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, ITEM NO:C4A APPENDIX 3

Appendix 3

Responses from the Governinq Bodies or Headteachers of the six secondary schools most directlv affected bv the Learninq Futures: Secondary Education Review QIQ.Qosals:

A. Proposal for Learning Campus on the Millbrook site - Millbrook B. Learning Futures Response - Mr Darryl Saxton, Chairman of Governors, Oaklands Community School C. Proposals for the development of a Learning Campus - Oaklands Community School, neighbouring primary and junior schools, and The Cedar Special School. D. Additional notes to support option 1 - Mr John Green, Chair of Governors, Bellemoor School E. Learning Futures Consultation - Mrs Sue Stanek, Chair of Governors, Regents Park Community College F. Letter to Clive Webster 29 September - Mr Richard Pearson, Chair of governors, Woolston School Language College G. Letter to Clive Webster 13 October - Mr Richard Pearson, Chair of governors, Woolston School Language College H. Letter to Cllr An Milton - Jane Butler, Chair of Governors, and Eric Freeman, Headteacher, Grove Park Business and Enterprise College

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A Learning Campus on the Millbrook Site

A Draft Proposal

Rationale: If Learning Campuses are to be the future provision for education in then the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda must be at the heart of the vision. The Millbrook proposal is a bold vision predicated on the belief that it is indeed true that ECM must be central to the Learning Campus concept.

This paper outlines a strategic overview of a Learning Campus and sets out to demonstrate why only the Millbrook site has the capacity to be developed in such a way as to provide wrap around care for students in their secondary years whilst also linking intol6+ provsion.

The final aspect of the rationale is based on the strongly articulated view by all objective voices at the pre- statutory phase of consultation, that the loss of the MiIlbrook site from the educational portfolio would seriously disavantage future generations of pupils and parents in Southampton. In other words, the time has come to commit to a set of proposals which will enable the City to fully meet the needs of a changing and diverse population. No site in the City is better suited than MiIlbrook to adapt to future needs.

Proposal: The proposal is to create a Learning Campus on the Millbrook site bringing together the full range of services including Sure Start, Health, Social Services and of course Education in one multi-purpose facility. In addition to this we propose to encorporate 16+ provision and provide a bridge into the colleges by committing to the delivery of 5 of the new diplomas using the Excellence Centre and Down to Earth. This will be incorporated into the development ofthe site following this timetable:

By 2008 IT, Health and Social Care diplomas

By 2009 Land Based and Environmental diploma based at Down to Earth managed by MiIlbrook staff and supported by Tauntens College

By 2010 Public Services and Travel and Tourism diplomas (in partnership with Tauntens)

This proposal would include a full range of academic GCSEs and individualised learning programmes for pupils who find mainstream provision difficult. Building on our extended schools status this would include specialised and out of hours provision, e-Iearning and a full work related programme.

Location: The only possible location for such a vision is the Millbrook site. The amount of space available gives huge flexibility and room for growth in response to as yet unforeseen circumstances. It will be 'future proof'. Because of the space available;"arty building, refurbishment or alterations required could be carried out with minimal disruption to the education ofthe students.

In addition to this, because many of the Millbrook buildings are fit for purpose and completely DDA complient, costs would be kept to a minimum.

Logistics: In order to make this vision a reality,the Millbrooksiteneedsto be developedalong the linesproposedby the city architect.

Unlike other proposals, bringing two schools together on the MiIlbrook site could be achieved with minimal disruption. Indeed there would even be capacity to build the new facilities while the old building continued to be used. There would be no need for 'annexation'. Any funding required could be quickly

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Learnina: Futures - Response.

Darryl Saxton

!Jmjrman Of Governors.. Oaklands Community School

I support Option 1- Close Millbrook school from September 2008 and transfer pupils to Oaklands, which would be expanded to 900 places. Continue to use Millbrook as an annexe until the Oaklands site has been developed and extended.

I base my decision on the key considerations as laid out on page II in the City View Extra booklet.

The issue can be summarised as follows. We have three schools in the North West of the City and we only require two~The three schools are, Redbridge, Millbrook and Oaklands.

