Minutes:
The Portfolio Holder gave an update to Members on work being undertaken across the Education Portfolio.
The demand for pupil places continued to be high. Since the start of the 2014/15 academic year, over 500 ‘in year’ applications had been received, including 180 applications from children new to the Borough. This had placed considerable strain on the availability of school places in Bromley and might result in the provision of in-year bulge classes. A further issue had been identified around a number of junior schools that had chosen to become primary schools following conversion to academy status, with some infant schools no longer having an associated junior school. Work was being undertaken to address this issue and it was hoped that new junior schools would be established to meet the demand for places.
It had been identified that a significant increase in secondary provision would be required across the Borough in future years. The Portfolio Holder was pleased to announce that the E21 bid to establish a new secondary academy in the Elmers End area of the Borough had been successful. Work continued with secondary providers across the Borough to promote expansion of existing secondary schools as well as the potential for new free schools. A meeting of the School Places Working Group would be held on 14th October 2014 to consider both primary and secondary place planning across the Borough.
The Bromley Trust Alternative Provision Academy had opened in September 2014 and was working well. A new academy uniform, including the wearing of ties, had been launched and pupils were being encouraged to apply for the role of academy prefects.
Free school meals for pupils at Key Stage 1 had been successfully introduced across all Bromley schools from September 2014, and hot meals were now available at all schools.
Work to attract high quality candidates to apply to become Local Authority Governors continued. A highly successful Governors’ Conference had been held on Saturday 27th September 2014, which had been attended by over 50 Bromley Governors. At the Conference, it had been proposed that a Bromley Governor Association be established to support the development of strong governance across the Borough into the future. It had also been announced that a new recruitment process had been introduced for Local Authority Governors which would include a panel interview. Members and Co-opted Members of the Education PDS Committee would be eligible to join these panels, and a Co-opted Member requested that young people also be involved in the panel interviews. Mr Tony Wright-Jones, Parent Governor representative, expressed his thanks to the Portfolio Holder and those Officers involved for delivering an excellent event. The Committee endorsed the Chairman’s concern that the Members of the Education PDS Committee had not been invited to contribute to the agenda or attend the Governors’ Conference.
RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder update be noted and that the Committee’s concern that neither the Chairman or the Members of the Education PDS Committee had been consulted about the Governor’s Conference or been invited to attend be recorded.