City Council

Executive Committee

Report by Executive Member for Education and Young People

Contact: Maureen McKenna Ext: 74551

RESPONSE TO CONSULTATION:

Proposal to change the catchment areas for Primary School, Oakgrove Primary School, Primary School, Garnetbank Primary School, Hyndland Primary School and Thornwood Primary School

This response paper also relates to the original consultation proposal to close Kelvin Park Early Years Centre

Purpose of Report:

To advise the Executive Committee on:

The outcome of the consultation to change the catchment areas of Hillhead, Oakgrove, Anderston, Garnetbank, Hyndland and Thornwood Primary Schools and

The outcome of the proposal to close Kelvin Park Early Years Centre

Recommendations:

It is recommended that the Executive Committee notes the contents of this report in conjunction with the Formal Consultative Document*

It is also recommended that the Executive Committee agrees to the proposals to change the catchment areas as detailed in Appendices B-F, C-F, D-F, E-F, F-F, G-F and H-F.

It is further recommended that the Executive Committee agrees to the proposal to:

(i) Retain Kelvin Park Early Years (ii) Create additional space within Hillhead Primary School by converting a section of the car park into a Dance/Drama/General Purpose room

* copies are in the members’ library and online at http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/schoolconsultations Schools Ward(s) Strategic Learning Community Planning Area

Hillhead Primary School 11 North West Hillhead/Glasgow Gaelic

Oakgrove Primary School 11 North West Hillhead/Glasgow Gaelic

Anderston Primary 10 North West Hillhead/Glasgow Gaelic School

Garnetbank Primary 10 North West Hillhead/Glasgow Gaelic School

Hyndland Primary School 12 North West Hyndland

Thornwood Primary 12 North West Hyndland School

Ward No(s): 10, 11, 12 Citywide:

Local member(s) advised: Yes 9 No consulted: Yes 9 No 1. Introduction/Background and the Consultation Process

1.1 Hillhead Primary School is part of the Hillhead/Glasgow Gaelic School Learning Community. In 2011, the school was re-located to its current new building in Gibson Street following closures and mergers with , Kelvinhaugh and Willowbank Primary Schools. When the new Hillhead Primary School opened, its catchment area was the combined catchment areas of the former Hillhead Primary School and the areas of the three closing schools, that is, Dowanhill, Kelvinhaugh and Willowbank Primaries.

1.2 In 2005, roll projection methodology (and the existing rolls of the four schools) indicated that a capacity of 669 would meet current and future need.

1.3 However, for a variety of reasons the number of families with young children within the catchment area has increased. In addition, a significant number of children attend Hillhead Primary as a result of placing requests granted either prior to, or shortly after, the new school opened in 2011.

1.4 At the Census in September 2013, the number of pupils enrolled in the school was 645 against a notional capacity of 669. The school roll of Hillhead Primary in May 2014 was 650; placing requests account for nearly 30% of the school roll.

1.5 Due to the changing demographics, and the consequent reduction of ‘flexible- space’ (e.g. General Purpose rooms, media suite) within Hillhead Primary School, Education Services sought approval to consult on altering the catchment areas of schools in the locale. In May 2014 the Executive Committee of agreed to issue a statutory consultative document in relation to changing the catchment areas of local primary schools. The purpose, being to reduce the roll of Hillhead Primary School, over a period of time, by managing the P1 intake.

1.6 It was proposed to change the catchment area for Hillhead Primary School by rezoning areas of the current catchment area (including some current shared areas) to other local schools. Due to the nature of the catchment area changes, the proposals are best shown in maps. All of the maps are contained in the Formal Consultative Document and for ease of reference the proposed areas are detailed in Appendices B-F, C-F, D-F, E-F, G-F and H-F..

1.7 Parallel Consultation

1.7.1 Kelvin Park Early Years Centre is part of the Hillhead/Glasgow Gaelic School Learning Community. It opened in 2011 and is co-located with the new Hillhead Primary School.

1.7.2 Nurseries are not associated with primary schools, that is, children attending a named nursery are not given any priority for entry into the primary school. Entry to primary school is determined by the catchment area of a primary school. If parents do not live in the catchment area of the primary school they wish their child to attend then they can use a placing request if there is an available space.

1.7.3 In order to more quickly address the lack of ‘flexible-space’ within Hillhead Primary School, the original Council proposal also detailed a, non-statutory, proposal to close Kelvin Park Early Years Centre to allow Hillhead Primary School to use the teaching areas in the Early Years Centre for primary classes. This would have increased the number of available teaching areas for use by the primary school.

1.7.4 It was initially proposed to provide additional nursery places in other Council nurseries and also at partnership nurseries in the locale (see 1.10).

