Action Authorised by the Cabinet Member Forņņņņņ

Forward Plan Reference FP469/02/11

INTENTION TO TAKE A KEY DECISION BY THE CABINET MEMBER FOR EDUCATION AND THE 2012 GAMES

Originating Officers: Peter Wright and Graham Ranby 01206 863839 or Ext 30704

COLCHESTER SECONDARY EDUCATION PROVISION

Purpose of Report To report on representations received in respect of the following related Statutory Proposals for Colchester secondary education provision published on 11 February 2011 and to recommend final determination:

To revoke the set of related decisions to close Alderman Blaxill School and Thomas, Lord Audley School and to enlarge Philip Morant, Stanway, St Helena and Thurstable Schools.

To discontinue Alderman Blaxill School with effect from 31 August 2014 and to cease admissions to Year 7 from September 2012 with the school‟s current priority admission area being re-designated largely to Thomas, Lord Audley School.

On a related matter, to confirm that the Published Admission Number (PAN) for Year 7 at Thomas, Lord Audley School will be 168 (six forms of entry of 28) from September 2012. This is a final decision for the governing body.

Decision: Under the powers conferred on the County Council by The Education and Inspections Act 2006 (EIA 2006) and The School Organisation (Establishment and Discontinuance of Schools)(England) Regulations 2007 (as amended by The School Organisation and Governance (Amendments) (England) Regulations 2007 which came into force on 21 January 2008 and The School Organisation and Governance (Amendment)(England) Regulations 2009 which came into force on 1 September 2009), I hereby intend to approve the following proposals:

1) To revoke the set of related decisions to close Alderman Blaxill School and Thomas, Lord Audley School and to enlarge Philip Morant, Stanway, St Helena and Thurstable Schools.

2) In accordance with section 15(1) of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, to discontinue Alderman Blaxill School with effect from 31 August 2014 and to cease admissions to Year 7 from September 2012 with the school‟s current priority admission area being re-designated largely to Thomas, Lord Audley School.

Signature Date Cabinet Member 1

Purpose of Key To report on representations received in respect of the Decision and following related Statutory Proposals for Colchester Decision Areas secondary education provision published on 11 February 2011 and to recommend final determination:

To revoke the set of related decisions to close Alderman Blaxill School and Thomas, Lord Audley School and to enlarge Philip Morant, Stanway, St Helena and Thurstable Schools.

Decision Areas

In considering proposals for a school closure, the Decision Maker can decide to:

reject the proposals;

approve the proposals;

approve the proposals with a modification (e.g. the school closure date); or

approve the proposals subject to them meeting a specific condition

The proposals are „related‟ and the decisions are compatible so both should be approved or rejected.

It is recommended that the above proposals should be approved and determined.

Background, context, The background to the development of these proposals and and area of the the case for change are set out in the Consultation County affected. Document „Colchester Secondary Education Provision – The Colchester Secondary Education Transformation Programme – a locally developed proposal for secondary education provision in Colchester District from September 2012 until 2017‟ available as a background paper to this report.

Arising from the need to address persistent and ongoing concerns about standards in some schools, the level of surplus capacity over the next few years and the implications for the viability of some of the schools, the County Council took the decision in August 2009 to discontinue three secondary schools (replacing one with an Academy) and to expand four others. This plan was supported by some £130M of expected capital investment from the Government under the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Programme. However, the money to undertake this huge investment in the Colchester secondary schools will no longer be available through the BSF Programme and the County Council therefore had to rethink the plans to support the schools.

In light of the announcement that the BSF funding would not be available to rebuild and remodel the schools that were to be expanded as had been anticipated, the decision was taken in July 2010 to defer the implementation of these plans for Colchester secondary education for one year. An exception was made in the case of the closure of Sir Charles Lucas Arts College on 31 August 2010, which went ahead, and was replaced by Colchester Academy on 1 September 2010.

Given this decision to defer implementation the County Council, on behalf of the schools concerned, made an application to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator for an in- year variation to the admissions arrangements for September 2011, effectively re-introducing the arrangements that were in place for September 2010. This application was approved. An outcome of this is that Alderman Blaxill and Thomas, Lord Audley schools will admit children to Year 7 in September 2011.

