Rugby Free Schools Masterplan, Land Adjacent to Rokeby Primary School, Rugby CV22 5PS
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Statement of Educational Need – Rugby Free Schools Masterplan, land adjacent to Rokeby Primary School, Rugby CV22 5PS Prepared for Education Funding Agency Warwickshire County Council January 2017 Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 2 2. Relevant Policy and Legislation ................................................................................................................. 3 3. WCC Education and Learning Sufficiency Strategy ................................................................................... 5 4. Quest Academy - MacIntyre Academies Trust ........................................................................................... 8 5. Rugby Free Secondary School - Knowledge Schools Trust .................................................................... 13 6. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................ 16 Appendix 1 – WCC confirmation of support for MacIntyre Academies Free Special School in Warwickshire Appendix 2 – WCC confirmation of support for Rugby Free Secondary School in Warwickshire Education Need Assessment – Rugby Free Schools Masterplan, land adjacent to Rokeby Primary School 1. Introduction 1.1 This report has been prepared in support of an outline planning application to be submitted by the Education Funding Agency and Warwickshire County Council (WCC) for the development of Rugby Free Secondary School and Quest Academy (formerly known as MacIntyre Special Free School), on land adjacent to Rokeby Primary School, Anderson Avenue, Rugby. The purpose of this Statement is to explain the need for additional school places in Rugby. 1.2 This report is based on Warwickshire County Council Education and Learning Sufficiency Strategy 2015- 2019 and forecast need for school places. Executive Summary 1.3 The local authority has a duty to ensure sufficient schools places are available for their area. 1.4 In advance of the respective Free School applications made to the Department for Education, WCC confirmed support for both Rugby Free Secondary School to provide much needed extra capacity for the fast growing secondary school population, and Quest Academy to address a lack of suitable provision for learners with complex social, emotional and mental health needs and social interaction and communication difficulties. 1.5 In addition to the current need and shortfall in capacity, additional education provision will be required to meet future population growth. Proposed Development 1.6 This Statement is submitted alongside an illustrative masterplan to provide a new Special Educational Needs Free School, new Secondary Free School, and associated Sports Hall and playing pitches. The total site area comprises 12 ha adjacent to Rokeby Primary School and including the former Rokeby Infant School buildings, former Bishops Wulstan School Playing Fields and land currently part of a farm tenancy . 1.7 Rugby Free Secondary School will provide a new 1,470 place school with associated Sports Hall and playing field (1,050 pupils 11-16, plus 420 post 16). The school will be a co-educational, non-selective, non-denominational school for ages 11-19, opened by Knowledge School Trust (KST). The school will open from a temporary site in September 2016. 1.8 Quest Academy will be opened by MacIntyre Academies Trust, sponsored by the national charity MacIntyre, to provide 80 places for students with autism, sensory and complex learning difficulties. 1.9 The planning application also allows for the demolition of the existing Rokeby Infant School and provision of new playing fields for Rokeby Primary School. Cushman & Wakefield | Education Funding Agency Warwickshire | 2 County Council Education Need Assessment – Rugby Free Schools Masterplan, land adjacent to Rokeby Primary School 2. Relevant Policy and Legislation 2.1 Relevant policy and legislation is provided by the Education Act (1996), Academies Act (2010) and Children and Families Act (2014). WCC’s Education and Learning Sufficiency Strategy 2015-2019 provides up to date pupil forecasts and confirmation of need. Education Act 1996 2.2 The local authority has a duty to ensure sufficient schools for providing primary and secondary education are available for their area (Education Act 1996, Section 14(1)). Schools available for an area shall not be regarded as sufficient unless they are sufficient in number, character and equipment to provide for all pupils the opportunity of appropriate education. 2.3 The local authority also has a duty to secure sufficient school places for pupils with special educational needs for whoever of statutory school ages lives in the area. 2.4 The Education Secretary of State has a duty to exercise his powers to regulate schools with a view to (among other things) improving standards, encouraging diversity and increasing opportunities for choice (Education Act 1996, Section 11). Academies Act 2010 2.5 The Academies Act confirmed all new schools should be academies or free schools, meaning local authorities no longer create new schools but retain responsibility for ensuring enough school places locally. In 2015 the Conservative government set a target of delivering 500 new free schools by 2020 to address the need for additional school places and in response to parental demand, to provide a choice of school. Children and Families Act 2014 2.6 The Children and Families Act 2014 expands the duties of the local authority in respect of the education of children with special educational needs beyond the ‘particular regard for special education’ set out within the Education Act. National Planning Policy Framework (2012) 2.7 The government attaches great importance to ensuring a sufficient choice of school places is available to meet the needs of existing and new communities. Local planning authorities should take a proactive, positive and collaborative approach to meeting this requirement and development that will widen choice in education (paragraph 72). Great weight should be given to the need to create, expand or alter schools, and local authorities should work with schools promoters to identify and resolve key planning issues before applications are submitted. Warwickshire County Council Education and Learning 2.8 WCC legal duty is to ensure sufficient schools and places in a locality, ensure sufficient early years & childcare places, ensure sufficient post 16 provision, provide appropriate education provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities, promote high education standards, ensure fair access to educational opportunity, promote fulfilment of every child’s education potential, and to promote diversity and parental choice. Cushman & Wakefield | Education Funding Agency Warwickshire | 3 County Council Education Need Assessment – Rugby Free Schools Masterplan, land adjacent to Rokeby Primary School 2.9 The County Council’s vision for Education and Learning across Warwickshire is that ‘ every child and young person in Warwickshire will attend a good or outstanding school or setting; achieve well whatever their starting point or circumstances; and go on to a positive destination ’ (WCC Education and Learning Sufficiency Strategy 2015-2019). 2.10 The purpose of the Sufficiency Strategy is to help understand how WCC will plan and provide school places to ensure children and young people thrive ‘in sustainably good or outstanding schools and settings throughout their education, wherever they live ’. It sets out the principles underpinning school place planning. Free School Programme 2.11 The free school programme formed a key part of the Conservative’s pre-election manifesto to ‘close the attainment gap’ and extend the choice that parents have. Applications to the Department for Education should set out the aims and objectives of the institution, an outline of the curriculum, evidence of demand from parents and potential locations for the site. Schools can be set up by parents, teachers, charities, academy sponsors and existing schools. 2.12 In 2015 the Conservative government reaffirmed commitment to free schools, and set a target of delivering 500 new free schools by 2020, creating 270,999 school places to address the need and parental demand. 2.13 Both Rugby Free Secondary School and Quest Academy (formerly Macintyre Special Free School) were announced by the Prime Minister David Cameron in September 2015 as two of 18 new Free Schools announced as the first wave of the new Parliament: • Rugby Free Secondary School, Rugby, Warwickshire – Rugby Free Secondary School will be opening in the town in September 2016. It is being set up by the trust behind Rugby Free Primary School, which opened September 2015. The new, mixed, secondary school will provide 1,470 much-needed school places for 11- to 19-year-olds. It will be a comprehensive school with an academic curriculum that will specialise in a combination of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects and music. • Quest Academy (formerly Macintyre Special Free School), Rugby, Warwickshire – Quest Academy will open on a temporary site outside Rugby in September 2017. It will be a special school providing 80 places for children and young people between the ages of 9 and 19 with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties and conditions on the autistic spectrum, with support tailored to the needs of the individual