Gloucestershire Secondary Schools Place Planning Autumn 2012

Schools Education Bill & the Strategic role for Local Authorities Champions for parents, families and vulnerable pupils. Promote good supply of strong schools Ensure fair access Promote social justice Develop school improvement strategies

Legislation Current School Organisation Planning legislative framework places duties on local authorities to ensure Sufficient, high quality school places fair access, and diversity of provision

Schools Admissions Code: Changes Local authority no longer required to co-ordinate in-year admissions Removal of requirement to consult on any increase to published admission number Flexibility for schools to admit additional pupils Introduction of newly permitted oversubscription criteria Changing requirements for children with challenging behaviour and other fair access groups

Academies and Free Schools Benefit from greater freedoms to innovate and raise standards. Existing schools can convert to academy status and some academies will have a sponsor. Existing maintained schools cannot convert to Free School status. Free Schools can be located in traditional school buildings or appropriate community spaces such as office buildings or church halls. They could be ‘set up in response to real demand within a local area’. Free Schools will have some additional freedoms. Will both be part of the LA coordinated admissions process

The challenge Develop a spirit of co-operation between LA, governing bodies and school leadership teams, to achieve a fair and open way forward to meet the education needs of all local families and their children. Local authority duty to ensure the supply of high quality school places across Gloucestershire Freedom of individual schools to increase their admission number without consultation

School Planning and Development Current issues affecting primary schools Analyse future impact on secondary schools Consult with Members, Dioceses, Headteachers and Governors Report to Lead Member on actions needed to address any shortfall in secondary education provision

Housing development The County Council is aware of a wide range of housing developments across the all districts. These comprise: Current active cases for which GCC has submitted a planning response to the District Council; Cases for which a section 106 (S106) legal agreement has been completed and contributions secured; Cases where development has commenced; Cases for which S106 agreement is completed and contributions have been received

Demand-led Approach - Individual Schools The freedom for individual schools to admit additional children could be useful in managing localised demand issues, however there are risks in this approach: One school could expand at the expense of another - leading to school closure and removal of school diversity and choice; Other children could be denied access to their local school - leading to community isolation and increased transport costs; Schools may not be able to manage future fluctuations in demand – leading to more costly solutions and creating barriers to education

Considerations There is clear rationale for schools only to admit additional pupils where: It has the physical capacity and available resources; There would be no adverse financial impact on the school However, wider factors for consideration include: Have other children been refused a place? Or appealed? Could the school admit other children in the future? Could other local schools admit the child?

Summary The local authority has a duty to secure sufficient schools places for all children in their area. Overall county Year 7 intake numbers will continue to fall in the short term, but will start to rise again, reaching a peak in The situation is not consistent across the county. Individual schools may experience pressure on places even in districts that appear to have sufficient places available. It is generally recognised that some spare capacity is needed within the school admissions system to ensure some flexibility and options for parental choice. Schools should use the formal route of increasing their admission number as the most transparent and fairest method of offering places. Housing development will be carefully monitored to assess the impact on local schools to inform planning.