Public consultation on a proposal to expand Hovingham Primary School

Transcription

1 Public consultation on a proposal to expand Hovingham Primary School Consultation period 13 June 2016 to 8 July 2016

2 What is being proposed? Leeds City Council is consulting on a proposal to permanently expand Hovingham Primary School from a capacity of 420 to 630 pupils by increasing the admission limit in Reception from 60 to 90 pupils with effect from September The consultation will take place from Monday 13 June 2016 to 4pm on Friday 8 July Why do we want to do this? The Education Act 1996 places a duty on local authorities to ensure there are sufficient school places for all children living in its area. The local authority is also required to promote choice and diversity. This means that Leeds City Council must ensure there are enough school places for all children living in Leeds and that there is a range of options available to parents. The demand for school places in and around the Harehills area has significantly increased due to high birth rates and the numbers of families moving into the area. The graph below shows how the birth rate has changed since 1999 in the Harehills and Gipton area. Hovingham Primary is popular with families and is in an area of high demographic need. There is an increasing demand on school places especially in the community around this school. This academic year there has been a need to create extra classes at Hovingham Primary for additional children in Year 1 and in Year 2. The school has also agreed to take an additional class for both Reception and Year 1 for September The governing body supports consultation on the proposal in order to meet the needs of their local community and is committed to improving outcomes for children and young people. What effect would the increase in pupil numbers have on the school? Hovingham Primary has already temporarily increased its pupil numbers across different age groups in order to provide much needed school places for the area. The school is experienced

3 in managing an increase in pupils whilst maintaining educational standards and ensuring the ethos of the school is not affected. Infant Class Size Legislation states that there can be no more than 30 children in an infant class with one qualified teacher and this would not change if the school was to expand. If the school did permanently expand, extra accommodation for the additional children would be needed. Some building work is necessary in order to provide the teaching space needed for the additional children that have already been admitted by the school. Any additional accommodation requirements will be agreed in consultation with the school leadership team and governing body. Any building work carried out would be completely separated from the pupils and staff to ensure safety, and disruption to teaching and learning would be minimised. The contractors used would have considerable experience in working on school sites. Any proposed development on green space to enable the expansion of Hovingham Primary would be considered in consultation with the planning department and Sport England as part of the statutory planning process. How would road safety issues be addressed? Early discussions with colleagues in highways services have confirmed that there is a history of traffic/parking congestion issues in the vicinity of the site. They have acknowledged the positive steps that the school has undertaken to improve this. However, potential highway improvement measures have been identified that could be implemented as part of the proposed expansion to help mitigate the additional travel/parking impacts and support safe access to the school. We would continue to work with Highways colleagues throughout the development. Other than this proposal, are there plans to create more primary places in Harehills? Demographics indicate that additional places are likely to be needed within Harehills and the surrounding areas. We are currently consulting on a proposal to expand and relocate Shakespeare Primary School in nearby Burmantofts. We are also aware that a free school has plans to develop additional primary provision within the locality which will help ease the expected demand for primary places in future years. How can I share my views on the proposal? You may choose to attend one of the drop-in sessions. These are informal sessions where you can find out more information with officers available to answer any questions you may have on the proposal. These will take place as follows. Venue Date Time Wednesday 15 th June :00pm 3:45pm Hovingham Primary School Wednesday 15 th June :00pm 6:30pm Friday 1 st July :30am - 10:00am

4 Responses can be made in the following ways; Complete a Consultation Response Form (provided in this booklet and available at the drop-in sessions) and: Hand it in during a Drop-In event at Hovingham Primary School Leave it with the School Office on or before 4 pm on 8 July it to educ.school.organisation@leeds.gov.uk Post it to Leeds City Council, PO Box 837, c/o Leeds Town Hall, Sufficiency & Participation Team, Leeds, LS1 9PZ Post a response on the Leeds City Council Wordpress site (discussion forum): Use the online survey at: This booklet, along with information on the progress of the proposal, is available at: What happens next? Date 13 June July 2016 Consultation ends September 2016 October 2016 December 2016 September 2017 Glossary Key event Four week consultation begins. An opportunity to submit views/responses and attend meetings. The earliest date that a report would be considered by the Executive Board for them to decide whether the proposal can proceed The earliest date that a Statutory Notice can be published (if approval is given by Executive Board) followed by a four week representation period The earliest date that a report would be considered by Executive Board for them to make their final decision on the proposal The date when additional primary places would be available if the proposals were approved Executive Board Form of entry (FE) Published Admission Number (PAN) The decision making body of Leeds City Council, formed by the Leader of the Council and nine other executive Members. Representatives of all political parties attend the Executive Board. Primary schools are organised around classes of 30 pupils. A one form of entry school has seven year groups of 30 pupils; a two form of entry school has seven year groups of 60 pupils each. The maximum number of children in each year group a school is able to admit.