As the deferred plans cannot now be afforded in the current financial climate the County Council proposed that they be revoked and a new plan for secondary provision in Colchester be developed and consulted upon.

The County Council agreed to work in partnership with the

3 schools to tackle the challenges that still remain through the next five to seven years when there are far too many places in the town and to plan for the longer term when more places will be needed. A new proposal for consultation was developed as a solution to the immediate short to medium term problem for secondary education in Colchester.

All County Divisions in Colchester and the surrounding area are affected by the decision.

Options/Proposals The case for change is based on current pupil numbers, the number of places in schools and pupil number forecasts to 2017/18. Taken together these are a cause of concern to the County Council and the secondary schools in Colchester and require a solution for the short to medium term.

The solution proposed upon which the consultation was based is to discontinue Alderman Blaxill School with effect from 31 August 2014 and to cease admissions to Year 7 from September 2012 and to reduce the PAN in Year 7 at Thomas, Lord Audley School to 168 from September 2012.

Pupil Numbers

Table 1 below, taken from the consultation document, shows the number on roll in the Autumn Term 2010 at each school compared to its net capacity. This shows 1311 surplus places across the schools listed in the table and that the majority of these are concentrated in Alderman Blaxill School, Thomas, Lord Audley School and Colchester Academy. Across all the schools shown there over 200 spare places in each of Years 8 – 11 and over 300 spare places in Year 7.

Table 4 below, again taken from the consultation document, shows the anticipated intake to Year 7 across the schools until 2017/18 as a proportion of the number of children in each age cohort living in the Colchester area registered with a GP. This proportion is factored in at 94% but has only been achieved once in the last four years with the factor being less in the other years. It shows the surplus Year 7 capacity in each year and the mitigating effects of the forecast pupil product from new housing on this.

The proposal to close Alderman Blaxill School and reduce the PAN at Thomas, Lord Audley School will remove 172 Year 7 places each year and the table shows that in 2015/16 there could be a shortage of 38 Year 7 places rising to 42 Year 7 places in 2016/17. The Colchester secondary head teachers are confident that this could be managed between

4 them should the situation arise. If the conversion factor of GP registrations is less than 94% as it was in September 2010 (91%) and the pupil product from housing is less than forecast there will be sufficient Year 7 capacity each year until at least 2017.

In developing the proposals for consultation there was recognition by the secondary schools and the County Council that capacity needs to be removed from the system in the short to medium term to ensure that all remaining schools continue to be financially viable and are able to maintain and improve upon their performance.

The decision to determine the proposals would see Alderman Blaxill School close on 31 August 2014 and there would be no Year 7 admissions from September 2012. This will require some adjustments to the admission arrangements at the other schools for September 2012 and the need to make arrangements for pupils attending Alderman Blaxill School at the date of its proposed closure (see following sections).

Admission arrangements

5 The governing bodies of the schools are responsible for determining their admission arrangements, including the priority admission areas (PAA) and PANs. In support of this proposal Thomas, Lord Audley (TLA), Philip Morant, St Helena and Thurstable Schools are consulting on the following modifications to their admission arrangements from September 2012. The PAN at TLA School will be reduced to 168 (6 forms of entry) for Year 7 from September 2012. The PAA for TLA will be expanded to include Kings Ford Junior PAA and those parts of the Montgomery Junior/St Michael‟s Primary joint PAA which are currently in the Alderman Blaxill PAA. Kings Ford Junior, Montgomery Junior and St Michael‟s Primary will be included as feeder schools for TLA within the admissions criteria for TLA. The PAA for Philip Morant School will be expanded to include those parts of the Gosbecks and Hamilton Primary Schools PAAs that are currently within the Alderman Blaxill School PAA. The PAA for St Helena School will be expanded to include the part of the PAA for St John‟s Green Primary School that is currently within the Alderman Blaxill School PAA. The PAA for Thurstable School will be expanded to include the PAA for Mersea Island School. Mersea Island Primary will be included as a feeder school for Thurstable School within the admissions criteria for Thurstable School. (Mersea Island PAA will therefore be included in both TLA and Thurstable School‟s PAAs – a “shared area”).

