Outcome of Public Consultation on the Proposed Closure of Trottiscliffe
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Item No B3 By: Director - Operations To: School Organisation Advisory Board – 7 September 2006 Subject TROTTISCLIFFE CHURCH OF ENGLAND (VOLUNTARY CONTROLLED) PRIMARY SCHOOL, WEST MALLING: PROPOSED CLOSURE - OUTCOME OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION. Classification: Unrestricted File Ref: _______________________________________________________________________________ Summary: This report sets out the results of the public consultation. It seeks the views of the School Organisation Advisory Board on the issuing of a public notice for the proposed closure of Trottiscliffe Church of England (Voluntary Controlled) Primary School by September 2007 at the earliest. ______________________________________________________________________________ Introduction 1. (1) The School Organisation Advisory Board at its meeting on 18 May 2006 supported the undertaking of a public consultation on the proposal to close Trottiscliffe Church of England (Voluntary Controlled) Primary School. (2) Trottiscliffe CE (VC) Primary School has 61 children on roll (January 2006 PLASC) against a net capacity of 84, giving it a 27.38% surplus capacity. (3) The school is situated within the village of Trottiscliffe. Approximately 37% of its pupils are drawn from within a 1 mile radius, while approximately 40% live more than 3 miles from the school. The latter live mainly in Snodland and East Malling. A map is attached in Appendix 1, which shows the location of the school and the pupil distribution. Background 2. (1) In the Tonbridge and Malling areas there are 40 primary schools with a combined net capacity of 10,441. There are currently 8,891 pupils attending these schools giving a surplus capacity of 14.8%. Surplus places are slightly higher in the Malling area than in Tonbridge. (2) Due to increasing pupil numbers, surplus places in the Malling area are forecast to reduce to 7.25% by 2010, whereas in Tonbridge, the surplus is projected to rise to 14.87%. If no action is taken, it is estimated that by 2010 the surplus across the district as a whole will be 10.1%. Retaining surplus capacity at schools such as St Katherine’s, West Malling and Wouldham, will facilitate an orderly management of provision for pupils generated by planned housing developments in the Malling area. ed&libreports/2006/070906c B3:1 (3) Current estimates are that it will be necessary over the next 4 years to remove approximately 150 places in the Malling area and 400 in Tonbridge to achieve the desired level of surplus capacity. This is being addressed through a range of proposals, including that to close Trottiscliffe. (4) School places are available within one mile of Trottiscliffe at Vigo Village School and within 3 miles at Platt CEP, St George’s CEP, West Malling CEP, Stansted CEP and Borough Green Primary School. (5) Trottiscliffe saw a small increase in its popularity between January 2005 and January 2006. It has made significant improvements since it was placed in Special Measures in 2003 and, under the leadership of its current Headteacher, is considered to have the capacity for further self-improvement. Nevertheless, it fails to meet the recommendations of the Primary Strategy in the following ways (numbers in brackets refer to Primary Strategy recommendations). (a) It is only able to sustain 3 classes, thus necessitating that more than 2 year groups are taught in a single class (22); (b) There are considerably less than 100 pupils on roll (23) and the school is unable to maintain a 4 class structure (24); (c) The local community is of insufficient size to sustain the school. In order to be viable, Trottiscliffe is reliant on parents transporting children over more than 3 miles from areas where there are already surplus places in local schools; (d) Trottiscliffe has 27.38% surplus places based upon 2006 PLASC. This is forecast to increase by 2010. In closing the school, 84 places (net capacity) would be saved. This would, with other measures outlined below, enable the cluster to achieve the target of 5% surplus places. (6) As part of the Strategy, Recommendation 27 states that "wherever surplus primary capacity is projected to rise above 7% in any cluster area, proposals should be brought forward to reduce it to 5%”. The retention of a 5% surplus in any area (rather than zero) is considered to be 'good practice' to assist parental preferences being met, and to build in a contingency to deal with any unforeseen short-tem increase in pupil numbers (for example a regiment moving). The DfES require all authorities to report annually on all schools with an excess of 25% surplus capacity, giving justifications why such schools are not being closed or having their net capacity reduced. The Proposal 3. (1) To close Trottiscliffe CE (VC) Primary School. The proposal would take effect from either September 2007 or September 2008. (2) If