Agenda item

Councillor Dempster submits a report that advises Cabinet of representations following the publication of a Statutory Notice and Detailed Proposal to move to close Riverside Business and Enterprise College. Cabinet is advised of the Strategic Director’s responses to these representations.

A minute extract from the meeting of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee held on 10 December 2009 will be circulated as soon as it is available.

Councillor Dempster submitted a report that advised Cabinet of the two Representations received following the publication of a Statutory Notice and Detailed Proposal to move to close Riverside Business and Enterprise College. The report provided officer responses to these Representations and made recommendations about the future of the School.

Councillor Dempster stated that it was not an easy decision to make to close a school; in this instance this decision was not based on exam results but on a collapse in pupil numbers and resulting financial implications. She stated that the results this year were a credit to the school, its staff and students. She highlighted the recommendations within the report, the reasoning behind these and the recommendation that call-in of a decision to close not to be allowed. Councillor Dempster reminded Cabinet that the issues in connection with the recent consultation had already been the subject of full debate at Council on 25 November 2009.

Councillor Coley stated that he agreed that the school was unsustainable in its current form, but that there were concerns about the consultation process; it was felt that the views of those who had responded to the consultation had not been taken into account. He also stated that other schools in West Leicester had been closed and there would be no provision for potential population changes. He stated that more work should have been done to promote and raise the reputation of the School, and to look at why the numbers on roll were low. He referred to a previous report that was prepared in 2007, and stated that the issue should have been addressed at that time.

In response, Cabinet Members stated that school places could not be provided on the base of hypothetical possibilities, and the report in 2007 offered alternatives which would have meant closure of other primary schools and that could have led to further destabilisation in West Leicester. With regard to the consultation it was stated that the DCSF guidance had been followed and a small number of responses were received. Parents had made their preferences known by repeatedly not choosing the School. Any delay to the decision would have an adverse impact on the children at Riverside in terms of securing alternative school places and choosing curriculum options. Efforts had been made by the School to promote itself, but these had not increased the uptake. It was noted that the teaching unions schools and settings panel had agreed that the school was unsustainable in its current form.   Alternative uses of the sites could only be considered following a decision on the future of the School.

Councillor Dempster thanked the staff at the School and the youth service for the work they had done in engaging young people in the consultation process.

RESOLVED:

1)     that Cabinet, having reviewed the information in the report and appendices, agrees to close Riverside Business and Enterprise College in accordance with the process set out in the Statutory Notice and Detailed Proposal published on 7 October 2009;

2)     In reaching this decision, that Cabinet affirms that:

·        The collapse of parental preference, low pupil numbers and associated financial viability are the key issues (In 2008 and 2009 more than 90% of parents living within the Riverside priority area sent their children to other schools;)

·        Riverside Business and Enterprise College simply cannot be sustained on current pupil numbers and continued progress secured within resources available;

·        Alternative models do not offer a way of addressing this collapse in parental preference and sustaining continued educational progress within available resources;

3)     to assist in the planning of effective transition arrangements and help maintain curriculum continuity and opportunity for current pupils that Cabinet endorses the exercise of powers conferred by paragraph 1.2 of the Admissions Code 2009 to permit the City Council as Admissions Authority to cease any further admissions to any year group at the school until further notice;

4)     in accordance with Paragraphs 1.18 to 1.21 of the Admissions Code 2009 that Cabinet endorses the exercise by the Director of Children’s Services of powers conferred upon her to offer places for September 2010 and September 2011 for displaced pupils at Riverside Business and Enterprise College at any maintained school within the City. These revised displacement arrangements are authorised under Regulation 21 School Admissions (Admission Arrangements) (England) Regulations 2009 to comply with paragraphs 1.47b and 3.44 of the Admissions Code 2009.

5)     that Cabinet agrees that Cabinet Procedure Rule 12(d) (grounds of urgency – a delay would be seriously prejudicial to pupil interest) applies to the above decisions such that they are not open to further “call-in” by Members.