Agenda item

Adjustment to the planned admission number (PAN) of the borough's community secondary schools

[Report of the Director of Children’s Services. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Children and Families.]

 

In November and December 2016 we carried out consultation on the adjustment of the PAN of the borough's community schools to allow for a) adjustment to class sizes of 30, and b) to increase capacity to meet an expected rising demand for year 7 places.  This report sets out the results of the consultation and makes final recommendations on any adjustment to PANs.

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Children and Families introduced the report which set out the context of an emerging national funding formula and its impact on schools’ finances;

 

  • Provided an outline of the representations, the Council  received in autumn 2016 when consulting on proposed adjustments to the published admission numbers (PANs)[1] of the borough’s  secondary community schools;
  • Provides latest data on:

a.    year 7 numbers (including for the incoming September 2017 cohort); and

b.    school roll projections (2017) and their implications for year 7 demand now and in the future;

·         Sets out how the Council expect to meet demand for year 7 places over the coming years;

·         Sets out the proposed condition survey work the Council will carry out in our community secondary schools in summer 2017 to allow the Council to plan for any necessary capital works to facilitate:

a.    any increase in pupil numbers within our community secondary school(s); and

b.    head teachers and governors being able to adjust their class sizes from 27 to 30 if they wish to do so.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.     To retain the current PANs at our five community secondary schools until such time as:

b.    condition surveys have been completed for our community secondary schools to assess how increased numbers in each school might impact on teaching, learning and recreation;

c.    further year 7 secondary transfer applications (2018 and beyond) have taken place and school roll projections have been obtained to inform decision making in year 7 place numbers;

2.    The Council  uses  bulge[2] classes as required if/when pupil numbers take us from a position of surplus to one of deficit between now and 2021 (2019 being the year when we project that we will need additional places);

3.    Officers bring a further report to Cabinet if either demand or projections mean that we need additional year 7 capacity before 2019 at a level that cannot be met through the use of bulge classes alone.

 

Reasons for decision

 

The recommendations set out in this Cabinet report seek to ensure that the Council are able to continue to meet its statutory duty of ensuring enough school places but at the same time guards against an early oversupply of places which would place one or more schools in financial difficulty as a result of reduced pupil to funding ratio, as they wouldn’t be able to fill rolls, which would have a detrimental impact on their ability to successfully manage their budget.

 

Alternative options considered

 

There are two alternative options that have been considered:

 

                   i.        Do nothing to increase year 7 places which carries the high risk of running out of sufficiency of school places by 2019 or before; or

                  ii.        Increase places now which would seem premature given the downward amendment to the year 7 projections based on 2017 projections i.e. we know we are likely to need more year 7 places but that need has a) been pushed back to 2019, and b) is to some extent alleviated by capacity additions by APS and Fortismere schools in September 2016.

 

A cautious but pragmatic approach was proposed around increasing year 7 capacity, but one that ensures the Council can react in a timely and appropriate way to both the expected (projected) and any unexpected increasing (or decreasing) demand based on 2017 and future projections.

 

 



[1] Planned admission number (PAN) - the maximum number of pupils to be admitted into a particular year group at a school.

[2] Bulge classes are one off additional classes in any given cohort that are used to increase the supply of school places.  They are most frequently used for an unexpected spike in the demand for places that can’t be met locally.  They are sometimes used to accommodate increasing demand where projections mean that we aren’t certain that a permanent expansion is the most effective way forward as the expansion may not be sustainable.

Supporting documents: