Issue - meetings

To approve the Business Case for the expansion of de Stafford School, an academy in The Glyn Learning Foundation Multi-Academy Trust. The school currently operates as a five Form of Entry (5FE) secondary (750 places) co-educational 11 – 16 school with a published admission number (PAN) of 150.

The proposal is to expand the school by 1FE to a 5FE secondary (900 places), thereby creating 150 additional places to support delivery against the basic need requirements in the Tandridge area from September 2018. (A form of entry is normally 30 students). The school was previously larger but reduced its PAN some years ago when fewer places in the Tandridge Borough area were required; however it has some latent capacity which can be recommissioned as part of the expansion project.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Corporate Services Select Committee or the Children and Education Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

That, subject to the agreement of the detailed financial information for the expansion set out in the submitted Part 2 report, the business case for the provision of an additional 1 Form of Entry (30 places per year) providing, in total, 150 secondary places at De Stafford School from September 2018, be approved.

Reasons for decisions

The proposal supports the Authority’s statutory obligation to provide necessary school places, relative to demand.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Children and Education Select Committee and/or the Corporate Services Select Committee]

Mr Chris Botten, Local Member for Caterham Hill, provided a statement stressing his support for increasing the number of places at de Stafford School. Mr Botten emphasised the quality of the education provision in Caterham and thanked the Cabinet for the steps it had taken to improve schools in this area. The Local Member drew attention to the significant improvements which had been made to de Stafford School over recent years which now had excellent leadership and governance.

The Cabinet Member for Education thanked Mr Botten for his comments and added that de Stafford was also a highly inclusive school with a higher percentage of SEND pupils than is the average across the County. Mrs Lewis indicated that de Stafford School was rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted and informed Cabinet that the Headteacher is confident of maintaining the standard of education provision while construction work takes place to expand the school.

The Leader of the Council mentioned that SCC had worked closely with Tandridge District Council to provide better facilities and resources for schools in Caterham which had substantially improved education provision in the area.

RESOLVED:

That, subject to the agreement of the detailed financial information for the expansion set out in the submitted Part 2 report, the business case for the provision of an additional 1 Form of Entry (30 places per year) providing, in total, 150 secondary places at De Stafford School from September 2018, be approved.

Reasons for decisions

The proposal supports the Authority’s statutory obligation to provide necessary school places, relative to demand.