I have experience working with both Oaklands and Millbrook schools as I was the Community Police Officer for the area between 1981 and 2000. I have a great deal of respect for the staff at both locations and nothing I say should be taken as a slight against any current Staff or Governor at either location.

It is clear nom the proposals that, following a decision regarding the future of Oaklands and Millbrook, Redbridge will expand by a further 150 places. Based on answers ITomAndrew Hind, the new catchment area for Redbridge would then be the West of a line running ,!o~-s~uth along Romsey Road and would therefore include all of the Millbrook School-site. It would seem a poor choice to have another school within the Redbridge catchment area but serving an area elsewhere. The Millbrook school site would be outside of its catchment area. It would be situated several miles ftom the Lordswood area and would mean a long journey to school for any pupils ftom that area. The Oaklands site is much closer, would be more centrally placed for the future catchment area and would see shorter journey lengths, of 1.5 miles or less, for the majority of its pupils.

One of the important criteria for the decision should be to stop the loss of pupils ITom city schools to schools. It would be expected that Oaklands , being on the edge of the city , would lose a fair proportion of its pupils to the nearby Romsey and other Hampshire schools. The data shows that this is certainly not the case. More pupils are lost out of the city from schools nearer the city centre than ITomOaklands.

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This is a demonstration of the hard work that Oaklands staffhave undertaken to forge strong links with our feeder schools. They support the Oaklands ethos and so do local parents. The previous consultation showed a heavy response ITomparents on this point. They have responded that it is simply too far to go to the Millbrook site and they do not have confidence in that school. A new school on that site would have a difficult time in becoming established both by competition from a very near neighbour - the successful Redbridge school - and the reluctance of parents from the Lordswood area to support the school. This would result in the school having problems with achieving its full capacity whilst seeing more pupils leaving the city ITomthe Lordswood area. This would be the very opposite of the intention of the restructuring process.

Oaklands has kept a good number of the pupils from its catchment schools and is also very popular with other nearby middle schools. This has enabled us to maintain our number on roll in excess of that predicted by the City Authority. This is a measure of the confidence displayed by parents in the management and leadership of Oaklands.

There has been some disquiet and questions from parents regarding the 'hordes of Millbrook pupils' coming to the school following the Millbrook closure. Oaklands Governors and senior management have discussed this in some depth and have a devised a strategy to deal with the amalgamation so as to cause the minimum disruption to all pupils. W-ewould expect the numbers of pupils from Millbrook , after allowing for the expansion of Redbridge, to be in the region of 150 pupils, 30 in each of the five year groups. This would equate to an increase of about one class per year. I know that the majority of pupils trom Millbrook are as well behaved and able as the majority at Oaklands . The few that are disruptive would be no different from those currently at Oaklands. We have existing strategies to deal with such behaviour already and nothing would needto be changed in that respect.

I am extremely passionate in"my demand that no pupil should lose out in their education due to the process of the review. In this I include all pupils at any school. I am aware that the syllabus of several GCSE course at Millbrook and Oaklands are different. I strongly support the continuing of those courses that pupils have already started and this would mean that years 10 and 11 at Millbrook, already into their fmal GCSE preparation, should continue with their existing courses. This should be run at Millbrook with staff they already know and trust. It would mean the running of Millbrook as an annex for a minimum of two years ITom the date of c1osure. This would also assist in the integration of the pupils in the lower years. The newest, year 7, would never have been to Millbrook and therefore would be starting as Oaklands pupils. Years 8 and 9 would be able to undertake Oaklands GCSE courses without disrupting their learning. It would be important to recruit as many former Millbrook staff as funding would allow. This would greatly assist with integration as year 8 and 9 pupils from MiIlbrook would

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have friendly faces. This would help with staff relocation from Millbrook too. As a Governing body and senior management team

we have made a commitment to support Millbrook Staff as far as we are able, for all our vacancies from the date of the decision of the review until all our places are filled.