1.7.5 If Kelvin Park Early Years Centre closed then additional Early Years provision would be provided in a number of other council and partnership nurseries.

1.7.6 The proposed net effect would be an increase of places in GCC nurseries and in partnership nurseries.

1.7.7 The Council did not require to undertake a statutory consultation on the proposed closure of Kelvin Park Early Years Centre under the Schools (Consultation) () Act 2010. However, the Council wished to consult as thoroughly as possible and, as such, applied the principles of the Act to this aspect of the consultation.

1.8 In relation to the catchment area proposals Glasgow City Council consulted in line with, and exceeded, the requirements of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010. There is a minimum six week term time consultation period.

1.8.1 In relation to ‘both’ consultations; i.e. the catchment areas and the closure of Kelvin Park Early Years Centre, the following actions were undertaken:

x ҏConsultation papers were distributed to a wide range of stakeholders and interested parties x A notice to advise of the consultation arrangements was placed in the Press x A dedicated page was set up on the Council website for both information, and to enable interested parties to respond to the proposal/s x The consultation period ran from 11 June to 29 September 2014, in excess of the statutory six weeks term time. However, this period was extended until 10 November 2014 in order that an alternative proposal; to utilise space within Hillhead High School could be fully considered x 6 public meeting were held in the affected primary schools x ҏMeetings were arranged with the Parent Councils x Children and young people from Schools were engaged in the consultation process and meetings were held with the Pupil Councils x Meetings were held with staff groups x ҏAn additional open meeting was held to discuss the specifics of the Early Years proposals 1.9 As detailed above the consultation was extended from the 29 September to 10 November 2014 in order to facilitate consultation and scoping around a proposal to provide ‘flexible-space’ within Hillhead High School for use by Hillhead Primary School.

1.10 In effect this resulted in the consultation covering 3 related proposals:

(i) The proposal relating to the catchment areas of Hillhead, Oakgrove, Anderston, Hyndland, Garnetbank and Thornwood Primary Schools.

(ii) The proposal relating to the closure of Kelvin Park Early Years Centre and the provision of additional early years spaces within Belhaven, , Cranstonhill, Elie Street, Novar, Oakgrove Primary, Woodside and Partnership Nurseries.

(iii) The proposal to provide flexible-space for Hillhead Primary School by accessing facilities with Hillhead High School.

1.11 The response to the above proposals, is detailed in Appendix M.

1.12 In order to ensure a rigorous and thorough evaluation of the responses received, officers from Education Services read every response to validate the key aspects of responses in order to provide a detailed analysis (Appendix M).

1.13 The statutory consultation period concluded on 10 November 2014.

1.14 During the validation process officers focused on identifying the key issues and concerns that were raised at meetings and via responses in order to ensure the basis of the issue was explored/evaluated prior to offering conclusions and recommendations. The report from HM Inspectors/Education Scotland was also evaluated in order that the issues highlighted within it were given cognisance, and responded to. This is detailed in section 3 of the Formal Response Document.

1.15 In any major consultation there is a possibility that errors may occur. Therefore procedures were put in place to identify, amend and record any errors. The roll projection for Thornwood Primary was omitted from the original consultation document. This was not considered material as its omission would have no impact on the catchment area proposal as can be seen in Appendix N of the Formal Response Document. Initially in the alternative proposal there was not a ‘box’ to indicate that respondents were associated with Hillhead High School; this was addressed by officers when validating responses. Some concern was raised by some respondents around ‘confusion’ in relation to how to respond to the consultation as an alternative option was introduced. Therefore, officers read all responses in order to ensure that comments were noted and there was neither reliance nor statistics based solely on ‘yes’ or ‘no’ boxes being ticked in relation to a single aspect. 2. Response to the Consultation

2.1 The Council received circa 2400 responses. Officers analysed all of the responses to remove ‘exact’ duplicates whilst ensuring that additional comments/responses from the same/individual and/or group were captured. This resulted in 2268 responses being validated as part of the process. A detailed analysis of the ‘interest’ of the responder (e.g. parent), the ‘locale’ of the responder (e.g. Thornwood primary School), the aspect/s they were responding to (i.e. catchment areas, closure of Kelvin Park and use of Hillhead High School) and the reason/s for or against the forementioned are detailed in Appendix M.

2.2 Analysis upholds the Council and Education Scotland view that there was a significant, although mixed, response to the different aspects of the consultation. There was, on occasions, polarisation of views dependant on the ‘interest’ and/or ‘locale’ of the respondees. Parents/Carers and pupils in the Hillhead locale were, for obvious reasons, the largest group of respondents.

2.3 In addition, the Council received 2 petitions. One was from the ‘Save the Nursery’ campaign who submitted a petition that stated they had over 1,000 signatures to keep the nursery open. Another was from the ‘Space for Hillhead’ campaign who submitted a petition with 1,082 signatures.

