Decision details

To consider a report of the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services seeking approval to make amendments to the statutory proposals that were published in January and February 2011. 

The first amendment is to put back the expansion of Fairisle Infant and Junior schools by one year, as the demand for places in this area is less than anticipated.  The second is to amend the admissions arrangements for Wordsworth Infant school so that the school can admit Year 3 pupils from September 2013, two years earlier than originally planned as the extra classrooms at the school will be available earlier than anticipated.  This decision is subject to the completion of a consultation which will indicate whether or not there is demand for additional year 3 places at Wordsworth in 2013.

(i)  To approve a modification to the Cabinet decision of 14 March 2011 by way of altering the implementation for the expansions of Fairisle Infant from September 2012 to September 2014 and of Fairisle Junior from September 2015 to September 2017.

(ii)  To approve a modification to the Cabinet decision of 11 April 2011 by way of altering the implementation for the expansion of Wordsworth Infant school so that current year R and year 1 pupils will progress to year 3 in 2013 and 2014.

1.  Fairisle Infant school was due to expand from 3 forms of entry to 4 forms of entry from September 2012 as part of our primary school expansion programme, which was initiated in response to the unprecedented increase in the rise in pupil numbers.

2.  When on time applicants were allocated places, it became apparent that the additional 30 places that were added to Fairisle would not be filled.  Further analysis indicated that approximately 20 pupils within the schools vicinity applied for and were allocated a place at Hampshire schools.  Had these children been allocated a place at their local school, the majority of these places would have been filled.

3.  The planned capital project at the Fairisle Infant School was to be a new classroom ready for September 2012.  As the 30 additional places that put on at the school remain unfilled, a capital project to add capacity at the school does not seem an appropriate use of capital funds.  Officers suggest that this expansion project be postponed for 1 year in order to ensure that our capital funding is targeted at the areas/schools with the greatest need for additional capacity. 

4.  The pupils at Fairisle Infant school generally feed into Fairisle Junior school, which is located on the same site as the infant.  If the infant school project is postponed for 1 year, the junior school project would also need to be postponed from September 2015 to September 2016. 

5.  The planned capital project at the Fairisle Infant School was to be a new classroom ready for September 2012.  As the 30 additional places that put on at the school remain unfilled, a capital project to add capacity at the school does not seem an appropriate use of capital funds.  Officers suggest that this expansion project be postponed for 1 year in order to ensure that our capital funding is targeted at the areas/schools with the greatest need for additional capacity. 

6.  Wordsworth Infant is expanding from a 2 form of entry infant school to a 3 form of entry primary school from September 2012.  The initial proposal was for the school to admit 90 children to year R from September 2012 and to allow these children to progress to year 3 in September 2015. 

7.  At present 60 children from Wordsworth Infant and 90 children from Shirley Infant generally compete for 120 places at Shirley Junior.  This results in up to 30 children having to access key stage 2 places outside of the local area.  The expansion of Wordsworth from an infant to a primary would add additional key stage places and relieve the pressure on key stage 2 places.

8.  The capital project for the school is due for completion in September 2013, meaning that the school will have significant number of spare classrooms, which wouldn’t be fully used until pupils work their way through Key Stage 2 year groups from September 2015.  During the consultation on the building project it became apparent that there was parental demand for pupils to remain at the school and progress to year 3 in September 2013, if the teaching space was available.  This is supported by the positive responses that the LA and school received as part of a consultation process (see Appendix 1). 

9.  The available accommodation and level of support for the alteration has encouraged both the school and LA to seek to bring forward the date as to when the existing school pupils will progress to year 3 September 2013. 

1.  The LA could have proceeded with the PAN increase and associated capital works at Fairisle Infant, although this would more than likely have led to the additional capacity being built at the school remaining empty.  Given the current constraints on capital budgets, expenditure on this project, for the 2012/2013 academic was not considered as the best use of funds.

2.  The admissions arrangements that were agreed in the original school organisation decision could remain in place (i.e. that the school would only admit year 3 pupils from September 2015).  This was planned this way so that the increased Year R cohort from 2012 would be the first to access Year 3 places at Wordsworth.  This arrangement could remain in place, however the completion of the capital project by September 2013 means that their will be a significant number of surplus classrooms available and there is also considerable interest from parents of current Wordsworth pupils for their children to remain at the school from 2013 onwards (see Appendix 1).  If the arrangements remained in place, a significant capital asset would remain under utilised and it could be perceived that the LA were not satisfying parental demand. 

3.  The changes to the year 3 admissions arrangements would also serve to relieve the pressure on key stage 2 places in the West of the city and in Shirley in particular.  Currently 3 classes from Shirley Infant and 2 from Wordsworth infant feed into 4 at Shirley Junior.  This deficit of junior places often leaves children displaced from their community and peers.  This situation would continue for a further 2 years if the admission arrangements were not altered, which would continue to put pressure on junior schools in the West of the city.