The Community provision at Oaklands is second to none in the City. It has 5,000 users each week. No other School in the City can match this. It has been in place for over twenty years and has built up year on year. It has been recognised both locally and nationally and has been described as a model for a Community School. Ofsted have repeatedly remarked on its achievements. It is essential that such a Community Provision is maintained and supported by the Local Authority. It is Oaklands Governors and Community staff, through the Oaklands ethos, that makes this happen.

The Millbrook site has a good size playing field. The Oaklands site has an even larger playing field very nearby. In order to assess its accessibility I invited Andrew Hind to visit Oaklands. It is no slur on either of us to say we are the wrong side of 40 years of age, it was a very hot swnmers day, but we strolled from Oaklands , along the excellent footpath (no road traffic) to the playing field. Without exceeding a gentle walk we were on the playing field in four minutes. We did not have to cross a single road ( we used one underpass) and were, at all times on a wide, straight, paved footpath owned by the City Council. The playing fields are owned and maintained to a high standard by Southampton City and have a permanent ground staff The facility is as good, if not better, tb~any other school facility in the City.

The school facilities at Oaklands are excellent. The building has been continually maintained to a very high standard. Many alterations and additions have been made. Currently facilities include two sportS halls, a theatre, an on-site swimming pool (owned by Southampton city), outdoor hard court areas, Youth Club etc. etc. The current building could support (and until recently did support) 750. We have plans for a new technology block which would provide the latest accommodation for such a department. This would fr~ up several excellent classrooms within the existing building and allow an exciting development of the school dining hall. Architects have been working on this for some time and there are costings available. All of this would allow the school number to be increased to 900 at a very reasonable cost. It would not require the use of temporary 'hut' classrooms and the new block would be such that it would be retained in any , new build' for the main school, thereby planning in a future cost saving. On a best value basis the Oaklands site is the clear choice for a school for the twenty first century.

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The quality of education at Oaklands has been repeatedly measured both by Ofsted and the City's own inspection team. It is knownto be very good value for money. It has a large value added quotient in tenns of the starting point of pupils in year 7 and the finishing point of year 11. The data for this is available from Ofste~ the Fisher family trust and elsewhere. It is a specialist school in perfonning and visual arts. It is important to maintain this as it was a measure of the Community Support for the school that the necessary funds were raised. To close the school would result in the loss of this specialism which would doubtless cause public outcry at the waste of the money raised and loss of the specialist teaching and learning. Oaklands has a proven record in achievement at GCSE level and has this year returned its best results. It continues to push forward with its educational targets. I have already stated that I will not be derogatory about. another school so I will let you make your own assessment of the quality of education and results at Millbrook.

The good quality of management at Oaklands has been reported on both by Ofsted and City inspection teams. It is a well equipped team and has steered the school successfully over many years. The recent retirement of its previous headteacher, Dr. Peter Hollis OBE, was expected to cause serious disruption to the school, However the breadth of the management team at all levels continued to lead the school forward and appointment of the current Head teacher, Sarah Howells , has been very successful.

The school has proven its ability to manage change in a successful way. It has shown it is flexible and adaptable. Ithas a ' Can do' attitude and is ready for the challenge of the Secondary School revi~w.

Oaklands has been working very closely with staff and Governors from other nearby schools. This has resulted in ajoint document setting out the future for all of those schools in a new learning campus. This is the way it should be, schools working together and with the local authority to push forward standards in education and build a well structured learning campus for our pupils from first admission at infant school to post 16 learning. To close Oaklands and open a new school on the Oaklands site would mean the dismantling of the current, successful team, and replacing it with an unknown, untested management, starting ftom scratch. This is not the way to deal with the education of our pupils.

The way forward is to cause the least disruption possible, to use the available funds to get the best possible value, to recoup as much as possible from the sale of one school site, to ensure good standards of teaching and learning, to promote schools within the City so as to stop the migration of City pupils out of the City, to have schools centrally located within their catchment areas with modern facilities and learning 5

methods~ to promote good management practice in both Governance and Teaching and to promote the community involvement in and use of educational facilities.

This is best achieved by maintaining the Oaklands school in its current form and expanding it by one class in each year to a total number on roll of900. Oaklands is committed to working with the local authority throughout this process and undertakes to support both pupils and staff at Millbrook in any way it Call.

