EL/13/3 Cabinet 13 March 2013

Closure of West and East Putford Primary School and Change of Designated Area

Report of the Head of Service for Education and Learning

Please note note that that the the following following recommendation recommendation/ss is are/are subjectsubject toto consideration and and determination byby the the Executive Cabinet ( and(and confirmation confirmation under under the provisions the provisions of the of the CouncCouncil'sil's Constitution) before taking effect.

Recommendation:

(a) that Cabinet consider the review undertaken on change of designated areas following closure of West and East Putford Primary School and (b) agree an option for change (c) following on from (b), agree whether any change should be made to the Education transport Policy in order to maintain the current equity of entitlement

1. Summary

1.1 Cabinet approved the closure of West and East Putford Primary School on 23 January 2013. This paper is to consider the division of that School’s designated area to the nearest schools, Bradworthy Academy and Sutcombe Primary School within Holsworthy Local Learning Community and any resultant impact on entitlement to free school transport.

2. Background/Introduction

2.1 At the request of the Governing Body of the school, West and East Putford Primary School is scheduled to close by the end of the summer term 2013 due to numbers having fallen significantly over the past few years. At present only 8 pupils remain on roll. The statutory consultation process has been followed for closure of the school.

2.2 Following the Public Notice period on closure, a review of the school’s designated area and how it should be redesignated among local schools has been undertaken. The School Admissions Code 2012 section 1.14 requires that designated areas are reasonable and clearly defined. Bradworthy Academy does not have a contiguous designated area, the only school in Devon in this position. It has a second part to its designated area, covering the village of Milton Damerel and its surroundings. This arrangement was put in place on the closure of the school in Newton St Petroc in the early 1970s. While all designated areas are subject to revision as demographics shift, the updated statutory background and financial priorities would not allow for a similar arrangement to have been made in recent decades. There would be a strong presumption against any arrangement where a school operated non-contiguous designated areas. This would raise a question whether areas had been omitted from a designated area for socio-economic reasons. Advice to Members would inevitably be that such an arrangement would be unreasonable and therefore incompatible with the School Admissions Code.

2.3 In making proposals for the division of West and East Putford School’s designated area it was to look at the designated areas of neighbouring schools and the impact of this closure. Possible options took into account the number of children living in the area based on Health Authority data, the distance to nearest schools, the cost and sustainability of transport and environmental impact whilst supporting the principles laid down in Devon’s Educational Infrastructure Plan on:

- promoting a sustainable pattern of schools - maximising choice and diversity - presumption against closure of rural schools - reducing the home to school transport budget.

2.4 The new budget formula for schools and rural demography mean that smaller schools are more vulnerable to a fall in the number of children on roll.

2.5 Milton Damerel is 4.4 miles from Bradworthy Academy and 2.4 miles from Sutcombe Primary School. No pupils presently at West and East Putford School are within the Milton Damerel designated area. As an academy, Bradworthy is able to determine its own designated area. Entitlement to transport on designated school grounds is determined by Devon County Council’s Education Transport Policy as it is for all academies, foundation, voluntary aided and free schools.

2.6 Following meetings with the Local Learning Community three possible options were proposed and discussed. It was agreed to consult with the residents of all homes potentially affected by these options. Letters were circulated to 320 address points in Milton Damerel (153) and West and East Putford (167) on 8 December (copy attached at Appendix A). Responses were requested by 31 December: which of the possible options did the consultee favour? The timescale was determined in order to inform the parents at West and East Putford Primary School as soon as possible of their designated school. A decision on which was to be the designated school would impact on parental preference for transfer from West and East Putford Primary school. Free transport is a statutory right for any child living further than two miles from the nearest primary school. Free transport is also available in Devon for any child living further than two miles from the designated primary school.

2.7 There have been two meetings between officers and the Local Learning Community and a meeting between officers and the headteachers and chairs of the governing bodies of Bradworthy and Sutcombe.

2.8 It should be noted that no pupils currently attending either Sutcombe Primary School or Bradworthy Academy will be displaced or their entitlement to school transport affected by any decision made regarding the designated school or transport entitlement. Where changes are made to discretionary entitlement to school transport, Devon’s approach has been not to affect children already in receipt of assisted school transport by any decision made.

3. Proposal 3.1 Holsworthy Local Learning Community has seen falling rolls in the rural areas and Broadwoodwidger Primary School closed in 2011. The number of 0-4 children living in the designated areas has diminished in recent years.

3.2 The options proposed show the forecast of pupil numbers based on Health Authority data and presuppose that Bradworthy Academy’s designated area is amended accordingly. As it is its own admission authority, it is for Bradworthy Academy to determine a designated area. The Local Authority has responsibility for determining the designated area for Sutcombe Primary School. It is also responsible for the Education Transport Policy:

3.3 Option 1: (splits West and East Putford's area between Bradworthy and Sutcombe and includes Milton Damerel in Sutcombe's area) Bradworthy Academy 133 Pupils in the designated area Sutcombe Primary School 67 Pupils Option 2: (gives the whole of West and East Putford's area to Bradworthy including Milton Damerel as at present) Bradworthy Academy 158 Pupils Sutcombe Primary School 42 Pupils

Option 3: (gives the whole of West and East Putford's area to Bradworthy and Milton Damerel to Sutcombe) Bradworthy Academy 142 Pupils Sutcombe Primary School 58 Pupils

3.4 The current numbers on roll at Bradworthy Academy are 169 and at Sutcombe Primary School 42. The number of pupils currently living within the designated areas are Bradworthy 129, and Sutcombe 42 and West and East Putford 29.

