new free school. Challenges included making sufficient places available to meet demand with options for parents to exercise their preferences without destabilising schools that were not filled by preferences and so reliant on receiving pupils for whom they were a lower or no preference.

The Committee sought clarity on how officers factored in intake from other boroughs. Members were advised that the forecast modelling factored in migration between neighbouring boroughs, based on previous trends and general averages. However, high numbers of first preferences for the more popular schools required that each school's  admissions criteria be applied in all cases, and this could result in deviation from the 'average projection' due to factors varying from year to year such as  numbers of siblings.

Some Members expressed concerns regarding the available secondary school places in light of the primary population and DfE guidelines for the retention of spare capacity, future demand for these places over forthcoming years, and how parents would continue to be offered meaningful choice over their children’s schools. It was requested that future reports contain more specific information, including the proposed measures to address these concerns, information on pupil movement and trends, which schools would have bulge classes, and the location of the new schools. It was agreed that Councillor Sweeting would forward detail of the requested information to the clerk, for forwarding to report authors.

Officers highlighted that all school children had been offered a school place for entry in year 7 in September 2019, despite a significant increase in demand. The  Council was continuing to meet demand through significant investment and expansion measures, and 5% spare capacity was being factored into all forecasts, in line with DfE guidelines. Discussions were ongoing with schools on how to meet future demand, and schools were eager to be part of any solution.

In response to a question on families being required to travel by public transport, officers advised that the Council provided support to families who were required to travel by way of clear information, including travel plans and public transport schedules.

It was requested that officers provide detail on those schools that required additional accommodation, and the relevant capital spending required for this accommodation.

Members also requested that, following the closing date of 31 October for next  year’s admissions, a brief update on the Council’s position regarding places for September 2020 be brought to the January 2020 Committee meeting, ahead of the more detailed quarterly update to be considered in February.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted;
2. That Cllr Sweeting provide the clerk with information requested for inclusion in the next quarterly update report;
3. That officers provide Members with detail on proposals to meet the future need for school places, when available; and
4. That a brief update on the Council’s position regarding places for September 2020 be brought to the January Committee meeting.