24 June 2015 weekly update

Dear Colleagues

Update on the Education Commissioning Plan

As we come to the end of this school year it is positive to report that we have been successful in commissioning and implementing the planned number of new school places overall for September 2015.

We have added 18.7 permanent new forms of entry in Primary schools, with a further 309 temporary places, together with 120 places in Secondary schools. This means 990 more children will be educated in Kent schools this September. I am very grateful to all the schools that have expanded and taken additional pupils to make this possible.

Surplus capacity in the Primary School sector is at 5.4% in Reception Year and 5.2% across all Primary School year groups. Our target is at least 5% surplus.  However, the surplus in districts varies across the County from 1.1% in Gravesham to 8.7% in Dover.  Surplus capacity in Year 7 and across the Secondary School sector remains high both across the County and in districts, apart from Canterbury which is below 4%.

In September 2015, seven new Primary schools will open. These are in Kings Hill, Holborough Lakes, Leybourne Chase in Tonbridge and Malling, Martello Grove in Shepway, Thistle Hill in Swale, Skinners Kent Primary School, Knights Park in Tunbridge Wells and Finberry Primary School, Cheeseman's Green in Ashford.

We set targets for the percentage of families securing their first preference schools for entry in September 2015.  For Primary schools the target was 85% and on Offer Day 85.8% of parents secured their first preference. 

For Secondary schools the target was 84%, and 80.5% of parents secured their first preference.  The target for first and second preferences for both Primary and Secondary schools was 94%, with 93.4% of parents securing their first or second preference.  Last year the national averages for first preferences were 87.7% for Primary and 85% for Secondary.

Another key part of our strategy has been to meet a wider range of special educational needs in mainstream schools, by increasing support and places for children in mainstream with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Behavioural, Emotional and Social Needs (BESN) and Speech and Language Needs (S&L).

We have established new SEND Specialist Resource Base Provision in nine Primary schools in the past year to meet these needs, and more is planned. In addition we have developed additional SEND provision in a number of Secondary schools, including Holmesdale Technology College, Hugh Christie Technology College, Leigh Academy Trust, Wilmington Academy and Castle Community College.  

At the same time new satellite provision has been developed for three of our Special schools, Five Acre Wood School in Maidstone, Oakley School in Tunbridge Wells, and St Nicholas School in Canterbury.  These satellites are based on mainstream school sites.  Pupils who attend will be on the rolls of the Special schools concerned, but pupils will integrate in to the mainstream schools' classes, with support, where this is appropriate for the individual pupils.  The satellite provisions are at East Borough, Chartham and Skinners Kent Primary Schools. Further satellites are planned for St Anthony's Special School in Thanet and Ridge View School in Tonbridge and Malling.

We remain committed to our programme to rebuild or refurbish our Special schools.  This programme, together with the re-designation of pupil numbers, has so far provided an additional 229 places in Special schools. There are 10 Special School projects in the programme. Two projects are complete at Oakley and Stone Bay schools, and three are in progress at Broomhill Bank, Laleham Gap and St Anthony's schools. Two projects are soon to commence at Foreland and Foxwood and Highview schools, and three projects are at the planning stage, at Ridge View, Five Acre Wood and Portal House schools. Overall we are increasing the number of places in Special schools by 350 places.

As we move forward with the next stage of the Education Commissioning Plan, which will be published for consultation in the autumn, we aim to focus on the following:  

• The creation of all-age schools:  St George's Secondary School in Thanet is in the process of becoming an all-through school from September 2016 with the addition of a new building for the Primary phase on site. 

• The development of a significant number of new Secondary school places which will be needed in the future.   The Secondary school population will soon start to increase dramatically, requiring an additional 60 forms of entry by 2018 and beyond.  The Commissioning Plan includes proposals to develop 13 new forms of entry by 2016-17, a further 7 FE by 2018-19 and a further 60 FE from 2018 onwards for several years.

• Continue reviewing separate Infant and Junior schools to consider amalgamation where circumstances permit.  In the past year four Infant schools and their linked Junior schools became all through Primary schools. 

• We also propose to continue to explore ways to support parents of children in Infant Schools to secure a Year 3 place at a school in areas where Junior schools have changed their status to become all through Primary schools.

If you would like to consider expansion in the next year or two please let us know by contacting your AEO or Keith.Abbott@kent.gov.uk. We are also keen to identify schools that would be interested in sponsoring a new school.

Headteacher Briefings

We covered a range of topics at the recent Headteacher Briefings, including the new Common Inspection Framework, new assessment and testing arrangements and performance measures at Key Stages 2 and 4, the Pupil Premium for Children in Care, developments in Early Help and the Emotional Wellbeing Strategy, the Commissioning Plan and the Leadership Strategy. The presentation (PDF, 1.7 MB) used at the Briefings is attached.

Patrick Leeson
Corporate Director Education and Young People's Services