Issue - meetings

Purpose of the report: To review the strategic approach to ensuring sufficiency and sustainability of school places. To also consider the challenges of both within the context of the White Paper Opportunity for all - Strong schools with great teachers for your child.

Witnesses:

Denise Turner-Stewart, Cabinet Member for Education and Learning

Liz Mills, Director – Education and Lifelong Learning

Mike Singleton, Service Manager (School Place Planning)

Key points raised in the discussion:

1.    The Cabinet Member introduced the report, noting that sufficiency was good in mainstream schools and that the Service was working hard to increase the number of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) places to enable children to be able to attend their local school. There was a trend of falling birth rates, producing vacancies in primary schools which was unevenly spread across Surrey. Over 50% of schools were already academies and the Schools Bill would strengthen the Council’s role with admissions. 

2.    A Member questioned whether the Council was pushing schools to become academies and join multi-academy trusts (MATs), which resulted in the Council having less control over such schools. The Director explained that both the White Paper and the Schools Bill stated that all schools would need to become academies by 2030, although primary legislation was not being altered to mandate this. The Council had always supported choice for schools and becoming an academy was one choice. Academisation was not viewed as a solution to the sustainability of schools on its own. However, broader support and shared leadership arrangements could be provided through a multi-academy trust. The Member enquired as to whether the Council wanted to set up academies themselves and establish an academy trust. The White Paper would allow for local authority multi-academy trusts, although, there was no expression of interest by the Council at this stage. MATs tended to be established in areas with a low prevalence of existing trusts and there were criteria set by the Department of Education (DfE). If the Council established a multi-academy trust, it would need be clear about the benefits it would provide and its purpose distinct from other trusts.

3.    A Member asked about how demand versus capacity was managed in the secondary sector where the schools were predominantly academies. The Director responded that the Education Service took a collaborative approach with schools to their organisation, to ensure that there was a balance of schools that enabled everyone to thrive. It was agreed with schools when to increase or decrease capacity.

4.    In response to a question on ensuring that places were filled, and requisite staff were recruited, the Director explained that in relation to the Council’s special schools, one of the criteria employed was the capacity of the school to deliver an increase of places. It was not simply about having the physical space for an increase. In terms of recruitment, there had been a difficulty in recruiting teaching assistants and the Service had been working with schools to enable them to resource them appropriately. The Director noted that there had been an overreliance on teaching assistants over time. There were not difficulties in filling school places and there was a centralised team in the Gateway to Resources team who coordinated the places. The aim was to create  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28