NORTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL REPORT I Subject

REPORT

To: Learning & Leisure Services Committee I Subject: Proposed closure of Calder Primary School along with associated Nursery Class Provision Ref: JMcWLE I

Summary of the Proposal

In summary, the proposal is that Calder Primary School be closed and its catchment area reallocated to the neighbouring schools of Muir Street Primary School and Glencairn Primary School. The Nursery Class will also be closed with provision relocated elsewhere within the Motherwell area. Detailed information about the proposal is contained in the consultation document attached to the report.

Recommendations

The Learning and Leisure Services Committee is recommended:

1. to approve formal consultation based on the proposal that at the end of school session 2012/13 the provision of education at Calder Primary School and Nursery Class be discontinued and that pupils due to attend Calder Primary School in August 201 3 should enrol at Muir Street Primary School and Glencairn Primary School in accordance with the amended catchment areas as delineated in the consultation document. Nursery Class provision will be relocated elsewhere within the Motherwell area.

2. to approve that the consultative document attached to this report be issued and made available to all interested parties.

3. to approve that all interested parties be invited to make written representation to the Calder Primary School and Nursery Class Consultation, Learning & Leisure Services, Municipal Buildings, Kildonan Street, Coatbridge, by no later than 20th November 201 2. Alternatively comments can be submitted by e-mail to [email protected]. These views will be taken into account by the Learning and Leisure Services Committee in deciding on the proposals.

4. to request that the head of resources submit a report on the responses to the consultation to a future meeting of the Learning and Leisure Services Committee.

Members wishing further information please contact: James McKinstry, Head of Resources, on 01236 812269, or Christine Pollock, Executive Director of Learning & Leisure Services, on 01236 812336. NORTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL : LEARNING & LEISURE SERVICES

Proposed Closure of Calder Primary School and Nursery Class : Consultation Paper

Report bv the Head of Resources

1. BACKGROUND

1.I A proposed consultation paper on the future of Calder Primary School and Nursery Class is attached to this report. It suggests that the school should be closed, with the catchment area reallocated to Muir Street Primary School and Glencairn Primary School. Nursery Class provision will be relocated elsewhere within the Motherwell area.

1.2 There are 3 main reasons for the proposed closure:

(1) The pupils currently at Calder Primary School will benefit educationally because they will attend a larger school which can offer a wider range of educational opportunities.

(2) The school is not cost effective with over 50% of the places unoccupied. The closure will bring savings which can be either reinvested or help to minimise savings in Learning and Leisure Services and in other council services.

(3) The condition of the building is such that it would require substantial capital investment to bring it up to an acceptable standard.

1.3 Our Estate Management Plan highlights various challenges which require attention. These include the large number of empty school places, the poor condition of the estate and the need to continue with a modernisation programme. The closure of selected primary schools is an important consideration of the strategy.

1.4 The acute financial difficulties facing local authorities reinforces the need to ensure the efficient and effective delivery of council services, including school provision.

2 CONSULTATION PROCEDURES

2.1 The current requirements for consulting on proposed school closures are set out in the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.

2.2 In summary the salient requirements for this consultation are:

(1) A longer consultation period, at least 6 weeks compared to the old framework of 28 days. (2) Consultation with a wider range of interests. (3) The inclusion of an educational benefits statement in the consultation document. (4) A statement from Education Scotland on the educational aspects of every consultation. (5) An appropriate response by the council to any issues raised in the consultation process. (6) A report on the consultation to be published at least three weeks before a final decision is taken on the proposal. (7) Immediate notification to the Scottish Ministers of a decision to close a school. They may choose to intervene in the matter and so any closure cannot be implemented until 6 weeks after the decision has been taken. 3 RECOMMENDATIONS

