Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Mrs. A. Winfield, Mrs. J. Troy, Mr. P. White, Mr. K. Hussain and Mr. D. Smart.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the previous meeting of the School Organisation Committee held on 20^th January, 2005 be received as a correct record.

Membership

The meeting was informed that Mrs. M. Smith, the Vice Chair of the School Governors, Green ArbourSchool, was willing to attend future meetings of this Committee, representing special schools.

Resolved:-  That Mrs. M. Smith be invited to future meetings of this Committee as representative of Special Schools.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the above meeting held on 17^th March, 2005 be received as a true record.

(In addition to the enclosed information, please bring the Statement of Case sent on 20^th June, 2005)

The meeting considered a report which gave details of a proposal to make a prescribed alteration to the age range at Brinsworth Howarth Junior and Infant School.

Brinsworth Howarth Junior and Infant School is currently a 4-11 age range school.  The proposal is to change the age range to 3-11 years to allow younger pupils to be admitted to a Foundation Stage Unit.

The following information attached as appendices to the report were considered:-

Appendix A            -     Background information on the Foundation Stage Units

Appendix B            -     Meeting with Parents – Tuesday, 26^th April, 2005

Appendix C            -     Meeting with Governing Body – Tuesday, 26^th April, 2005

Appendix D            -     Meeting with Staff – Tuesday, 26^th April, 2005

Appendix E            -     Comments from CatcliffePrimary School

Appendix F            -     Letter from PaC (Parents at Catcliffe) dated 18^th May, 2005

Appendix G            -     Letter from the Head Teacher, BrinsworthWhitehillPrimary School

Appendix H            -     Letter from Chair of Governors, BrinsworthWhitehillPrimary School

Appendix I              -     Letter from Clerk to the Governing Body, BrinsworthWhitehillPrimary School

Appendix J            -     Letter from Chair of Governors, BrinsworthWhitehillPrimary School

Appendix K            -     Letter from Member of the Public x 19

Proposals have stood for six weeks.

At the request of SOC Members, Mr. D. Hill reported on the proposal, the consultation undertaken, and addressed the representations/objections relating to the proposal which was set out in the report submitted.

In considering the proposals, members commented on the following:-

(a)                the effect of the proposal on other schools in the area, particularly Brinsworth Whitehill and CatcliffePrimary Schools and possible long-term effects

(b)                the overall situation regarding falling numbers, the resulting implications for the schools concerned particularly for staffing and financial resources

(c)                the impact on voluntary providers (no objections were received from them)

(d)                the timetable for implementing the proposal

Mr. D. Hill referred to the report which was the LEA’s response to the representations made and which covered the above issues prior to the five groups present voting on the proposal.

Following discussion on (d) above, the meeting was informed of discussions held between the LEA and the Head Teacher of Brinsworth Howarth Junior and Infant School regarding the timing of implementing the proposal, the schools group proposed that, should it be agreed, the implementation date be 1st January, 2006. The LEA had no objections to this modification.

The proposal regarding the implementation date was voted upon, three groups abstained and two groups were in favour of the proposal.

The groups then voted upon the proposal regarding the prescribed alteration to BrinsworthHowarth Primary school and the five groups present all voted in favour of the proposal.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the proposals at Brinsworth Howarth Primary School to make prescribed alteration to the age range at the school from the current age range of 4-11 to 3-11 years to allow younger pupils to be admitted to a Foundation Stage Unit, be agreed, the proposal  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

Consideration was given to a 2^nd Update report to the School Organisation Plan 2003/04 - 2007/08.

The Education (School Organisation Plans) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2003, which came into force on 1^st June 2003, changed the requirement to publish a plan on an annual basis.  Consequently, the next full plan was scheduled to be produced in 2006 (i.e. on a 3 yearly cycle).  However, the Children Act 2004 has, since then, provided the power to require the publication of a Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP) from 2006.  At the same time, it repealed a number of statutory planning requirements including the production of the School Organisation Plan.

