5th September 2008
Mrs J Dawson
Fir Tree Nursery
Browning Road,
North Reddish,
Stockport
SK5 6JW.
Dear Mrs Dawson
Re: Outcome of the Nursery Organisation Review Tool (NORT)
As you will already be aware, the Council has, for some time now been considering how to manage surplus capacity in our maintained nursery provision with a working group comprising all relevant partners.
The Council agreed the adoption of the NORT as a suitable mechanism for identifying an initial list of schools for further consideration and this process has now been completed. To ensure a fair and balanced outcome it was agreed that this list would be drawn up based on the following criteria;
- Total score less than 30, plus
- A low score (0 or 5) in category F (surplus places) and
- A low score (0 or 2) in category G (trend in nursery numbers)
I attach the scoring criteria for your information.
I have to advise you that your school has a total score of 22 and a low score in category F and G which means that a more intensive review of the long term viability of provision is required. This review will take into account the plans for Phase 2 and 3 Children’s Centres and be based on the principles that as a Local Authority we will
- sustain places according to need
- drive up and ensure quality provision
- actively seek opportunities to promote and support 3-11 maintained provision.
- secure best value for money and reduce surplus capacity
I would be grateful if Andrew Webb and myself, together with Viki Packman, Head of Integrated Prevention Services and Stephen Bell, Programme Director, Schools Organisation could meet with you and your Chair of Governors to further discuss the options.
We have set aside time for this meeting on Friday, 26th September at 1.00pm, the meeting with be held in Andrew’s office, 3rd Floor, North End Stopford House.
Yours sincerely
Anne Birch
Service Director- Inclusive Communities
Category / CRITERIA / WEIGHTING / SCORE 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / MAX SCORE /A / CURRENT EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS
OFSTED judgements / 3 / Notice to improve/special measures / Satisfactory / Good / Outstanding / 9
B / SEN
Resourced nursery places / 2 / Not resourced nursery / Resourced nursery / 6
C / INCLUSIVE AND SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES
a) (Nursery schs only) Community facilities (would the removal of on-site facilities have an adverse effect on families' access to services) / 1 / Not essential to community / Affected - alternative provision within 400m / Affected - alternative provision within 400m to 800m / Affected - no alternative provision available
a) (Nursery classes only) % of school priority area nursery children who move on to reception at that school. / 1 / less than 50% / 50% - 74% / 75% - 89% / 90% - 100% / 3
b) Deprivation level centile / 1 / 1 - 24 / 25 - 49 / 50 - 74 / 75 - 100 / 3
% of nursery children living in 20% most disadvanategd areas
c) Wrap around childcare links Is there add. care for nursery children on site?) / 1 / Not applicable / Alternative within 800m / Alternative beyond 800m / No alternative provision available / 3
D / ALTERNATIVE PROVISION
Distance to alternative sessional provision / 2 / <400m / 400m - <800m / 800m - 1200m / > 1200m / 6
E / FAITH BALANCE OF PROVISION
Effects if school closed (Includes balance of number of places available and need to provide children with appropriate faith/non faith provision of parents' choice) / 1 / Unaffected / Adversely affected - pupils to attend different faith schools / unwanted community school / 3
F / SURPLUS PLACES / 5 / >50% / 25% - 50% / 10% - 25% / < 10% / 15
Measured as at previous summer term headcount
G / TREND IN NURSERY NUMBERS AT SCHOOL / 2 / Below 75% / Static at 75% / Increasing numbers to above 75% / Consistently has waiting list / 6
(over 3 years at summer term)
H / FUNDING PER PUPIL
(a) Nursery schools / 2 / >£7300 / £6801 - £7300 / £6300 - £6800 / <£6300
(b) Nursery classes / 2 / >£3900 / £3751 - £3900 / £3600 - £3750 / <£3600 / 6
Calculated as funding on AR2 divided by no. of nursery pupils as at Jan (N.Cl) or Summer (N. SC)
I / STANDARD OF ACCOMODATION
a)backlog of nursery condition issues / 1 / >£2,000 / £1251-£2000 / £501-£1250 / <£500 / 3
(£ per part time place filled May 07)
b) suitability of environment, incl outdoor & DDA (as per ECERS scales 1-5)
0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 63
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Maintained Nursery Review
Fir Tree Nursery School
104 part time places (reduced from 120 a few year ago because of lower numbers – 52 morning and 52 afternoon some, up to 30, allocated on a full time basis.