3.1 The Learning and Leisure Services Committee is recommended;

to approve formal consultation based on the proposal that at the end of school session 2012/13 the provision of education at Calder Primary School and Nursery Class be discontinued and that pupils due to attend Calder Primary School in August 2013 should enrol at Muir Street Primary School and Glencairn Primary School in accordance with the amended catchment area as delineated in the consultation document. Nursery Class provision will be relocated elsewhere within the Motherwell area.

to approve that the consultative document attached to this report be issued and made available to all interested parties.

to approve that all interested parties be invited to make written representation to the Calder Primary School and Nursery Class Consultation, Learning & Leisure Services, Municipal Buildings, Kildonan Street, Coatbridge, by no later than 20th November 2012. Alternatively comments can be submitted by e-mail to [email protected]. These views will be taken into account by the Learning and Leisure Services Committee in deciding on the proposals.

to request that the head of resources submit a report on the responses to the consultation to a future meeting of the Learning and Leisure Services Committee. THIS IS A CONSULTATIVE DOCUMENT

NORTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL

LEARNING AND LEISURE SERVICES

PROPOSEDCLOSUREOF CALDER PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY CLASS

This document has been issued by the Learning and Leisure Services Committee of North Lanarkshire Council for consultation in terms of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010. NORTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL : LEARNING & LEISURE SERVICES

ProDosed Closure of Calder Primary School and Nursery Class

1. INTRODUCTION

1.I Calder Primary School was built in 1907.

1.2 The school roll in August 201 1 was 147 pupils. The current capacity of the school accommodation is 317 places.

1.3 The location and catchment area of the school and the neighbouring primary schools are shown in Appendix 1.

1.4 This paper is divided into the following sections:

1. Introduction 2. Proposal 3. Education Benefits Statement 4. Implications of the proposals - appropriate supporting evidence or information 5. Equality Impact Assessment 6. Next steps and summary of the consultation process

2 PROPOSAL

2.1 The proposal in this document is that Calder Primary School and Nursery Class be closed at the end of session 2012113 and that pupils be re-zoned to Muir Street and Glencairn Primary Schools. If implemented, details of the streets affected are shown in Appendix 5. Nursery Class provision will be relocated elsewhere within the Motherwell Area. There are three main reasons for this proposal:

(1) The pupils currently at Calder Primary School will benefit educationally because they will attend a larger school which can offer a wider range of educational opportunities.

(3) The condition of the building is such that it would require substantial capital investment to bring it up to an acceptable standard.

Table 1: Calder, Muir Street and Glencairn Primary Schools (September 201 1)

Gradings RolVPlaces (Sept 201 1) Surplus Occupancy Other Users Condition Utilisation Suitability Roll Places Places School % Calder PS D C C 147 317 170 46 20/20Nursery Muir Street PS B B C 243 346 103 70 Community Learning & Development, Out of School Care Club Glencairn PS B B C 186 300 114 62 Additional Support Needs TOTAL 576 963 387 60

A: very good; B: good; C: poor; D: very poor 3 EDUCATION BENEFITS STATEMENT

3.1 Most pupils from Calder Primary would transfer to Muir Street Primary under this proposal, with a smaller but significant number transferring to Glencairn Primary. For smaller numbers of pupils who currently attend Calder Primary School as a result of placing requests reference should be made to paragraph 4.9 which details the options that would be available for parents of these children.

3.2 The transfer to schools with a larger pupil roll will have educational benefits for the pupils currently attending Calder Primary School and Nursery Class. Learning opportunities and experiences will be significantly broadened with specific benefits identified as:

1. Increased opportunities for pupils in curricular and extra-curricular activities due to the availability of a broader range of skills and talents of a bigger staff team. 2. Greater flexibility in grouping children for learning and teaching due to increased roll. 3. Greater flexibility in the deployment of staff to meet children’s learning needs due to the availability of a bigger staff team. 4. The greater staffing complement offers a broader range of expertise resulting in increased opportunities for sharing effective practice, more collegial support and opportunities for children to experience a wider range of learning and teaching approaches. 5. Additional management support to promote the school improvement agenda.