Designated Current Proposed Current Proposed Current Proposed Area Address Address 0-4 aged 0-4 aged Primary Primary Points Points children in children in children in children in Area Area Area Area Sutcombe 186 373 9 22 42 66 Bradworthy 537 659 38 45 113 133 Bradworthy 153 0 9 0 16 0 (Milton Damerel) Bradworthy 690 659 47 45 129 133 (Combined) West & 167 0 12 0 29 0 East Putford

4. Consultations/Representations/Technical Data

4.1 The breakdown of the responses to the consultation is as follows:

Total address points circulated: 320 Total responses received: 108 Option 1 preferred: 5 Option 2 preferred: 92 Option 3 preferred: 4 No Option 7

4.2 A circular letter supporting Option 2 forms the majority of the consultation responses (77). These include 4 responses from Milton Damerel, 8 from West and East Putford, 45 from Bradworthy, 4 from Bridgerule, 5 from Holsworthy, 2 from Bideford, 4 from Torrington, 1 from Bude, 1 from Norfolk, 1 from Scotland and 2 with no addresses.

4.3 A petition of 14 signatures objecting to the removal of Milton Damerel from the Bradworthy Academy catchment area was also received. Overall, the total number of responses from residents in Milton Damerel (including the above petition) total 18.

4.4 Included in the above is a response to the consultation from Milton Damerel Parish Council objecting to not being included as consultee, the timescale for response and the removal of Milton Damerel from Bradworthy’s area and requesting a further period of consultation if Option 1 or 3 were approved. Sutcombe Parish Council also objected to the short timescale for the consultation.

4.5 With the exception of Bradworthy Academy, the views expressed by schools represented at the Local Learning Community were wholly in favour of Option 1. One comment was to the effect that the logical decision was to split the West and east Putford area between the two closest Holsworthy schools and to end the anomalous arrangement whereby pupils in Milton Damerel were prioritised over children closer, in area for Sutcombe. There was some consternation that the Local Authority was supporting the arrangement by transporting children past one school to a school further away on the grounds that it had been done since 1972. This was not seen as an environmentally sound or financially prudent arrangement. This is shown in the map below. Milton Damerel is to the south east of Sutcombe.

5. Financial Considerations

5.1 An assessment of the transport implications are as follows:

Option 1: A number of children currently attending Bradworthy Academy would become entitled to transport. Cost approximately £100 per day. There is currently a minibus to Bradworthy Academy from Milton Damerel. The current cost of transport from Milton Damerel to Bradworthy Academy is around £27000 per annum. Children currently at the School will continue to receive transport until they leave and attend from the same address. As children leave this will allow the size and cost of vehicle to be reduced. This vehicle could not be used to transport additional passengers from West and East Putford due to operational difficulties involving overlong travel time for primary aged children. Cost approximately £100 per day (but would be reduced over time) Transport to Sutcombe would be approximately £100 per day.

Option 2: A greater number of children would be entitled to transport to Bradworthy Academy, if all choose to attend Bradworthy. Cost approximately £130 per day The minibus from Milton Damerel to Bradworthy Primary would continue. As at Option 1, this bus could not be used to transport additional passengers from West and East Putford due to operational difficulties. Cost approximately £100 per day There could be a number of children from West and East Putford that could choose to attend Sutcombe Primary School and be entitled to transport on nearest school grounds. Cost approximately £50 - £100 per day.

Option 3: This option would be equivalent to Option 2.

5.2 The recommendation to Cabinet is Option 1: splitting the area for West and East Putford with the northern part being offered to Bradworthy Academy and the southern part to Sutcombe Primary School, the designated area for which would also be extended to include the village and surroundings of Milton Damerel. The Local Authority would be required to seek an In-Year Variation from the Office of the Schools’ Adjudicator for authority to change the designated area for Sutcombe Primary school as previously determined. Bradworthy Academy would have a similar process to amend its designated area.

5.3 It would be for Bradworthy Academy to extend its area to cover the northern part of West and East Putford and to remove Milton Damerel from its area.

5.4 The Head and Chair of Governors at Bradworthy Academy have indicated that they would wish to discuss cost effective transport implications with the Local Authority. If the Academy wished to provide the transport, it would be at liberty to bid for the contract along with other local providers.

