Decision details

To consider the report of Head of Children and Young People Strategic Commissioning, Education and Inclusion seeking permission to commence 6 weeks of statutory consultation on proposals to create five all through primary schools from the following pairs of infant and junior schools:

·  Bitterne Park Infant & Junior

·  Oakwood Infant & Junior

·  Tanners Brook Infant & junior

·  Valentine Infant & Heathfield Junior

·  St Monica Infant & Junior

(i)  considered the outcome of pre-statutory consultation and approved the commencement of six weeks of statutory consultation, 25^th April to 6^th June on proposals to:

·  Discontinue Bitterne Park Infant and extend the age range of Bitterne Park Junior, to establish a primary school from the 1^st September 2013.

·  Discontinue Tanners Brook Junior and extend the age range of Tanners Brook Infant, to establish a primary school from the 1^st September 2013.

·  Discontinue Oakwood Infant and extend the age range of Oakwood Junior, to establish a primary school from the 1^st January 2014.

·  Discontinue Heathfield Junior and extend the age range of Valentine Infant, to establish a primary school from the 1^st January 2014.

·  Discontinue St Monica Junior and extend the age range of St Monica Infant, to establish a primary school from the 1^st January 2014.

(ii)  Cabinet noted that it will be asked to consider the consultation responses and make a final decision on the establishment of five primary schools on 18^th June 2013 or 16^th July 2013.

(iii)  delegated authority to the Director of Children’s Services and Learning, following consultation with the Head of Legal, HR and Democratic Services, to determine the final format and content of consultation in accordance with statutory and other legal requirements.

(iv)  Subject to complying with Financial and Contractual Procedure Rules, Cabinet delegated authority to the Director, People following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, to do anything necessary to give effect to the recommendations in this report.

1. Children’s Services and Learning are working with the Education Leaders in the City to develop all through primary schools in place of infant and junior configurations. This development is not a criticism of the infant and junior model. The intention is to pursue the development of all through primary schools if/where the situation allows.

For instance:

  i.  When the governing bodies of linked infant and junior schools seek support to establish a primary school.

  ii.  If a headship of a linked infant or junior school becomes vacant. If a school, with a linked school, is placed in special measures through an Ofsted inspection.

2. One of the three scenarios has arisen at all of the ten pairings of schools included in this report:

·  Bitterne Park Infant School – head teacher vacancy, scenario (2), hence the proposal is to discontinue the infant and extend the age range of Bitterne Park Junior, thus forming an all through primary,

·  Oakwood Infant School – headteacher vacancy from July 2013, scenario (2), hence the proposal is to discontinue the infant and extend the age range of Oakwood Junior, thus forming an all through primary.

·  Tanners Brook Junior School – headteacher vacancy from July 2013 scenario (2), hence the proposal is to discontinue the junior and extend the age range of Tanners Brook Infant, thus forming an all through primary.

·  Valentine Infant and Heathfield Junior – governors expressed an interest in pursuing the primary option and Heathfield Junior has been placed in special measures following Ofsted Inspection in January 2013, scenarios (1) and (3), hence the proposal is to extend the infant and discontinue the junior.

·  St Monica Junior School – headteacher vacancy from July 2013, scenario (2), hence the proposal is to discontinue the junior and extend the age range of St Monica Infant, thus forming an all through primary.

3. If the recommendations in this report are approved, the second of two six week consultation periods would take place.  This is known as statutory consultation and will involve the publication of statutory notices at the ten schools included in this report, in the local newspaper and sent to the DfE’s School Organisation department. The statutory consultation would begin on 25^th April 2013 and close on the 6^th June 2013. Following the closure of the consultation a final report will be produced and presented to Cabinet on 18^th June 2013 or 16^th July 2013. This report will summarise the consultation responses and make a final recommendation. 
4. Table 1 details the number of infant and junior school parings.  Five of the school parings in the table are involved it the consultation being led by the Local Authority.  One school pairing – Bitterne C of  E Infant and Junior are schedule to begin pre-statutory consultation with stakeholders at the end of April.  A report will be submitted to cabinet to approve the outcome of the consultation in November 2013.

5. The Local Authority favours the primary model, where the situation arises, for the following reasons:
6. Educational outcomes – benefits, all through primary schools:   
   • Are in a stronger position to plan for continuity and progression through the key stages of learning, Early Years, Key Stage 1 and 2.
   • Provide longer timescale for schools to work closely with families - year R to year 6 - seven years to develop successfully children’s education progress.
   • Provide opportunities for pupils to work and play together over a longer period of time and develop greater understanding of diverse strengths, skills and personalities, which help them in later life.
   • Offer consistent approaches to inclusion, absences etc.
   • Increased opportunities for social development with older pupils having some appropriate pastoral responsibilities for younger children.
7. Professional outcomes – benefits, all through primary schools:

·  Provide staff with greater opportunities to gain a broader and deeper understanding of the learning continuum for children from 4 to 11 years.

·  Build capacity in issues of staffing and can better plan for succession.

8. Efficiency – benefits, all through primary schools:

·  A single, larger budget offers the opportunity to deliver quality more efficiently, through greater economies of scale.

·  Reduced spend on leadership and governance arrangements.

·  Increased spend on front line teachers, as a percentage of the whole school budget.

9. Parental – benefits, all through primary schools:

There is a direct benefit to parents in the admissions process. Parents have to apply to secure a place in an infant school, at year R and a junior school, at year 3. Only one application is required for primary school – for admission to year R.

1. Three alternative options have been considered and rejected.  See paragraph’s (11), (12) and (13) of the report.
2. Alternative options (1) to discontinue the school that we are proposing to extend the age range of could be put forward, but this has been discounted for the following reasons:
   • Bitterne Park Schools – the infant has an acting headteacher whilst the junior has a permanent leadership and headteacher arrangement in place.
   • Oakwood School – the infant school will have a headteacher vacancy from July 2013 whilst the junior has a permanent leadership and headteacher arrangements in place.
   • Tanners Brook Schools - the junior school will have a headteacher vacancy from July 2013 whilst the infant has a permanent headteacher arrangement in place
   • Valentine Infant and Heathfield Junior – the infant has a ‘good’ Ofsted rating whilst the junior has been placed in special measures by Ofsted. It is not appropriate to expand a school judged as failing by Ofsted above a school judged as ‘good’. 
   • St Monica Schools – the junior school will have a headteacher vacancy from July 2013 whilst the infant has a permanent headteacher arrangement in place.
3. Alternative option (2), to close both schools in each pairing and open a brand new primary school (with a new DfE number). Legislation dictates that when seeking to establish a new school the presumption is that this be an academy/free school. If there is no academy/free school proposal a statutory competition can be held, with the Secretary of State’s consent. Alternatively, the consent of the Secretary of State is not required if the proposal is to create a primary school that is to replace maintained infant and junior schools (the Office of the Schools Adjudicator would make the decision on this proposal).  This option has been discounted because the Governors of the ten schools do not wish to become an academy at this point and, in addition, the competitive process to establish a new primary school is quiet lengthy and would disrupt the existing leadership and governance structures that are currently in place at the schools.  We would also like to keep the decision making process for these proposals at a local level.
4. Alternative option (3) is that the schools that have, or are due to have, a headteacher vacancy, recruit a new headteacher and the pairings of schools remain as separate infant and juniors. This option has been discounted because the Local Authority has a preference for all through primary schools