2.4 Those petitions were indicative of the difference of view within the wider community as to which was the best option; Again, this aligns with the Council and Education Scotland view that there is no clear consensus on the best solution.

2.5 Key Issues Raised/Alternative Proposals

2.5.1 A key alternative was that the Council should progress the relocation, not dispersal of Kelvin Park Early Centre. Proposals were put forward that the entire centre could relocate, options included:

(i) Anderston Primary School – this was discounted as Cranstonhill and Sandyford Nurseries are both in very close proximity to Anderston Primary School.

(ii) Former school buildings, e.g. Kelvinhaugh, Willowbank, St Peter’s – these were discounted as they were not available and even if they were the cost involved to reinstate would have been significant.

(iii) Other buildings, e.g. Glasgow University – no suitable building was available. Social Work Office in Church Street; currently in use and adaptations would have been difficult.

(iv) Modular provision, e.g. in Kelvingrove Park – discounted as unsuitable location. Hillhead High School, former janitors house – discounted due to the size of the building, the stairs, and the adaptations that would have been required. Hillhead High outside area – discounted due to space required.

(v) Build a new nursery – discounted due to cost and no suitable identified site.

(vi) Build on top of the Kelvin Park Early Years Centre – discounted due to complexity of constructing, disruption and cost.

(vii) Napiershall Street Building – discounted, available space was not suitable.

The Glasgow Gaelic School was suggested for P7 use – discounted due to distance from Hillhead Primary School.

2.5.2 Prior to the commencement of the consultation/s in June 2014, Council Officers had discussed a proposal with the Hillhead Primary School Parent Council in relation to creating additional space by using an area of the underground car park at Hillhead Primary School. This option was not progressed at that time due to concerns that were raised over the lack of natural light, proximity to vehicular traffic and that children would have to leave the main school building and walk down Otago Street to gain access to the underground car park.

2.5.3 However, officers have reviewed this option in light of the strong opposition to both the closure of Kelvin Park Early Years Centre and the potential use of space within Hillhead High School.

2.5.4 This option is now viewed as the viable and preferred option, albeit not without challenges as outlined in 2.5.2, due to the strong opposition to the alternatives. If approved the design team would be tasked with providing the most suitable artificial lighting, separating pedestrian and vehicular access and putting in place protocols for movement between the main school building and the learning area within the current car park.

2.5.5 Through having held 7 public meetings and attended many other meetings with staff, children and young people, parents and carers; officers have had the opportunity to discuss the proposals in great detail and to engage in dialogue around options and alternatives. Having analysed circa 2400 responses to the consultation, and aligned these with the responses at meetings, the preferred options of officers to address the issues are now as follows:

2.6 Preferred Option – Catchment Areas

2.6.1 As a result of the consultation process Education Services wishes to progress the proposal to alter the catchment areas of Hillhead, Oakgrove, Anderson, Garnetbank, Hyndland and Thornwood Primary Schools.

2.6.2 However, as a consequence of the consultation process the original proposed catchment area revisions (appendices 1, 2, 3, A, B, C, D, E, F and H in the Formal Consultative Document) are now proposed as detailed in appendices 1-F, 2-F, 3-F, A-F, B-F, C-F, D-F, E-F, F-F and H-F.

2.6.3 The Council recognises that the proposed catchment area for Hillhead Primary School, and a cap of 75 on Hillhead Primary P1 intake in August 2015 is likely to result in catchment area or ‘priority’ children not being able to enrol in P1 in August 2015. This is a short term measure designed to facilitate the retention of a General Purpose room for session 2015/2016.

2.7 The Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 does not require referral to Scottish Ministers in cases other than closure of schools.

3. Policy and Resource Implications

Resource Implications:

Financial: From previously approved 4Rs capital funding

Legal: In line with the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010

Personnel: N/A

Procurement: Maximised in any design works

Council Strategic Plan: In line with the Council Strategy to support families engage in learning and employment

Equality Impacts:

EQIA carried out: Yes

Outcome: As detailed in Appendix L

Sustainability Impacts:

Environmental: N/A

Social: N/A

Economic: N/A

4. Recommendations

It is recommended that the Executive Committee notes the contents of this report in conjunction with the Formal Consultative Document* It is also recommended that the Executive Committee agrees to the proposals to change the catchment areas as detailed in Appendices B-F, C-F, D-F, E-F, F-F, G-F and H-F.

It is further recommended that the Executive Committee agrees to the proposal to:

(i) Retain Kelvin Park Early Years (ii) Create additional space within Hillhead Primary School by converting a section of the car park into a Dance/Drama/General Purpose room for use by the school

* copies are in the members’ library and online at http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/schoolconsultations