Purpose

On 6th May 2025, Cabinet agreed to consult on
the potential closure of Calverton Primary School.
 
From 2nd June 2025, a pre-statutory
consultation on the potential closure of Calverton primary school
has been carried out in view of:
• 
the declining roll numbers with no immediate prospect of the school
reaching pupil capacity levels that would enable it to be
sustainable over the medium to long term; and
• 
the unrecoverable financial position, which is likely to have an
adverse impact on the quality of education, wellbeing and welfare
of pupils and staff.
 
The pre-statutory consultation closes on 14th
July 2025. Following this, officers will provide a report on the
consultation outcome. This report will ask Cabinet to consider
outcome of the pre-statutory consultation on proposed closure and
to decide whether or not to proceed to publication of a statutory
notice and proposals for closure (stage 2) which can be commented
on or objected to during the statutory representation period (stage
3).
 
To note that the decision (stage 4) on whether
or not to proceed with a closure will be taken by the Cabinet at
the end of the formal consultation (representation) period.

Decision

For the reasons set out in this report and its
appendices, Cabinet RESOLVED to Agree:
 
i) 
To proceed with stages 2 and 3 of the statutory process regarding
the potential closure of Calverton Primary School:
 
a) 
Stage 2 will be the publication of the statutory notice and
proposals which will set out details of the proposed school
closure.
 
b) 
Stage 3, which is the formal consultation (representation period)
will start on the date of publication of the statutory proposal and
must last for 4 weeks. During this period, any person or
organisation can submit comments on the proposal, to be considered
at the decision-making stage of the process.
 
ii) 
To note that the decision (stage 4), on whether
or not to proceed with a closure will be taken by the
Cabinet at the end of the formal consultation (representation)
period as set out in the statutory process referred to in the legal
implications of this report.
 
iii) 
To note that if a closure decision is agreed by Cabinet, Calverton
Primary School will close on the 31 August 2026.
 
Alternatives
considered
 
 
1.  As outlined in
section 3 of the report, Local Authority officers continue the work
with schools to ensure that they are financially viable.
 
2.   For Calverton Primary
School, a range of options have already been explored such as:
 
•  reducing
the school's published admission number;
•  income
generation opportunities;
•  reducing
staffing levels further;
•  merging
with another school;
•  joining
a multi-academy trust (MAT)
 
3.  Unfortunately, given
pupil numbers are expected to fall further, none of these options
will be successful or will help in recovering the accumulated
deficit.
 
4.  It was proposed by
those in support of the school remaining open, that it could be a
school for pupils with SEND. However, this option is unfeasible
because Calverton is a mainstream school, so would need to be
closed first and pupils will still have to move to other schools
following the statutory process as set out in the “School
Organisation (Establishment and Discontinuance of Schools)
Regulations 2013”. The only way of opening a SEND school is
the LA applying to the Secretary of State to establish a new school
under section 10 of EIA 2006. If approved, DfE will appoint a
sponsor/trust for the special school.
 
5.  The DfE has already
opened the Connaught Special School for autism in 2024 (currently
in temporary accommodation) and another free special school for
autism has been approved in principle, so it is unlikely
in the near future that DfE would
approve another special free school.
 
6.  Do nothing: This is
not recommended as it would likely result in a growing budget
deficit, estimated to grow by around £0.6m per annum, and the
quality of education at the school would be at risk. This is not
educationally or financially sustainable and does not provide best
value when dealing with budget pressures. Without considering the
potential closure proposal, any future write-off of this growing
deficit would fall to the Council's general fund.