Agenda item

To receive a report which sets out the proposal to permanently expand Trinity School from 4FE to 6FE.

(Ian Watts (Area Education Officer – North Kent) was in attendance for this item)

1.    Ian Watts introduced the report which set out the proposal to permanently expand Trinity School from 4FE to 6FE. He said that the Trinity School was located on site with the Wildernesse School which was shared with the grammar annex building, therefore there were site constraints and a phased approach was needed to ensure that minimal disruption was caused to an already well-used site.

2.    Keith Abbott (Director of Education Planning and Access) said that although the figure of £8m was high, the impact on specialist provision needed to be considered.

a)    In response to a question, Ian Watts said that Kent had seen a significant increase in parental choice over the years and were responding to provision issues since September 2017 through temporary expansions and would continue to do so whilst Kent worked towards permanent expansions. He said that provision had increased significantly since Trinity School opened in September 2014 and the demand around central Sevenoaks had increased.

3.    Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) said that Kent were responding to local pressures with regards to accommodating children with school places and said that the pressures had been increasing at a faster rate than initially anticipated. He said that the local Member, Mrs Crabtree submitted comments with regards to the decision and said that whilst she recognised the need to expand the Trinity School, Kent should ensure that traffic issues were being addressed. Ian Watts said that issues relating to traffic were being addressed and confirmed that the proposal would not move forward until KCC’s planning policy and requirements had been met in terms of mitigating traffic issues.

4.    In response to a question, Ian Watts said that guidance was available for schools which set out how the best use of space could be employed with regards to expanding a school. He said that the Education Funding Agency (EFA) were very stringent with regards to adhering to the guidance provided to schools, whereas more freedom was available when delivered by the Local Authority. Although the Local Authority would still aim to deliver best value for money, the working practice and requirements of the school would be taken into consideration. He said that although the Trinity School was a free school, the funding would be delivered by KCC. The Chairman reiterated Ian Watts’ comments and said that the property group, Gen2 could clearly demonstrate that Kent could deliver better value for money than all surrounding authorities in terms of what Kent spent per square metre on delivering expansions.

5.    Mr Gough reiterated Ian Watts’ comments and said that all of Kent’s academies and maintained schools were treated equally and were approached in the same way.

6.    In response to a question, Ian Watts said that the Knole Academy site would be considered during the second phase of the expansion. He referred to the Kent Commissioning Plan and said that local demand would be best met through expanding the Trinity School and not Knole Academy.

7.    In response to a question, Ian Watts said that free schools and foundation schools wishing to conduct their own consultations was common practice as they were the decision maker and their own admissions authority. He said that the main administration of the consultation was undertaken in conjunction with Kent’s officers to ensure it was wide-ranging. He said that the consultation responses would be made available for Members of the Committee.

8.    At the end of the debate, the recommendation was put to the vote.

9.    RESOLVED that, subject to planning permission being granted, the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, to

a)    allocate £8m from the Children, Young People and Education Capital Budget, to fund any necessary additional works or variations to accommodation;

b)    authorise the Director of Infrastructure in consultation with the General Counsel to enter into any necessary contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council; and

c)    authorise the Director of Infrastructure to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts;

be endorsed.

(Ida Linfield asked that her abstention from the vote be noted in the minutes)