Occupancy levels
2005/06 / 2006/07 / 2007/08Autumn term / 75 / 39 / 47
Spring term / 84 / 56 / 68
Summer term / 88 / 69 / 75
Standards
Grade 2 (good) for effectiveness of Foundation Stage in 2006.
Organisation
Larger nursery school – children notionally organised in 4 groups of up to 13.
There are only 34 children on the list for Sept 2008. If an allowance is made for 25 full time places then 59 part time places will be filled – low compared with 2 out of 3 past years.
There have previously been some additional services provided – eg Story Sacks, parenting group
An undated appendix to the design brief for the new N Reddish school dated Dec 2005 shows space for 40 fte three and four year olds. This would be adequate for the numbers in the last couple of years – and there is some flexibility as notional full time places could be reduced from 30.
N Reddish shares a boundary with Tameside and Manchester. Some children from the area attend nursery at Dane Bank (Tameside) and Aspinall (Manchester).
Other local provision
Nearest nurseries:
Maintained / Distance by car / CommentSt Elisabeth’s / 1.4 km / Full by summer
St Joseph’s Inf / 1.4 / Full all year
PVI
Brown Bear @ the Mill / 1.68 / Private day nursery – probably half and full days only so parents would probably have to pay for 2.5 hours at each session (5 hour half day less 2.5 hours free)
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(Extract) Nursery Organisation Review Tool - Outcome Report
4. Identifying schools for discussion
Anne, Viki and Sue met on 10 June to look at the results of the NORT. It was agreed that:
(a) The initial list of schools for discussion would be drawn up using the criteria:
· total score less than 30, plus
· 0 or 5 in category F, plus
· 0 or 2 in category G
Schools meeting these criteria were (in bold in Appendix 2):
Fir Tree
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(Extract) NORT briefing meeting - Tuesday, 15 July 2008
2. Fir Tree – with the development of N Reddish site and establishment of a community children’s Centre model, agreed that we again have an opportunity to establish 3-11 provision.
Recommend further discussion with HT and Governing body. Discuss with Donna re timescales for new school. AB/VP
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(Extract) Schools Organisation: Supporting the Nursery sector.
Fir Tree Nursery
· Issue: Very low numbers indeed – an unsustainable nursery.
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Maintained Nursery Review
Fir Tree Nursery School
104 part time places (reduced from 120 a few year ago because of lower numbers – 52 morning and 52 afternoon some, up to 30, allocated on a full time basis.
Occupancy levels
2005/06 / 2006/07 / 2007/08 / 2008/09 / 2009/10Autumn term / 75 / 39 / 47 / 36 / 59
Spring term / 84 / 56 / 68 / 51
Summer term / 88 / 69 / 75 / 64
Data Source: 2008/09: Pupil Numbers: Termly School Census: Autumn 08. Spring 09, Summer 09
Includes FT/PT and excludes pupils in special units.
Standards
Grade 2 (good) for effectiveness of Foundation Stage in 2006.
Organisation
Larger nursery school – children notionally organised in 4 groups of up to 13.
There have previously been some additional services provided – eg Story Sacks, parenting group
An undated appendix to the design brief for the new N Reddish school dated Dec 2005 shows space for 40 fte three and four year olds. This would be adequate for the numbers in the last couple of years.
N Reddish shares a boundary with Tameside and Manchester. Some children from the area attend nursery at Dane Bank (Tameside) and Aspinall (Manchester).
