Agenda item

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 requirement for schools to start with a sixth form. He added that there were 1,800 children and young people placed in Kent by other Local Authorities who were looked after by those Local Authorities. He said that the requirement for additional school places was being driven by the general rise in population overall and new housing developments.

7.    The Chairman said that many schools across the county had closed their sixth forms in order to focus on the agenda for KS3 and KS4 more accurately.

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

       i.        Agree that a Free School Presumption Competition process can commence in order to seek applications from potential sponsors to run a new Secondary School in Thanet on the former Royal School for the Deaf site in Margate,

      ii.        Allocate £20m from the Basic Need Capital Programme Budget to fund the building of the new Secondary School,

    iii.        Allocate £3m for the permanent expansion of Ursuline College and agreement for the Local Authority (LA) to hold a joint consultation on a proposal to permanently expand the school,

    iv.        Authorise the Director of Infrastructure in consultation with General Counsel to enter into any necessary contracts/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.