Agenda item

This report presents the draft school organisation strategy 2019 that provides the Council, schools, and residents with a five-year strategic plan on the delivery of school places through all phases across Hammersmith and Fulham.  

Kevin Gordon (Head of Assets, Operations and Programmes) and Christine Edwards (Principal Officer, School Place Planning) presented the Council's draft School Organisation Strategy for 2019 which provided the Council, schools, and residents a five-year strategic plan on the delivery of school places through all phases across the borough. Kevin Gordon noted that this was the first organisation strategy to be produced since the department became a sovereign service in April 2018.

Kevin Gordon gave some historical context, noting that in past years the GLA had inaccurately forecast an increase in the pupil roll which led a number of Councils in London, including H&F, to build additional schools in preparation. In 2018 the GLA had identified problems with the forecast and the updated figures showed lower pupil numbers for the borough.

The Chair asked if officers were confident of the latest projections. Kevin Gordon said the GLA had been very open about the methodology that they got wrong - and since then a number of independent groups had verified the latest figures. There were however various factors that impacted these things that were almost impossible to predict (e.g. policy changes, the impacts of Brexit).

Councillor Mark Loveday said the Council should take the figures from the GLA and apply our own experience. He gave the example of the recent riverside development where large numbers of children were predicted but, in reality, relatively few families occupied the units. Kevin Gordon said officers were taking those issues into consideration - particularly for the ongoing Old Oak development. Officers had asked for more precise projections of the number of units and sizes of homes to make more accurate predictions.

Kevin Gordon informed the Committee that within five years there would be a significant primary surplus of 26.4%. The secondary roll was within expected levels with a 6.3% surplus by 2023. In terms of financial planning, the Council would be supporting schools over the next five years to help them deal with these issues. There had been a real terms reduction in school funding nationally - calculated by the IFS as a reduction of 8 percent. Officers were working with them on methods to share costs and perhaps reduce their pupil admission number (PAN).

Vic Daniels asked how reducing the PAN reduced costs for a school. Officers explained that a school with a one and a half forms of entry each year would have to pay for two teachers but would only get 75 percent of the funding that a school with two full forms of entry would get. Education funding was largely driven by pupil numbers.

Matt Jenkins asked if falling rolls would lead to redundancies. Kevin Gordon said officers and schools were looking at solutions like sharing roles when they become vacant.

Vic Daniels noted that school funding lagged behind actual pupil numbers as it was based on the previous year's census. He asked if this gave schools enough time to consider cost savings. Kevin said this was part of the reason for the strategy - to get it in front of schools as soon as possible so they can think about the future and plan to remain viable.

Kevin Gordon informed the Committee that part of the solution would be better marketing for the borough's primary schools. Officers wanted to better understand parent choice and hoped to encourage more to use the excellent community schools available. The strategy also gave the Council an evidence base to show the DfE there was no need for new Academies or Free School to be built in the borough - as they would put further pressure on the system. Kevin added that officers would be carrying out further modelling on our special schools to ensure they were viable in future years.

Councillor Mark Loveday noted that nearly 1 in 3 primary schools places were surplus in the south of the borough - and that had been the situation for a number of years. He asked why officers were confident that could change dramatically, given the historical trends. Steve Miley said this report represented a projection, based on GLA figures, assuming nothing else changes. There were a range of assumptions built in to the model. The commitment from the Council was that it would support schools to increase the numbers on roll and help them become more sustainable. There would always be challenges given the boroughs location - London had significant mobility and the independent sector was very strong in certain areas. A number of children who lived in the borough were educated outside - but they could come back with the right incentive. The Council would be working with local schools to make them 'schools of choice'.

The Chair asked for more detail on what the Council could do to get parents to send their children to community schools rather than private schools. Steve Miley said it was common to see private primary school children to go to community secondary schools and there was no reason why that couldn't be flipped around. Parents were faced with so much choice and often first choices weren't driven by real data but by perception. The Council was confident of the quality of schools in the borough - the challenge was to do more to market our schools to parents and really show off their strengths.

Councillor Mark Loveday asked what officers considered the appropriate PAN numbers for the north and south of the borough for the next five years. Kevin Gordon said the general guidance from the DfE was that an acceptable level of surplus places was between 5 and 15 percent.

