Kent County Council would like to hear your views on a proposal to expand

Kent County Council would like to hear your views on a proposal to provide 55 additional places for pupils with Behavioural Emotional and Social Needs at Goldwyn School, by creating a satellite of the school in Folkestone.

Information about how to respond to this consultation is contained within this document.

Date of Public Meeting:6 May 2014 at 7 pm

Venue: Goldwyn School,

Godinton Lane, Great Chart, Ashford TN23 3BT

1. Summary

We arepleased to bring you our proposal[1] to expand Goldwyn School by a total of 55 places, taking the designated number from 60 to 115. This will be achieved by creating a satellite of the school in Folkestone.

We are currently undertaking a public consultation to seek the views of the wider community. The Public Consultation Period will run from 23 April to 20 May 2014. There will be a public meeting on 6 May which will give you the opportunity to make your views known and to ask any questions you may have.

This document gives you details of the proposal and outlines the current position. There is a form at the end which we ask you to complete and return to us by 20 May 2014.

2. Background to the Proposal

The County Council regularly reviews the quantity and geographical distribution of its school provision to try to ensure that all children can access appropriate, local, good quality school places. Our Commissioning Plan for Education Provision sets out what places we need where and when. Across Kent it identifies the need for 240 places for pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Speech and Language Communication Needs (SLCN), and 121 places for pupils with Behavioural, Emotional and Social Needs (BESN).

The proposal for Goldwyn School and the linked proposal for Furness School, seek to address some of the identified need in these two areas of specialist provision.

3. The Proposal

The proposal is to expand Goldwyn School by 55 places taking the designated number from 60 to 115. This will be achieved by creating a satellite of the school in Folkestone, using accommodation currently occupied by The Brook Pupil Referral Unit in Parkfield Road (which will close in August). Goldwyn School also educates some of its young people off-site via its curriculum offer known as “Goldwyn Plus”. We confirm that there will be no new building at Goldwyn School in Ashford and no disruption to pupils or staff as a result of this proposal.

Under this proposal Goldwyn School will operate as a split site provision from September 2014. The satellite provision at Folkestone will be known as Goldwyn Brook for easy identification and will provide local provision for students living in the Shepway area.

The staffing for Goldwyn Brook will match thestaffing ratio at Goldwyn School, ie Head of School, Deputy Head, Assistant Head (one of these posts will have the SENCO responsibility for the Brook site),and sufficient teaching staff to deliver the Goldwyn curriculum, thereby ensuring equality of opportunity for students on both sites. Also, there will be an on-site pastoral and teaching assistant team. Key Stage 4 students will benefit from joint vocational opportunities with students at the Goldwyn School site in Ashford.

Current staff at the Brook PRU, whoare highly skilled in behaviour management, will transfer to Goldwyn School and we therefore anticipate no redundancies. Additional responsibility for senior staff at Goldwyn School, Ashford will be identified within the new staffing structure.

Over time, this split site provision will enable us to reduce travel journeys for children as students in the Folkestone area will be able to access more local provision. This in turn will free up places in Ashford and Dover provisions for their local children. Student placements will be reviewed by the Learning Community Unit Managers and the Vice Principal (SENCO) who will consider which pupils, with appropriate curriculum arrangements, might transfer to Goldwyn Brook. This will only happen if parents and KCC’s SEN department are confident that the students’ stability and academic progress can be sustained. Goldwyn School will ensure that students and parents are kept informed of any possible changes at all stages.

It is likely that this proposal will impact on the transport arrangements for some pupils. The needs of individual pupils will be discussed with the parents before decisions are made. It is the intention of Goldwyn School todeliver transport arrangements for its students. This will include Goldwyn and Brook minibuses, Goldwyn taxis, the commissioning of independent taxis and the development and support for independent travel.

And finally, KCC is currently considering how, in the longer term, we can best provide for BESN children who require residential accommodation. These children are currently in the independent sector, but if we conclude that we want to create our own residential provision in the future we will look to Goldwyn School to provide this. There would be a separate consultation on this issue at the appropriate time.

HOW TO GIVE YOUR VIEWS

There are a number of ways you can let us have your views:

Complete and return the response form to:

David Adams, Area Education Officer, South Kent Education Office, Kroner House, Eurogate Business Park, Ashford TN24 8XU.

Email your comments to:

Come to the public meeting at the school on Tuesday6 Mayat 7pm

------

Public Consultation Response Form: Goldwyn School

Please return no later than 11am on 20 May

Do you agree with the following proposals:-

Change the designated number of pupils that the school can admit
to 115
Yes / No

I am: *A Parent or Carer / Member of Staff / Governor / Pupil of Goldwyn School;

OR - Other interested party …………………………………….…… (please state interest).

Name …………………………………………………………………..…………………………

Address ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

(We will note all you say, but will not be able to respond individually to response forms, letters or emails.)

THE TIMETABLE

Date / Activity
May 2014 / Following the consultation, all views received, either by post, e-mail or at the Public Meeting, will be reported to the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform.
Public Notice:
11 Jun – 9 Jul 2014 / The Cabinet Member decides whether to continue with the proposal. If so, a Public Notice will be published in a local newspaper, at the school and in public places like the library. During this time comments and objections can be made about the proposal. The Public Notice will run for 4 weeks.
Jul 2014 / The Cabinet Member considers all responses made and decides whether to go ahead.
Sep 2014 / Implementation (if the proposal is agreed).

You can view the Commissioning Plan for Education Provision Kent 2013 to 2018 at:

You can view the consultation information online:

We have completed an Equality Impact Assessment to see if the proposal could affect anyone unfairly. We welcome your views on the assumptions we have made and the conclusions we have drawn. To view the document, go to

Kent County Council is a data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998 and will comply with the requirements of the Act at all times. We will ensure that your personal information is processed fairly and lawfully and in this instance used only for the purpose of validation, which will enable a fair and just consultation.

------

Your comments….

Please continue on a separate sheet if necessary….
.

[1] Please note: This proposal is linked to the proposal to redesignate Furness School, Swanley from a 60 place provision for pupils with Behavioural, Emotional and Social Needs (BESN) to a 60 place provision for high functioning children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Currently, Furness School has 35 pupils on roll, 28 of whom have a primary need of ASD. The remaining seven pupils have a primary need of BESN. It is evident from these figures that Furness School would be more appropriately designated to serve the needs of pupils with ASD. The proposal to redesignate Furness to accommodate pupils with ASD will ensure its designation better reflects its current pupil profile, and will increase capacity to meet the pressure for ASD places. The expansion of Goldwyn School will effectively replace the unfilled places lost at Furness, but by locating these in an area of pressure, we expect these to be filled by April 2015.