Issue details

Proposed decision –The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills:

1. APPROVE the allocation of £1,200,000 (exclusive of VAT) from the Children’s, Young People and Education Basic Need Capital Budget to fund the work to increase the capacity at Ebbsfleet Green Primary School.

2. DELEGATE authority to the Director of Infrastructure, in consultation with the Head of Law and Director of Education and SEND to take relevant actions including but not limited to entering into relevant contracts or other legal agreements as required to implement the decision; and

3. AGREE for the Director of Infrastructure, to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements, with authority to enter 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 for Education and Skills without requiring a new Record of Decision.

Reason for the decision

Kent County Council (KCC) as the Local Authority, has a statutory duty to ensure sufficient high quality school places are available, in the right places for all learners, while at the same time fulfilling our other responsibilities to raise education standards and promote parental preference. The County Council’s Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent 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.

This proposal to increase the capacity at Ebbsfleet Green Primary School has been developed because the Kent Commissioning Plans for 2024/28 and 2025/29 both indicated there would be a shortfall in Year R places for September 2024 and September 2025 in the Swanscombe and Ebbsfleet Planning Group (which includes the Ebbsfleet Garden City). Partly due to delays in the planned opening of the new primary school at Alkerden Church of England Academy.

To support KCC in mitigating against this shortfall, the Maritime Academy Trust and the school

agreed to admit bulge classes of 30 pupils for two years - increasing their Reception intake

from 60 to offer 90 places for September 2024 and September 2025. The school was able to

initially accommodate these additional classes, as the school is still growing following it’s

opening in 2020, and two classes were still unused. However, by September 2026, the school

will be full and therefore, additional classrooms are required to ensure the two bulge classes

can be safely accommodated.

Background

Dartford Borough’s population is increasing with more families moving into the area. Ebbsfleet Green Primary School was opened in direct response to the rapid expansion of the Ebbsfleet Garden City development - part of a large-scale project delivering thousands of new homes and community infrastructure. As a result of this rapid expansion and delays to the opening of the new primary school at Alkerden Church of England Academy, KCC needed additional Year R primary school places to manage the increase in demand for the September 2024 and September 2025 intakes. One strategy for providing additional Year R school places for these two years has been to expand existing successful and popular schools.

Ebbsfleet Green Primary School is a mixed-gender free school for children aged 3 to 11 years (Reception through Year 6, including a 26-place nursery). It opened in September 2020 and is part of the Maritime Academy Trust, which acts as its academy sponsor and admissions authority. The school offers a non-selective, inclusive education, and includes a 15-place Specialist Resource Provision (SRP) for pupils with autism spectrum disorder - The Woodlands.

Following an inspection that took place in March 2023, Ofsted deemed Ebbsfleet Green Primary School to be a ‘GOOD’ school.

The proposed scheme is to permanently install three additional classrooms along with appropriate ancillary space, to provide the school with sufficient space to safely accommodate the two additional bulge classes and create a second nursery class, providing much needed additional early years places in the locality.

As previously stated, the school also hosts a SRP and it is clear the complexity of needs in the school has increased considerably since the school first opened. Longer term (5-6 years), when the bulge classes have progressed through the school, the then free classrooms can be used as additional SEND intervention spaces. This could include a physical expansion of the SRP.

Options (other options considered but discarded)

KCC considered whether other primary schools in the Swanscombe and Ebbsfleet Planning Group had additional Year R capacity for September 2024 and September 2025. However, no additional capacity was available. Therefore, no other primary school in the local area could produce sufficient places to meet the demand in the timescales required.

Once Ebbsfleet Green Primary School had been selected as the school to accommodate the additional pupils, there were three possible options identified. The two options that were considered but discarded were:

• Permanently expand the school by one FE. This option was logistically and financially challenging due to the configuration and size of the school site. Additionally, as the primary provision at Alkerden Church of England Academy is due to open in September 2026, this option was dismissed.
• Increase the school’s capacity temporarily using leased modular accommodation for six years was not considered a feasible solution. It would impose significant additional strain on the Education Revenue Budget while delivering no long-term benefit. Even for a minimal setup - just two classrooms with toilets and no third classroom to provide essential flexible space for interventions, the cost would be £914,899. Given the high expense, lack of flexibility, and absence of lasting value, this option was dismissed. 

How the proposed decision supports the Council’s Strategic Statement

This proposal is necessary for KCC to continue to deliver the statutory duty, in a cost-effective

way, in line with the guidelines described KCC’s strategic statement. It will help to maintain

KCC’s strategic role in supporting schools in Kent to deliver accessible, high-quality education

provision for all families by;

• Priority: Delivering Better Outcomes for Children and Young People - Access to Local Education: Expanding capacity ensures children can attend a good local school, reduces travel and supports wellbeing. Meeting Demand: Responds to demographic growth and housing developments, ensuring sufficient places for all primary-aged children.
• Priority: Tackling Inequalities and Improving Inclusion - Inclusive Mainstream Provision: Increasing capacity in mainstream schools supports KCC’s commitment to inclusion, reducing reliance on specialist placements and enabling children with SEND to learn alongside peers. Equity of Access: Prevents overcrowding and ensures fair access to high-quality education for all families.
• Priority: Sustainable and Efficient Use of Resources - Cost-Effective Growth: Expanding existing schools is more efficient than building new schools, aligning with KCC’s aim to manage resources responsibly. Environmental Sustainability: Maximises existing infrastructure and reduces the carbon footprint compared to new builds.
• Priority: Stronger Communities and Localism - Community Cohesion: Keeping children in local schools strengthens community identity and parental engagement, supporting KCC’s vision for resilient communities.