Councillor Loveday said one of the recommendations was to reduce the PAN of various schools and asked what numbers officers thought were appropriate. Steve Miley said the Council would be looking to reduce the surplus to around 10 percent.

Vic Daniels supported the idea of marketing the boroughs schools better - the borough's schools were consistently high performing so there was a lot to work with.

Councillor Alexandra Sanderson said she would like to understand the impact of the private sector on the school economy - particularly in the south of the borough. She went on to ask if the development dividend mentioned in the strategy was from development on school sites only or all developments. Kevin Gordon explained that for all major developments, the developer had to make CIL contributions and the department would be looking to use some of that money to improve the school estate.

Councillor Sanderson asked what happened if developments move more quickly than expected. Kevin Gordon said the Education team worked closely with the planning team to avoid any surprises. Major developments typically had long lead in times.

Councillor Sanderson asked if there had been any interested parties looking to open new academies or free schools in the borough recently. Kevin Gordon said there had been a number of enquires. Steve Miley added that now the DfE do require that there is a local need. That wasn't always the case and the borough had suffered from unplanned growth of schools in previous years. The Council was in a better position to control growth now.

A resident raised concerns about the projections for new families coming into the borough. They said projections had been made for the Imperial Wharf development but families didn't move in. The Council needed to learn the lessons of the past. Kevin Gordon said officers were working closely with housing colleagues to understand these issues. It was also Council policy now to increase social housing. There was a real challenge to provide genuinely affordable housing in London but the Council and the Mayor of London had strict rules and requirements in place which should help.

Councillor Lucy Richardson said she was interested in the work to make schools more attractive to parents - e.g. promoting partnerships with Imperial. She asked what the Council was doing to make sure local children were the first to benefit - and ensure there were visible pathways for parents. Steve Miley responded that this work was still in the early stages but officers and headteachers had recently met with Imperial to discuss expanding on the Fulham College Boys model. Officers and headteachers also wanted to involve the wider business and arts community to inspire young people and get them to see the opportunities available.

A resident asked if the Council had considered the needs of the borough's foreign population. There were many families who wanted to send their children to schools like The Fulham Bilingual school which taught in both English and French. Kevin Gordon said the team knew how popular The Fulham Bilingual was and it would definitely be considered. Councillor Larry Culhane added that part of the research was looking at what schools need to do and look like to attract parents. The Council had changed the way it worked with schools to be a true partnership - led by headteachers. Marketing schools was area that headteachers said was important so the Council was committed to working on it. Councillor Culhane also said that he knew first-hand how disruptive the closure of a school could be and the Administration would not do it.

Nandini Ganesh noted that the borough's special schools had a large non-resident population. She asked if that was of financial benefit to the Council. Mandy Lawson confirmed that H&F was a net importer as the borough had such good special schools but it was cost-neutral.

Nandini Ganesh asked if the Council prioritised H&F residents for special school places. Mandy Lawson said all special schools in the borough were maintained schools, so the Council was the admissions authority. As part of the move away from the shared services arrangements the team had really improved its processes and pipeline so officers knew what places were needed and when. That allowed them to do everything they could within the law to reserve places for residents.

Councillor Mark Loveday said he couldn't support the document. Stark figures had been presented on falling rolls and there were real concerns about place planning in the south of the borough. He felt the solutions offered had been tried before and hadn't made a significant difference. Councillor Loveday said he couldn't endorse the strategy without seeing the figures that sat behind it and some targets for some of the solutions mentioned.

Councillor Alexandra Sanderson said she supported the strategy and didn't share concerns about shared sites as she assumed that would only be considered as a last resort.

Councillor Lucy Richardson noted that, as a parent, she had seen the real disruption that closing a school could have on children and sharing a site was preferable to closing a school.

The Chair said he welcomed the comments from colleagues but noted the report presented a draft strategy that would be modified before being agreed by Cabinet. He asked that officers sent a final version of the report once it was formally agreed and highlight any changes.

RESOLVED

The Committee reviewed and commented on the draft Schools Organisation Strategy 2019.