3.3 The facilities in each of the receiving schools are better to those in Calder Primary School. It is considered that Calder is in poor condition and would require substantial capital investment to bring it to an acceptable standard. A larger roll, particularly in relation to Muir Street and Glencairn Primary Schools, will enhance the long term sustainability of those schools and enable a firm foundation on which to further develop the school improvement agenda.

3.4 Given current financial pressures it is essential to make best use of available resources. School closures and rationalisation of accommodation in primary schools is an element of that strategy. The associated savings will ease the pressure on the overall resources available for learning and teaching. It is more efficient to have fewer, better resourced schools than to spread resources more thinly across a larger number of partially empty buildings.

3.5 Despite the gains to the wider community, it is acknowledged that closures cause short term local disruption to the children/young people affected. There is a commitment by the Service to provide significant support to children and other affected stakeholders through any process of closure/amalgamation and additional resources and detailed transition planning processes are put in place to facilitate effective transition planning. This plan would take good account of the needs of children with additional support needs and the requirement to plan carefully and timeously to ensure no detriment in relation to the change in physical environment, ethos and learning experience.

3.6 Following the review of the closure of six educational establishments during session 2009/10, in a paper submitted to Learning and Leisure Services Committee, Evaluation Reports on the Closure of Schools and Nursery Establishments (22 March 201 I),it was concluded that:

‘ The integration of closing establishments into the receiving establishments has been successful, The authority had fulfilled all of its commitments outlined in the closure proposal paper. Where there had been issues, the authority had responded quickly and had addressed any problems. This includes the issues raised during the Transition Review Visits.

Overall, teaching and non-teaching staff were very happy with the new arrangements. Indeed, teaching staff in some establishments commented that “we are better resourced than ever”. All were very positive about the transitional arrangements. The most successful element was the impact on children. All who were interviewed were extremely positive and upbeat about their new experiences. Parents, even those who had very strong misgivings prior to the move, could not fault their child's experience in the new establishment.

It would be the intention that these successful processes are replicated in any future closure programme to maximise benefits to all involved.

4 IMPLICATIONS OF THE PROPOSALS - Appropriate supporting evidence or information

4.1 Rolls and Capacities

The pupil rolls after the proposed rationalisation are detailed in table 2 below. These are based on the assumptions that the proposals will be implemented as described in section 2 and make estimates about the transfer of existing placing requests.

Table 2 : rolls and capacities following proposed closure of Calder Primary School

Capacity New Projected Combined Rolls of school 201 1 2013 2015 2017 2019 202 1 Muir Street PS 369 243 350 345 348 352 352 Glencairn PS 300 186 216 227 24 1 240 243

The projected rolls exclude placing requests but include house building estimates.

In Muir Street Primary School the capacity figure increases from 346 to 369 by utilising the room currently utilised by Community Learning & Development who will be relocated elsewhere across the school estate. In addition, as part of the consultation process discussion would be held with the Lanarkshire Childcare Trust who operate an Out of School Care Club in Muir Street Primary School, as to how best to utilise facilities. The proposed new catchment areas are shown in Appendix 2.

In Glencairn Primary School provision exists to provide primary education to children, from within and outwith North Lanarkshire, with hearing impairments. Children are educated alongside their peers in class. It is projected that the roll will increase by 29 across the 7 stages. It is considered that this would not be a detriment to learning and teaching and the high quality educational experience enjoyed by all children.

4.2 Transport to school

Pupils resident in the Calder Primary School catchment area attending Muir Street and Glencairn Primary Schools may be entitled to transport in accordance with the council's policy. It currently provides free transport to those pupils living more than 1 mile from their zoned school or where a safe walking route is not available. Learning and Leisure Services will arrange for an assessment of the walking routes to the receiving school and appropriate road crossing patrols will be established if considered necessary.

