Issue - meetings

- report by Mr Grahame Ward, Director – Operations)

(Mr N Chard, Mr P Lake and Mr R Parry were present for this item as local County Members)

(1)               This report presented the results of a public consultation exercise regarding the proposed closure of the Bradbourne School and the Wildernesse School, Sevenoaks and their replacement with a government funded Academy from 1 September 2010.  Members had before them an updated report on the representations received since the publication of the agenda.  Ms Lay said that in total some 222 responses had been received of which 132 were against the proposal, 61 were in favour and 25 were undecided or did not state a clear view for or against. 

(2)                Mr Chard, the local Member for the Sevenoaks East Division and a governor of Bradbourne School, spoke in support of the proposal as it would provide an opportunity to establish a high quality school of choice for young people of all aptitudes and abilities in Sevenoaks.  He said he fully understood the concerns of some parents around the issues of single sex and co-educational education but was confident that these concerns could with careful planning and co-operation be addressed as the proposals were developed in more detail.  He said he believed this proposal presented a one-off opportunity to have a school fit for the 21^st Century and he believed that the proposal should proceed.

(3)               Mr Lake spoke as the local Member for the Sevenoaks South Division.  During the course of his submission Mr Lake spoke in favour of retaining the Bradbourne School for Girls which he said was a well subscribed, all ability school which maintained high standards and enjoyed specialist status in the visual arts.  OfSTED have found the school to be outstanding in its specialist area and therefore there was no need for it to be closed or brought together with the Wildernesse School.  He said he believed the way forward was for the County Council to undertake improvements to the Wildernesse School as that would be far more cost effective than a new Academy being built which had not even at the present time received planning permission.  He said that he did not believe that the land available at the Wildernesse School would be sufficient for the Academy and the increase in student numbers would put further pressure on the local traffic road network.  Mr Lake also questioned whether the Academy would have sufficient capacity to accommodate all the students who currently go out of county to schools in East Sussex and Surrey.

(4)               Mr Lake said that he believed the solution to providing existing educational opportunities in West Kent was to leave the Bradbourne and Wildernesse Schools in place, invest money into the Wildernesse School in order to bring its buildings up to a higher standard and then for an Academy if one was needed to be created in the Edenbridge area.  Such a proposal would enable the retention of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2

(Report by Director, Operations)

(1)       This report sought the views of the Advisory Board on a proposal to undertake a public consultation, in conjunction with the Governing Bodies, on the closure of the Bradbourne School for Girls and the Wildernesse School for Boys, Sevenoaks in order that they may be replaced with a Government funded Academy.

(2)       Mr N J Chard was present for this item and spoke as the Local County Member.  He is also a Governor at The Bradbourne School.  Mr Chard said that he strongly supported this proposal and he paid thanks to the Area Children’s Services Officer for Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells for the manner in which she had managed to deal effectively in keeping all concerned informed and advised of these proposals as they had been developed.  Mr Chard said that some parents of pupils who attended the Bradbourne School for Girls had expressed the view that they had chosen single sex education for their daughters and that this proposal would remove that choice from them.  Therefore this issue needed to be considered carefully and parents who had daughters at the Bradbounre School should be given reassurances that their concerns were understood and would be addressed.

(3)       During the course of discussion, Members of the Advisory Board raised a number of issues to which officers responded.  Members said they particularly wanted to see the concerns of those parents who had daughters at the Bradbourne School looked into and those concerns needed to be carefully considered as part of the public consultation exercise.

(4)       Following discussion, the Advisory Board AGREED that a public consultation exercise, in conjunction with the Governing Bodies be undertaken in respect of this proposal to close the Bradbourne School for Girls and the Wildernessse School for Boys, in order for them to be replaced with a Government funded Academy.