I commend you to support option one.

Darryl Saxton.

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Proposals for the Development of a Learnina Campus

Oaklands CommunitySchool FairisleInfantand NurserySchool FairisleJuniorSchool Oakwood InfantSchool OakwoodJuniorSchool SinclairPrimarySchool The Cedar SpecialSchool

Rationale

This paper brieflyoutlinesa clear and achievablevisionfor a LearningCampus on the West ofthe City.Itbuildson the currentexcellentpracticeand partnershipexistingbetween allthe above constituentschools.

This paper is submittedas a joint response to the 'LearningFutures' pre-statutory consultationfromthe Governing Bodies and Head teachers from all the above schools. The implementationofthis visionis dependant onthe decisionthat in relationto the proposals involvingOaklands and Millbrook,Option 1 is selected: 'Close Millbrookfrom September 2008and transfer pupils to Oaklands, which would be expanded to 900 places. Continue to use Millbrookas an annexe until the Oaklands site has been developed and extended.' . Allpartners viewthe potentialthat LearningFuturescould bringas groundbreakingand inspirational.The opportunityhas arisen to formallyrejuvenate the education inthe Oaklands/Millbrookarea and allwant to playa significantrole in shaping the vision.This proposal willallowforthat.

ProQosal

The proposal is to create a Learning Campus based on the extended school model, which, incorporates Oaklands Community School, Fairisle Junior and Infant Schools, Oakwood Infantand JuniorSchools, Sinclair and The Cedar Special School. Shirley Warren PrimarySchoolwould also be an intrinsicpart of the LearningCampusand a collaborative partnershipwith RedbridgeCommunitySchool and current post 16 providers are alsofundamentalto the plans.

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The Learning Campus will provide an inclusive education from nursery to post-16 within a unique learning environment. It will allow for seamless transition between phases for students and staff and a clearly signposted progression of learning from nursery through to post-16. The Learning Campus will also challenge the current perception of 'Special' and 'Inclusion' in the City. The whole community will benefit from the far greater integration of students with significant needs that the proposed Learning Campus will allow.

A collective Self Evaluation and subsequent Improvement Plan, written and reviewed by key staff and governors, will identify campus wide priorities for improvement. 'Every Child Matters' underpins all current initiatives within the partnership and will continue to be the focus for development in the expanded Learning Campus. The Learning Campus will be a formal recognition and extension of the excellent work already evident in transition and partnership in the constituent schools. This work includes an attendance project currently being run by Oaklands, in which one single EWO is being employed full time by Oaklands, part funded by the LA, to work solely with families of students at Oaklands, the Fairisle, Sinclair and the Oakwood schools. Proactive intervention with commonality of approach is the basis of this project, which would be replicated by a wider range of professional bodies throughout the Learning Campus. Other initiatives already in progress include work with Able students 4-16 and the development of a Campus Staff Induction Programme.

The Primary Places Review in this area will be carried out considering the needs of the entire campus, enabling a diverse range of services and agencies to be located in the heart of the Community. This could include services such as a Personal Learning Centre situated at Sinclair Primary School, Community Police, Health workers and a permanent space for a Campus wide Artist in Residence and a Gallery. The objectives outlined by the 'Excellence in City' initiative as well as other external funding streams would be easily translated into pr~cticewithina LearningCampus. .

The Learning Campus will inspire an innovative competence based curriculum through which the needs of 215! century learnerswill be addressedand educationalstandardswill rise. The constituent head teachers and Governing Bodies are all dedicated to the development of the Learning Campus as a Centre of Excellence for 'Creative Learning' in the widest sense. Flexibility and creativity will be built into the curriculum model allowing for enrichment, extension and leadership opportunities involving all students within and between all phases.

Key staff and Governors from each sector working together will ensure continuity and consistency as well as a dynamic challenging curriculum. The RSA has expressed keen interest in this development and it is hoped that partnership can also be formed with the QCA.

Professional development opportunities for all staff will be central to the proposal from the outset. This will enable planning for recruitment and retention of staff both during the transition period and beyonq.

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