4.3 Nursery Provision

Within Calder Primary School two nursery services operate; a local authority nursery class delivers a morning service for twenty children and a community pre-school group is in partnership with the council to provide up to twenty afternoon places. In total, forty-six children currently attend. If, on closure of Calder Primary School, a similar number of pre school children were to be directed to alternative provision, this would be configured as follows and as detailed in Appendix 4.

a. Area north and east of the railway line (around Jerviston). It is expected that nursery children would be redirected to existing nursery classes within New Stevenston, St Teresa’s and Keir Hardie Primary Schools.

b. Area south of Merry Street. It is proposed that the primary age children in this group will attend Glencairn Primary. It is expected that nursery children could require to be accommodated in the nursery class at Glencairn Primary School. Increasing existing provision in the Muirhouse area would offer more localised places for children in that area, at the same time freeing up places at Glencairn.

c. Area north of Merry Street. Nursery children will be directed to Cathedral Primary School Nursery Class.

The service would make every effort to support the community based group in finding alternative premises, should they wish to relocate.

4.4 Staffing

The closure of Calder Primary School and Nursery Class will have various staffing im plicat ions.

(i) Learning and Leisure staff

The allocation of teaching and support staff to Muir Street and Glencairn Primary Schools will be amended to reflect the combined roll in accordance with current roll- related staffing standards. Where appropriate, the service will seek to redeploy staff as appropriate.

In any event, all staff will be consulted individually about their future aspirations and their particular wishes will be taken into account, where possible. The appropriate trade unions will also be consulted.

(ii) staff employed by other council services Staff employed by other council services will be fully consulted about their future deployment. The appropriate trade unions will be included in the discussions.

4.5 Secondary Education

The current zoning arrangement for secondary education is that pupils attending Calder Primary School currently transfer to Braidhurst High School. For those pupils who transfer to Muir Street Primary School they will continue to be aligned with Braidhurst High School. For those zoned to Glencairn Primary School they will be aligned to Dalziel High School. The updated roll projections for Braidhurst and Dalziel High Schools are attached at Appendix 3. Parents who wish their children to attend an alternative secondary school will require to submit a placing request for their preferred school.

4.6 Class Sizes

Class structures are decided by the head teacher in accordance with authority guidelines and take account of a range of factors, including teacher deployment, school policies, the available accommodation and pupil numbers at each stage. 4.7 Future use of the building

Learning and Leisure Services will declare the building surplus to its requirements should the closure be approved. Thereafter, the council's Property Services will make recommendations on its future use or disposal in line with council policy.

4.8 Financial implications

The financial strategy agreed by the council gives high priority to the protection of front line services including school budgets. The rationalisation of schools both reduces the number of empty places and avoids impact on learning and teaching resources. Closing Calder Primary School and Nursery Class would generate annual savings of f201,505after the completion of the transition programme. The initial part year savings would be about f 126,000. However, if the savings associated with these are not delivered it will be necessary to identify other options. These options could include a reduction in teaching posts or in per capita budget for books and teaching resources.

Table 3 below provides analysis of the revenue savings and costs during the initial 3 year period. I 1 Year 1 Year Net Savings costs f f f Revenue Contribution Employee Costs Existing staffing at Calder Primary & NC 479,311 Estimated additional staff costs in receiving schools 375,088 104,223 Property Costs School property budget 119,884 Estimated maintenance costs funded centrally On-going Costs: 50% Rates 10,935 108,949 School Devolved Budgets 8,333 8,333 Transport Costs Option 1: Pupils split between Glencairn/Muir Street 20,000 (20,000)

607,528 406,023 201,505 1 Year Net Revenue Saving 201,505

Estimated Preparation in receiving school Calder Glencairn Muir St f E f Required Preparation Works:- (i) Whilst there are no specific projects required for preparation to receive the pupils from Calder Primary School, as part of the ongoing toilet refurbishment programme the toilets at both Glencairn and Muir Street Primary Schools will be refurbished, irrespective of the outcome of this consultation.