Trottiscliffe CE (VC) Primary school were to close, then the site could be declared surplus to requirements. ed&libreports/2006/070906c B3:2 Accommodation Issues 4. (1) The school has three classes and is accommodated primarily in a 1970s SEAC building. One classroom was added in 2005 to replace a mobile. The Local Authority’s records show that there is £77,765 of outstanding (D1) work required. This includes work to external areas (£15,265) and roof repairs (£62,500). Information received during the consultation indicates that the school has addressed some of the former from its own funds. (2) One classroom is under-size (51m sq) and the staffroom is also too small. The hall is under-size (90m sq) and is a thoroughfare through which much of the school is accessed. The school playing field is also the local recreation ground. Public Consultation Process 5. (1) A consultation document, a copy of which is attached as Appendix 2, was circulated according to the County Procedures for Review. This included Local Members, District Council, Parish Councils, local libraries, schools within the Tonbridge and Malling Clusters, Member of Parliament and other interested parties. (2) Approximately 1,000 copies of the document were circulated. (3) The document included a separate form on which respondents could express their views. (4) A public meeting was held at Trottiscliffe Village Hall on 22 June 2006. The meeting was chaired by Mr Godfrey Horne, KCC Member for Tonbridge. Sir John Stanley, Local Member of Parliament, Mr Matthew Balfour, Tonbridge & Malling Borough Councillor, Mrs Sarah Hohler, KCC Member for Malling North, Ms Jan Thompson, from Rochester Diocese, Dr Ian Craig (Director of Operations), Mr Chris Jones (Area Education Officer), Mr Tony Froude (Local Education Officer), Mrs Julie Stones (Head of Operations Support) and Mrs Kendra Stanley-Berridge (Education Support Officer) were in attendance. (5) There were 205 members of the public in attendance. Responses to the Public Consultation Written Responses 6. (1) In total 1,076 responses had been received. This included a Petition from the Trottiscliffe ‘Save Our School’ Action Group which contained 222 signatures. 3 responses were in favour of the proposal and 1073 were against. (2) A summary of written responses is attached as Appendix 3. Responses to the main points are included in the Area Education Officer’s Comments in Section 15. Public Meeting (3) A summary of comments and views expressed at the public meeting is attached as Appendix 4. ed&libreports/2006/070906c B3:3 Views from Rochester Diocese 7. Rochester Diocesan Board of Education is not in favour of the proposal and made the following comments (taken from an e-mail sent on 17 July 2006); “…Rochester Diocesan Board of Education does not support the closure of Trottiscliffe CEP School, because it is only now recovering from the adverse effects of the Ofsted decision of a couple of years ago, and our opinion is that it is now a good school and has a viable future, with its rising roll…” Views of the Local Member 8. Mrs Sarah Hohler, Local Member for Malling North, is not in favour of the proposal. Her comments against the proposal are outlined in Appendix 5. Views of the Local Member of Parliament 9. Sir John Stanley, MP for Tonbridge & Malling, is opposed to this proposal. His comments against the proposal are outlined in Appendix 6. Views of the Governing Body 10. The governing body of Trottiscliffe (Voluntary Controlled) Primary School is not in favour of the proposal and made the following comments: “…Trottiscliffe Primary School is the very heart of this community, we care about our school, our church, the future viability of our village and most importantly the future of our children. All these are threatened by the proposal to close our school. As Chairman of governors I wish to state categorically that we do not accept the KCC recommendations and challenge many of the statements in the consultation document. Trottiscliffe has met its challenges well, over the years, with growing strength and commitment by both the school and the community. Our spanking new classroom and general refurbishment, for which the community raised £40,000 has given us a splendid platform to plan for our future. A 50% rise in roll over the last 2 years, together with our results, value added etc, is proof that the school is thriving, our research suggests that we will be asking for an increased pupil admission number in 2007! The KCC report states that 60% of present pupils come from within 3 miles of the school, I would say that this is an extremely high proportion for such a rural area. Whilst fully understanding the big picture as regards the Kent Primary Strategy, we genuinely believe that there is no need to close a school in the Malling Area, the projected population growth does not warrant such a draconian and irreversible step. ed&libreports/2006/070906c B3:4 We challenge Kent's policy as regards the effectiveness of small schools.