Report To: Overview and Date of Meeting: 19 March 2019 Scrutiny Committee (Children’S Services and Safeguarding) Subject: School Organisation and School Places
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Report to: Overview and Date of Meeting: 19 March 2019 Scrutiny Committee (Children’s Services and Safeguarding) Subject: School Organisation and School Places Report of: Head of Education Wards Affected: All Cabinet Portfolio: Children’s Services and Safeguarding Is this a Key No Included in No Decision: Forward Plan: Exempt / No Confidential Report: Summary: The report outlines the school organisation and school places data by geographical area. This is a work item on the Committee’s annual Work Programme. Recommendation(s): (1) That the Committee notes the information in the report. Reasons for the Recommendation(s): The Head of Education was requested to submit an annual report on school organisation. Alternative Options Considered and Rejected: (including any Risk Implications) Not Applicable. What will it cost and how will it be financed? (A) Revenue Costs Schools are funded through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) which is linked through formula funding directly to the number of pupils a school can attract. (B) Capital Costs Not applicable. Implications of the Proposals: Resource Implications (Financial, IT, Staffing and Assets): Not applicable. 1 Legal Implications: School reorganisations are covered by statutory processes and the Local Authority has statutory duties in terms of ensuring sufficiency and quality of school places. Equality Implications: There are no equality implications. Contribution to the Council’s Core Purpose: Not applicable What consultations have taken place on the proposals and when? (A) Internal Consultations The Head of Corporate Resources (FD5582/19.) and Head of Regulation and Compliance (LD4706/19) have been consulted and have no comments on the report (B) External Consultations Not applicable Implementation Date for the Decision Immediately following the Committee meeting. Contact Officer: Mike McSorley, Head of Education Telephone Number: 0151 934 3428 Email Address: [email protected] Appendices: The following appendices are attached to this report: Pupil Place Plan 2016/17 to 2020/2021 Background Papers: There are no background papers available for inspection. 2 1. Introduction/Background 1.1 The Committee has requested an annual report on school organisation and pupil places based on the annual School Capacity (SCAP) return to the Department for Education. The data in this report is based on the School Census January 2017 and May 2017, the School Capacity Return 2017 (formerly known as the Surplus Places Return) and the birth data for 2016 and previous years from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The pupil projections are the figures supplied to the Education Funding Agency as part of the School Capacity Return 2017.. 1.2 Previously the Committee has been made aware of the changing landscape of education provision and considered a range of factors and issues which impact on school organisation summarised below: Government Policy – a market led model, more autonomy for schools, and choice of different types of provision for parents. LA Statutory Duties – to ensure sufficiency of school places and to intervene in the case of failing schools (DSG funded schools only). The LA also needs to support our most deprived communities and provide the right balance of provision to meet local needs. Government’s vision for LAs – to provide a ‘strong strategic role as champions for parents, families and vulnerable pupils’, and to promote educational excellence by ensuring a good supply of high quality school places…’ Factors affecting Pupil Place Planning – planning for future pupil numbers the local factors influencing the availability of places are school capacity, school popularity, school viability, birth projections, local population mix, future housing yield, demographics and migration. All these factors can be uncertain. Another factor which is affecting the LA’s ability to plan places is changes in planned admission numbers at schools no longer maintained by the LA, sometimes at short notice. Education reform – has resulted in FE colleges being able to provide 14-16 education from September 2013. Increased autonomy and variety in the schools system has reduced LA influence and control over school organisation. School funding reform – the changes to the national funding formula will have a major impact on schools in Sefton with many schools having budgets significantly reduced. Capital funding for schools has also been reduced and this includes school maintenance as well as creating additional places. Demographic Issues – Members will be aware of the Council’s Local Plan and the options for new housing within the Borough. The DFE will not allow 3 local authorities to factor housing developments in to their pupil projections until planning permission has been granted. Planning Areas – Sefton’s planning areas are based on geographical and ward