Transcript

Good morning and welcome to the-- to anybody watching online. And I have one substantive item at the meeting this morning. So the first item on the agenda is declarations of interest. I can declare I have no in notice of no supplementary questions. So coming to the substantive item on the agenda today which is the consultation on admissions arrangements for and I reiterate these are changes which would take effect in-- from September 2026. The two schools concerned are Rygate Primary Junior School where it's proposed to formally consult on a reduction to the year 3 plan-- year 3 PAM, sorry, published admissions number from which it is currently to 120 children and Audley Primary School in Tandridge where it is proposed to formally consult on introducing a year 3 PAM of 2. Now, I'm joined by Claire Poitier who is the service manager of our school's admissions team. Claire, can I ask you very briefly to explain the reasoning behind these proposals? Yes, of course. Thank you Claire. So the first proposed change is to the PAM at Rygate Priory School. So we're proposing to reduce that PAM from 150 to 120. The reason behind that is essentially because one of the feeder schools to Rygate Priory, Holmesdale, that school reduced its PAM from 120 to 90 in September 2023. So the proposal to reduce the PAM at Rygate Priory is essentially to reflect the reduced number of children moving through from Holmesdale Primary School-- also Holmesdale Infant School. The area of Rygate where this school serves is made up of an assortment of schools and across all of those schools in the planning area, it's forecast that there'll be a need for 286 year 3 places in September 2026. So with the reduced PAM at Rygate Priory to 120, there would be a total of 300 year 3 places in that planning area, which will be sufficient to meet the demand and will ensure that no school has excess vacancies. The second proposed change is to Orderly Primary School. That school is planning on introducing a year 3 PAM of 2. It's a very small PAM but it actually reflects what already happens within that area. So Orderly Primary School has the capacity to take two additional children at year 3 and currently it does that through in-year admissions. But actually by introducing a PAM, it actually makes it quite transparent that they will be taking two additional children at year 3 and it will enable parents to actually submit an application for that school knowing that they will admit at least two more children into year 3. So it's really to reflect current practice for that school. Thank you, Claire. Thank you very much. That's quite clear. I think it's important also to note that the proposal for Rygate Priory Junior School is entirely separate from and unrelated to any future proposals that may come forward about the provision of primary places generally across the Rygate area which is some ongoing work. And I can see from the report that both of the schools which are directly affected by the proposed changes have been consulted and are in agreement and that parents, schools and other stakeholders including members of the public and MPs will have the opportunity to comment on the proposed changes to admissions arrangements throughout the six-week consultation. I've seen from the report that there are two appendices which set out the admissions criteria for the whole range of community and voluntary controlled schools across the county and also that the service has prepared an equalities impact assessment. Taking everything into consideration, I confirm that I'm minded to agree the recommendations that are set out on page 1 and authorize a service manager for schools' admissions to go out to statutory consultation on the proposed changes to admissions arrangements for the two schools from September 2026 as follows. A reduction of the year three pan at Rygate Priory Junior School from 150 to 120 as set out in paragraph 5 to 13 and at Audley Primary School the introduction of a year three pan of two as set out in paragraph 14 to 16. And that being all the items on the agenda, I'm happy to close today's meeting. Thank you very much, Claire, for attending. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye.