Strategy Paper for School Organisation in Poole 2003-2023

Strategy Paper for School Organisation in Poole 2003 –2023

Preface

This document is the starting point for a strategic review of the quality of education in Poole. The central theme is organisation.

The central question:

‘Are we best organised to provide the best quality of education for our children and young people and so making the best use of our resources?’

The process of review will be to present evidence and seek views of all stakeholders starting with headteachers but then going beyond them to teachers, governors, parents, local employers, and young people themselves.

This paper argues that circumstances render change inevitable. The task is to fashion and manage that change so that we get the best from it for the children and young people.

This document has three sections. Section one summarises the situation and offers four strategic possibilities. Others may emerge in the course of the review. Section two gives more detailed background and is therefore optional reading. The final section comprises appendices that may reinforce or clarify points of evidence.

John Nash

Policy Director (Education)
Strategy Paper for School Organisation in Poole 2003 –2023

1. Section 1 Strategy Options

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 The core role of a local education authority might be defined as ensuring that schools provide the right number of places, in the right areas, of the right quality for all pupils. This duty is carried out in the context of the Council’s values and priorities for the development of the community. A strategy for education should:

focus on raising standards;

give most effective use of limited resources;

be inclusive in addressing the needs of all of the children and students;

be sustainable through changes in circumstance (mostly demography).

1.1.2 The Council has clear priorities in setting out a strategy for the development of the Borough. We need a system that:

gives children the best start in life;

supports community development;

promotes the health of the community;

develops the skills necessary for a mixed economy;

helps to sustain pride in the town.

1.1.3 Specifically for education the following objectives apply:

an open and clear system that empowers parents;

best use of resources within a context of limited funds;

a system that allows successful schools to be autonomous.

1.2 Phases in the Review Process

1.2.1  This review will pass through seven phases:

agreement on vision and purpose for Education in Poole and the subsequent drafting of principles to guide changes in organisation of schools;

creation of a project plan to implement any changes that may result;

detailed planning by the project team to identify any necessary changes for each school;

full local consultation on specific school changes;

drafting plans including capital works and the identification of funding sources;

building work;

change, if any, in September 2008.

1.2.2  This paper is intended to inform the debate that constitutes the first phase: the clarification of our vision and the identification of principles to support planning.

1.3  Why Do We Need a Strategy?

Summary of Factors

1.3.1 Falling rolls (demography) - the number of children in the Borough is falling especially in the east, as it is in West Bournemouth. However in 2007 rolls will start to rise in the west and the centre of the borough with a subsequent decline again in 2012.

1.3.2 Curriculum - a viable middle school needs at least three forms of entry to offer a suitable curriculum and sustain a balanced budget. It also needs to retain three forms in each year group up to transfer in Year 7. A viable primary school can operate with one form of entry. The National Curriculum, and national improvement projects, assume transfer at age 11. Therefore the National Curriculum and the assessment scheme don’t match the organisation of schools in Poole.

1.3.3 14-19 – the organisation of education from 14-19 is undergoing radical change. Schools, colleges, and training providers should be working together to offer a range experiences and courses possibly in more than one setting. These changes are especially relevant to small sixth forms which may be judged inadequate in inspection.

1.3.4 Viability - under the current middle school system, some of the 8-12 middle schools are not viable as middle schools. This situation will worsen as rolls fall.

1.3.5 Border issues - two schools, Bearwood primary, and Talbot middle pass most children on to the Bournemouth secondary schools. This causes difficulties at Talbot. A school that is left with a very small year 7. Parents at Bearwood cannot express a preference for Poole secondary schools without an intervening year at a middle school.

1.3.6 Broadstone - the three tier system in Broadstone is vibrant and fully subscribed. It is shared with Dorset LEA who have no immediate plans to change it. Two thirds of the pupils in Corfe Hills School emanate from Dorset middle schools and one third from Springdale go onto Dorset middle schools. We could not change our system without Dorset’s co-operation.

1.3.7 Admissions – in a small borough changes to organisation cannot be restricted to a single pyramid. 12 – 16 and 12-18 secondary schools draw pupils from all parts of the borough. Any change in the age of transfer could not be undertaken by one pyramid at a time.

1.3.8 Community – council is committed to supporting community development, at the moment some of the least viable middle schools serve the most vulnerable communities.

1.3.9 Standards - these are high at Key Stage 4 but lower at Key Stage 2. There is limited reliable evidence that this is linked to school organisation but other LEAs have reached this conclusion (Milton Keynes, Wiltshire, Devon). Such a contention is probably impossible to prove.

1.3.10 Resources - Poole is low funded and likely to remain so. Earlier transfer offers an economy of scale in education of Year 7 not possible in middle or combined schools. Year 7 currently requires a disproportionate share of school resources in small middle and combined schools and gives a misleading view of the adequacy of funding for Poole primary schools. In large middle schools it provides additional resource for younger children.

1.3.11 External view – the OFSTED inspection report was critical of the failure to review the impact of the current organisation of school places on standards. The Audit Commission is sceptical about the value for money of current arrangements.

1.3.12 National profile - in five years time Poole will be the only LEA with transfer at 8 and 12, although as many as 12 may retain transfer at 9 and 13. There are 150 LEAs.