5 Reception class Stakeholder Statutory notice period or statutory notice This is the first year group for children starting primary school in the year they will reach 5 years old. Someone who has an interest in the proposal e.g. parent, member of staff, member of local community group, local resident A period of time required by law to inform the public that the local authority is proposing to do or change something. The statutory notice is published with the proposal details, and invites comments. It follows a period of consultation like this one. If you do not speak English and need help in understanding this booklet, please telephone and ask for this to be arranged. We will then put you on hold while we contact an interpreter. We can assist with any language and there is no charge for interpretation. If any of the information is required in large print/braille/ audio tape/cd please contact us. Arabic: Bengali: Cantonese: Farsi: Hindi: Punjabi:

6 Kurdish: Tigrinya: Urdu: Czech: Jestliže nemluvíte anglicky a potřebujete, aby vám někdo pomohl vysvětlit tento dokument, prosím zavolejte na níže uvedené číslo a uveďte svůj jazyk. Potom vás požádáme, abyste nepokládal(-a) telefon a mezitím zkontaktujeme tlumočníka. French: Si vous ne parlez pas anglais et que vous avez besoin d'aide pour comprendre ce document, veuillez téléphoner au numéro ci-dessous et indiquez votre langue. Nous vous demanderons d'attendre pendant que nous contactons un(e) interprètre. Polish: Jeżeli nie mówią Państwo po angielsku i potrzebują pomocy w zrozumieniu tego dokumentu, prosimy zadzwonić pod poniższy numer telefonu. Po podaniu nazwy swojego ojczystego języka prosimy poczekać w tym czasie będziemy kontaktować się z tłumaczem. Slovak: Ak nehovoríte anglicky a potrebujete, aby vám niekto pomohol vysvetliť tento dokument, prosím zavolajte na nižšie uvedené číslo a uveďte svoj jazyk. Potom vás požiadame, aby ste nepokladali telefón a medzitým skontaktujeme tlmočníka. Somali: Haddii aadan af Ingiriiska ku hadlin una baahan tahay in fahamka dukumentigan lagugu caawino, fadlan soo wac lambarka teleefoonka hoose oo magaca sheeg luqaddaadag. Ka dib baan kugu oran doonaa sug inta aan turjumaan la xiriireyno.

7 Expansion of Hovingham Primary School - Consultation Response Form When you have completed your form you can: Hand it in during one of our Drop-In events at Hovingham Primary School Leave it with the School Office on or before 4 pm on 8 July to educ.school.organisation@leeds.gov.uk or send it to Leeds City Council, PO Box 837, c/o Leeds Town Hall, Sufficiency & Participation Team, Leeds, LS1 9PZ. Please tell us who you are: Parent of a child at Hovingham Primary School School Governor Member of staff at Hovingham Primary School Councillor (Elected Member) Local resident Other Do you agree with the proposed expansion of Hovingham Primary School from 60 places to 90 places from September 2017? Yes I agree No I don t agree Your comments (please use a separate sheet if needed):

8 3. Was the information given to you in this consultation useful? Yes it was useful No it was not useful If there are any improvements that you think we could make to the consultation process please use this space to write them down. 4. All responses will be taken into account when the decision on whether to proceed is made, but we unfortunately cannot address specific queries. However, if you would like your response to be acknowledged, please provide your contact details: Data Protection Act 1998 Under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998 we must inform you of the following. Leeds City Council is seeking your views to help inform the decision on this proposal. Your personal information will be used only for this purpose, and may be shared with other agencies who are involved in the consultation, however only to address any issues you raise. If you do not wish to provide personal details your views will still be considered, but we will not be able to acknowledge your response personally.