One off Spend associated with closing school Boarding up costs 15,000

4.9 Pupils attending Calder Primary School by placing request

There are three options for pupils currently attending Calder Primary School by placing request. Firstly, they can attend Muir Street or Glencairn Primary Schools by placing request. Secondly, they can submit a further placing request for an alternative school. Thirdly, they can enrol in their zoned school. The parents of these pupils will be given the opportunity to discuss their preference with Learning and Leisure Services staff. 5 EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT

5.1 The proposals contained within the report have been equality impact assessed. Results of the impact assessment indicate that there is no adverse impact or any disproportionate effect on any section of the community. The results of the assessment will be published on the council's website.

6 NEXT STEPS AND SUMMARY CONSULTATION PROCESS

6.1 At its meeting on 1" October 2012 Learning and Leisure Services Committee agreed to issue this document for consultation.

6.2 It is very important to emphasise that the Learning and Leisure Services Committee has not taken a final decision on the proposals.

6.3 Members of the school community may wish to put forward alternative solutions to the proposal in this consultation paper. The Council will consider any such suggestions which are considered to be viable.

6.4 As part of the consultation a public meeting will be held at Braidhurst High School on Wednesday 24thOctober 2012 at 7.00 p.m. Officers from the service will be present to answer any questions about the proposal. In addition, interested parties are invited to submit questions in advance for answering at the meeting. These should be addressed to Calder Primary School and Nursery Class Consultation, Learning & Leisure Services, Municipal Buildings, Kildonan Street, Coatbridge, ML5 3BT.

6.5 All interested parties are invited to send their views on the proposals to Calder Primary School and Nursery Class Consultation, Learning & Leisure Services, Municipal Buildings, Kildonan Street, Coatbridge, ML5 3BT, by no later than 20thNovember 2012. Alternatively, comments can be submitted by e-mail to [email protected]. These views will be taken into account by the Learning and Leisure Services Committee in deciding on the proposals.

6.6 Copies of this consultation document are available from Learning and Leisure Services at the above address, the schools affected and at local libraries. It is also available on the council's website. The report on the consultation will also be available at these locations no later than January 2013. AppendixCurrent I

Catchments Areas

APPENDIX 3

Projected High School Rolls assuming Calder Primary School closes (excluding Placing Requests)

Capacity of New Projected Rolls School 201 1 201 3 2015 2017 2019 2021 Dalziel High School 965 959 916 856 824 820 799 Braidhurst High School 765 60 1 640 666 715 703 660

Appendix 5 GLENCAIRN PRIMARY SCHOOL MUlR STREET PRIMARY SCHOOL SOUTH OF MERRY STREET NORTH OF MERRY STREET Albert Street Addie Street Allan Street Aurelia Court Allan Tower Barr Street Brandon Court Braidhurst Street Brandon Parade East Brown Street Brandon Parade South Calderbank Terrace Coursingston Road Caldergrove Coursington Crescent Calderview Coursington Gardens Clapperhowe Road Coursington Place Coalhall Avenue Coursington Tower Craigview Road Crosshill Street (No 47) Eastend Avenue Dalziel Street Glenview Court Draffen Court Grathellen Court Draffen Street Hardie Street Draffen Tower Hillhead Avenue Highfield Crescent Hillhead Crescent Leslie House Hillhead Drive Leslie Street Jerviston Court Melville Drive Jerviston Road Mentieth Court Jerviston Street Mentieth Crescent Jerviswood Merry Street (Even Nos) Linksview Road Park Street Lloyd Drive Scott Street Lloyd Street Wilson Street Loganlea Drive Merry Street (415-575) Merry Street (Odd Nos) Mill Road Millburn Street Mi I Ifie Id Avenue Milton Street Montalto Avenue North Street Northall Quadrant Northfield Street Owen Street Portia Place Riverside walk Roman Road South Calder Vulcan Street Woodburn Street