OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE Gwynedd Council Strategic Outline Programme (SOP) - Band B Update For return by 31 July 2017 OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE Strategic Outline Programme – Band B Update - July 2017 Guidance This form aims to capture the proposed changes to your Band B Programme since the most recent version of your Strategic Outline Programme/ Estate Strategy was agreed. Please complete all relevant sections of this form including the statement of approval of this information in Section 12. Please note that the budget for Band B of the Programme is fixed and prioritisation of projects will take place should applications for funding exceed the resources available. In the first instance projects will be prioritised based on building condition and sufficiency, but the exercise may take into account other factors such as flexibility of assets, efficiency of the education estate and deprivation. Please return a signed, electronic copy of the form, to Jo Larner, Programme Director of 21st Century Schools and Education Programme by Monday 31 July via: [email protected] Section Contents: 1. Requested Band B Programme Envelope ............................................................ 3 2. Summary of changes ............................................................................................ 3 3. Strategic Case....................................................................................................... 5 4. Economic Case ................................................................................................... 11 5. Commercial Case ................................................................................................ 16 6. Financial case ..................................................................................................... 17 7. Management Case .............................................................................................. 19 8. Application for Mutual Investment Model (MIM) funding ..................................... 24 9. Band B Projects .................................................................................................. 26 10. Bands C and D .................................................................................................... 27 11. Statement of Approval for Strategic Outline Programme (SOP) - Band B Update – July 2017 .......................................................................................... 28 OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE Strategic Outline Programme – Band B Update - July 2017 1. Requested Band B Programme Envelope Requested total of Band B envelope e.g. £15,000,000 £56,137,840 Requested Welsh Government contribution £29,768,788 e.g. £7,500,000 LA/ FEI contribution £25,640,538 Gwynedd Council e.g. £7,500,000 £728,515 (VA School contribution) 2. Summary of changes What has changed since the latest version of your SOP/ Estates Strategy? 1000 words maximum Gwynedd Council has continued to prioritise the 21 st Century Schools Programme within the Authority’s Strategic Plan. Since 2010, a total investment of c.£52 million has been committed to continue a major transformational programme which will deliver a sustainable and efficient educational estate in a mainly rural area. A School Modernisation Programme has reduced spare capacity and rationalised primary school sites, and has introduced innovative models for sustainable rural provision. The successful projects approved within Band A of the Programme continue to be delivered on time and to budget. An assessment of the timetable in 2016 identified that there was capacity to complete an additional project and a revised SOP was successfully submitted to begin work within the Bangor Catchment Area. This will result in greater educational benefits being delivered by the Authority from the Band A Programme. Since the submission of the previous version, Gwynedd Council has, • Invested £13m and completed an innovative state of the art school for pupils with additional educational needs at Ysgol Hafod Lon Newydd, Penrhyndeudraeth which opened in October 2016 • Invested over £5m to build a new school in an area of severe deprivation at Ysgol Glancegin, Maesgirchen, Bangor which will open in September 2017 • Invested £5m to build a new area school in a very rural location at Ysgol Bro Llifon replacing a Category D building 2015. 3 of 29 OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE Strategic Outline Programme – Band B Update - July 2017 • Invested £4.3m and established a new 3-16 school, Ysgol Bro Idris, at Dolgellau on six sites.The school will open in September 2017. • Invested £1m and completed improvements and refurbishments at Ysgol O M Edwards, Llanuwchllyn in 2013. • Invested £10.27m and established an innovative 3-19 area school at Ysgol Y Berwyn, Bala which includes investment in a new 3-G pitch available for school and community use and important community services such a the local library, sports facilities and cinema and arts provision. Gwynedd Council’s Band A Programme is on track to deliver, • completed new school buildings which will improve the sufficiency of the educational estate; • completed improvements and refurbishments at existing sites; • a strengthened delivery of bilingual education; • a greatly improved learning environment; • new school networks actively collaborating to deliver the curriculum, increase the efficiency of financial expenditure, share resources and enable better opportunities for staff professional development. Delivering Successful Futures During 2016/17, a new model of supporting schools was introduced in order to strengthen school to school support systems, develop new partnerships and improve key stage outcomes, together with supporting schools to perform in the highest quartiles. A clear specification was implemented between the Council and GwE (Schools Efficiency and Improvement Service) in order to ensure that sharp and appropriate procedures are in place to monitor and evaluate progress in the schools. Gwynedd Council is confident that this application for Band B funding builds on the significant improvements in the school estate achieved since 2010, to now focus on interventions which will make a major difference to the successful delivery of specific strategic priorities for the Authority and the Welsh Government. These include reviewing the provision of post-16 education, strengthening Welsh-medium education, creating excellent learning environments in very rural areas, maintaining pupils’ connection with their communities, encouraging collaborative models across schools and supporting leadership and professional skills. 4 of 29 OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE Strategic Outline Programme – Band B Update - July 2017 3. Strategic Case How does your Programme link to local and national strategies e.g. the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, Welsh medium and childcare strategies? 1000 words maximum Investment Objectives Sufficiency and sustainability are central aims of Gwynedd Council’s approach in delivering its 21 st Century Schools Programme, The Band B Programme will focus on activities which will ensure that the synergies obtained from integrating the requirements of national and local strategies deliver better learning outcomes for pupils. The Authority’s Strategic Plan 2017-18 includes the objective of developing a network of viable schools for the future. Delivering this objective will create better conditions to develop leadership, increase and standardise education standards and improve experiences for children and young people. The new Programme will thus build on opportunities provided by recent policy developments as outlined below. Delivering a Strong Welsh-Medium Education Strategy Gwynedd Council’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan sets the ambitious objective of ensuring that all pupils in the county possess appropriate language skills in Welsh and English, to enable them to become full members of the bilingual community to which they belong. This strongly align’s with the principal objective of the Welsh Government’s Strategic Plan for the Welsh Language namely, “ to have an education and training system that responds in a planned way to the growing demand for Welsh-medium education, reaches out to and reflects our diverse communities and enables an increase in the number of people from all ages and backgrounds who are fluent in Welsh and able to use the language with their families, in their communities and in the workplace.” The policy aims to be an exemplar for the development of Welsh as a subject and learning medium from pre-school age onwards and promote children and young people’s use of Welsh as a social language. The framework and strategic basis adopted for schools re-organisation within the 21st Century Schools Programme places the Welsh Language as one of the main principles and considerations when drawing up proposals. During any process of reorganisation, the Council is required to conduct a language impact assessment in the areas that are affected. The Authority is also committed to supporting the Welsh Government’s draft strategy ‘A million Welsh speakers by 2050’,and ensuring that there are opportunities at every stage in an individual’s life to learn Welsh and learn through the Welsh language medium. Since launching the Welsh Language Charter in Gwynedd primary schools, innovative work has taken place to encourage children’s social use of Welsh. This has the potential to become a best practice approach for other local 5 of 29 OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE Strategic Outline Programme – Band B Update - July 2017 authorities