Agenda item

The Children’s, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee is asked to consider and endorse or make recommendations on the Plan prior to the final version being considered and approved by Cabinet on 15 January 2018.

1.    Roger Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) introduced the report which set out the Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent 2018-22. He commented on the significant increase in primary school numbers to which Kent had responded very successfully over the years. He said that the number of children within the primary system in Kent would increase over the next five years from 123,000 to 129,000 and that the number of children within the secondary system in Kent would increase from 79,000 to approximately 92,000 to establish 84 forms of entry over the five year period. He said that the numbers were accelerating rapidly and that the national Free School Programme had experienced a number of difficulties in delivering what schools in Kent needed.

2.    Keith Abbott (Director of Education Planning and Access) referred to the £150m gap in terms of delivering what was required for schools by September 2020. He said that a particular area of concern for special schools in Kent was the number of organisations interested in sponsoring special Free Schools which were getting ready to submit bids in the Wave 13 of the Free School Programme which should have opened in March 2017; there was no clear indication from Government regarding the Wave 13 opening date.

a)    In response to a question, David Adams (Area Education Officer – South Kent) confirmed that there had been ongoing conversations with neighbouring authorities Bexley regarding housing plans and said that some of the pressure would be counted within Kent’s basic need allocations.

b)    In response to a question, Patrick Leeson confirmed that the Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent 2018-22 was driven through educational needs and to allow children to go to a good school to meet their needs as learners. He said that it was proving difficult in terms of take up of two year olds accessing their free early years and child care places. The highest percentage of those two year olds taking up a free place was roughly 74%. He said that all Children Centre’s in Kent were encouraging families to participate in the Free For 2 (FF2) offer. He said that although it was important for the figures to increase, it was the parents’ decision as to whether or not to take up their two year old free place.

c)    In response to a question, Patrick Leeson said that Kent had a statutory responsibility to track all young people from age 16-19 to ensure that they were participating in ongoing learning and training, and added that the young people would be described as NEET (Not in Education, Employment of Training) if they were not. He said that the number of NEET young people in Kent had reduced from over 6% to 2.9% over the last 18 months.

3.    Keith Abbott said there were ongoing conversations with each district council’s Leader and Senior Managers to ensure that the Commissioning Plan was up to date and in line with the information that Kent had.

a)    In response to a question, David Adams confirmed that although the ‘Guidance on Developer Contributions’ document in the report was dated 2008, the charging rates and latest information around costs was updated regularly.

b)    In response to a question, Patrick Leeson said there had been a significant increase in SEN requirements, particularly the Autism Spectrum and said that the number of children diagnosed was higher in Kent than the national figures. He said that Autism was a continual need and said that children with significant and severe characteristic issues around social interaction, changes to environment or routine changes was not predictable. He said that it was possible to ensure that children with autism could be taught in mainstream schools as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was not exceptional, there were varied needs for all children in a school. He said Kent had a statutory responsibility to provide school places for all children. He said there were a number of schools that should have been in operation from September 2017, but temporary arrangements had to be put in place as a result.

4.    Andrew Ireland said that due to the increasing numbers of high needs young people with ASD, consideration was being given towards Kent County Council becoming an Academy sponsor itself.

5.    The Chairman said that Kent as an authority had performed and met statutory duties very well and were mindful of the challenges that the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and Free Schools had presented.

a)    In response to a comment about migration and London Borough’s rehousing families in Kent, David Adams said Kent needed to have the surplus capacity that was set within the policy to ensure flexibility to manage such situations in the short term. He said that it was not always possible to ensure the surplus capacity and said it may not be efficient in terms of the immediate locality to deal with all of the pressures. He said that officers needed to have good relationships with individual schools to be able to work with those schools to find the solutions to problems. Patrick Leeson said that this was a recurring issue and that Kent had to work closely with schools in the local area to find places for families.

b)    In response to questions, Marisa White (Area Education Officer – East Kent) said that funding was provided to schools experiencing wider issues and said they receive information around the packages for integration for children and young people. She said bespoke teams were being formed and sent to schools to help them get back on track to work with normal day to day services. She said that with regards to housing pressures, there were sufficient places in Canterbury, but believed the location of these houses could be better situated.

6.    Patrick Leeson said that in spite of all of the challenges and significant growth that Kent had been faced with, Kent County Council had delivered all of the school places required every September for the last several years. The levels of parental satisfaction were high. He said that 89% of children from primary schools had got their first or second preference school last September, and 85% of children from secondary schools had got their first or second preference of school. He registered his thanks to Kent’s Area Officers and also to Keith Abbott for the work that had been done on the provision. He also thanked the Schools in Kent who had been willing to expand and work with Kent County Council to make the provision.

7.    Roger Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) said that although the Leader of Kent County Council was consistently working hard to ensure that Kent had the maximum amount for developer contributions possible, there were significant constraints that needed to be looked at further.

8.    RESOLVED that the Plan prior to the final version being considered and approved by Cabinet on 15 January 2018, be endorsed.