(item 11) Appendix 1 Response to the Consultation Process Concerning Establishing A `Lowick New School''

APPENDIX A RESPONSE TO THE CONSULTATION PROCESS CONCERNING THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A ‘LOWICK NEW SCHOOL’ 1.0 Introduction/General Comments 1.1 No specific and single consultative document appears to have been issued as a basis for responses to the consultation exercise This makes it rather difficult to know on what to focus There is, however, a range of documentation which the Authority has acquired/received From this it is possible to glean the essence of what is being planned and the Council’s response needs to be based on this 1.2 Although some things are reasonably clear, there are important pieces of information which are missing The documentation also raised a number of key questions Moreover, there are erroneous statements made in some of the material produced by the Lowick and Blawith Educational Trust Ltd All of these issues need to be addressed in the Authority’s response 1.3 The arguments behind the Authority’s proposal to close Lowick CE School were successful in securing its approval by the School Organisation Committee It is obviously relevant to use many of the same arguments in our response to the outline proposal to establish a new school The intention in what follows is to so quite briefly as well as to comment on what appear to be the main planks of the Trust’s case for the creation of a new school 2.0 The Need for Additional Places 2.1 Additional school places in the area are not needed 2.2 The School Organisation Plan (SOP) shows that the Ulverston area at 22% will have one of the highest levels of surplus places in the County in the primary phase at the end of the Plan period This figure following the closure of Lowick CE School will be around 19% 2.3 The attraction of pupils by a new school would inevitably mean the exacerbation of the surplus places situation in other schools 2.4 The SOP does not anticipate the provision of any new primary school places over the years of its currency 3.0 The Effective Use of Resources 3.1 It would be very expensive per pupil relative to the generality of schools to maintain a ‘Lowick New School’ Given that there are only a very small number of children living in the area immediately surrounding the school and that there is no need for new school places, this would not represent the effective use of the resources for education These kind of arguments were amongst the main justifications for the closure of the existing Lowick School 3.2 Public money has been invested in making adjustments to the accommodation at the nearby Penny Bridge CE School to cater for increased numbers of pupils following Lowick CE School’s closure 4.0 New Schools – Current Expectations 4.1 It is decades since the County last saw the creation of a new school other than through amalgamations 4.2 Whilst there are many existing small schools in Cumbria with limited physical facilities, it is a different matter to create another one at the beginning of the 21st century 4.3 The ‘Lowick New School’ would be sited on a busy main road There is no opportunity for creating safe walking or cycling routes to the school The existing school has no playing field, or parking facilities More importantly, the building does not have the kind of facilities which a new, modern school should offer to its pupils e.g a hall, access for the disabled Furthermore, it has no staffroom or separate heads office 5.0 Tenure of the Premises 5.1 It is clear from liaison with the C of E Diocese that their solicitors believe that the Section 86 Scheme of 1954 revoked and replaced the original Trust Deed of 1856 This means that were the premises to be used as a non-denominational voluntary aided school, as is the intention, they would have to be purchased or leased at market value to satisfy the requirements of the Scheme 5.2 It does not appear as though the Trust appreciates the situation with the property 5.3 It is extremely unlikely that capital resources to purchase the premises would be made available from public funds as to so would not represent the effective use of resources 5.4 Under the current scheme of delegation to schools, the rental for school premises in these circumstances is met by the Authority centrally This would make ‘Lowick New School’ considerably more expensive to maintain than the existing school and would significantly enhance the already very strong argument that its establishment would involve the ineffective use of resources 6.0 Choice and Diversity 6.1 Much is made of the contribution which the new school would make on this front 6.2 As there are many voluntary aided schools in the County and all schools have to some extent a separate and distinct ethos, there is only so far that it seems reasonable to take this argument 6.3 The Trust does point to the school being run using co-operative principles and great play is made of that characteristic How far this would impact in practical terms on the governance of the school and its curriculum is not clear 6.4 It is difficult to imagine that the as yet unclear benefits in terms of choice and diversity, even approach outweighing the absence of a need for new places and the resource-use ineffectiveness argument 6.5 The Trust has been asked to provide information on what more precisely it feels ‘Lowick New School’ would offer in these respects 7.0 Financial Viability 7.1 The Trust has produced a draft budget for the new school which shows a surplus in each year of the first few years of operation 7.2 Having analysed the information concerned, it does not seem unreasonable It is, however, based on a roll of 16 pupils and a reduction in staffing costs The governors of the existing school were not prepared to make such a reduction because they believed that this would compromise educational quality and that the school would be less attractive to parents One omission appears to be that no account has been taken of the additional financial responsibilities for the repair of premises which fall on the governing bodies of voluntary aided schools 7.3 The financial (and, therefore, educational) viability of schools as small as ‘Lowick New School’ would always be fragile There are clear dangers that fluctuations in pupil numbers, staff illness and major unforeseen costs will lead to financial problems For these reasons, and particularly given the other relevant circumstances, it is inappropriate to create a new school of this size 8.0 Erroneous Statements 8.1 There is an obligation on consultees to provide for those consulting advice on misassumptions or inaccuracies in the information provided as part of the consultation process 8.2 There is both an inaccurate statement and a misassumption contained in the community consultation leaflet These are that:• It is inappropriate to state that the School Organisation Committee (SOC) will be approached for funding The position is that the resources to run the new school, if the proposal were to be approved by SOC, would come from the Council’s education budget on the basis of the scheme of delegation • There is a month period following the publication of a statutory school organisation proposals for the submission of objections or comments The period involved is actually weeks 9.0 Implementation Date 9.1 The Trust has indicated that if a formal proposal is published, the intention is to propose an implementation date of September 2004 9.2 Given the duration of the lead-in period required to undertake the preparatory work needed to establish and begin to operate a new school, to seek to have it up and running by the beginning of next academic year is wholly unrealistic 10.0 Conclusion/Summary 10.1 For the reasons set out above and taking all known and relevant factors into account, it is felt that there is no justification whatsoever in the Authority supporting the outline proposal to establish ‘Lowick New School’  ... process 8.2 There is both an inaccurate statement and a misassumption contained in the community consultation leaflet These are that:• It is inappropriate to state that the School Organisation Committee... required to undertake the preparatory work needed to establish and begin to operate a new school, to seek to have it up and running by the beginning of next academic year is wholly unrealistic 10 .0... non-denominational voluntary aided school, as is the intention, they would have to be purchased or leased at market value to satisfy the requirements of the Scheme 5.2 It does not appear as though the