Business Case to Reduce the Pupil Admission Number (PAN) Approved by the Board of Trustees on 26/09/2018
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Business Case to Reduce the Pupil Admission Number (PAN) Approved by the Board of Trustees on 26/09/2018 1. Executive Summary 1.1 It is proposed to reduce The Kingsway School’s Pupil Admission Number (PAN) to 270 to reflect local pupil demand. In 2018, 252 pupils entered Year 7, of which 153 were resident within Stockport. 1.2 Reducing the PAN will assist the Governing Body in providing stability to their long-term planning while continuing to provide an appropriate number of places for future pupil numbers living in the surrounding area and attending one of the local primary schools. 2. The Kingsway School Details Establishment Number 142509 Address Foxland Road, Cheadle, Stockport, SK8 4QX Current Published Admission Number (PAN) 320 Current Year 7 Intake 252 3. Proposal Details 3.1 The Kingsway School proposes to reduce its PAN from 320 to 270. This reflects additional secondary capacity, following the opening of Laurus Cheadle Hulme in September 2018, which created 210 additional places within the Stockport West Secondary Area. 3.2 The school’s 2018 Year 7 intake is 252 (of which 99 travel from Manchester local authority) demonstrating substantial surplus capacity. 4. Rationale 4.1 The current PAN is significantly higher than local demand (153 of 2018 Year 7 intake are resident within Stockport). Reducing the PAN will enable the school to meet local demand and reconfigure costs to reflect intake. 4.2 There is excess capacity within the Stockport West Area with Kingsway and Bramhall combined intakes 160 below their PAN in 2018. 4.3 It is expected that the school will remain significantly undersubscribed for the foreseeable future. 4.4 The M60 between Stockport North and Stockport West Secondary areas reduces parental preference and feasibility of importing pupils from the Stockport North Area. 4.5 School admission criteria creates significant travel distance between The Kingsway School and Stockport East Area (i.e. any pupils would have to travel past Bramhall High, Cheadle Hulme High School and Laurus Cheadle Hulme) reducing parental preference and feasibility of importing pupils from the Stockport East Area. 4.6 The number of feeder primaries increased from 38 in 2017 to 63 in 2018 due to the additional Stockport West Area capacity opening. The school faces challenge in ensuring successful transition from such a high number of schools across a wide geographical area. Specifically it is not possible to undertake: Page 1 of 3 Business Case to Reduce the Pupil Admission Number (PAN) Approved by the Board of Trustees on 26/09/2018 . Cluster meetings . Joint LA set Induction Day . Transition activities across years 4, 5 and 6 . Relationships with primary schools staff . Information sharing 5. Alignment with Local Authority Place Planning 5.1 The Kingsway School have admitted 99 pupils from Manchester City Council Area in 2018. However, Manchester has commissioned a significant programme of expansions and a number of multi-academy trusts have been successful in securing additional capacity which will result in 5,100 additional Manchester secondary places during the next three years (School Place Planning & Admissions, Manchester City council, 2018). This will reduce the need for pupils to travel across the Manchester to Stockport boundary: Secondary School Type Places Completion Chorlton High School South DfE Free School 1,200 Summer 2018 Co-operative Academy MCC - expansion 450 Summer 2018 Didsbury High DfE Free School 1,050 Summer 2019 Matthews Lane MCC - expansion 1,200 Summer 2020 Dean Trust / UK Fast DfE Free School 1,200 TBC Total 5,100 5.2 Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council has identified that by 2021 there will be 1,387 pupils in linked primaries within the Stockport West Area (Secondary School Capacity in Stockport 2015-2018, SMBC, 2015). This compares with a secondary capacity of 1,440. This does not reflect the impact of transfers from state primaries to private secondary schools which has a significant impact on the Stockport west Area (e.g. 159 transferred to independent sector in 2017). PAN Pupils in linked Pupils in linked primaries primaries (2018) (2021) Bramhall High School 270 267 390 Cheadle Hulme High School 270 360 392 The Kingsway School 320 407 447 Laurus Cheadle Hulme 210 N/A N/A St James’ Catholic High 160 164 158 Stockport Academy 210 N/A N/A Total 1,440 1,198 1,387 Expected transfer to independent -100 -100 Adjusted Total 1,440 1,098 1,287 342 Surplus 153 Surplus 5.3 It should be noted that the purpose of the proposed reduction is not to cap admissions permanently at the lower level, but to bring the admission capacity more in line with the actual number of pupil intake. The PAN would be increased if local demand for places increases to a level which exceeds the proposed new PAN. 6. Prejudice to the provision of efficient education and efficient use of resources Page 2 of 3 Business Case to Reduce the Pupil Admission Number (PAN) Approved by the Board of Trustees on 26/09/2018 6.1 The reduced PAN will enable the school to de-designate teaching space, reconfigure the staff establishment and design support services to reflect intake levels. This will enable the school to reconfigure its spend to match funding levels to ensure financial sustainability. Without a PAN reduction the school will run significant and persistent deficits which will risk the financial sustainability of the school. 6.2 The majority of the School revenue funding is based upon actual number of pupils attending a school. Given that the proposal sets the new PAN at a level higher than intake (270 versus 252) there will be no financial detriment to the school’s income through this reduction. 6.3 A PAN of 270 has been modelled to be financially optimum in terms of efficient timetabling and resource allocation. This will enable the school to deploy its resources most efficiently in targeting educational outcomes. DOCUMENT END Page 3 of 3 .