boundaries. Some of the planning areas were re-organised in 2017 following the closure of St Ambrose Barlow Catholic High school in August 2016. Two secondary schools in Bootle had already closed (Bootle High and St George of England High) leaving only three schools and St Wilfrid’s High had closed in the Litherland secondary planning area leaving one school which was Litherland High. As a result of the secondary school closures some of the feeder primary schools have been moved to other secondary schools so the Bootle and Litherland secondary planning areas have been amalgamated into one area to align them with Sefton’s admission areas. To correspond with this the three former Bootle and Litherland primary planning areas (Bootle North, Bootle South and Litherland) have been amalgamated to form the “Bootle & Litherland primary planning area”. There are now ten planning areas: five for primary and five for secondary as agreed with the Education Funding Agency for the SCAP return. 2. Pupil Places and Numbers 2.1 Details of how pupil place planning numbers are determined and the next planning period projections are included in the attached Pupil Place Plan 4 Pupil Place Plan 2017/2018 to 2022/2023 December 2018 5 Contents Page Introduction 3 Map of Sefton 4 Structure and Characteristics of School Provision 5-6 Trends in Pupil Numbers 6 Methodology used for forecasting pupil numbers 6-11 Primary Pupil Numbers 12-13 Secondary Pupil Numbers 13-15 Sefton’s Planning Areas 15-18 Pupil Projections by Planning Area 18-28 Empty Places and Surplus Places 29-35 ANNEX 1: Map of Sefton’s Planning Areas 36-38 ANNEX 2: Special Educational Needs Places in Sefton 39 ANNEX 3: Nursery Places in Sefton Schools 40-41 6 Introduction The data in this booklet is based on the School Census January 2018 and May 2018, the School Capacity Return 2018 (formerly known as the Surplus Places Return) and the birth data for 2017 and previous years from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The pupil projections are the figures supplied to the Education Funding Agency as part of the School Capacity Return 2018. School Organisation Team Sefton Council Email: [email protected] 7 8 Structure and Characteristics of School Provision At the beginning of the 2018/2019 academic year there were 18 (11 to 16 and 11 to 18) secondary schools including 11 academies and 1 free school, 70 primary schools, 3 infant schools, 2 junior schools including 5 academies, 5 special schools and 4 nursery schools in Sefton. 48 primary and infant schools have nursery classes. There were 10 secondary schools with sixth forms. Table1: School Provision in Sefton Academies Community Voluntary Voluntary Foundation Free Aided Controlled School Nursery 4 Primary 5 32 33 5 Secondary 11 1 5 0 1 Special 4 1 Pupil 2 Referral Unit In addition to this the two FE colleges in Sefton now teach 14-16 curriculum. The denominational sector is very strong in Sefton, particularly in the primary phase where community schools form 45.4% of the total, 33.3% of the schools are Catholic and 21.3% are Church of England. In the Secondary phase, five of the 18 (28%) high schools are Catholic aided schools and only one high school (5%) which is now an academy has Church of England status. Kings Leadership Academy, Hawthorne’s Free School opened on 1 September 2012. Two more primary schools are the in the process of converting to academy status. All except two of the 18 secondary schools in Sefton are co-educational. Two academies in Southport are single sex, one for boys and one for girls. Ten of the secondary schools have a sixth form. South Sefton College provides post- 16 education for pupils in the Bootle and Litherland areas. The college merged with Hugh Baird FE College on 1st December 2017. The remaining 11-18 schools are located in the central area of the Borough with the exception of one in Southport. In Southport the vast majority of sixth formers attend sixth-form college whilst provision is made for Catholic students at Christ the King High School. In all parts of the Borough a number of sixth formers continue their studies in one of the two further education colleges. There are two pupil referral units which provide education for excluded pupils and those at risk of exclusion. One provides for primary pupils (KS1-KS2) and the other secondary (KS3-KS4). 9 Pre-school provision is provided through a combination of nursery schools, nursery units in primary schools, private nurseries and playgroups and Family and Wellbeing Centres etc. TRENDS IN PUPIL NUMBERS Each year, the Authority produces five year forecasts for primary schools and seven year forecasts for secondary schools based on information from a variety of sources. The figures for primary pupil numbers are for January whilst those for secondary are for September when numbers are at their highest. Methodology Used for Forecasting Pupil Numbers Each year, following the completion of the January School Census Return which provides details of pupil numbers, projections of primary and secondary pupil numbers for the following years are updated.