Consultation Document to change the lower age range of St David’s Church in Voluntary Aided Primary School from 4 to 3 years, to include a nursery class .

INTRODUCTION & PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT

The Governing Body of St David’s (CIW) Voluntary Aided (VA) Primary School was approached by the Management Committee of Preschool to consider “amalgamating the current provision.” This would effectively mean that the current preschool would be closed and the age range of St David’s CIW VA School would be altered from 4 to 3 years, to include a nursery class . This change, if agreed, is anticipated to take effect from January 1 st 2015.

Before moving forward with this proposal, the Governing Body are keen to ascertain the views of all those with a likely interest in the proposal, so that they can be taken into account before any decisions are made.

Llansannor St David’s

Llangan St Brides

Y Bont Faen Wick &

Llanfair

Copies of this document will be shared on the School & Village Website & with:

• Vale of Council • Council • Llandaff Diocesan Authority • Governing bodies of local schools o Primary o Llanfair Primary o VA Primary o VA Primary o Wick & Marcross VA Primary o Y Bont Faen Primary • parents carers and guardians of pupils at both St David’s CIW VA Primary & Colwinston Preschool, • staff members of both St David’s CIW VA Primary & Colwinston Preschool, • the Welsh Ministers; • Assembly Members (AMs) and Members of Parliament (MPs) o - Jane Hutt AM o Vale of Glamorgan Constituency - Alun Cairns MP o South Wales Central Andrew RT Davies AM • Estyn; • teaching and staff trade unions o ATL o GMB PAT o NASUWT o NAHT o NUT o PAT o UNISON • Central South Consortium; • the relevant Regional Transport Consortium; • the Police and Crime Commissioner • Colwinston • Local Town Council & Community Councils: • the local Communities First Partnership • independent nursery providers o Abracadabra Playgroup, o Bizzi Day Nursery, Pontyclun; o Citytots Ltd, Culverhouse o Fun Foundations Day Nursery, Cowbridge o Kiddiwinks Day Nursery Pontyclun o St Aubin’s Nursery, Cowbridge o St Paul’s Day Nursery Pontyclun o St Illtyd’s Day Nursery , o Playgroup o Wick Playgroup • the Children and Young People’s Partnership • the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships;

Consultation will also occur with pupils in the school, facilitated by the elected School Council.

EXPLANATION OF THE STATUTORY PROCESS

The initial consultation process of 42 days begins on Monday 5th May and concludes on Monday 16th June 2014.

During this period, Mrs Penny Snowden, Chair of Governors will accept any comments or proposals using the attached proforma: C/o St David’s CIW VA Primary, Colwinston, Nr.Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan CF71 7NL. [email protected]

An Open Day will be held at the school on Friday 9 th An Evening Meeting will be May at 2.30pm for any person wishing to view the site, held in the school hall on including the current room used by the Preschool and Wednesday 21 st May at 5pm to the proposed Foundation Phase classroom area. take any questions.

Considering your views

A consultation report issued within 13 weeks of the end of the consultation period

Within 6 months, the Governing Body will determine whether to proceed with the proposal

Statutory Notice

If proposal is approved, a statutory notice is published providing a 28 day notice period for objections to be made

Determination of proposal

Within 28 days of the objection period The publication of an objection report & the Governing Body response.

If there are objections the proposal will be referred to the local authority for determination.

Proposals must be determined within 16 weeks of the end of the objection period

Decision notification

Following determination of proposals all interested parties will be informed and advised of the availability of the decision which will be published electronionically on the schools website.

Implementation (Changes with effect from January 2015 at the earliest)

You can submit your views in favour or against the proposal. This is formal consultation but responses received will not be treated as statutory objections which form part of the statutory notice period. If you wish to object, you will need to do so in writing during the statutory objection period following the publication of a statutory notice outlined above.

