Issue - meetings

Further to Minutes 20 and 24 (11 and 24 July 2012), the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services introduced a report setting out the formal steps required to no longer implement the proposed amalgamation of William Ford Church of England Junior School and Village Infant School and to maintain the current, separate status of the schools.

Cabinet agreed:

  (i)  That there be no duty to implement the changes agreed by Minute 11 of the Cabinet of 11 July 2012 in light of the decision by the William Ford Church of England Junior School Governing Body, at its meeting on 17 July 2012, not to proceed with the proposal to amalgamate William Ford Church of England Junior School and Village Infant School to become an all-through Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School with effect from 1 September 2012;

  (ii)  That the Governing Body of William Ford Church of England Junior School be relieved of its duty to implement the proposal to expand the age range of the William Ford Church of England Junior School;

 (iii)  That the Council be relieved of its duty to implement the proposal to close Village Infants School with effect from 1 September 2012; and

 (iv)  To note that the following two actions approved under Minute 11 were no longer necessary:

a.  the grant of a lease for a peppercorn rent of the amalgamated site together with the adjoining access road and school house, as shown on drawing number LBBD/GIS/002, to the Trustees of William Ford School for the purposes of ensuring that the through school can operate on one site;

b.  the delegated authority to the Corporate Director of Children Services, in consultation with the Corporate Director of Finance and Resources and the Divisional Director for Legal and Democratic Services to agree terms and conclude the necessary legal agreements to facilitate the merger of the two schools.

Further to Minute 20 of the last meeting, the Cabinet Member for Finance and Education presented a report on the decision by the Governing Body of William Ford Church of England Junior School at its meeting on 17 July 2012 not to proceed with the proposal to amalgamate with Village Infant School.

The Cabinet Member referred to the successful amalgamations that had occurred with other infant and junior schools in the Borough and advised that both the Council and the Diocese of Chelmsford remained committed to the benefits of the proposed amalgamation of William Ford Church of England Junior School and Village Infant School.  He added, however, that it was important to respect the decision of the William Ford Church of England Junior School Governing Body and, to that end, outlined the arrangements that would need to be made to revoke the Cabinet’s previous decision.

Cabinet agreed:

  (i)  To resolve that the Council intends to revoke the decision under Minute 20 of the last meeting in the light of the decision by the William Ford Church of England Junior School Governing Body, at its meeting on 17 July 2012, not to proceed with the proposal to amalgamate William Ford Church of England Junior School and Village Infant School to become an all-through Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School with effect from 1 September 2012 via the closure of the existing infant school and expansion of the age range of the existing junior school;

  (ii)  That the Council publishes the relevant revocation notices, as detailed in the report; and

 (iii)  To note that a further report would be presented to the Cabinet meeting on 18 September 2012 seeking formal confirmation of the decision to revoke the amalgamation proposals.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Education presented a report on the proposal for the amalgamation of William Ford Church of England Junior School and Village Infant School to form an all-through Church of England Primary School with effect from 1 September 2012 (2012/13 academic year).

The Cabinet Member referred to the Council’s amalgamation policy in respect of infant and junior schools and explained that in light of the decision made by the Headteacher of Village Infant School to retire at the end of August 2012, discussions were initiated several months back with the Diocese of Chelmsford and the Governing Bodies of William Ford Church of England Junior School and Village Infant School regarding options for the amalgamation of the two schools which were on adjoining sites and were already considered as “linked schools” for infant to junior admissions purposes.  In the light of support from the Diocese and Governing Bodies to the principles of amalgamation, a preferred option was developed which would involve the formal closure of Village Infant School with effect from 31 August 2012 and the creation of a new voluntary-aided Church of England Primary School with effect from 1 September 2012.  The Cabinet Member commented on the “Outstanding” judgement that William Ford Church of England Junior School had received following its latest OFSTED inspection in July 2010.

The implications of the amalgamation would include enlarging the premises of the existing Junior School by including the buildings previously used by the Infant school, making an alteration to the current Junior School by lowering the age range of the pupils there from 7 to 11 years to age 3 to 11 years, increasing admission numbers from 81 to 90 each year throughout and adding nursery provision, with all pupils on the school roll of the Infant and Junior schools as at the end of the Autumn Term 2012 transferring on to the roll of the Primary School.  The amalgamation would also involve staff at Village Infants School transferring to the newly formed Primary School under TUPE regulations. 

The Cabinet Member referred to the main areas of concern that had been expressed during the statutory consultation on the proposal, principally by staff and parents of children at Village Infants School, which were set out in paragraph 4.7 of the report and he advised that he and the Corporate Director of Children’s Services had attended several meetings to address those concerns.

The Corporate Director of Children’s Services elaborated on the concerns expressed by the members of staff at Village Infants School regarding the amalgamation with a voluntary-aided faith school.  The Corporate Director explained that there would be no need to make redundancies and that the Council would support any member of staff not wishing to transfer to the newly formed Church of England Primary School to find a similar position at another community school within the Borough.  With regard to parents’ concerns regarding the admissions criteria for the new Primary School, the Corporate Director advised that the William Ford Church  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20