Issue - meetings

Background:

This report outlined details of a proposal to change Greenvale Infant School from an infant school to a primary school. This would be formally implemented through the statutory prescribed alteration to extend the upper age range at the school from 7 to 11. The impacts associated with the proposed changes were described in section 4 of the report.

With regards to the consultation process, as set out at section 6 of the report, it was explained that in most cases where changes were proposed at Local Authority maintained schools, there would need to be an initial non-statutory period of informal consultation. However, in this instance, it was proposed that this stage was not undertaken, owing to the limited solutions available to address the changes agreed by the Regional Schools Commissioner at the Phoenix Junior Academy.

It was noted that a number of stakeholders had already been consulted with and the proposals were supported by: the School and its governing body; Medway’s School Improvement Team; the Director of People – Children and Adults Services; Medway Council’s Head of Education; the Portfolio Holders for Children’s Services (Lead Member) and for Educational Attainment and Improvement; and the Fort Pitt Thomas Aveling Trust. No objecting views had been expressed so far.

The report explained that an admissions consultation would also be required to amend the Published Admission Number (PAN) of Greenvale Infant School.

The report noted that a Diversity Impact Assessment (DIA) would be presented with the Outcomes of the Statutory Representation report which would come before the Cabinet if there were objections to the formal proposals, or to the delegated determination if no objections were received.

Reasons:

Approving the commencement of the statutory process will ensure that the Council meets its duty to follow the appropriate consultation processes when making changes to maintained schools.