BACKGROUND St David’s CIW VA Primary School is an English medium, rural village school, feeding the three parishes of Colwinston, and . When considering this proposal, the Governing Body of St David’s has taken into account the following specific factors:

The standard of nursery education and the sufficiency of accommodation and facilities offered, both in the classroom and outdoors, and the viability of any school that wishes to add nursery places; The Local Authority and Consortium currently classify St David’s as a category B school: A school with generally good performance, some examples of good practice, with a few areas requiring improvement. Local data and particularly national tests demonstrate that children achieve high standards. The most recent comprehensive 21 st Century Schools Buildings Conditions Survey in 2010 found that the school’s overall rating was B: satisfactory, with minor deterioration.

St David’s was re-inspected by ESTYN on 23 rd April 2013 and this report can be viewed on the school website. Inspectors stated that: “The school provides stimulating learning experiences that match pupils’ needs well, including the more able. Teachers group key stage 2 pupils appropriately so that their skills develop at a pace that matches their needs very well…..The standards of teaching and assessment have improved across the school…Pupils report that they feel challenged and supported and enjoy their lessons.” • Recommendation 1: Improve pupils’ use of literacy, numeracy, information and communication technology and independent skills across the curriculum “This recommendation has been fully addressed. Teachers plan the development of skills well across the curriculum.” • Recommendation 2: Further promote the use of pupils’ Welsh oracy skills during the school day “This recommendation has been fully addressed. The school provides useful opportunities for pupils to practice and improve their spoken Welsh throughout the school day. Many pupils speak clearly to each other and to adults to communicate information in a wide range of contexts.” • Recommendation 3: Disseminate the best practices in teaching and assessment across the school “This recommendation has been largely addressed. Records show that the standards of teaching and assessment have improved across the school.” • Recommendation 4: Provide more challenging learning experiences for more able pupils “This recommendation has been fully addressed. The school provides stimulating learning experiences that match pupils’ needs well, including the more able. Teachers group key stage 2 pupils appropriately so that their skills develop at a pace that matches their needs very well.” • Recommendation 5: Further develop the role of governors as critical friends “This recommendation has been fully addressed. The governors are very familiar with all aspects of the work of the school. As a result of governors’ wider and more detailed knowledge of the work of the school, they fulfil their role as critical friends very effectively.” • Recommendation 6: Ensure the stability of the long-term leadership of the school “This recommendation has been fully addressed. The acting headteacher at the time of the last inspection was appointed to the permanent post in 2012. She provides the school with strong leadership and clear direction. A strong senior management team is now in place and provides effective devolved leadership.”

Due to considerable under-capacity at St David’s, since September 2013, the Preschool has occupied a spare classroom within the school. They pay a minimal rent, due to their own falling roll. They share the significant outdoor space available, as well as other facilities, such as the school hall. Both the school and the preschool, also make use of the additional facilities available to the community at the Village Hall.

St David’s Numbers of Pupils on Roll (NOR) (Without Nursery) 2009 2010 2011 2012 20 13 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Actual Projected using 5 year average of 17 additional pupils

164 159 154 144 134 128 122 116 109 106 Capacity for St David’s prior to 2012 was161. Conservatory extensions in 2009 and 2012 increased this in theory to 175, but due to a falling roll the Admission Number was not increased from 23 to 25.

Currently, the Preschool provision can be led by a member of staff with a at least a level 3 qualification recognised on the Care Council for Wales’ current list of Accepted Qualifications for the Early Years and Childcare Workforce in Wales or Skills Active’s Integrated Qualification Framework for Playwork; with two years experience of working in day care. At least 50% of the non-supervisory staff must hold a qualification at least at level 2 ensuring a ratio of one adult to eight children aged 2 ½ - 4 years.

St David’s would be able to provide Early Years Unit provision led by an experience Foundation Phase senior manager (Teacher). The class itself may be led by this person or by another Foundation Phase trained teacher. To ensure a ratio of one adult to ten children aged 3-4 years, dependent on numbers of children, additional Foundation Phase Level 3 Learning Support staff may be required. Existing staff from the Preschool would be included in the application process, but the Governing Body would also advertise externally and appoint the most suitably qualified and experienced person for the position. All staff would take part in whole school training that ensures consistency in teaching strategies and initiatives.

