Free Schools - Proposal Form The Proposal Form asks you for details on the educational rationale, aims and objectives, parental demand and premises of the proposed Free School. It also asks questions about the suitability of the provider(s) involved. All new Free Schools will be opened with the same legal status as Academies, in a binding agreement with the Secretary of State. Please note, all information provided in this form will be published on the Department for Education website. INITIAL DETAILS Name (Please specify if you are the nominated representative of an organisation that wishes to set up a Free School) <Redacted> Name of your organisation Sandbach School Address (of organisation or individual) <Redacted>, Sandbach, Cheshire, <Redacted> Email Contact <Redacted> <Redacted> Telephone Number <Redacted> Are you an existing independent school wanting to convert to a Free School? Yes If yes, please provide your 6-digit school unique reference number (URN) 111476 1 If no, please confirm the nature of your organisation (educational group / charity / business / parent group etc) Please confirm whether your organisation is incorporated i.e. set up as a Company which is registered at Companies House. If so, please provide the Company Registration Number, Company Address and details of the Directors and Secretary. If not, please indicate the approximate date by which it will be incorporated. Yes, our organisation is incorporated Company Registration Number: 06486255 Company Address: <Redacted>, Sandbach, Cheshire, <Redacted> Details of Directors and Secretary: Directors - <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>, <Redacted>. Company Secretary <Redacted> No, our organisation is not yet incorporated Approximate date by which it will be incorporated: What is the proposed age range of the Free School? Please include details of planned pupil numbers in each year group. 11-18 boys school 210 pupils in each cohort from Year 7 - 11 215 pupils in Year 12 & 13 When do you hope the Free School will start operating (for your first set of pupils)? Already operating so would be in a position to operate as a free school from January-April 2011 but believe the earliest possible date is September 2011 2 In which Local Authority area will the school be based? If you are near to a LA boundary, please include name of neighbouring LA(s) Local Authority Cheshire East Neighbouring LAs Cheshire West & Staffordshire Is your Local Authority aware of your intention to set up a Free School? Yes (If Y please give details of your discussions with them so far) Cheshire East have been informed that we have expressed an interest in becoming a free school and that we are actively exploring the benefits of doing so. Have you discussed your proposal form with the New Schools Network? Yes (If Y please give details of your discussions with them so far) We have sougt advice from the New School Network. We are seeking answers to the following questions : 1. As an independent (though non fee paying) school for boys, a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee, 98% of our funding is calculated by the LA in exactly the same (formulaic) way as for any of their own maintained schools. One significant difference between us and the maintained schools however is that we are an individual member of the Local Government Pension Scheme for our support staff. Clearly the LA schools (including the Foundation Schools) are all covered within the umbrella membership of the LA. We currently have a deficit on our pension scheme which is expected to be around £700k when the results of the triennial valuation come out in the Autumn. Given the profile of our support staff I suspect this level of deficit is no different from any other school. One the recent advice of the Pensions Administrators we were just about to go to the LA and ask if they would be prepared to 'stand behind' our pension scheme. This would take two forms : • In the likely event that ongoing employer contributions will rise as result of the formal valuation, would they provide the additional funding required to meet the additional cost (as they are almost certain to do for their own schools, and have done for us in the past) ? • Would they effectively act as guarantor for the scheme in the extremely unlikely event that the school closed down ? • If the school goes down the free school route we are hoping for these or similar reassurances from the DfE. Do you think this would present a problem ? 3 2. We currently have a Business Finance Loan from the LA (£235,000 outstanding) . What might the implications be on the loan if we become a free school ? 3. We also have commercial loans (£390,000 outstanding) taken out along with the Business Finance Loan (above) to part-finance a £1.4m capital programme 2 years ago - would that have any impact on proceedings ? 4. We incorporated 2 years as a company limited by guarantee and went through a TUPE exercise with staff transferring them over from the old charity. Whilst I appreciate we would have to alter the memorandum/articles would we be able to retain the exiting trust/company as the legal vehicle for the free school ? 4 SUITABILITY OF PROVIDER The Secretary of State will consider each proposal on its merits, and take into account all matters relevant to that proposal. Generally, he would expect that all proposals will comply with all aspects of the rigorous suitability and vetting tests throughout the application process, including due diligence and CRB checks and will reject any proposers who advocate violence, intolerance, hatred or whose ideology runs counter to the UK’s democratic values. Do any of the following apply to the organisation (or any consortium member), or to (any of) its director(s)/partners/proprietor(s) or individual applicants (select Y/N): Is in a state of bankruptcy, insolvency, compulsory winding up, receivership, composition with creditors (including any Individual Voluntary Arrangement), or subject to an No Administration Order or any legal proceedings concerning their solvency? Has been convicted of a criminal offence? No Is involved in any illegal activities? No Has not fulfilled obligations related to payment of taxes? No Is guilty of serious misrepresentation in supplying No information? Is not in possession of relevant licences or membership of No an appropriate organisation where required by law? Is barred from certain work with children as a result of being: [a] included in the list of those barred from No Regulated Activity with children, kept by the Independent Safeguarding Authority? Or [b] included in the list kept under section 1 of the No Protection of Children Act 1999(4) (list of those considered by the Secretary of State as unsuitable to work with children)? Or [c] subject to a direction of the Secretary of State No under section 142 of the Education Act 2002 (5) (or any other disqualification, prohibition or restriction which takes effect as if contained in such a direction)? Or 5 [d] disqualified from working with children under No sections 28, 29 or 29A of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000(6)? For further information on [a], [b], [c] and [d], please contact the CRB www.crb.homeoffice.gov.uk. Is disqualified from registration under Part 10A of the Children Act 1989(7) for child minding or providing day No care? Is disqualified from registration under Part 3 of the No Childcare Act 2006(8)? Is a member, or has been a member in the past, of a No proscribed organisation? If the answer to any of these questions is “Yes” please give details below: 6 EDUCATIONAL RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Briefly outline your reasons for wanting to set up a Free School. Max 200 words. Sandbach School is an 11-18 independent comprehensive school for boys that serves the community of Sandbach and Haslington. We have a unique 40 year agreement with the LA which sets out our funding arrangements. Our admissions are controlled by the LA and we elect to buy a few of the services available from them (e.g. Broadband services, copyright/license agreements). We have a School Improvement Partner (SIP) allocated to us by the LA. We are a specialist Arts College and judged Outstanding at our last Ofsted Inspection in Oct 2008. Our intake is truly comprehensive and inclusive. We have an Assistant Head in charge of Inclusion and Intervention who currently oversees the provision for 47 students who have identified Special Educational Need. Although we are currently funded by the LA and have very good relations with them, we are entirely self-sufficient in terms of accounting, procurement of goods and services and in many other respects. We have a charitable trust, are a company limited by guarantee and therefore already meet all of the legal and accounting requirements as defined in the Companies and Charities Acts. We do currently enjoy some of the freedoms that the DfE would like many more outstanding schools to experience and as a consequence we are able to nurture the very distinct 'ethos' we believe Sandbach School possesses. Being part of the free school/academy programme would give us further opportunity to develop the school. For example being freed from the National Curriculum, having access to 'Raise Online' data (currently because of our status we are unable to access this), being freed from National Pay and Conditions (currently part of the agreement with the LA) and having access to future educational initiatives (our status prevented us from becoming a Leading Edge school) would all assist us in taking the school on to the next level of achievement.