Name of meeting and date: Cabinet Meeting 12 April 2011 Title of report: Annual Consultation on Admission Arrangements Is it likely to result in spending or NO saving £250k or more, or to have a significant effect on two or more electoral wards? Is it in the Council’s Forward Plan? YES Is it eligible for “call in” by Scrutiny? YES Cabinet member portfolio Councillor Cath Harris Councillor Ken Smith Lead members for Children and Families Electoral wards affected and ward councillors consulted: All Wards Public or private: Public 1. Purpose of report To seek approval of the admission arrangements and published admission numbers for community and voluntary controlled schools for 2012/13. 2. Key points Kirklees LA, as the Admissions Authority, is responsible for determining the admission policy and admission numbers for the community and voluntary controlled schools it maintains. As the Admissions Authority, the LA has a statutory duty to consult with the governing bodies of those schools, the governing bodies of aided and foundation schools in Kirklees and neighbouring LAs on the admissions policy and proposed admission numbers for schools. This report confirms the outcomes of this process which has now taken place. Changes to note in 2012/13 Dewsbury The PANs for Earlsheaton Technology College and The Community Science College @ Thornhill have been reduced to 210 and 208 for Year 7 to use the full net capacity of both schools and provide the capacity required in the Dewsbury area. It has been proposed that the PAN for Westborough be set at 200 to ensure maximum use of the building. C:\files\admissions\PAN consult\110404 Cabinet Report 12 April 2011.docx page 1 Birkenshaw, Cleckheaton and Gomersal As part of the Authority’s proposals for change in the Cleckheaton area, Gomersal CE(C) Middle School, West End Middle School and Whitechapel Middle School will close on 31st Aug 2012. Gomersal First School, Gomersal St Mary’s CE(A) First School, Heaton Avenue First and Nursery School, Howard Park Community School, Scholes First and Nursery School and the new CE(VC) school at Whitechapel Road will extend their age range by one further year to accommodate Year 6 and Year 5 children as all through primary schools. Heaton Avenue First and Nursery School The school is planned to be wholly located on the South Parade site from September 2012 following the remodelling of the West End Middle School buildings. The school is planned to have a PAN of 40 in 2012 reducing to 30 for 2013 onwards would have an admission number of 30 places in each year, giving a total of 210 Whitechapel Road Church of England Primary School (St Luke’s CE(C) First School / Moorend CE (C) First School) The statutory decision has been taken to bring together Moorend CE (C) First School and St Luke’s CE(C) First School to create an all-through primary school which would educate pupils aged 5 to 11. The new primary school will be called Whitechapel Road Church of England Primary School and will be situated on the Whitechapel Road site from September 2012 following the remodelling of the Whitechapel Middle School buildings. Whitechapel Road Church of England Primary School will use the existing Moorend and St Luke’s school sites and buildings for the school year 2011-12 from Sep 2011 to Sep 2012. The new school is planned to have of 60 places in each year, from September 2013, giving a total of 420 places for 5 to 11 year olds in the school. Whitechapel Road Church of England Primary School will maintain a PAN of 30 places at the ‘Moorend’ site and 18 places at the ‘St Luke’s’ site (48 places in total) until the full PAN of 60 could be applied to the admission of pupils into the Reception class in the modernised Whitechapel Road building. Crosland Moor and Lockwood Measures have been put in place to temporarily increase the capacity of Dryclough CE(VC) Infant School and Crosland Moor Junior School to accommodate an additional class of entry from 2012. The PAN for Reception at Mount Pleasant JIN has also been increased for 2012 to accommodate the increased demand for places in the area. Appendix 1 to this report explains how the proposed published admission numbers are derived and gives details of requests for variation to the proposals. Appendix 2 lists the recommended published admission numbers for community and voluntary controlled schools for 2012/13. The admission numbers for aided and foundation schools are included for information only. Appendix 3 gives the proposed arrangements for community and voluntary controlled schools for 2012/13. C:\files\admissions\PAN consult\110404 Cabinet Report 12 April 2011.docx page 2 3. Implications for the Council This is a statutory requirement for the Council. 