Glasgow City Council 24Th January 2019 City Administration Committee
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Item 1 Glasgow City Council 24th January 2019 City Administration Committee Report by Councillor Chris Cunningham, City Convener for Education, Skills and Early Years Contact: Jim Wilson Ext 74086 RESPONSE ON THE PROPOSAL TO CONSULT ON ALL 30 MAINSTREAM SECONDARY SCHOOLS TO BE DELINEATED SECONDARY SCHOOLS, I.E. THE SINGLE KEY-ENTRY CRITERIA FOR ALL SECONDARY SCHOOLS BEING A DEFINED GEOGRAPHICAL CATCHMENT AREA. Purpose of Report: To provide a summary of the responses to the consultation and to seek approval for all 30 mainstream secondary schools to be delineated secondary schools. Recommendations: The City Administration Committee is asked to approve the proposal as set out in section 6. The full response is available on https://glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=17886 . Ward No(s): Citywide: x Local member(s) advised: Yes No x consulted: Yes No 1. Background 1.1 The entry criteria for primary and secondary schools are determined by the local authority. Local authorities throughout Scotland, and other countries, adopt a range of differing entry criteria. For primary schools in Glasgow, the key entrance criteria for a particular school is based upon a defined geographical catchment area, and those families living within the catchment area will have a “right” to expect that their child can be enrolled in that particular school; provided that there is room to accommodate the child. 1.2 Some primary schools have shared catchment areas whereby parents residing within these areas may choose between two or more local schools within the same sector (i.e. denominational or non-denominational). These shared catchment areas exist as a legacy of many years of demographic changes, school closures, housing developments and other factors. 1.3 Every address within Glasgow has a catchment area (or shared catchment area) for both a denominational primary school (or schools), and a non- denominational primary school (or schools). 1.4 The secondary school estate, however, is slightly different. For 12 of the 30 secondary schools, the single key-entry criteria is similar to that of the primary schools, i.e. defined only by a geographical catchment area, this is known as a delineated secondary school. The 12 delineated secondary schools are: Bannerman High School Bellahouston Academy Eastbank Academy Hillpark Secondary School Hillhead High School Hyndland Secondary School Holyrood Secondary School King’s Park Secondary School John Paul Academy Rosshall Academy Knightswood Secondary School St Andrew’s Secondary School 1.5 The remaining 18 secondary schools have a different entry criteria, which is primarily based on the primary school the child attends, these primary schools are referred to as associated primary schools. These secondary schools also have a “notional” catchment area (which is fundamentally the “sum of” the associated primary schools’ catchment areas), and these secondary schools are referred to as non-delineated secondary schools. The 18 non-delineated secondary schools are: All Saints Secondary School Castlemilk High School Cleveden Secondary School Drumchapel High School Govan High School Lochend Community High School Lourdes Secondary School Notre Dame High School Shawlands Academy Smithycroft Secondary School St Margaret Mary's Secondary Springburn Academy School St Mungo's Academy St Paul's High School St Thomas Aquinas Secondary St Roch's Secondary School School Whitehill Secondary School Glasgow Gaelic School/Sgoil Ghaidhlig Ghlaschu Secondary 1.6 Having two different systems operating within the city can lead to confusion over which secondary school a young person has an entitlement to attend. Aligning to a single system will ensure equity, and clarity in relation to the key- entry criteria for Glasgow mainstream secondary schools. 2. Proposal 2.1 The purpose of this consultation was to align the mainstream secondary school estate by establishing one key-entry criteria across all 30 secondary schools; by making all secondary schools across the city delineated secondary schools, i.e. the single key-entry criteria being a defined geographical catchment area. 2.2 This consultation directly affected 18 mainstream secondary schools, and indirectly affected 12 other mainstream secondary schools. The proposal document identified that the creation of a unified single entry criteria was unlikely to have an adverse effect as the current entitlement for the majority of the families in the city will be unaffected. 2.3 The main purpose of this proposal was to align/unify the entry criteria, it was not to significantly alter, amend or otherwise change existing catchment areas; albeit very minor alterations have been required to ensure there were no ‘gaps’ in the catchment areas as a result of the change. 