Agenda and minutes

(Report by Director (Operations))

(1)       This report set out the results of the public consultation.  It sought the views of the School Organisation Advisory Board on issuing a Public Notice to close The Cornwallis, Oldborough Manor and Senacre Technology College to re-open them as two academies on the Cornwallis and Oldborough Manor sites.

(2)       Mr Burgess stated that he felt the creation of two academies would be a positive step, and should be seen as a good opportunity for gaining access to resources that can enhance the education of the children at the school.  He stated that these positive effects had been seen at the Marlowe Academy in Ramsgate, and as such would support a proposal that would emulate this within a school in Maidstone.

(3)       In response to a number of questions from Mrs Angell, Mr Jones explained that both public meetings had been held at Cornwallis School as it could accommodate a large turnout, he explained that a detailed travel plan would be developed as the consultation moved forward.  Mr Jones also undertook to provide Mrs Angell with more detail on how children with SEN would be catered for on the new site.  Dr Craig confirmed that the Special Schools Review referred to in the report was the one undertaken in 2003 and that the re-designation and expansion of Five-Acre Wood School was a possibility.

(4)       Mrs Angell also asked for clarification about the comment on page B1:30 that Maidstone was 'way down the priority list' for Building Schools for the Future.Dr Craig stated that Maidstone LEA forms Phase 13 of a 15 Phase Building Schools for the Future Programme.  Currently, the BSF programme is at Phase 3, so Maidstone is currently lower on the priority list than other areas in Kent such as Gravesham, Swale and Dover which form parts of Phases 3 and 4 respectively.  He further explained that money to pay for the Academies comes straight from DfES and requires little KCC financial input, so is essentially ‘free money’ whereas with the BSF programme a PFI or procurement route is normally involved and requires a capital resource input from KCC.

 (5)      Mrs Angell asked if all academic provision at post-16 level will be based at the Cornwallis School and if only vocational courses would be offered at the Oldborough site.  Mr Jones confirmed this was the case, but emphasised that the intention was to raise the aspirations of pupils at the Oldborough site and that although academic provision at post-16 would be sited at the Cornwallis site, it would cater for pupils from both academies who wanted to take an academic route at the post-16 stage.  Dr Craig added that this design was an innovation, in which two academies would be federated, thus benefiting from the financial and educational resources available to new academies, and where working together would be of benefit to all concerned.

(6)       Mr Poole stated that he was fairly happy with the proposal.  He asked Mr Jones to provide  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.