There is still a need for the LEA to plan effectively in terms of school organisation, but there is now no required format.  In the interim, the LEA has decided, as it did last year, to produce an update to the 2003/04-2007/08 SOP.

The updated information includes references to Sections/pages in the current SOP which were highlighted in the report submitted.

Mr. M. Harrop gave a summary of the sections referred to which related to the forecasting of numbers in primary, secondary and special schools.

It was noted that the forecast figures differed very little from the actual figures.

Resolved:-  That the information be received.

In accordance with Minute No. 18 of a meeting of the School Organisation Committee held on 20^th January, 2005, the meeting considered the content of an email from DfES concerning the make-up of the schools group and the addition of a nursery schools representative, in response to a letter sent to them from Martin Harrop, Principal Officer, Forward Planning.

The correspondence from DfES clarified the reasons why the Department has made specific provision for a nursery school representative as opposed to an early years’ representative.

This had arisen from a review of the membership of the schools group following the introduction of the requirement for nursery schools to have governing bodies, in particular whether they would have representation on a par with special schools and middle schools.

Following consultation on revised regulations in June 2004, and discussions with colleagues in early years policy team, it had been decided that nursery schools should be represented on a par with special schools.  In addition, Ministers believe nursery school members will be important contributors to any discussion on the impact on standards of any proposals relating to early years provision, in a similar way that special school representatives contribute to proposals relating to SEN provision in mainstream schools.

Discussion took place on the membership of the Rotherham SOC.

Resolved:- (1)  That membership of this Committee remain as it is at present.

(2)  That a full discussion on membership take place at the next meeting.

Further to Minute No. 19 of a meeting of the School Organisation Committee held on 20^th January, 2005, the meeting considered a report concerning DfES consultations on School Organisation issues.

Foundation Schools

The meeting considered a letter from the Department for Education and Skills, together with copies of the amended regulations and list of consultees, confirming that regulations will be laid before Parliament on 8^th July and will come into force on 1^st August, 2005.  Regulations will also be laid to allow the governing bodies of all secondary schools to appoint up to four sponsor governors.

The five-year strategy set out the Government’s plans for a reformed system of strong, autonomous schools and a modernised role for local authorities acting as commissioners, rather than direct providers, of services for children and learners in their areas.

The five-year strategy made clear that the Government’s principles for reform applied to all schools, and explained how primary schools would also enjoy more freedom, with a lighter-touch role for the local authority.

Foundation status offers community and VC schools a route to practical autonomy.

Foundation schools have formal ownership of their assets and their governing bodies are the direct employers of the school’s staff; are their own admission authority;  and have the power to publish statutory proposals for other changes. 

Foundation and VA schools combined constitute a majority of secondary schools in several areas.  In those areas the local authority and schools will already be working in a way which prefigures the reformed system outlined in the five-year strategy.

The Government proposes to make further amendments to the Education (Change of Category of Maintained Schools) (England) Regulations 2000 to bring community and voluntary controlled primary schools within the scope of the streamlined process available to secondary schools.  The key principle is that the governors of individual schools are best placed to decide whether a change of category is in the best interest of their school and the wider community, taking account of the views of parents and other stakeholders.

The Government proposes to streamline the process for community and voluntary controlled primary schools to change category to foundation so that it is identical to the process being introduced for secondary schools.  The effects of this would be as follows:

·        The period during which representations may be made about the proposals would be reduced to four weeks;

·        the amount of prescribed information that the governors must publish would be significantly reduced; and

·        the governing body would be able to determine their own proposals,    and their determination would be final.

The Government is not proposing any changes to the governance arrangements for foundation schools.

The meeting made reference to the following points:-

(1)               the Government’s response to the consultation, particularly the chairmanship of SOC, and the attendance at meetings by LEA officers

(2)               the proposals to streamline the process for primary schools to change category

Resolved:-  (1)  That the content of the report be noted.

(2)    That this Committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

Resolved:-  That the letter from LGG ACSeS regarding details of a half day LGG workshop on 18^th October, 2005 be received and noted.