TO: SCHOOLS FORUM
DATE: 09 DECEMBER 2021
 |
EDUCATION CAPITAL STRATEGY
Executive Director: People
1 PURPOSE OF REPORT
1.1 For Schools Forum to note and feedback on the proposed capital strategy for Education & Learning.
2 RECOMMENDATIONS
2.1 For Schools Forum to note and feedback on the proposed capital strategy for Education & Learning as set out in the attached appendix.
3 REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1 The Council has the statutory duty to provide sufficient school places.
3.2 To maximise the effective use of the education estate.
4 ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED
4.1 None, it is business critical to undertake pupil forecasting to ensure the Council meets its statutory duty to provide sufficient school places.
5 SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Context
5.1 Bracknell Forest is moving from a time of scarcity of school places to a time of surplus school places. Whilst secondary school numbers on roll are still rising, the birth rate and corresponding primary school intake numbers are decreasing across the Borough.
New Capital Strategy
5.2 The proposed new Capital Strategy is attached as a Briefing Paper at Appendix A, which includes in respect of;
· Early Years
· Primary
· Secondary
· Post 16
· SEN
6. CONSULTATION AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Legal Advice
6.1 There are no specific legal implications arising from this report. The Capital Strategy, when it is published will contribute towards the Authority’s discharge of its statutory duty to provide sufficient school places in its area under Section 13 of the Education Act 1996.
Executive Director of Resources: Finance
6.2 The recommendations arising from the Education Capital Strategy will need to be considered as part of the council’s annual process of setting an affordable budget, drawing on funding from external grant, developer contributions, land sale and borrowing by the council.
Equalities Impact Assessment
6.3 SEN
forecasts are included in the SPP. Compliance with needs for
disabled access to
new build school accommodation is achieved
through Part M of Building Regulations.
6.4 The
requirement for disabled access to existing school buildings is set
out in the
Equality Act and the Council makes
accessibility works a priority in it Planned Works
programme for schools, details of which
are set out in the Asset Management Plan for
Schools.
Strategic Risk Management Issues
6.5 Identified risks include:
|
ISSUE |
RISK |
COMMENT |
|
|
1 |
Accuracy of forecasts |
LOW |
A new forecasting system was been introduced in 2019 and proved to be 98% accurate for the 2020 intake. |
|
2 |
Sufficient school places |
LOW |
Forecasts suggest there will be sufficient school places for the forecast period 2021-25. |
|
3 |
Surplus school places |
MEDIUM |
Forecasts suggest primary surpluses will increase, but secondary surpluses will decrease. Measures to reduce the surplus of primary places will mitigate this risk. |
|
4 |
Council’s ability to manage the supply of school places |
MEDIUM |
Academies may choose to depart from catchment area admissions policies and/or admit over their PANs. Effective relationships with academies are essential. |
|
5 |
Capital Cost Risk |
MEDIUM |
External funding streams have been identified to create additional SEND facilities required including DfE grant and S106 funding. |
Climate Change Implications
6.6 Capital projects arising from the Capital Strategy will be governed by current environmental legislation for building design and construction which includes the Building Act, Clean Air Act, Climate Change Act, Energy Act, Environment Act etc.
Consultation
6.5
Headteachers, Chairs of Governors, Diocesan Authorities and School
Sufficiency
Board.
Background Papers
Previous versions of the documents
Contacts for further information
Chris Taylor Head of Education Capital and Property
01344 354062 chris.taylor@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
Chris Hilliard Assistant Director Education & Learning
01344 351493 chris.hilliard@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
Schools Forum Briefing Paper
Education Capital Strategy
December 2021
Introduction
1. This Briefing Paper sets out proposals for the creation of a new Capital Strategy for Education & Learning from 2022 – 2026 (5 years).
Objectives
2. The proposed Capital Strategy will address these issues with the objectives of:
· Complying with the Council’s statutory duty to provide sufficient school places
· Making recommendations following discussions with Headteachers, Governors and Trustees for the best use of the Education estate
· Consider in consultation with Headteachers, Governors and Trustees, whether any potentially surplus mainstream accommodation could be used for SEND use
· Produce specific outcomes as projects on the Council’s capital programme
Context
3. The new Education Capital Strategy 2022-26 is informed by our existing school places forecasting system used to create the annual DfE School Capacity (SCAP) survey return and the latest School Places Plan 2021-25 (SPP). Forecasts for mainstream school places are calculated from cohort survival in each Year group adjusted for housing and migration.
Mainstream - Primary
4. Because the number of surplus places remains high, our strategy will be to reduce this surplus.
5. The existing and forecast Borough-wide surplus places in the intake Year R for the next five years are set out on the table below:
|
Year |
PANs |
NOR |
Surplus |
||
|
Sep-21 |
1,555 |
1,322 |
233 |
15% |
7.8FE |
|
Sep-22 |
1,565 |
1,235 |
330 |
21% |
11.0FE |
|
Sep-23 |
1,560 |
1,222 |
338 |
22% |
11.3FE |
|
Sep-24 |
1,560 |
1,252 |
308 |
20% |
10.3FE |
|
Sep-25 |
1,560 |
1,239 |
321 |
21% |
10.7FE |
|
Sep-26 |
1,560 |
1,241 |
319 |
20% |
10.6FE |
6. There is an understanding nationally of a target of maintaining no more than a 5% surplus of intake year places, but as the table above indicates, if we do nothing, we are forecast to exceed this by a significant margin over the next five years.