2.4 The minor amendments made to catchment areas, as defined below, have been undertaken based on an analysis of P7 leavers’ destinations from the primary schools in question. The proposed changes would formalise the historic trends of P7 leavers from the primary schools noted in the proposal document. Full details of these are in the original consultation document. 2.4.1 To amend the catchment area for St Roch’s Secondary School as follows: a. Remove, in its entirety, the geographical catchment area for St Philomena’s PS. b. Remove the small area of shared catchment with All Saints Secondary and allocate this area exclusively to All Saints Secondary. c. Allocate the entire St Stephen’s Primary School catchment area to St Roch’s Secondary. 2.4.2 To amend the catchment area for All Saints Secondary School as follows: a. Allocate the entire geographical catchment area for St Philomena’s Primary School to All Saints Secondary b. Remove, in its entirety, the geographical catchment area of St Stephen’s Primary School. c. Allocate exclusively to All Saints Secondary, the small area of catchment currently shared with St Roch’s Secondary. d. Include All Saints Secondary in the small area of catchment currently shared between St Mungo’s and St Andrew’s to take cognisance of children from this area who may attend St Philomena’s Primary School. 2.4.3 To amend the catchment area for Springburn Academy to allocate the entire geographical catchment areas for Barmulloch Primary School and Royston Primary School to Springburn Academy. 2.4.4 To amend the catchment area for Smithycroft Secondary School to remove, in their entirety, the geographical catchment areas for both Barmulloch Primary School and Royston Primary School. 2.4.5 To amend the catchment area of St Stephen’s Primary School to include an area of land in Sighthill to the north of the M8 which is currently part of the catchment of St Mungo’s Primary School. There have not been any houses on this land but there are new houses planned as part of the development of Sighthill. 2.4.6 To create a small area of shared catchment between Bellahouston Academy and Shawlands Secondary 2.5 It was recognised that there would be a very small number of families who may be adversely affected due to having a child in one of the 18 non- delineated secondary schools and a sibling in one of the associated primary schools who attend as a result of a placing request. Therefore, it is proposed that there would be a right for siblings of those affected by the change. That is, a child who attends a primary school by means of a placing request, and has a sibling in the associated secondary school at the time of transition, would be considered as if they were a catchment area pupil for up to five years; should this proposal be approved by the City Administration Committee. 2.6 There may be other families who would be affected in terms having made a decision to place their child at a certain primary school and having a reasonable belief that their child would automatically transition to the associated secondary school. The consultation document showed that only 3.7% of the current primary school population fall into this category. However, in order to afford these families some cognisance of this, it is proposed that any family who find themselves in this position at the commencement of the new arrangements in 2020 would have a protection until August 2025 (i.e. when P1 in 2018/19 enters S1) in the form of a priority placing request into the secondary school that was previously associated with their primary school. 3 Public meetings 3.1 There were six public meetings held at secondary schools across the city. The meetings also consider the consultation on placing request criteria which was open at the same time. The total attendance at these meetings was 19. The notes of each of these meetings is included in the appendices. 3.2 In addition to these six public meetings, the Executive Director of Education met with some of the Parent Council from Craigton Primary School. The parents at Craigton Primary School wanted to discuss the challenges of the over-subscription exercise which was taking place at Rosshall Academy and whether the consultation would address their concerns. There was a positive discussion on other options, such as the potential of Craigton Primary School catchment area becoming part of another secondary school’s delineated area. The parents were advised that any change as significant as this would require another public consultation and were officers to propose this then we would engage with them prior to any consultation being taken forward. 4 Responses to the consultation 4.1 856 respondents registered with the survey. 626 (73.1%) identified as parents or carers, 41 (4.8%) identified as school staff, 25 (2.9%) identified as Council staff, 45 (5.3%) identified as pupils, 114 (13.3%) identified as residents, 5 (0.6%) identified as Glasgow City Council councillors and 54 (6.3%) identified as ‘other’.