The PAAs for Monkwick, Old Heath, Cherry Tree, St Lawrence, Langenhoe and Fingringhoe primary schools and part of St George‟s Junior and St John‟s Green Primary PAAs are currently in the area served by TLA – this will not change.

St Lawrence and Fingringhoe primary schools are also named feeder primary schools for Colchester Academy.

Arrangements for pupils attending Alderman Blaxill School at the date of its proposed closure 31 August 2014 The closing date for applications for places in Year 7 in September 2011 was 31 October 2010. For those children whose parents applied for a Year 7 place at Alderman Blaxill School in September 2011 by this closing date, and who are

6 offered and take up a place, a place will be guaranteed in Year 10 in September 2014 at one of the two remaining Stanway Federation schools – TLA or Stanway, if the proposal to close Alderman Blaxill on 31 August 2014 proceeds.

Similarly, children currently in Year 7 at Alderman Blaxill School will be guaranteed a place in Year 10 in September 2013 at one of the two remaining Federation schools – TLA or Stanway, if the proposal to close Alderman Blaxill proceeds.

In both cases parents will be able to apply for places at the other Colchester schools and those applications will be considered in accordance with schools‟ admission arrangements.

Conclusions Following the public consultation there was overall significant support for the revocation of the existing decisions and for the closure of Alderman Blaxill School, albeit that in relation to the latter a number of comments were made about the future of the site and provision in the area which will be considered as part of the ongoing discussion with the schools about the medium to longer term plan for secondary school places across the town.

Following the publication of the Statutory Notice five representations were received. Details of the issues raised and the Local Authority‟s observations on the issues are detailed in the Decision Makers‟ Guidance for Closing a Maintained Mainstream School – Annex 1 under Views of interested parties.

Considerable consultation and discussion has been carried out in respect of this difficult and emotive issue. Inevitably the prospect of change and school closures tends to meet with opposition, particularly from parents of children most immediately affected by the changes. However, this proposal was developed with and has the support of all the head teachers of the affected schools in Colchester. All are concerned about the number of surplus places in the town in the short to medium term and the effects these have on secondary schools in the town.

The potential growth in pupil numbers is acknowledged from 2015/17 and it is recognised that additional provision will have to be made to meet the forecast growth from then onwards.

Relevance to ECC’s Increasing educational achievement and skills is an corporate plan and EssexWorks priority and remains a key strand of improving other Strategic Plans the quality of life in Colchester. The County Council‟s fundamental objective is to improve the life chances of all young people in Colchester by ensuring they have access to the best possible learning opportunities that help raise their aspirations and equip them with sufficient skills and qualifications for their futures.

The proposals take account of the forecast future pupil numbers for the town and the impact of the closure of Alderman Blaxill School. The case for change is based on current pupil numbers, the number of empty places in schools in Colchester and pupil number forecasts to 2017/18. Taken together these are a cause of concern to the County Council and the secondary schools in Colchester and require a solution for the short to medium term. There will be further discussions with schools about a medium to longer term plan for secondary school places across the town and a proposal will be developed for public consultation.

Internal and External Statutory consultees and other relevant people and Consultation organisations including all local education providers in the primary, secondary, further and higher education sectors, the Anglican Diocese of Chelmsford, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brentwood, the Members of Parliament for Colchester, Harwich and North Essex and Witham, all other locally elected representatives at County, Borough and Parish level, the North Essex Primary Care Trust, the Child Health Department at West Essex Primary Care Trust and Trade Unions representing teaching and non-teaching staff were consulted. Any responses to the consultation from these individuals and groups were addressed in the supporting report for the CMA published on 4 February 2011 which is included as a background paper to this report.

The publication of Statutory Notices on 11 February 2011 has resulted in five further representations and these are considered in the Decision Makers‟ Guidance for Closing a Maintained Mainstream School – Annex 1 under Views of interested parties.