Financial Implications

Capital

The approved KCC procurement route for Ebbsfleet Green Primary School is a competitive tender process with preferred mobile contractors, delivered under a JCT Design and Build Contract 2016 (with KCC amendments). The appointed contractor will assume full design responsibility to provide a compliant solution.

This scheme will be managed by KCC and will be confirmed via a legally binding agreement between KCC and the Maritime Academy Trust. From feasibility studies, the cost for the whole scheme will be £1,294,245 (exclusive of VAT). However, it should be noted that figures from these studies represent high-level estimates, and the final tendered cost is expected to be less than £1,200,000 (exclusive of VAT). This reduction will include savings from value engineering the project.

The current cost-per-pupil benchmark for Primary Extension and Refurbishment is:

• KCC baseline: £20,698.57 per pupil
• DfE benchmark: £23,339.66 per pupil

Based on the high-level cost provided, this scheme equates to approximately £20,000 per pupil. However, as noted above, the final tendered cost is expected to be lower, and could even reduce to as little as £16,666.66 per pupil. KCC Project Managers will be undertaking continuous checks to keep project costs as low as possible.

Should the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills agree to progress the scheme; an agreement will be finalised and sealed with the Maritime Academy Trust. The agreement will set out the requirements on the school to maintain the accommodation.

An allowance of up to £2,500 per teaching space may be payable to Ebbsfleet Green Primary School; to outfit each new teaching room with appropriate ICT equipment, such as touch screens or projection equipment. This will be met from the overall Capital allocation for this scheme.

Capital Costs for mainstream provision are funded through the Basic Need Capital Programme, which is made up from a range of sources including the Basic Need Grant, Developer Contributions, Prudential Borrowing (originally agreed to fund shortfalls in historic schemes) and other specific grants (such as schools rebuild programme). The Basic Need Grant is the largest contributor to the programme and is provided by the DfE to support local authorities fulfil their statutory duty to ensure there are enough school places for children aged 5 to 16 in their area. The grant is allocated annually, based on Local Authorities’ own pupil forecasts and school capacity data, which they submit through the School Capacity Survey. The funding is primarily intended to support the creation of new school places - either by expanding existing schools or building new ones to meet projected demand.

The Education capital programme is continuously reviewed, with projects entering and leaving the programme regularly in response to demand and project completions. As at September 2025, the Basic Need programme for current and future schemes had a budget of circa £154m and the value of projects that are currently included in the programme is circa £110m (this included the potential cost of £1.2m for this project). The current balance of circa £44m will be used to meet the cost of any new schemes, alongside future DfE Basic Need Grant allocations, new developer contributions and other external grants. To ensure all schemes are prioritised appropriately and expenditure is controlled within available funding, any new scheme included in the programme, first needs to be considered and agreed by Education Asset Board, before being progressed through the formal governance processes. 

Revenue

Should the scheme not proceed through to completion, any costs incurred at the time of cessation would become abortive costs and are likely to be recharged to Revenue. This would be reported through the regular financial monitoring reports to Cabinet. This will be a cost to the General Fund.

As the scheme progresses, £6,000 per newly provided learning space, would be provided towards the cost of furniture and equipment, such as tables, desks, chairs, cabinets and learning resources. This will be funded from the Dedicated Schools Grant Growth Fund.

Ebbsfleet Green Primary School will appoint additional staff as required; utilising revenue funding allocated through the Schools Funding Formula for these additional students.

Legal Implications  

KCC, as the Local Authority, has a statutory duty to ensure sufficient school places are available. This duty applies to mainstream settings, as well as SEND provision. The County Council’s Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent 2025-29 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.

Under the Children and Families Act 2014 KCC has a duty ‘to support the child and his or her parent, or the young person, in order to facilitate the development of the child or young person and to help him or her achieve the best possible educational and other outcomes’. By ensuring we have appropriate provision as locally as possible, we are delivering on our obligation in accordance with this legislation.

Local Authorities need to deliver their statutory duties and be aware of non-statutory guidance

and advice, which relate to children and young people. These include are:

• Department for Education - Making significant changes to an academy 2025: non-statutory guidance on collaborative school place planning and making organisational changes to academies.
• Sufficiency Duties: KCC is under a statutory duty to contribute towards the spiritual, moral, mental and physical development of the community by securing that efficient primary education and secondary education are available to meet the needs of the population of their area: section 13 of the Education Act 1996 (“the 1996 Act”).
• KCC must ensure that its education functions are exercised by the authority with a view to promoting high standards, ensuring fair access to opportunity for education and training, and promoting the fulfilment of learning potential by every person under the age of 20 and those over the age of 20 and for whom an EHC Plan is maintained: section 13A. By section 14, KCC must secure that sufficient schools for providing primary and secondary education are available for their area, defined as being sufficient in number, character and equipment to provide for all pupils the opportunity of appropriate education.
• KCC, when carrying out its functions must have “due regard” to the provisions of section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, known as the ‘public sector equality duty’.

Planning permission will be required for the new accommodation to enable the expansion of the school’s accommodation. As part of the agreement, KCC will be responsible for gaining the appropriate planning consent.

The Director of Infrastructure in consultation with the Director of Education will be overseeing the scheme to ensure public funds are utilised appropriately.