Agenda item

(1)     As part of the review and reorganisation of special schools in Kent, Portal House School in Dover was re-designated from a 9-13 residential school catering for 45 children with emotional and behavioural difficulties to an 11-16 school making day provision for 60 pupils with Behaviour, Emotional and Social Developments Needs.  The report proposed the relocation of Portal House Special school to the site of the former Newington Infants School in Thanet with effect from 1 September 2009.

(2)     The school was currently located on a compact site in the village of St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe near Dover, very close to St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe Primary School.  The existing accommodation at Portal House was unsuitable for its secondary age designation and the increase in the overall size of the school from 45 – 60 students.  Funding was available through the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme to provide new purpose built accommodation.  However, the existing site was unsuitable for development and a new site must be secured.

(3)     A number of alternative sites within the Dover district and one in Thanet were explored as possibilities for relocation but these all proved to be unsuitable for a variety of reasons. The former Newington Infants School site provided the potential for development as a suitable site for Portal House.  Development would require major new build on the footprint of the existing school building.  It would also be necessary to use a small portion of the adjacent playing field site which currently belonged to Clarendon House.

(4)     The Newington site had a number of significant advantages which commended its suitability for the relocation of Portal House:-

-         It was available and already owned by KCC.

-         It was sufficient in terms of space and provided a pleasing environment for students.  The site could accommodate state of the art new buildings, as envisaged under the BSF scheme.

-         A significant number of pupils (14) came from the Thanet area and approximately half of these came from Ramsgate.  Travelling distances would therefore be reduced and parental contact with the school potentially eased by closer proximity to home.

 -        Use of the Newington site would allow Portal House to benefit from participation in Wave 4 of the BSF programme generating major capital investment by 2009.

(5)     Major investment of c. £7.7m was planned to provide state of the art facilities through the BSF programme.  The site was already owned by KCC and there would be no costs in relation to site acquisition.

(6)     Views of the local Members, Mrs E Green and Mr A Poole were set out in the report.

(7)     Relocation to the Newington site would provide the opportunity to develop superb facilities within a vibrant educational community combined with a reduction in travelling distances for many students, the move would have a beneficial impact on standards by allowing students to be educated and supported in a first class learning environment with strong community connections.

(8)     The largest number of students currently at Portal House School, came from Thanet.  Given the residential profile of existing students, the overall impact of relocation was likely to be that travelling times would be reduced.  Even with Portal House full at 60 pupils, the overall number of pupils was small and many lived in the locality.  It was not anticipated that the relocation would generate significant problems with traffic or congestion locally.  Certainly, the situation in St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe would be improved significantly, given the narrow road and difficult access to the existing school site.

(9)     The Board supported the proposal that there should be a public consultation on the possible relocation of Portal House School from its existing site at St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe to the former Newington Infants School in Thanet, in accordance with the timetable set out in the report.