Lancashire Local – Lancashire Local – Lancaster District
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Lancashire Local – Lancashire Local – Lancaster District Tuesday, 22nd January 2008 at 6.30 pm, in the Banqueting Room, Town Hall, Lancaster Agenda Part 1 (Open to Press and Public) No. Item 1. Disclosure of Personal and Prejudicial Interests Members are asked to consider any Personal/Prejudicial Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda. 2. Minutes of the Special Meeting held on the 26th (Copy enclosed) November 2007 3. Minutes of the Meeting held on the 4th December 2007 (Copy enclosed) Discharge of delegated powers 4. The Lancashire County Council (Exeter Avenue, Cork (Report attached) Road, Canterbury Avenue, Lancaster, Lancaster City) (Prohibition of Waiting) Order 200* 5. Lancashire Local Grants Scheme (Report attached) Other issues for consideration 6. Hest Bank to Morecambe Promenade Cycle Track (Report attached) 7. A589 Morecambe Road (Report attached) Overturning Vehicles at Asda Roundabout 8. Pedestrian Road Safety Awareness Training (Report attached) 9. Emergency Planning – Responding to Civil Presentation by Emergencies Bernard Kershaw, Principal Emergency Planning Officer, Lancashire County Council 10. Directorate for Children and Young People – (Report attached) Redesign of Children’s Integrated Services - 2 - 11. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Report attached) (CAHMS) 12. Children Looked After – Local Statistics and (Report attached) Approaches) 13. Children Missing from Care (Report attached) 14. Programme of Meetings for 2008/09 (Report attached) 15. Forward Business Plan 2007/08 (Report attached) 16. Urgent Business An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Wherever possible, the Secretary should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading 17. Date of Next Meeting The next meeting of the Committee will be held on Tuesday, 18th March 2008 at 6.30 pm at Morecambe Town Hall. I M Fisher County Secretary and Solicitor County Hall Preston Lancashire Local – Lancaster District Special Meeting held at 4.00 pm on Monday 26th November 2007 at the Victoria Institute, Caton, Lancaster. Minutes Present:- Councillor Janice Hanson (Chair) Lancashire County Council County Councillor Susie Charles County Councillor C B Coates County Councillor Peter Elliott County Councillor Sarah Fishwick County Councillor County Councillor Niki Penney Lancaster City Council Councillor John Barnes Councillor Eileen Blamire Councillor Tony Johnson Councillor Andrew Kay Councillor David Kerr Councillor R Sherlock Councillor Malcolm Thomas Apologies were presented on behalf of County Councillor Liz Scott and from Councillor Eve Archer. Disclosure of Personal and Prejudicial Interests No disclosures were made. Discharge of delegated Powers There were no items under this heading. Review of the Future of Skerton High School, Hornby High School and Central Lancaster High School A report was presented detailing the background to the decision of the County Council to consult widely on the future of Skerton, Hornby and Central Lancaster High Schools. This report provided information for the Lancashire Local on the new duties under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 to promote diversity and choice, set out the main features of the Academies programme and included, at Appendix “A”, a copy of the consultation 1 document inviting views on the possible closure of Skerton High School and Hornby High School from the 1st September, 2008. It was proposed that Central Lancaster High School would be enlarged for an initial period from the 1st September, 2008 to include the use of the Skerton and Hornby sites. The consultation document explained the proposals and also provided information on Academies and why an Academy might be an appropriate option in Lancaster in the future. Responses were invited by the 31st December and the County Council’s Cabinet Member for Schools would consider the results of the consultation on the 21st January 2008.and decide whether to publish Statutory Notices. There would then be a period for representations to be made on the Statutory Notices and the proposals would be considered further by the Cabinet Member on the 1st April. Mr Stephen Mercer, the County Council’s acting Deputy Director of Childrens’ Strategy and Resources, presented the report and responded to questions and comments from members of the Lancashire Local. Information was presented on each of the high schools under consideration as follows:- Skerton High School - The school served a very disadvantaged population with over 40% of pupils being eligible for free school meals. Contextual value added a measure of the progress pupils make in a school) was the third highest in Lancashire in 2006, when 26% of pupils achieved 5 or more grades A*-C at GCSE (although only about 6% of pupils achieved 5 or