Agenda item

To review and provide comment on the School Organisation and Investment Strategy 2018.

7.1       The Committee received a report on the School Organisation and Investment Strategy 2018, which provided details on place planning, projected pupil numbers, spare capacity and opportunities for providing new school places. 

7.2       The Committee heard that the data used to obtain the information for the Strategy was collected from the 2011 Census and from the GLA School Roll Projection Service.  The Committee heard there was still currently a small surplus of primary school places and that the Council was in discussion with all schools to identify opportunities to develop a collaborative approach to ensure future viability.  The Committee noted that the Strategy anticipated the increasing need for additional secondary school pupil places and the flexible approach Westminster was taking to provide these places in the future. 

7.3       The Committee discussed the following issues:

• the creative ways and principals that would guide Westminster in providing more secondary school places within Westminster.
• the opportunities to work with academy sponsors to assist in delivering additional secondary school places.
• the additional secondary school places that had already been created at St George’s school and Westminster City and the expansion projects at King Solomon Academy and Pimlico Academy.
• the work carried out by the Admissions Team on encouraging parents to make realistic preference choices on their school admission form
• Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision and the possibility of SEND units being located in Westminster’s mainstream schools.
• the secondary population trends and cross border movement and the popularity of Westminster’s Outstanding Secondary schools,
• the capacity and admissions criteria of the Sir Simon Milton Foundation UTC.
• the financial issues facing Primary schools that were exacerbated when a school was not at full capacity and the creative ways to use school resources.
• the impact of Regeneration Schemes, Universal Credit and Brexit on school places across London.

7.4       ACTIONS:

1. The Committee requested that they receive regular updates regarding the potential expansion of Pimlico Academy (particularly Professor Ryan and Councillor Andrea Mann).

2. The Committee requested a briefing note on the capacity/admission criteria of the Sir Simon Milton Foundation UTC.

3. The Committee requested to see the report commissioned on staff turnover in Westminster’s schools.

7.5       RESOLVED: The Committee concluded with the following comments, which would be forwarded to the Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Education, and Community:

1. The Committee welcomed the work that had already been undertaken to provide additional secondary school places and noted that further consideration still needed to be carried out on the different options of how to provide the necessary school places in the future.

2. The Committee encouraged that, due to the small surplus of places in primary schools in Westminster and financial issues being exacerbated when a school is not at full capacity, primary schools be encouraged to be creative when meeting these financial challenges.  This can include solutions such as letting or renting school spaces to external organisations and sharing resources amongst schools, including headteachers/teachers/equipment.  

3. The Committee highlighted the need for the Admissions Team to continue sharing knowledge and supporting schools regarding encouraging parents to make realistic preference choices on their school admissions form

4. The Committee suggested that carrying out comparisons with other local boroughs to learn from their strategies and improve existing practices could be useful.