4. Consultees and their opinions No responses were received from Kirklees Catholic, Church of England and Foundation schools academies or neighbouring admission authorities. The responses from Kirklees community and voluntary controlled schools are given in Appendix 1 to this report. 5. Officer recommendations and reasons It is recommended that Members: 1. approve the published admission numbers in Appendix 2 to this report. 2. approve the publishing of newspaper advertisements confirming proposed reductions in admission numbers for Royds Hall High School. 3. approve the LA’s recommendations in respect of the schools where governing bodies requested a change to the PAN proposed by the LA. 4. approve the admission arrangements as detailed in Appendix 3. 6. Cabinet portfolio holder recommendation To approve the Admission Arrangements for Kirklees Community and Controlled Schools for 2012-13 as detailed in the officer recommendations in section 5 above. 7. Next steps To publish the approved arrangements on the Council’s website, make copies available on request, place notices in local newspapers to inform the public that the admission arrangements have been determined and inform all consultees of the decisions. 8. Contact officer and relevant papers Juliet Stott, Manager – Pupil and Student Access Unit Tel: 01484 221919 e-mail: [email protected] Margaret Hamby, Admissions Team Leader Tel: 01484 225007 e-mail: [email protected] John Edwards, Assistant Director for Learning Tel: 01484 416678 e-mail: [email protected] C:\files\admissions\PAN consult\110404 Cabinet Report 12 April 2011.docx page 3 Appendix 1 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NET CAPACITY AND PAN Published Admission Numbers are derived from a school’s net capacity calculation. Each school is measured in accordance with a formula provided by the Department for Education (DFE) to calculate the maximum number of workplaces available (notionally, the number of workplaces represents the ‘capacity’ of the school to accommodate pupils). The school's Net Capacity can be any figure which is 100 - 90% of that maximum number. This is referred to as the net capacity ‘range’ of workplaces available to a school and for which a maximum and minimum number can be calculated. Provided that it lies within this range, a school's Net Capacity is the figure which represents the PAN for the school x No. of age groups. The workplace ‘range’, which is greater for very small primary schools, is intended to give all schools some flexibility in the way they operate. Most of the PANs detailed in this report fall within the calculated workplace ‘range’ which ensures the availability of the maximum number of places in a school which is reasonable. Some admission numbers have, however, been slightly increased above the range to give, in the school's opinion, more viable numbers of pupils. For a minority of schools, requests have been received by the Governing Body to have a different PAN to the one recommended by the LA. For these schools, details are provided of the school’s request. A recommendation is also made as to whether or not it is considered appropriate to support the school’s proposal to change the level of the PAN and the reasons for this recommendation. The LA, as admissions authority, must publish a statutory notice for all schools who have requested a PAN that is lower than the minimum workplace range for a school and where this is supported by the LA. The notice must give reasons for the lower PAN and advise parents on how they can object to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator about the matter. SCHOOLS WHERE IT IS PROPOSED TO PUBLISH A STATUTORY NOTICE TO PROVIDE A PAN BELOW THE MINIMUM WORKPLACE RANGE It is proposed that a notice be published for the following school: Royds Hall High School The Authority has proposed a PAN of 181, the minimum indicated PAN as derived from the capacity calculation. The school has requested a PAN of 172 for class organisation and management reasons. The PAN of 172 has been set for the school for a number of years and it is anticipated that the demand for places will not exceed this figure. It is recommended that a PAN of 172 be approved for 2012/13 for the reasons outlined above. REQUESTS FROM GOVERNING BODIES TO SET PANS WHICH DIFFER FROM THOSE RECOMMENDED BY THE LA A number of schools have, through the consultation process, requested PANs which differ from those which the LA has recommended for 2012/13. These are detailed below, together with the LA’s recommendation on whether or not the requests for change should be approved. SECONDARY SCHOOLS Earlsheaton Technology College The LA recommended PANs of 210 for Y7, 240 for Y8 and 180 for Y9,Y10 and Y11. The C:\files\admissions\PAN consult\110404 Cabinet Report 12 April 2011.docx page 4 school requested a PAN of 180 for all year groups.