5.5 If Bradworthy were content to amend its designated area in line with Cabinet’s decision, there would be no implications for the Education Transport Policy. Bradworthy has indicated that it does not intend to remove its admissions priority for Milton Damerel. It could increase its designated area to include the current West and East Putford designated area. This is Option 2. If Bradworthy amended its designated area to reflect Option 2, part of the designated area would overlap with Sutcombe’s area. In that event, the Local Authority would be obliged to review the working of its transport policy that no address should have two designated schools for transport purposes. To maintain this county-wide approach, the Local Authority must decide which school to recognise for transport purposes as the designated school. Such a decision would not affect priority for admissions purposes nor the statutory entitlement to free transport to the nearest available school. By extending the designated area for Sutcombe, the Local Authority’s view would be that it was the more appropriate school for the area. The recommendation to Cabinet would then be that free transport on designated school grounds be available to Sutcombe from the newly extended area but not to Bradworthy. The alternative would be to provide assisted transport on designated school grounds to two schools. This could inevitably be seen as a precedent for other schools when reviewing their own areas. It would be open to any own admission authority school to increase its designated area and expect the Local Authority to provide free transport at its expense.

5.6 The recommendation to Cabinet must therefore be to amend the Education Transport Policy to remove the discretionary entitlement to designated school transport from any part of the designated area for Bradworthy Academy that coincided with the extended area for Sutcombe Primary School. This would apply solely to new applicants for transport from the beginning of the 2013-14 academic year. Children already in receipt of assisted transport would continue to receive it for the remainder of their time on roll at Bradworthy, attending from the same address.

5.7 It should be noted that the Local Authority’s considerations as to the appropriate designated school for this area have been undertaken without regard to the status of Bradworthy as an academy (a school responsible for its own admissions arrangements). Additional discussion has taken place, however, with Bradworthy because it is its own admissions authority. Had it been a community or voluntary controlled school, it would have been for the Local Authority to redesignate the area.

5.8 To date, Bradworthy Academy has not confirmed how it will amend its designated area. Should Bradworthy not wish to amend its designated area, the Local Authority would be advised to extend the designated area for Sutcombe to extend to cover the entire West and East Putford area so that all addresses within the Holsworthy Local Learning Community had a designated primary school. This would, however, be an unsatisfactory position as parts of the area would not have the closest school as designated and, potentially, there would be too many children in the designated area for the school to accommodate.

5.9 Were Bradworthy Academy to admit children from Milton Damerel, it would be at liberty to provide transport for children not entitled on nearest school grounds or under the Local Authority’s discretionary provision.

6. Sustainability Considerations The impact on Bradworthy Academy and Sutcome Primary School would be that:

Bradworthy considers that if Milton Damerel is removed from their area their numbers would reduce significantly resulting in budgetary reductions and would hinder future development of services together with the removal of an area they consider to be part of their community.

Sutcombe considers that as a small school they would be unable to compete with the services available from a larger school and that if a fair distribution of the designated areas is not achieved then the resultant effect would undoubtedly be closure. As referred to at section 2.4, new arrangements for funding schools and the sparse nature of the local population mean that there is a greater threat to the viability of smaller schools such as Sutcombe with falling numbers of children on roll.

7. Equality Considerations There are no significant implications for the Council’s commitment to equality.

8. Legal Considerations There are no specific legal considerations.

9. Risk Management Considerations This proposal has been assessed and all necessary safeguards or action are being taken to safeguard the Council's position

The options proposed would have transport implications outlined in 5 above.

10. Public Health Impact There is no public health impact.

11. Options/Alternatives The Local Authority takes the lead on changes to designated areas which are required through closure of a School. In these circumstances the process will be to consult immediately those affected by the change whilst taking into account the impact on the nearest schools and their designated areas. This ensures that Schools will be aware of the likely impact at the earliest opportunity and that parents at the closed School will be aware of their designated school in order to consider preferences without delay. If this immediate consultation following closure of West and East Putford Primary School had not been undertaken it would have been included as part of the annual consultation on admission arrangements but would have had the effect of delaying further the split of the area arising from the closure until September 2014.

12. Reason for Conclusion In considering the above Options it is necessary to take into account all the schools within the Local Learning Community but particularly those schools nearest affected by any change. It was therefore necessary to consider the impact of the adjoining designated area that is not contiguous, whilst accepting the history of this area within the community.

As the Local Learning community has observed, it is questionable whether using the Local Authority transport arrangements to drive children past one school to another is an acceptable use of resources. Rather, it may serve to unnecessarily inflate the transport budget at a time of austerity, impact on best value for those resources and damage the reputation of the Local Authority.

An Area Review of the Holsworthy Local Learning Community was undertaken on 21 October 2010. Since that time a number of changes have taken place in this area including the closure of Broadwoodwidger and West and East Putford Primary Schools. A further review was suggested but this was not supported by the Local Learning Community. In any event the time taken for such a review may have the consequence of delaying a decision regarding the designated area for West and East Putford not being taken and made known to parents before the end of this academic year.

Jennie Stephens Strategic Director People

Electoral Divisions: All

Cabinet Member for Bideford South and Hartland: Councillor Alison Boyle Councillor Barry Parsons, Holsworthy Rural

Cabinet Member for Children, Schools, Health: Councillor Andrea Davis

Strategic Director, People: Jennie Stephens

Local Government Act 1972 – List of Background Papers: None

Contact for Enquiries: Christine McNeil, School Organisation Policy Manager 01392 382328