This proposal would significantly enhance transition arrangements for Nursery children moving into statutory formal education in Reception, as they would have already worked alongside these children. It should be noted that attendance at the nursery would not guarantee admission into Reception. A fresh application would be required.

Whether there is a need for additional nursery places in the area; The Preschool committee expressed their concern for their current provision’s long term viability. They cited staffing difficulties of both the provision and the committee itself. The long term viability of the school is also dependent upon consistent nursery provision being maintained in Colwinston.

This proposal will not result in any additional (funded) nursery 3-4 year old places, so this would not impact on the projected numbers of nursery children in local schools or private providers. However, in the future, should there be insufficient capacity elsewhere; the school may in theory have the capacity to increase places to meet wider demand.

Unfortunately the proposals would not include the current provision for un-funded 2 ½ -3 year olds. However, since the Preschool’s move from the Village Hall to St David’s School, Colwinston Village has had additional organisations use its vacant facilities. A separate Mother and Toddler group has started up in the hall, which is a valuable community resource. Many parents also send their pupils to private providers, either for additional linked wrap-around care (St Aubin's & Fun Foundations Day Nursery, Cowbridge) or for their preferred full-time care hours.

The levels of demand for certain types of nursery education e.g. provision with a religious character; St Brides Major is the nearest provision that provides nursery places with a religious character. This school is situated 5miles from Colwinston. St David’s capacity calculation actually in theory allows for an increase in Admission Number from 23 to 25, due to the extensions in 2012. However, this has never been officially altered, maintaining the number at 23 and capacity at 161 rather than 175. Therefor, the school has sufficient capacity to offer a maximum of 14FTE nursery places , (the difference between 175 & 161), without impacting upon availability and access to places at a school with the same designated religious character. In reality, as the school has an Admission number of 23 for Reception, it would offer only 11FTE places. (22 part time nursery children.)

The effect of the proposals on other institutions, including private and third sector providers; As already stated, many parents also send their pupils to private providers and these may benefit from the reduction in provision for pupils aged 2 ½ to 3 years. Current private provision includes: • Abracadabra Playgroup, Cowbridge • Bizzi Day Nursery, Pontyclun; • Citytots Ltd, Culverhouse • Fun Foundations Day Nursery, Cowbridge • Kiddiwinks Day Nursery Pontyclun • St Aubin’s Nursery, Cowbridge • St Paul’s Day Nursery Pontyclun • St Illtyd’s Day Nursery , Llantwit Major • Wenvoe Playgroup • Wick Playgroup

There will not be a risk to numbers in the nursery or school, if the parents of younger preschool children make alternative arrangements. In order to smooth transition and encourage friendships prior to starting school, most parents who send their 2 ½ to 3 year old children to a private provider tend to change them to the nursery attached to the prospective school for their final nursery year.

The extent to which proposals will integrate early years education with childcare services or are consistent with an integrated approach. By integrating the nursery class within the school, the pupils would benefit from access to the significant early intervention support for pupils failing to make expected progress that is already in place in the school, prior to the need for external agencies.