Consultation with other relevant Portfolio Holder(s)

The Cabinet Member for Education and the 2012 Games has had a number of discussions with Cabinet colleagues about Colchester Secondary Education Provision during the development of the proposals, the consultation and the

8 publication of Statutory Notices.

Consultation with Local Members

The Cabinet Member for Education and the 2012 Games has consulted local members during the development of the proposals and the public consultation that followed.

All Colchester Borough Councillors and all County Councillors representing Colchester Divisions were sent copies of the Consultation Document and several attended the public meeting on 1 December 2010 and the meeting for parents at Alderman Blaxill School on 24 November 2010. Local members were briefed most recently on 28 February 2011 at the Colchester Locality Briefing before the expiry of the period during which representations about the Statutory Notices could be made.

Consultation with Policy and Scrutiny Committee

There has been no requirement to consult the Children and Young People Committee at this stage of the process.

Legal Implications The consultation was formulated and carried out in (Monitoring Officer) accordance with relevant legal requirements for bringing forward a proposal for changing the pattern of secondary school organisation in Colchester. The consultation period ran for 6 weeks from 15 November 2010 to 24 December 2010. One public meeting was held at the Moot Hall, Colchester on 1 December 2010 and the date and venue for this were advertised in the local press on 15 and 26 November 2010. Meetings with Alderman Blaxill School (including pupils, staff, the Governing Body and parents) took place on 24 November 2010. Meetings with other stakeholders primarily the governing bodies of the secondary schools directly affected by the proposals also took place throughout the consultation.

The meeting schedule and notes of the parents‟ meeting at Alderman Blaxill School and the public meeting are available in the background papers.

Having consulted on the proposal and considered the views expressed the Cabinet Member for Education and the 2012 Games took action to proceed to the publication of Statutory Notices:

to revoke the set of related decisions to close Alderman Blaxill School and Thomas Lord Audley School and to enlarge Philip Morant, Stanway, St Helena and

9 Thurstable Schools; to discontinue Alderman Blaxill School with effect from 31 August 2014 and to cease admissions to Year 7 from September 2012 with the school‟s current priority admission area being re-designated largely to Thomas Lord Audley School;

Following the expiry of the Statutory Notices after 6 weeks of publication, the Cabinet Member has considered all representations received and will take a Key Decision whether to determine the proposals.

This paper deals with complex statutory proposals and as such does not raise specific governance issues. It is important that the procedural requirements of the legislation have been fulfilled and that the Decision Maker gives due regard to the Guidance in order to effect the process and the final decision successfully.

The Monitoring Officer has commented as follows.

The Council, as Decision Maker is now required to determine the various proposals.

On the proposal to discontinue Alderman Blaxill School the Council must have regard to the Decision Makers Guidance issued by the Department for Education (DfE) and to the representations received during the notice period that expired on 25 March 2011.

There is no Decision Makers Guidance on the proposals to revoke the previously approved proposals to discontinue Alderman Blaxill School and The Thomas Lord Audley School, and to expand The Philip Morant School, The Stanway School, The St. Helena School and The Thurstable School. However the Guidance “Closing a Maintained School” and “Expanding a Mainstream School” say at Para. 5.8 and 5.10 respectively that “ To approve the proposals the Decision Maker needs to be satisfied that implementation of the original proposals would be unreasonably difficult , or that circumstances have so altered since the original proposals were approved that their implementation would be inappropriate”.

The final decision on these proposals could be subject to appeal to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator by either of the Diocesan Education Boards, the Young People‟s Learning Agency or the governing body of Alderman Blaxill School which is proposed for closure.

10 Finance and The Cabinet Member is taking this decision within existing Resources financial and asset resources in the confirmed absence of Implications funding for any capital costs from Building Schools for the (Section 151 Officer) Future.

There are likely to be some additional costs incurred in the arrangements made for some staff currently employed at Alderman Blaxill School, which is part of the Stanway Federation, upon its closure. These costs would be met from the Opening, Closing and Reorganising (OCR) Schools Budget which is „top-sliced‟ Dedicated Schools Grant.

