Issue - meetings

The purpose of this signing was to provide the Cabinet Member for Children, Schools & Families with a factual summary of the proposal and any representations received, to enable the Cabinet Member to make a final decision on the proposal to close Tiverton Primary School.

There were a number of reasons under which proposers were permitted to pursue the closure of a maintained school. Two of the four reasons set out on page 23 of the DfE guidance were  relevant to this proposal:

 There were surplus places elsewhere in the local area which could accommodate displaced pupils and there was no predicted demand for the school in the medium to long term;

 it was no longer considered viable;

It was noted that within the report, south grove was listed as a ward within the borough; this was incorrect.

RESOLVED

Recommendations

It was recommended that the Cabinet member:

Note

 that no comments or objections were received during the 4-week representation period despite consulting widely with all relevant stakeholders

 the school was currently in deficit and the revenue budget to operate successfully in future whilst maintaining the delivery of a good quality of education for pupils was severely diminished by the school’s very low pupil numbers.

 Many families had already transferred their children to other local schools; Tiverton Primary currently has 130 pupils on roll (as of week ending 28 March 2025), 29 of which were year 6 pupils that will be transferring to secondary school in September 2025. A significant number have also secured places at other local schools to start following the Easter holidays.

Approve

 the proposal to discontinue the school from 31 August 2025 with displaced pupils transferring to other local schools.

Alternative options considered and not favoured –

The following options were considered and presented to stakeholders as part of the pre-publication consultation carried out in November and December 2024:

·         No change i.e. continuation of current strategy for school improvement without any further action to address falling local rolls

·         Federation

·         Amalgamation resulting in the closure of Tiverton Primary School with the displaced pupils being accommodated by another community school

·         Whether South Grove Primary as the nearest community school with the same type and characteristics as Tiverton Primary could be the best option for an amalgamation/merger. South Grove Primary was previously known as South Grove Primary and changed its name from January 2025.

·         Closure

No change and continuation of current strategy

• This was a highly cost-inefficient option and not sustainable. The school had a deficit budget and there was a significant risk that the deficit balance would increase at a greater rate due to falling rolls. The Council had a responsibility to ensure the efficient use of public money.
• A school with falling rolls would have significantly less funding and this directly affected staffing numbers (both teaching and support staff), resources, equipment, expenditure, maintenance work and extracurricular activities for children. In time, a school affected by income loss will almost inevitably see performance and standards fall. It was the duty  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6