Other local provision
Nearest nurseries:
Maintained / Distance by car / CommentSt Elisabeth’s / 1.4 km / Total places 40
Summer term 2009 – 1 vacancy
Summer term 2008 –1 vacancy
St Joseph’s Inf / 1.4 / Total places 40
Summer term 2009 – 0 vacancies
Summer term 2008 – 2 vacancies
PVI
Brown Bear @ the Mill / 1.68 / Total places 42 for 0 – 5 year olds
Summer term 2009 –
Summer term 2008 –
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STOCKPORT COUNCIL
EXECUTIVE REPORT – SUMMARY SHEET
Subject: Consultation on Review of Nursery Provision – Fir Tree Nursery School
Report to: (a) Executive Councillor, Children & Young People Date: 24/08/10
Report of: (b) Corporate Director, Children & Young People
Key Decision: (c) NO / YES (Please circle)
Forward Plan General Exception Special Urgency (Tick box)
1 Background
1.1 The Council undertook a review of maintained nursery provision as part of the requirement to manage and reduce surplus capacity and the duty under the Childcare Act 2006 to assess the local childcare market, secure sufficient childcare for working parents, and a free minimum amount of early learning and care for all 3 and 4 year-olds as desired by parents.
1.2 A Maintained Nursery Review Group was established and considered consultation with key stakeholders about an effective approach to managing sufficient childcare, taking into account the duty to work with the private, voluntary and independent sector. Following this, in 2007 the Executive approved the Nursery Organisation Review Tool (NORT), which was then applied to all maintained nursery settings during the Spring Term of 2008. The NORT provided an analysis of each maintained nursery setting based on information such as educational standards, inclusive and supportive communities, distance to alternative provision, parental preferences, surplus places and resources.
1.3 The key principles of the Maintained Nursery Review, agreed by the Group, are to:
· address areas of over- and under-supply,
· ensure the effective and efficient use of resources,
· support the offer of provision from 3 to 11 years of age where appropriate.
1.4 Following analysis of the completed NORT, Fir Tree Nursery School achieved a score of 22. This was below the threshold of 30, with low scores against criteria for both surplus places and trend in numbers. The Nursery School was therefore identified as requiring further review with regard to long term viability.
1.5 Plans to review the provision needed to take account of the planned re-location of the nursery school as part of a new primary school and children’s centre development in Reddish North. With many complexities around the new primary school building project, action to undertake the further review of Fir Tree Nursery was deferred.
2 Current Picture
2.1 The new school building project is now underway and the required statutory changes under the School Organisation Regulations are planned for implementation from September 2011. A refresh of the information collected under the NORT has therefore been undertaken. Updated information against the NORT criteria is outlined below:
2.1.1 Educational standards: Ofsted judgment “Good with outstanding features” in 2009, sustained from previous inspection upon which NORT was based. Standards achieved by learners is “satisfactory” - no improvement from 2006 inspection (second highest category).
2.1.2 SEN: not applicable (lowest category).
2.1.3 Inclusive and Supportive Communities, Available alternative provision: none available (highest category).
2.1.4 Surplus places at time of NORT: 25-50% bracket (second lowest category).
2.1.5 Surplus places today: still within the 25-50% bracket - 72 children attending, 51 part time and 21 full time (there will be no full time places from September). The current provision of 104 places will reduce to 78 from 1 September 2011 when the nursery school re-locates to the new primary school for Reddish North.
2.1.6 Trend in Numbers: Were and have remained below 75% (lowest category).
May 08: 52, May 09: 64, May 10: 72.
2.1.7 Standard of accommodation: not applicable due to re-location to new build from September 2011.
3 Conclusion
3.1 Given that there has been no change against the NORT criteria and in light of the impact of the formula funding changes and School Organisation changes in the area, it is proposed to undertake consultation on a proposal for the current provision at Fir Tree Nursery School to become managed as part of the new primary school for Reddish North.
3.2 Under the proposal, there will be no apparent change for parents, or for children attending the nursery school, other than a continued improvement in quality and integrated services for pupils aged from 3 to 11. The proposal would also help to improve the long-term viability of provision. The nursery class would operate from the new primary school building at Harcourt Street in line with the current arrangement to re-locate the nursery school to the same building from September 2011.
3.3 Despite the apparent lack of change to provision, the nursery school would need to be formally discontinued in order to change the line management to the new primary school. The lower age limit of the primary school would also need to be lowered. The proposal would be subject to consultation and to the agreement of the Executive, after full consideration of the consultation responses.