As a direct consequence of these proposals, all secondary age pupils living on Mersea Island will in future be entitled to free home to school transport to Thurstable School, as well as Thomas, Lord Audley School. In the last two years some 15 and 21 pupils respectively have attended Thurstable School from Mersea Island despite the lack of free transport. If approximately 25 pupils attend each year in future the cost (after five years) of transporting approximately 125 pupils a day is estimated to be in the order of £330 per day (£62,700 a year). However, given the number of students who already attend Thurstable School, whose parents take responsibility for their transport arrangements; it is likely that there would be little or no corresponding reduction in the cost of transport to Thomas, Lord Audley School which is currently £522 per day.

The free home to school transport from Mersea Island to Thurstable School would require additional budgetary provision from September 2012 if the proposals for secondary education in Colchester are determined. We estimate that the part year costs in the first financial year 2012/13 will be £8K - £9K. The costs would accumulate each year after that as new pupil cohorts join the school. The full pupil complement would be at the school from September 2016 and the full year costs, estimated as being in the order of £62,700 per year, would be incurred in the financial year 2017/18 and thereafter.

The costs of these proposals would not impact on the budget for 2011/12 and would place minimal cost pressure on the budget for 2012/13. The transport costs can be contained within the existing home to school transport budgets and should be able to be fully absorbed. Beyond that, future costs will need to be built into the budget process going forward.

The closure of Alderman Blaxill School might lead to additional costs as smaller year groups complete their

11 education and these would be met from the OCR budget. There is the possibility of some staff redundancy costs. As long as the establishment concerned is a maintained school at the point that such staff are surplus to requirements and that the said school acts “reasonably” in terms of its HR processes, the Local Authority has a budget to meet termination costs in line with the statutory requirements of Section 37 of the Education Act (2002). There will be a „saving‟ to the Schools Budget in the order of £600,000 per annum (lump sum, small school protection and rent and rates budgets) following the closure of Alderman Blaxill School in 2014 which will be redistributed to all schools.

This section has been considered and approved by the section 151 Officer. Human Resources There could be Human Resources implications arising from Implications the closure of Alderman Blaxill School. The County Council is experienced in supporting schools during closure processes. There will be a requirement for teachers and support staff at the school until August 2014.

Essex Schools HR Advice & Support Service has taken part in the formal consultation meeting with staff at Alderman Blaxill School. Issues covered have included strategies to avoid compulsory redundancies. The options will continue to be explored if the County Council determines the proposal and the closure arrangements are initiated. Equality Impact Assessment An Equality Impact Assessment has not been formally conducted but there has been considerable discussion and consideration of the diversity, equality and inclusion impact of the decision.

There is enhanced provision at Alderman Blaxill School for pupils with the specific learning difficulty of Dyslexia. This will continue to be funded but at a reduced level in accordance with the number of pupils attending. Currently funded for twenty places there are seven pupils in the enhanced provision at present and five of these will leave at the end of the current academic year. The two pupils who will remain at the school from September 2011 will continue to be supported there on an individual basis.

There is now an opportunity to assess the future need for such provision for Dyslexia in the area. Pupils who would previously have been placed in enhanced provision will have the option of being placed in a mainstream school with additional support or taking up a place in one of the remaining enhanced provisions in south or west Essex. If numbers were to rise again then provision would need to be

12 made elsewhere, in line with current policy. There are no plans to stop supporting pupils with Dyslexia.

There are no other diversity, equality or social inclusion impacts of the proposed closure of Alderman Blaxill School or the reduction in the PAN at Thomas, Lord Audley School.

Background papers Decision Makers‟ Guidance for Closing a Maintained Mainstream School – Annex 1

Consultation document – „Colchester Secondary Education Provision – The Colchester Secondary Education Transformation Programme – a locally developed proposal for secondary education provision in Colchester District from September 2012 until 2017‟ published November 2010

Meeting schedule for the consultation November – December 2010

Notes of parents‟ meeting at Alderman Blaxill School – 24 November 2010

Notes of public meeting at the Moot Hall, Colchester – 1 December 2010

Supporting report for CMA published on 4 February 2011

Secondary school data for the period 2010 - 2015

The Statutory Notice and full Proposals