Councillor Paul Rochford, Cabinet Member for Children & Learning, introduced the report.

It was reported that in September 2013, Cabinet had agreed the first phase of Havering’s primary school expansion plan. The expansion of 15 primary schools was to provide adequate primary school places given the increasing birth rate in the Borough.

Across the country and London in particular, demand for school places continues to rise, driven by a number of factors. It was noted that the issue was particularly pressing in primary schools.

Havering had not seen the spikes in demand as in other areas of the Capital, but demand for places was threatening to outstrip the supply of primary school places in the Borough. The unprecedented and unforeseeable surge in demand had pushed the Council to:

1. Find ways to absorb the immediate extra demand for places, while protecting the Borough’s excellent reputation for good schools – which was already well underway.

2. Plan for a longer term growth in pupil numbers, which meant creating more capacity in the Havering school system.

The report sought Cabinet approval to an approach to managing the forecast increase in primary phase pupil numbers beyond the current Phase 1 of the Council’s Programme of Primary School Expansions.  

The proposals took account of the Council’s agreed Commissioning School Places Strategy 2012/13-2016/17, updated pupil forecasts and other related developments in School Organisation.  

Approval of the proposals would enable officers to undertake consultation with stakeholders including the encouragement of new Free Schools as part of the Council’s strategy of ensuring that there are sufficient school places to meet the best assessment of likely future demands.  

Officers would also be authorised to commission detailed feasibility work to assess, appraise and prioritise the capital implications and to firm up specific proposals for final decision by March 2014, subject to the outcome of a Department for Education (DfE) review of school organisation change processes.

Reasons for the decision

The decision was necessary to ensure the provision of sufficient additional primary places to meet the forecast rise in primary pupil numbers projected beyond Phase 1 of the Council’s Programme of Primary Phase School Expansions.

Other options considered

A number of options had been identified, each requiring further consideration.  So far no option had been rejected.

Not providing any additional places was not an option as it would result in the Council failing to meet its statutory duties.

Cabinet:

1.    Authorised staff to develop Phase 2 of the Council’s Primary Expansion Programme based on the following ‘three-stranded’ approach:

 Potential new Free Schools should be encouraged into Havering coupled with consideration of new ‘all-through’ provision potentially on existing secondary school sites;

 Expand current primary phase schools by using additional sites adjacent to existing school sites;

 Expand existing primary phase schools on their existing school sites, starting with bulges for 2014/15 and including consideration of expanding existing 3FE primary schools subject to assessment of the impact of such an expansion on standards, effectiveness and performance.

2.    Agreed that the power to take further decisions on Phase 2 of the Primary Expansion Programme be delegated to the Lead Member for Children and Learning and Lead Member for Value, following consideration of the above and including a preference for expanding existing popular and high-performing schools and inclusion of nursery provision where appropriate and practicable;

3.    Agreed that it would increase the “primary expansion” allocation within the 13/14 Capital Programme by £4,610,221 to be funded by 14/15 basic need grant (£4,451,633) and extended schools grant 2008/11 (£155,588) noting that although commitments may need to be made prior April 2014, it was unlikely that any grant would need to be physically spent prior to this point.

4.    Noted that the financial consequences of phase 2 of primary expansion would be addressed as part of the 2014/15 budget setting process and also be reassessed at the point further decisions were taken.

5.    Noted that plans to address Phase 3 would be the subject of future reports.