As school transportation is only provided for children of statutory school age, there are no implications on home to school bus transportation. Also, as the Preschool is currently on the school site, there would be no impact upon learner travel arrangements. Therefore, were the proposals to be implemented, there would be no impact on accessibility of provision.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION AND BENEFITS Current Provision Proposal Although within the school, the current By assimilating the nursery aged children into the separate Preschool classroom must Foundation Phase Unit, they would access more suitable unfortunately be sited away from the main toilet provision and vastly increased internal & external Foundation Phase Unit and its purpose built Continuous Provision space. facilities. This improves provision (learning experiences, teaching, care support and guidance, and learning environment) The maximum qualification required of staff is As well as Level 3 staff, the school provides teachers Level 3. (Although currently the leader after with PGCE, B.Ed and other more specialist educational Easter has a Level 4 qualification.) qualifications. This improves provision (learning experiences, teaching, care support and guidance, and learning environment) The educational provision is inspected by a The educational provision would be consistently separate body: The Care and Social Services inspected by ESTYN. Inspectorate Wales (CCSIW). The current separate Preschool offers limited Many of the school staff are trained to provide a range of internal specialist provision and interventions Early Years intervention activities, before the need to for pupils with Additional Learning Needs. access external specialists such as Education Psychologists or Speech Therapists. These early interventions are likely to improve pupil outcomes (standards & well-being) & this improves provision (learning experiences, teaching, care support and guidance, and learning environment) The Preschool caters for non-funded children A nursery class in the school could only provide places from 2 ½ years to 3 years, as well as the for pupils from the start of the term following their third funded 3 years to 4 years provision. birthday. This consistency improves provision Predicted Under 3’s from September 2014:four pupils (learning experiences, teaching, care Predicted Nursery 3-4 years from September 2014: six support and guidance, and learning pupils environment) (There are only twelve for Reception) Nursery aged children (3-4year olds) The nursery class would share the Continuous Provision currently mix with younger children in the in the Foundation Phase with older children, acting as Preschool. role models. (Even though they would access separate teaching groups.) Higher expectations are likely to improve pupil outcomes (standards & well-being) Children are often assimilated into the life of Children would access the full range of school activities the school, attending assemblies and other on a daily basis. events. This improves provision (learning experiences, teaching, care support and guidance, and learning environment) The membership of the Preschool The school Governing Body has a mixture of long term Committee, responsible for the policy, and new members and works very closely with the procedures and employment of staff, has Headteacher to ensure that all statutory requirements generally changed at least every two years. are met. Historically, recruiting governors has never Consistency and the lack of long term been an issue, as for every position there is always more commitment has been cited as the than one candidate. Preschool’s biggest concern: recruiting The current Headteacher has 10 years headship committee members is a real problem. experience in separate nursery school provision obtaining Outstanding Estyn grades. This improves leadership and management (leadership, improving quality, partnership working and resource management.) The Preschool was experiencing a falling roll The school is also operating at under-capacity and has (demand for places) and finances were an resources that could be allocated towards nursery issue. Hence the move to the school site in provision, without initial additional cost to the school from September 2013. the 2014/5 budget. ie. Reception class of only 12 pupils could have the 6 Due to a continued fall in roll, the Preschool prospective nursery children within the class in the morning. is likely to be faced with staff redundancies As there is already a teacher & LSA for these children there is for September 2014. no cost. Financial saving would be incurred from effectively Funding would be insufficient to fully staff the “amalgamating” the provision, specifically the Preschool, unless higher fees were charged redirection of underutilised resources, increasing for the under 3 year olds. value for money. Using the school site, the Preschool is According to the Welsh Government Circular 21/2011 currently limited to 16 FTE places, or part “Measuring the Capacity of Schools in Wales,” without time places for 32 pupils. If demand any change in facilities, St David’s currently has capacity increased past 32 pupils, the Preschool could for 175 pupils on its site. currently investigate the return to the Village It currently has only 134 pupils on roll (NOR). However, Hall site. This is a mixture of over and under from September 2014 it only expects to have 128 and 3 year olds. the longer term forecast suggests that numbers will continue to fall. (The school currently only has capacity for 25 Therefore, the school would definitely be in a position to pupils for each year group, so if the maintain 16 part time nursery places. Preschool increased its NOR for 3 and 4 year Plus, should demand increase (perhaps due to building old pupils past 13 FTE places, they would development), the school still has capacity to increase need to transfer to schools elsewhere for both nursery provision and the provision of other year Reception.) groups. In fact in successive years, nursery provision could rise However, currently demand for the Preschool to a maximum of 11FTE nursery places: 22 part time is for only 16 part time pupils. (Also, of these pupils, before the need for building improvements or children currently on roll, 12 are moving into impact upon other year groups. (The school has a long Reception at St David’s in September 2014, term plan to increase its roll to facilitate the return to and there are predicted numbers of 6 nursery discrete classes.) aged pupils and possibly only a further 4 under 3 year olds.) The Preschool receives separate funding and The school receives funding based upon pupil numbers is responsible for its own finances, for its provision as a whole, and the allocation of funding particularly for the under 3 year olds. is directed to required staffing ratios and school priorities. Without the nursery pupils, the school is projected to receive insufficient funding for the 2015/6 school budget allocation and would need to consider further reducing staff for September 2015. The forecasted Age Weighted Pupil Unit Allocation (AWPU) for 2015/6 is £2,923.46. For 6 pupils this amounts to an additional £17,540.76 to the school. This would reduce the forecasted budget shortfall. Financial saving would be incurred from effectively “amalgamating” the provision, specifically economies of scale, but also the redirection of underutilised resources, increasing value for money. Pupils can only access resources belonging Pupils would access the full resources of the school, to the Preschool or those in the classroom, including ICT provision such as iPads. as part of the rental agreement. This consistency is likely to improve pupil outcomes (standards & well-being) The school has established good transition Transition arrangements could still be improved further, arrangements with the Preschool, further through the consistent use of teaching strategies, improved since they have been on the same resources and progress tracking. site. This consistency is likely to improve pupil outcomes (standards & well-being) The Preschool is well resourced, but has no The school is already well resourced with its own land or buildings requiring transfer or suitable equipment for nursery aged pupils, (having disposal , should any change in provision go recently reduced from 7 to 5 classes), but would ahead. consider storing the Preschool surplus resources, should future need be required. There is the question of current Preschool resources, but responsibility for their disposal Due to spare capaciity, there is currently no need for any would be by the Preschool Committee. building modifications to accommodate the nursery pupils, so no additional Capital funding is required.

