Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence and notification of any substitutes present.

Apologies for absence were received from Mrs R Binks, Mrs S Chandler, Mr J Constanti, Mrs L Game, Mr S Manion and Mr Q Roper.

Mr S Hamilton and Mr I Thomas attended as substitutes for Mrs L Game and Mrs R Binks respectively.

To receive any declarations of interest made by Members in relation to any matter on the agenda.  Members are reminded to specify the agenda item number to which it refers and the nature of the interest being declared.

No Declarations of Interest were received.

To consider and approve the minutes as a correct record.

1.    Resolved that the minutes of the meeting of the Children’s, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee held on 7 September 2017 are correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman.

To receive verbal updates from the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education and the Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education.

1.    Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) summarised the latest developments on the National Funding Formula (NFF) and the significance that the NFF had had for Schools in Kent. Central government had found it challenging to establish a formula for distributing funding which satisfied the aspirations of areas of deprivation. Consultation had been undertaken at the beginning of the year to scrutinise the first attempt at the formula. Secretary of State had announced a new approach for the formula in July 2017 and Kent were in the process of responding and consulting with schools. He said that Kent would receive an additional £50m in the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) over the next 2 financial years. He said that although there had been positive movement, there were still financial constraints.

2.    The Chairman suggested holding a Members briefing on the National Funding Formula and High Needs Funding before the next meeting of the Committee.

3.    Patrick Leeson (Corporate Director of Children, Young People and Education) said that the demand for High Needs Funding had increased from schools and Kent’s budget had risen from £8m a year in 2013/14 to £23m in recent years. He added that these figures were expected to increase further over the next few years. The increase in demand for HNF had put a significant amount of pressure on the DSG and options were being considered to allocate more money to HNF or potentially capping the budget for Special Educational Needs (SEN) in Kent.

4.    RESOLVED that the verbal updates be noted.

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education and the Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education to consider and either endorse or make a recommendation to the Cabinet Member on the proposed decisions to build a new 6FE Secondary School in Margate and to permanently expand Ursuline College by 2FE from September 2019.

1.    Keith Abbott (Director of Education, Planning and Access) introduced the report which set out the provision of a new 6FE secondary school in Margate, the permanent 2FE expansion of Ursuline College from September 2019, and some temporary expansions of existing secondary schools in Thanet which would be required in order to ensure that sufficient Year 7 places were available for entry in September 2018 and 2019.

2.    Marisa White (Area Education Officer – East Kent) said that the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education had not yet taken the decision to acquire the site. She said that the earliest time that the decision could be taken was 18October 2017. Current figures set out in the report did not take full account of children that may come forward from the strategic housing development.

a)    In response to a question, Marisa White said that advice had been sought from colleagues in Property and Infrastructure regarding the proposed cost of £20m and said that feasibilities were undertaken with all of the secondary schools in Thanet. She added that she had been in consultation with head teachers and a number of governors from the schools. She said that parental preference was taken on board when looking to expand a school and any expansion proposal would be subject to full consultation.

3.    Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) reminded the Committee of the potential difficulties that the process of school expansions can bring.

4.    In response to a question, Marisa White said that the former Royal School for the Deaf site would have a new school built and ready for use by September 2020. She said that the current vacant site in Walmer was fit for occupation and there would be minimal costs for this site to be used. She discussed the 7FE pressures due to arise in 2019 and said the pressure could be dealt with by a range of temporary expansions in current Thanet secondary schools, or to temporarily use the Walmer site to house pupils. However, the Walmer site could not be used for this reason due to the current admissions code. Mr Gough said that although the Walmer site could not be used for this purpose, other options for the site needed to be looked at. He said that although there was a good site available, the pupil demand was elsewhere. Therefore transport costs would be significant if temporary use was made of the site.

5.    In response to questions, Marisa White said that there was more capacity for sixth form provision in Thanet and that there were a range of post 16 options across the district. She said that it would not be an issue if schools did not start with a sixth form. This would be something that would be reviewed if pupil pressures started to increase.

6.    Patrick Leeson (Corporate Director of Children, Young People and Education) agreed with Marisa White and said that it was no longer a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education and the Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education to consider and either endorse or make a recommendation to the Cabinet Member on the proposed measures to mitigate the pressure for Year 7 Secondary school places in Tunbridge Wells Borough.

1.    Jared Nehra (Area Education Officer – West Kent) introduced the report and registered his thanks to all of the schools who had helped to admit additional children for the September 2017 admissions across Tunbridge Wells and provided 4FE additional provision which was required in order to meet the demand for year 7 school places.

2.    In response to questions, Jared Nehra said there was a high demand for boy’s grammar school places and said a balance needed to be maintained for selective and non-selection provision. He said there were limited options for the temporary expansion of schools as there were a number of constraints across the Tunbridge Wells area. He added that children would not have to move from school to school during any temporary expansions. He said that proposals with Highways colleagues were being brought forward to ensure traffic issues were considered and said he was confident that securing development contributions across West Kent would be successful.

3.    Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) said the Committee would be looking at how school expansions were funded in November’s meeting.

4.    RESOLVED that the measures proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education to mitigate the pressure for Year 7 Secondary school places in Tunbridge Wells Borough, be endorsed.

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education and the Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education to consider and either endorse or make a recommendation to the Cabinet Member on the proposed decision to allocate funding for a new Primary School and Secondary School in Dartford and to commence Free School Presumption Competition processes to seek sponsors to run the new schools.

1.    Ian Watts (Area Education Officer – North Kent) introduced the report which set out the need for a new Secondary School of up to 8 forms of entry (FE) and a new 2FE Primary School in Dartford and requested endorsement to commence Free School Presumption Competition processes to seek sponsors to run the new schools.

a)    In response to comments and questions, Ian Watts referred to the use of ‘pupil product ratios’ to determine the age-band of people who were likely to move into the new build homes. He said that the large sites each had Education Review Groups to undertake assessments with developers and Councils to review the provision. He said there would be scope to look at further expanding some of the sites that would be coming online. There were good relationships with Dartford Borough Council and the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation and they were very open to working with Kent to look at additional land if required.

b)    In response to comments, Ian Watts Kent had been working with the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and confirmed that Springhead Park in Ebbsfleet would be coming online.

2.    Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) discussed the need to plan ahead and said that temporary expansions were usually put in place to fill gaps before new schools were put in place.

3.    RESOLVED that the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, to:

       i.        Commence a Free School Presumption Competition process in order to seek applications from potential sponsors to run a new Secondary School in Dartford, within the Alkerden development on Eastern Quarry, which forms part of the Ebbsfleet Garden City;

      ii.        Commence a Free School Presumption Competition process in order to seek applications from potential sponsors to run a new 2FE Primary School in Dartford, within the Ebbsfleet Green development, which forms part of the Ebbsfleet Garden City;

    iii.        Allocate £2.5m from the Basic Need Capital Programme Budget to fund the provision of the second FE of the proposed 2FE Primary School on Ebbsfleet Green;

    iv.        Authorise the Director of Infrastructure in consultation with General Counsel to enter into any necessary contracts and agreements on behalf of the County Council; and

      v.        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.  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,

be endorsed.

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education and the Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education to consider and either endorse or make a recommendation to the Cabinet Member on the proposed decision to request to delay the expansion of Sellindge Primary School until September 2020.

1.    David Adams introduced the report which set out the request to delay the expansion of Sellindge Primary School until September 2020.

2.    RESOLVED that the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, to

a)    Delay until 1 September 2020 the expansion of Sellindge Primary School by 0.5FE, and the associated increase in the published admissions number to 30,

be endorsed.