Purpose

This is the council’s annual report on its review of pupil place planning in Tower Hamlets. It explains:
? the current position on the provision of school places in the borough;
? the projected demand for school places in future years;
? the steps being taken to manage the sufficiency and sustainability of school places in accordance with the council’s school organisation strategy.
The report also serves to inform:
? decisions on education capital investment planning and future bids to the DfE’s new school programmes;
? the medium to longer term commissioning or decommissioning of places for children and young people with SEND;
? discussions with school and trust leaders around required changes to current SEND provision to meet emerging needs.

 

Decision

1. Notes the factors influencing pupil population change in Tower Hamlets;
2. Notes the current position on the provision of school places in the borough;
3. Notes the projected demand for school places in future years;
4. Notes the steps being taken to manage the sufficiency and sustainability of school places in accordance with the council’s school organisation strategy.
5. Notes the latest position on SEND, current provision and sufficiency planning;
6. Notes the current early education and childcare sufficiency planning;
7. Notes the Equalities Impact Screening and specific equalities considerations as set out in Paragraph Five and Appendix 7 of the report submitted.

Reasons for the decision

The council is legally responsible for the planning and provision of school places across its local area. This responsibility includes: - Ensuring there are sufficient school places (Education Act 1996). - As far as possible, complying with the preferences expressed by parents (School Standards and Framework Act 1998). - Increasing opportunities for parental choice (Education and Inspections Act 2006). - Provide fair access to educational opportunity (Education and Inspections Act 2006). - Keep SEND provision under review and consider if it is sufficient to meet the needs of children and young people in its area (Children and Families Act 2014). - Securing sufficient childcare for families, including funded early education places (Childcare Act 2006).

In meeting its responsibility to ensure sufficiency the council is required to address both deficit and surplus school places across the education estate. The council will therefore consider how best to organise schools for the efficient and effective delivery of education.

Proposals to provide additional school places will often require long-term planning to implement e.g. opening a new school, expanding an existing one or increasing provision for children and young people with special educational needs. Evidence about the projected need for places must therefore be robust and reviewed regularly, in order to identify emerging need and new projects to inform the council’s sufficiency strategy.

The content of this report aligns with the functions of the council as a Local Planning Authority, and the approach taken to make best use of the future school development sites identified in the Tower Hamlets Local Plan. 

Alternative options considered

An alternative would be to do nothing to manage the supply of school places. This would likely result in the council having to take a number of short-term measures. Dealing with over-provision would require action to financially support schools who are unable to balance their budgets to maintain quality education. Dealing with under-provision would require action to quickly provide additional places in the form of bulge classes at existing schools or expansions into temporary buildings.

These measures can address issues in the short-term, but they do not provide best value and should not be viewed as a sustainable approach to managing demand for school places.