Issue - meetings

Cabinet Member: Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Learning, Councillor Alisa Flemming

Officer: Interim Executive Director Children, Families & Education, Debbie Jones

Key decision: yes

RESOLVED: To

School Admission

1.    agree to recommend to full Council that it determine the proposed community schools’ Admission Arrangements for the 2022/23 academic year (Appendix 1);

2.    approve the continued adoption of the proposed Pan London scheme for co-ordination of admissions to Reception and Junior schools as set out at Appendix 1a of the report; and adoption of the proposed Pan London scheme for co-ordination of admissions to secondary schools as set out at Appendix 1b of the report;

School Place Planning

3.    approve the Capital Programme Budget summary (as set out at Appendix 2 of the report);

School Maintenance and Compliance

4.    approve the proposed Schools’ Maintenance Plan (as set out at Appendix 3 of the report) for 2021/22 with an overall budget cost of £2.945m;

5.    Delegate authority to the Executive Director, Children, Families and Education to vary the proposed Schools’ Maintenance Plan to reflect actual prices and new urgent issues that may arise, including authorising spend against the allowance for emergency and reactive works. The Executive Director, Children, Families and Education shall report back to members in respect of any exercise of such authority;

School Place Planning

Academy conversion

6.    note the change of status of Woodcote Primary to an academy;

Early Years

7.    note the 2020 Childcare Sufficiency Assessment report as set out at  Appendix 4 of the report;

           Special Educational Needs and Disability(SEND)

8.    note that the SEND Estates strategies are contributing positively to the development of local provision maintaining some of our most challenging and vulnerable children and young people with SEND within their families and communities. For example, the:

9.    new special school – Addington Valley Academy - for severe and complex children with Autism Spectrum Conditions is underway and on schedule;

10.new school build for St. Nicholas Special School was completed and the school moved in over the last academic year;

11.Croydon College Coulsdon Pathways provision for students with SEND aged 19-25 is now in its third year and has been a great success;

12.review of the SEND estate – Red Gates / St. Giles / Priory - in terms of its quality, safeguarding and feasibility as approved by Cabinet in January 2020 is underway; and

Alternative Provision / Pupil Referral Unit (PRU)

13.note information on Alternative Provision / PRU.

The Leader informed Cabinet that the order of the agenda would be varied to:

·       Item 9/21 – Dedicated Schools Grant Schools Funding 2021/22 Formula Factors

·       Item 7/21 – General Fund Capital Programme 2020-2024

·       Item 8/21 – Proposed closure of Virgo Fidelis Convent Senior School

·       Item 6/21 – Education Estates Strategy

The Cabinet Member for Children, Families & Education, Councillor Alisa Flemming, noted that the report was the annual report to Cabinet on the education estates and was split into two sections; the first being focussed on decisions for Cabinet to make and the second being for information. It was noted that Council would be asked to determine the proposed community school admission arrangements for 2022/23. The Cabinet Member highlighted that there were no proposed changes to previously determined arrangements barring updates in relation to DfE guidance.

It was further noted by the Cabinet Member that the council was responsible for having a scheme in place for the coordination of admission arrangements for both primary and secondary schools as part of the pan-London agreement which sought to simplify the application process and ensure a fair distribution of places across London.

The Cabinet Member stated the council was committed to reducing the high needs deficit but stressed that the decision to deliver Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) places was not driven by finances but by the desire to ensure young people could access education within the borough and could live independent lives by travelling by bus to school, for example.

It was highlighted that the mainstream school supply strategy had not been included in the report on this occasion as Croydon did not plan to create additional mainstream places. Pupil forecasts indicated there was a sufficiency of places in both primary and secondary schools for the next three years. The Cabinet Member stated that there would be a need to review the strategy as a result of covid-19 as there had been an increase in number of parents choosing to home school, and whilst the numbers were low it was stressed that the forecasting and places available aligned.

The Cabinet Member for Croydon Renewal, Councillor Stuart King, welcomed the feasibility work which was underway at Gresham Primary School to establish whether the bulge class could be made permanent as supporting popular schools was an important objective. The Cabinet Member for Croydon Renewal noted that there had been significant investment in the SEND programme and requested further information on how that investment would support managing the financial challenge of the delivering the service whilst not impacting the education the children received.

In response, the Cabinet Member stated that she also welcomed the feasibility studies into expanding popular schools and more details would be provided by the Interim Director of Education & Youth Engagement, Shelley Davies, outside of the meeting.

The Interim Director advised Members that the Addington Valley Free School was open on a temporary site with 25 students and from September 2021 would open on its permanent site for 80 pupils. Providing an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6