1.3.13 Capital – change in the age of transfer will require extensive capital works, funded by: land sale, targeted capital bids, developer partnership, or ‘Building Schools for the Future’ (secondary only). We may also seek specific support from DfES tailored to meet this project.

1.3.14 SEN – There is a separate SEN review taking place at the moment. The likely outcome will be the development of our special schools as a coherent system of provision based on two campuses. This structure will aim to support inclusion through outreach, in school support and creating local provision to avoid sending children away from Poole to get the support they need. For example our primary EBD school ends at Year 6 and there is no local secondary provision for Year 7. The new special school structure will need to be co-ordinated with any changes to the mainstream system.

1.4 Strategic Options

Retain the current structure.

1.4.11 The combination of falling rolls, border issues, and the quality of the curriculum will force change. It is likely that as many as three middle schools would need to close. During the interim period as numbers decline the need to include ‘floors’ to sustain viable financial profiles in vulnerable schools will be expensive and draw funds from other schools.

1.4.12 Currently there are 8 8-12 middle schools and five combined schools transferring at 12. This equates to 49 forms of entry: a figure that is set to fall to 42 forms of entry by 2008. Those most likely to close are located in the most vulnerable communities. First schools will lose pupils but need not close since they can reduce size but remain viable. Secondary schools would, in time, face falling rolls in the east of the borough.

1.4.13 Retention of the current structure would not resolve the border issues with Bournemouth especially in the areas of Bearwood and Talbot schools.

1.4.14 In closing some schools to sustain the viability of the middle school system we could lose key schools in the most vulnerable estates in the Borough. Several of these schools currently achieve high value added scores. Such closures would be counter to the Council priority of community development and would put a combined strategy of health promotion through extended school systems at risk. The schools, and therefore the co-located services would be in the wrong places. Parental preference, especially in the north of the Borough would be restricted.

1.4.15 Retaining the current system would probably enable the LEA to finance the necessary capital programmes for remaining middle and combined schools from land sales for those schools set to close. We would not face the disruption of double ages of transfer. The pastoral benefits of the middle school model would be retained.

1.4.2  Move to a single system of three-tier education

(First – 4-8; Middle 9-13 (or combined); Secondary 14-18)

1.4.21 This would entail widespread change. The middle age range in this system requires at least 4 forms of entry (FE) (120 pupils) for viability. With a projection of 42 FE we would need to reduce the number of middle and combined schools to 10. If we were to operate with a mixture of three, four and five forms of entry, sustaining those with four
or five at the moment, we would lose at least three middle schools, again in the most vulnerable communities: Waterloo, Turlin Moor and Alderney. Such a structure would also raise serious questions about the viability of secondary schools without post-16 provision. This system would not resolve the border issues in the north of the Borough.

1.4.22 The advantage of this system would be uniformity in ages of transfer. Other LEAs employing this scheme are confident of its success, notably Isle of Wight and Suffolk. This structure would allow schools the time and opportunity to focus on the development of a vibrant curriculum at 14-19 tailored to pupils’ needs.

1.4.23 The disruption during the period of change would be significant and the cost of capital programmes extensive in the middle school and first school sectors.

1.4.3  Move to a single system of two tier education for statutory years – all children change phase at ages 7 and 11

1.4.31  Such a system would bring the whole borough into line with most of the rest of the country. It would fit with the national curriculum profile, enable the development of a flexible structure able to cope with fluctuations in pupil numbers, resolve border issues in the north of the borough, enable substantial bids for capital programmes at primary and secondary level, allow parents greater opportunities to express preference at age 11, especially those in Bearwood and Talbot areas, and sustain the viability of schools in vulnerable communities.

There would be a need for detailed plans and discussions as to movement to all through primary schools were borough wide or we retain infant and junior schools in parts of the borough.

1.4.32  This system would not work in Broadstone. The transfer of pupils at age 11 to Corfe Hills school could only be accomplished with the agreement of Dorset LEA, who show no signs of so doing. Even then Corfe Hills would grow to a school well in excess of 2000 pupils. This would put pressure on the site and the local community.

1.4.4  Broadstone retains current structure, the rest of the Borough moves to two tier, primary and secondary.

1.4.11  This scheme is a compromise. It involves isolating the Corfe Hills pyramid from the rest of the Borough and sustaining transfer at 9 and 13 in Broadstone. The rest of the Borough would change to a system of two tier education with transfer at age 7 and 11. This scheme has all of the advantages of option 3 without the disadvantages listed there. However, there are drawbacks.

1.4.12  Poole would still not have a single system of education. It is likely that pupils will continue to transfer into Broadstone when others leave to attend selective schools, this affects between 20 and 30 pupils per year. However, pupils would spend two years and not the current one in the school, bringing a little more stability to the system, and their experience. The change would require a double year of transfer and their would be a need for extensive capital works, especially in the secondary sector. It is possible that we could bid for three new secondary schools through ‘Building schools for the Future’ and extensive work to the others.

1.4.13  Although Dorset LEA has no current plans to change the middle school system in the Corfe Mullen area they are facing falling rolls in nearby Blandford and Purbeck. We would be well placed for a change in the age of transfer co-ordinated with Dorset should this ever be necessary in Broadstone.