If in the future, demand for places rose above the spare capacity already in the building, then the school would need to consider acquiring additional funding through the Church Capital Repairs and Maintenance Programme (CRAMP) to increase toilets to meet the higher ratio. Four part time staff are currently employed Should the school have a nursery class from January by the Preschool. 2015, these remaining Preschool staff would be made redundant. Due to the current predicted Preschool roll Predicted nursery numbers for January 2015 would not for September 2014, some of these staff necessarily require additional school staffing. would be surplus to requirements even if the However, should any position become available in the proposals did not go ahead. school, Preschool staff would be encouraged to apply. However, it is unlikely that all staff could be redeployed. This would result in possible redundancy for: 1x L4 Learning Support Assistants 3 x L3 Learning Support Assistants

ALTERNATIVE TO PROPOSAL The Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CCSIW) and the Vale Early Years Partnership would be keen to retain the current mixed provision at Colwinston. This ensures that the provision from 2 ½ years is maintained in the area. Both bodies would continue to work with the current Preschool Committee to recruit staff and provide stability to the Management Committee.

The Management Committee carried out their own informal consultation and felt that the results suggested that the community would be best served if they pursued the effective merger/ amalgamation with St David’s CIW VA Primary School.

What happens to your responses? All of the responses received during the consultation period are summarised in a report (anonymously) with an analysis of the outcomes of the consultation and recommendations on the next steps.

The report is then considered by the Governing Body, which has the following options; to decide not to take the proposals any further, or to recommend changes to the proposals in some way or to proceed with the original proposal to the next stage of the process.

The report will be made available publicly as part of the process.

All of the information you provide in your response will be treated in the strictest of confidence and only used for the purpose it was collected.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to this consultation. Your response will be considered in full.

RESPONSE PROFORMA

Proposal: To change the age range of St David’s CIW VA Primary School to include a nursery class: altering the lower age limit of the school from 4 to 3 yrs.

Consultation Feedback: Please let us know your views on this proposal to merge the current preschool provision with the school. You may find it helpful to consider the following question when formulating your response:

Q.1: Do you agree or disagree with the Governing Body’s proposal above?

Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree nor Disagree Strongly Disagree disagree If you would like to make any comments, provide further explanation for your response to Q1 or ask any questions, please use this space.

Please continue on separate piece of paper if you require more space. Thank You

Please make sure you have submitted your resp onse by Monday 6 th June 2014 to:

Mrs Penny Snowden, Chair of Governors C/o St David’s CIW VA Primary, Colwinston, Nr.Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan CF71 7NL. [email protected]

Please tick to register your wish to be notified of the publication of the consultation report.