Purpose

Cabinet is recommended to approve entering into the second phase of the Creating Stronger Schools: Investing in Brighter Futures programme - and to undertake public consultation on proposals to reduce surplus school places in the borough.

Decision

Cabinet:

(1)          noted the Creating Stronger Schools programme: Section 3.13 of the report refers to The Creating Stronger Schools Programme;

(2)          agreed the proposed approach to Phase 2 of the programme: Section 3.25 of the report refers to ‘Phase Two’;

(3)          agreed to consult on proposals to close Edinburgh Primary School: Referenced in section 3.26 – Edinburgh Primary School;

(4)          delegated decision making powers to the Strategic Director of Children’s Services and the Portfolio Lead Member for Children and Yoing People to permit prescribed changes to schools and proceed with consultations on proposals to close and or consolidate schools to be identified within the priority planning areas that have the most surplus places, and to return to Cabinet with the findings from the consultations for further decision making. Referenced in section 3.37 of the report of Supporting Staff and Families;

(5)          noted the proposed approach to engagement and supporting pupils, families and staff affected by any changes: referenced in section 3.32 - Supporting Staff and Families and section 6 – Consultation of the report.

Options & Alternatives Considered

The stage 1 Carter Jonas review of the viability of maintained schools estate capital assets, considered each school’s financial resilience and the outcomes achieved for children to create a ‘balanced scorecard’ demonstrating where demand in the borough was sustained, rising or reducing, the financial sustainability of the school, education outcomes and the quality of the school building and its state of repair.

The Carter Jonas review, combined with the local area data analysis demonstrated there is uneven demand for school places in borough and highlighted, in the North of the borough (Chingford) there are sufficient places to meet the needs of the population and the physical condition of schools is good.

In the central part of the borough the report highlighted there are 2077 surplus operating places across all year groups with 344 in reception. There is a cluster of schools in 10 wards (4 planning areas) that have schools operating below 50% capacity.

School name

Physical Capacity

Reception Capacity

Reception Operating PAN

Oct '25 Total Numbers on roll

Surplus Capacity

% full

Edinburgh Primary School

630

90

60

110

520

17%

Edinburgh school operating capacity as of 15/09/26 (unvalidated data – data will be validated in October census).

Initial findings indicate that the Edinburgh School site could be repurposed for alternate educational use, such as meeting the needs of SEND learners. It has been agreed that more extensive assessment will be carried out by Carter Jonas to confirm other schools that could be rationalised in this phase and or phase 3. It is paramount that we thoroughly assess the impacts of the possibility of closing more schools and fully explore the best options for future use of sites. The Council is committed to ensuring this programme of work delivers the best possible outcomes to future proof education for children and young people in the borough, especially our most vulnerable learners, and is dedicated to ensuring that our processes are robust where they will lead to the sensitive but necessary decisions to close or consolidate schools.

Closing and repurposing the Edinburgh site will effectively reduce surplus places in borough and could potentially contribute to the increase of SEND sufficiency however, a single school closure is unlikely to address the scale of the issue.

If we do not proceed with closing and repurposing schools as outlined in the need for this phase of delivery, the council will need to manage the following generic risks that will apply to all schools operating significantly below operating capacity:

·         Operating capacity in the schools will continue to fall in line with declining birth rates

·         School funding will continue to reduce in line with low take up of school places

·         Operating costs continue to rise in line with inflation, putting more stress on school budgets

·         Deficit budgets will become more challenging to balance

·         The quality of education is compromised – teaching capacity will become stretched across the school. It will become harder to recruit, retain and replace good teachers 

·         Sadly, pupil progress and outcomes will decline

·         The reputation of schools are put at risk, families will request to change schools due to the deterioration of provision, further reducing pupil numbers and income

·         Surplus places in the borough increase, more schools become non-viable

·         The council’s financial position worsens

·         Substantial additional costs and risks from the management from empty buildings. 

The option of doing nothing will exacerbate the financial issues in the Walthamstow South-West part of the borough where too few children are spread across a number of schools.