The Cabinet Member for Children and Education presented a report on the proposed strategy to ensure that the Council was able to meet its statutory responsibilities to provide a school place for every child in the Borough for 2011/12 to 2016/17.
The Cabinet Member explained that the projected growth in demand for school places for the next five years would, as a minimum, require 23 additional forms of entry for children starting school, 34 additional forms of entry for children moving into secondary education and 400 additional sixth-form places. The strategy identified options to meet this need through a mix of new schools, expansion at existing school sites and the conversion of alternative sites.
The Cabinet Member advised that the plans for the 2011/12 and 2012/13 academic years were well developed but that the options for the 2013/14 academic year and beyond would be reviewed every six months in the light of the latest demographic information. In the event that an option within the strategy was considered appropriate to progress, a detailed report on the project would be submitted to the Cabinet for full analysis of the implications.
In respect of the inclusion of the Adult College site, Fanshawe Avenue, Dagenham, as a possible location for a three / four form of entry primary school from September 2013, Councillor Carpenter spoke on the importance of retaining the Adult College and asked that it be removed from the list of potential future school sites. Councillor Carpenter suggested that the report should have spelt out for the Cabinet the full implications for students and courses at the Adult College and that alternative options for the area, such as the provision of a new primary school on the site of Sydney Russell Comprehensive School or the use of the former primary school site at Halbutt Street, were more appropriate. The Cabinet Member responded to the points and reiterated his earlier comments while the Leader confirmed that should the Adult College site proposal be assessed as worthy of progression it would not mean the cessation of the Adult College service but rather its relocation to a suitable alternative location following full consultation with the Governing Body, management and service users.
The Cabinet Member also referred to the financial constraints faced by the Council which influenced the development of the strategy and he gave an update on the projects that had been identified for Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funding.
Cabinet agreed:-
(i) To adopt the Programme for Developing School Places as set out at Appendix 3, subject to review every six months in the light of changed demand for places and available resources, as well as alternative sites and premises being reviewed and alternative school providers (e.g. Free Schools) being sought on a case by case basis;
(ii) The procurement proposals for projects as set out in the report and authorised the Corporate Director of Children’s Services, in consultation with the Corporate Director of Finance and Resources and the Cabinet Member for Children and Education, to approve the appointment of the final contractor(s) and the placing of order(s) as projects are funded and secured;
(iii) To the establishment of the Barking Riverside School (operated by the Barking and Dagenham Co-operative Learning Partnership in line with the outcome of the School Competition) to admit children from September 2012, the initial intake to be accommodated at George Carey Church of England Primary School and thereafter in temporary accommodation pending further capital funding becoming available;
(iv) To the Council securing the prospective new site allocated on Barking Riverside to house the Barking Riverside School;
(v) To note that the priorities for submitting bids for PFI funding would be the Barking Riverside Secondary and Barking Riverside Special Needs provision and the Eastbrook and Eastbury Comprehensive School projects; and
(vi) That the current strategy be continued for investing the budget for remediation of condition problems, namely to spend on Priority 1 (averting the threat of school closure) cases to make provision to deal with unforeseeable issues e.g. boiler breakdowns, and to deal with Priority 2 (Urgent) cases in consultation with schools especially where this assists in meeting Basic Need.