7. Subject to this we should seek to maximise the numbers of parents who get their first preferences with school admissions.
8. Three workshops will be held during the second half of the 2021 Autumn term with the Headteachers of North Bracknell, South Bracknell and Crowthorne & Sandhurst to understand the implications of surplus places in each Planning Area, to explore the options and to identify where and when admission numbers might be reduced.
9. Schools must be able to operate within the revenue budgets derived from their numbers on roll (NOR). A significant surplus of places, as currently being experienced in some primary schools, results in more incidences of financial difficulty. It can divert substantial management and other resources both in schools and at the council and can ultimately impact on school standards and effectiveness. Changes must also be undertaken in a planned way to enable schools to make appropriate and timely arrangements for staffing and training.
Mainstream - Secondary
10. Because forecasts indicate that there will be sufficient secondary school places over the next five years, our strategy will be to closely monitor the NOR against the current capacity during this period.
11.
The
existing and projected Borough-wide surplus places in the intake
Year 7 for the
next five years are set out on the table below:
|
Year |
PANs |
NOR |
Surplus |
||
|
Sep-21 |
1,485 |
1,438 |
47 |
3% |
1.6FE |
|
Sep-22 |
1,494 |
1,436 |
58 |
4% |
1.9FE |
|
Sep-23 |
1,494 |
1,436 |
45 |
3% |
1.5FE |
|
Sep-24 |
1,494 |
1,461 |
33 |
2% |
1.1FE |
|
Sep-25 |
1,494 |
1,383 |
111 |
7% |
3.7FE |
|
Sep-26 |
1,494 |
1,384 |
110 |
7% |
3.7FE |
12. We will however be happy to receive expressions of interest from secondary schools that would like to enhance or expand their SEND provision in accordance with our SEND Strategy set out below.
Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)
13. Over the next five years high level forecasts indicate that the numbers of pupils with an EHCP in Bracknell Forest will rise by up to 200 places which is a 22% increase.
14. Over the same period the number of children & young people in mainstream schools requiring SEN support is forecast to rise by up to 180 places which is a 7% increase,
15. Additional specialist accommodation will need to be provided to meet the needs of these pupils including expansion of existing, and creation of new facilities. Our strategy is to see whether these local pressures in Special Educational Needs and Disability could be accommodated in surplus accommodation identified as part of the mainstream school strategies.
16. To fully understand our future requirements, an enhanced SEND forecasting model will be built to specifically evidence the types of needs that will need to be met, and what additional provision is needed where and when. Location factors will also be considered including whether new provision needs to be local i.e. on multiple sites or central i.e. a single provision.
17. In addition, we will be examining the numbers of SEND pupils who are currently educated out of Borough because of a lack of capacity or specialist provision in Bracknell Forest. Where a business case can be made for expanding or creating additional or new SEND facilities in the Borough, proposals will be brought forward as part of the Council’s capital programme in future years.
Early Years
18. Early Years already has a forecasting function which is summarised in the SPP each year. Provision is split between private providers and primary schools with nurseries.
19. The Council is required by law to ‘report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare and make this report available and accessible to parents’. The 2021 Child Sufficiency Assessment was recently reviewed by Schools Forum in November 2021.
20. The most recent assessment evidences that there is currently sufficient childcare capacity across the Borough to meet the forecast demand for places until 2022/23.
21. We will work with Early Years to derive specific capital strategy outcomes from the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment including the future role of the Child Development Centre. This work will be done in 2022.
Post 16
22. Development of a Post 16 Strategy is an action for the LA in the Learning Improvement Strategy 2019-22.
23. Because Post 16 falls outside the Council’s statutory responsibility the approach will be to act as a commissioner, employing an external facilitator to manage a review of Post 16 across the Borough. The scope and content of this review will be drawn up by and agreed with Headteachers, and because in 2022 five out of our seven secondary schools are expected to be academies, they will be likely to drive this agenda.
24. The Capital Strategy for Post 16 will be an output of the Review and will depend on schools’ appetite for collaborative working. This could include creation of shared facilities or development of Post 16 facilities on individual school sites.
25. There are also two significant non-school Post 16 providers which have historically drawn pupils out of Bracknell Forest schools:
· Bracknell & Wokingham College, located in Bracknell
· Farnborough Sixth Form College, located 3.5km from our southern border
We may wish to include these external providers in part of this review.
26. This work will be done in the 2022 Autumn term.
Reporting
27. The vehicle for reporting the Capital Strategy will be the annual School Places Plan (SPP), which is updated and published at the beginning of each calendar year.
28. The Strategy will be evidenced by data and presented in a consistent format to make them easy for the reader to understand, including use of graphics to illustrate past and future trends.
Implementation
29. Capital projects will be brought forward for approval by the Executive as Project Appraisal Decision Sheets (PADS) on the annual capital programme.
Timescales
30. The intention is to complete all four elements of the Capital Strategy by the Spring of 2023:
|
2021 Autumn Term: |
Workshops with Headteachers and drafting of the Mainstream Capital Strategies |
|
2022 Spring Term |
Publish the Mainstream Capital Strategy in the new SPP and drafting of the SEN Capital Strategy |
|
2022 Summer Term |
Drafting the Early Years Capital Strategy |
|
2022 Autumn Term |
Post 16 Review |
|
2023 Spring Term |
Include the Early Years & Post 16 Capital Strategy in the new SPP |
Chris Taylor Head of School Property, Places & Admissions
01344 354062 chris.taylor@bracknell-forest.gov.uk