more A*-C grades including Maths and English). Provisional GCSE results for 2007 indicated that pupils’ performance at Skerton High School had continued to improve, with 70% of pupils achieving 5 or more grades A*-C at GCSE and over 21% of pupils achieving 5 or more A*-C grades including Maths and English. The school did not have specialist status. The site was also shared with a primary school, nursery class, and other users, including the Adult College, the Traveller Education Service and Lancashire Education Medical Service. Skerton was ranked the 6th most deprived (out of 85) secondary school in Lancashire using the Index of Multiple Deprivation. Hornby High School – The School was located in the Lune Valley to the north east of Lancaster. Very few local pupils attended the school. Most of the pupils travelled from Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham, where there may be increasing availability of places in other schools as pupil numbers declined. 23 pupils were admitted to Hornby in September 2006, and 24 first preference applications were received for admission in September 2007. Hornby High School's results improved in 2006, with 31% of pupils achieving 5 or more A*- C grades at GCSE, all of these including English and Maths. Provisional GCSE results for 2007 indicated that pupils’ performance at Hornby High School was broadly similar to 2006, with 33% of pupils achieving 5 or more A*-C grades at GCSE and 29% achieving 5 or more A*-C grades including Maths and English. The recent increases in bus fares/withdrawal of subsidised routes had not appeared to have had a major impact on the school. Hornby had a total roll of 174 at January 2007, with 24 pupils in Year 7 and 40 in Year 8. Because of falling pupil numbers in the Lancaster district, 2 the future need for the places at Hornby High School was in doubt. The school catered for a high proportion of pupils with special educational needs. The school does not have specialist status. Hornby was ranked the 27th most deprived (out of 85) secondary school in Lancashire using the Index of Multiple Deprivation. Central Lancaster High School - The school was located to the south of the River Lune. In 2006 the school was judged by Ofsted to be outstanding. The school performed well relative to its intake. Contextual value added was the highest in Lancashire in 2006. Over 52% of pupils achieved 5 or more A*-C grades at GCSE, and 31% achieved 5 or more A*-C grades including English and Maths. Provisional GCSE results for 2007 indicated that 55% of pupils achieved 5 or more A*-C grades at GCSE and 24% of pupils achieved 5 or more A*-C including English and Maths. In 2006/07 the school had 642 pupils on roll. The school was popular, with some upward pressure on pupil numbers. The school was oversubscribed for admissions to Year 7 and from September 2008 the County Council had agreed to a request from the Governing Body to increase the admission number from 130 to 150. The school was in quite poor accommodation and was likely to be a priority for significant capital investment under the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. If Skerton High School and Hornby High School were to close from 31st August, 2008, it would not be possible, from the 1st September 2008, to accommodate all the pupils at the Central Lancaster High School site. It would be necessary to use the sites at Skerton and Hornby for an initial period to cater for the enlarged Central Lancaster High School. Central Lancaster High School would receive additional funding as a split site school. If Skerton and Hornby High Schools closed, some parents in future might send their children to other local schools. As a result, it was likely that Central Lancaster High School would be consolidated on its current site following the initial transition period, with about 150 pupils admitted each year. Comments expressed by Members of the Lancashire Local following Mr Mercer’s presentation were:- • It was noted that the City Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee was undertaking a review of the County Council’s proposals following a decision by the County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee’s decision not to accede to a request from the Lancashire Local to establish a Joint Task Group to examine secondary education in Lancaster. The City Council’s Committee had yet to report, but this did not preclude the Lancashire Local from registering views of its own for forwarding to the County Council. • When Greaves High School closed some years ago the transitional arrangements made for pupils were similar to those described should Skerton and Hornby High Schools close and appeared to work satisfactorily. At that time transport was provided for those pupils transferred to other schools – it was hoped that similar arrangements would be put in place should Skerton and Hornby schools close.