Agenda item

For the Sub-Committee to consider whether there are any considerations or concerns it may wish to submit to the Cabinet during its consideration of the Strategy.

The Sub-Committee considered a paper set out on pages 31 to 134 of the agenda, which provided a report due for consideration at Cabinet on 25 January 2023 on the Education Estates Strategy for Pre-Decision Scrutiny. The Director of Education introduced the Head of Service, Early Years, School Place Planning and Admission, who summarised the report.

Members asked about the increase in children in Elective Home Education during COVID and whether these children would likely return to schools and, if so, whether there would be capacity to readmit these children. The Director of Education explained that there had been a capacity increase to monitor and support children in Elective Home Education at the Council, and that some parents / carers decide to apply for their  child to attend mainstream schooling during the transition from primary to secondary school. These numbers are difficult to predict, and as such additional capacity was maintained at schools, but this needed to be carefully planned so as to not impact on schools’ budgets.

The Sub-Committee asked about plans to deal with surplus school places and what powers the Council had to deal with this with a large number of academy schools in the borough. The Director of Education explained that the local authority was responsible for school place planning; the Head of Service, Early Years, School Place Planning and Admission explained that the Council was working with all schools through meetings with schools with the highest surpluses, and through locality clusters, to discuss  and plan work on school place planning. A School Organisation Advisory Board is being set up and would be representative of all partners; this would look at the criteria of how the Council would need to work with schools to reduce places. Work had already been done with a number of schools to manage their surplus spaces, with the main route being a reduction in the Published Admission Number (PAN). Members heard from the Head of Service, Early Years, School Place Planning and Admissions that the Council was still mindful of schools’ overheads in terms of maintaining necessary surplus and were exploring ways to harness this spare capacity through provision of enhanced learning units, early years provision or community based activities. There were a number of other options that would be considered such as federation mergers, reductions in class sizes or reorganisation of schools.

The Head of Education Services explained that they worked with Local Authority (LA) Maintained Schools who were in or at risk of budget deficit; surplus places was a common issue for these schools. All LA Maintained Schools submitted a yearly budget forecast, and those predicting a deficit submitted monthly returns that were scrutinised. Members heard that termly meetings were held with the leadership teams of these schools to explore solutions.  Additional support was is also offered including using a Department for Education financial advisor, looking at class sizes and other possible efficiencies. Common issues with school finances were managing surplus places, rising energy costs, rising staff costs and managing staff absences. There was an escalating model of support that was used to ensure schools received the help they needed. The Director of Education explained that the picture in Croydon on surplus places largely reflected the national situation and that London authorities were in dialogue on this issue.

Members asked about the work with school clusters to look at surplus spaces and heard that these discussions were taking place on a locality basis and schools were looking to come up with additional solutions. Schools had come up with lists of things that could be done which took into account their own individual circumstances and collective solutions with other schools. The Sub-Committee asked about the methodology of working out surplus spaces, and noted predictions from last year had increased a large amount. The Head of Service, Early Years, School Place Planning and Admission explained that these numbers were kept under review, and the Greater London Authority (GLA) had been commissioned to produce the predictions used in the report; these numbers were likely to change again next year as new data was made available. Members heard that surplus places were highest in the North of the borough and much lower in the South.

The Sub-Committee asked what support was provided to schools to decide whether, or when, to reduce their PAN. The Head of Service, Early Years, School Place Planning and Admission explained that the Council helped schools to look at this by examining the trend of actual admissions against the PAN to ensure an informed decision was taken at the right time to ensure children were not disadvantaged and that the school remains in good financial health.

Members asked about the participation of schools in the cluster groups and how schools could be encouraged to take part. The Head of Service, Early Years, School Place Planning and Admissions explained that attendance had been good, but where schools had not participated, individual discussions with these schools had been undertaken to ensure a better turnout.

The Sub-Committee asked about children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and issues with delayed assessments as well as the number of available SEND school places. The Director or Education explained that assessments were now 80% taking place within target timeframes, which had been a huge improvement; Members heard that support was also available to children awaiting assessments. Special school places had increased in a number of schools within the borough across all age ranges. The SEND Strategy priority is to educate children with special needs within borough, and where possible and appropriate, in mainstream schools. Data quality had improved which had allowed special school place planning to be much more effective, but parental choice is key in deciding  provision and in, for some children and young people , suitable provision is out of borough.

Members asked about school maintenance, the need to vary where money was directed as a result of the current financial climate, and the lack of a slippage figure for 2024/25. The Head of Service, Early Years, School Place Planning and Admission explained that these were indicative costs that could change, but that money for maintenance was received from the Department for Education, which was prioritised based on condition surveys. A number of projects had been delayed during the pandemic, and these would likely need to be re-procured due to increases in construction costs. The Director of Education explained that the slippage figure for 2024/25 would not be zero, but that was dependent on what happened in 2023/24.

Members asked about a timescale for when additional Enhanced Learning Provision would be provided. The Director of Education explained that this was still being investigated by looking at additional capacity created by surplus places and how this could be used to increase provision.

Conclusions

The Sub-Committee were grateful for the helpful responses to Members questions on the paper and were overall reassured about the content of the Education Estates Strategy.

The Sub-Committee acknowledged the difficulties that the acadamisation of schools created in school place planning, and the likelihood that this would become more complex as more schools became academies.