Agenda item

As detailed in the recommendations.

The Cabinet Member for Education provided details on the results of the pause and review for the Queensferry Campus project and the proposed next steps.

            The pause and review was held due to concern around resilience of the critical data required to support submission of the capital business case to Welsh Government (WG) for funding through the 21^st Century Schools programme.  The business case had to meet a number of tests it if was to proceed and the latest data brought into question the viability of the project.

            Admissions to John Summers High Schools fell to 50 in 2014 with larger year groups leaving the school with compounding budgeting issues.  Through the 2015 admissions process the school had 73 first choice preferences against a prediction of the governors of an intake of 94 pupils.

            The basis for the original case for capital investment was that by 2019 there would be three forms of entry and, with the proposed Northern Gateway development, this would increase the school population to an eventual four form entry school of approximately 600 places.

            A series of meetings had been held between officers and the governors of Queensferry Primary School and John Summers High School, with a representative group of governors testing the resilience of data and to establish whether other information was available that may support a capital business case submission.  The group provided their own projections which were based largely on an assumption that the school would attract 80% of all pupils from their nearest primary schools.  Figures provided by the group varied significantly from the Council’s, with details of both figures provided in the report.

            There was no evidence to support the case of the group that 80% transfer rates were achievable given historical data.  If the housing development sites within the Northern Gateway were to be developed to the maximum capacity of 1325 homes, and applying the housing yield formula, the total yield of secondary school age child numbers eligible for admission to John Summers would be 231.  If it was assumed that the full cohort of children were to be admitted to the school, the school population would still only be approximately 536 pupils.

            The Chief Officer (Education and Youth) added that the group requested that a capital business case be submitted to WG for them to make a decision, rather than the Council.  However, Members were advised that it would not be justifiable for the County Council to submit a capital case based on inaccurate or less than resilient information in the knowledge that it would fail to meet the 21^st Century Schools Programme criteria.

            The current and projected pupil numbers meant that it was imperative to review, as a matter of urgency, the secondary provision at John Summers High School.  The Governing Body has also expressed the view that they wished to avoid prolonged periods of uncertainty for both the school and the community and the local authority wanted to continue to work with the Governing Body and wider community to meet that aim.  Appendix 2 to the report set out a model timeline for the development and consideration of options and proposals which would take between six and 12 months.  Implementation of any proposal would be phased over the following years in order to safeguard curriculum continuity for examination year groups.

            The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance said it was disappointing that the data did not support a business case for the Queensferry Campus project, which also was reliant on a number of assumptions such as parental preference.  It was important that the authority was honest on whether it felt a business case could be successful which, based on the information contained in the report, it would not.  The funding would remain in place and, following the decision today, other options for the county could be explored.

            The Chief Executive explained that it was the desire of the authority to have a business case approved for the new Queensferry Campus but unfortunately the data did not support that.  It was now important to look at other options for the school and its pupils without delay.

RESOLVED:

That on the basis that the data analysis does not support the continuation through to a Full Business Case for capital funding, Cabinet agreed:

(a)       To not proceed with the Full Business Case; and

(b)       To open a period of formal consultation with key stakeholders for the area on how best to secure resilient sustainable high quality education in the area for a future report to Cabinet

NB – Councillor Christine Jones left the room during discussion of the item.