Decision details

Proposed decision

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills is asked to:

a)         enlarge Maidstone Grammar School for Girls, Buckland Road, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 0SF by 1FE, increasing the Published Admission Number (PAN) from 180 to 210 from September 2023.

b)         authorise the allocation of £5.23 million in funding from the Children Young People and Education Services Basic Need Capital Budget to fund the permanent expansion of Maidstone Grammar School for Girls.

c)         authorise the allocation of £1.6 million from the Education Modernisation Programme to enable the replacement of T Block and N Block.

d)         authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services in consultation with the General Counsel and Director of Education to enter into any necessary contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council.

e)         authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts.

Background

Kent County Council (KCC), with support from the school’s Governing Body, would like to expand Maidstone Grammar School for Girls to help provide more places for local children. 

KCC as the Local Authority (LA), has a statutory duty to ensure sufficient school places are available.  The County Council’s Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent 2022-26 is a five-year rolling plan which is updated annually. It sets out KCC’s future plans as Strategic Commissioner of Education Provision across all types and phases of education in Kent.  A copy of the plan can be viewed from this link:

https://www.kent.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/131486/Commissioning-Plan-for-Education-Provision-in-Kent-2022-to-2026.pdf

For provision planning purposes KCC’s forecasting methodology produces forecasts according to planning groups.  These planning groups are nationally recognised by central Government; Maidstone Grammar School for Girls forms part of the Maidstone and Malling selective planning group.

The Commissioning Plan forecast for the Maidstone and Malling Selective planning group indicates that there will be a deficit of Year 7 girls’ selective places from 2023-24 if no additional places are established. To meet the demand for Year 7 places we propose to expand the Maidstone Grammar School for Girls by 1 FE, increasing its PAN from 180 to 210 from September 2023.

Maidstone Grammar School for Girls has provided education for girls from Maidstone and the surrounding area for over 130 years. The school was judged as ‘Outstanding’ by OFSTED in May 2009 and is ideally located within Maidstone town to meet the forecast demand within the established travel to school patterns for the Maidstone and Malling Selective planning group.

KCC have worked with the school to ascertain the additional accommodation required for it to expand by 1FE on a permanent basis. That work identified the additional space required in direct support of a future expansion and combines modernisation work that includes the replacement of both T Block and N Block. These existing blocks at the school are significantly beyond their designed lifespan and require replacement. Combining this modernisation work with the expansion scheme enables KCC to benefit from the economies of scale that can be achieved by completing the works together rather than replacing the existing blocks in isolation.

The scheme also incorporates the provision of a visitor centre, linked to the school’s unique set of Second World War Air Raid Shelters, which will be an integral part of the new accommodation but will be funded by the school, but also takes advantage of the economies of scale presented by the expansion project. The purpose of the visitor centre is to enable the school to provide opportunities for students in primary schools to visit the school and gain a real life experience of school life during the Second World War. There will also be opportunities for some members of the public to visit the Air raid Shelters during some school holidays. This part of the works will be funded by the school and not KCC.

The required accommodation comprises a new teaching block, which includes the visitor centre, an extensive music classroom, 6 practice rooms and associated storage and ancillary spaces.  This project therefore brings much needed modernisation work and will transform the school for the benefit of all students as well as provide space for additional students.

Data Protection implications

KCC and the school are the ‘controllers’ under the General Data Protection Regulation and will ensure that any personal information is processed fairly and lawfully within any consultation work.

As Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, I agree to:

(i)    enlarge Maidstone Grammar School for Girls, Buckland Road, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 0SF by 1FE, increasing the Published Admission Number (PAN) from 180 to 210 from September 2023.

(ii)  authorise the allocation of £6,378,593 in funding from the Children Young People and Education Services Basic Need Capital Budget to fund the permanent expansion of Maidstone Grammar School for Girls.

(iii)authorise the allocation of £1,432,129 from the Education Modernisation Programme to enable the replacement of T Block and N Block.

(iv)authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services in consultation with the General Counsel and Director of Education to enter into any necessary contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council.

(v)  authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts. Variations to contract value to be no more than 10% above the capital funding agreed by the Cabinet Member without requiring a new Record of Decision.