Minutes:
The Portfolio Holder gave an update to Members on work in progress across the Education, Children and Families Portfolio.
A range of events had been delivered in recent months including the annual Celebration of Achievement Event to recognise the academic and personal achievements of Children Looked After, and a highly successful takeover day at the Council which had included pupils from schools across the Borough as well as representatives of the Bromley Youth Council and Living in Care Council. A number of new governance arrangements had also been established including the SEND Governance Board which brought together key partners including schools to ensure suitable services were in place for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, and the Corporate Parenting Board which aimed to develop a robust Corporate Parenting Strategy in partnership with the Living in Care Council. The Portfolio Holder continued to attend meetings of the Children’s Service Improvement Governance Board and Youth Offending Service Management Board, and had undertaken a number of visits to children’s services including the Quality Assurance and Virtual School Teams. A response had been received from the Secretary of State in relation to the Select Committee’s review on the Education Landscape in Bromley and would be provided to the Select Committee following the meeting.
A range of work was underway to ensure sufficient school places were in place across the Borough. An alternate temporary site for the proposed Buller's Wood School for Boys had been presented to the Secretary for State for approval. If this proposal was taken forward the building, which was owned by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, would require planning permission for change of use to Class D1 (non-residential institutions) as well as refurbishment, but there was currently no expectation that the Local Authority would contribute towards the cost of these works. National Offer Day for secondary education was 1st March 2018 and as this had been undertaken using a ‘two track’ process, prospective pupils who had applied for a place at Buller’s Wood School for Boys would not be disadvantaged if the school did not open as planned in September 2018. There were sufficient places to accommodate all applications for Bromley secondary schools for the 2018/19 academic year with a small surplus of unallocated places.
A Member raised a concern at Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley’s recent consultation on changing its admissions criteria to favour admissions from Harris primary schools and queried whether the Local Authority had responded to the consultation. The Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that the Local Authority responded to all such consultations and the Local Authority’s response would be provided to the Member following the meeting. The Portfolio Holder noted that academy schools were able to set their own admissions criteria, but that there was currently no shortage of school places in the North of the Borough. A number of academies and free school providers had received approval from the Department for Education to establish new secondary education provisions in or around the Borough and work would continue to ensure that sufficient provision was in place for the 2022/23 academic year for which a shortfall of 12 forms of entry was currently projected. This included work with the Archdiocese of Southwark to consider the establishment of a Catholic Secondary School in the Borough.
In response to a question from a Member, it was confirmed that one of the existing Deputy Head Teachers had been appointed as Acting Head Teacher at St Olave’s and St Saviour’s Grammar School until a new Head Teacher could be appointed, with the expectation that a new Head Teacher would start in post in January 2019. The Portfolio Holder would be working with the two Selective Schools in Bromley around the potential to establish additional grammar provision in the North of the Borough.
In concluding, the Portfolio Holder thanked the Select Committee for the excellent work it had undertaken during the 2017/18 municipal year, particularly in relation to children’s social care.
The Executive Support Assistant to the Portfolio Holder for Education, Children and Families noted that the School Places Working Group would shortly be convened to consider the demand for school places for the 2018/19 academic year, and requested Members of the Select Committee to notify the Committee Clerk if they wished to participate in the review.
RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder update be noted.