Agenda item

(To receive a report which invites the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee to consider the proposal to expand the capacity at Lincoln Bishop King Church of England Primary School (Final Decision) prior to consideration by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Health Services, Children's Services on 20 March 2015)

Consideration was given to a report which invited the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee to consider a report on the proposal to expand the capacity at Lincoln Bishop King Church of England Primary School (Final Decision) which was due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Health Services, Children's Services on 20 March 2015.  The Head Teacher, Mrs Kate Rouse, and Chair of Governors Mrs Samantha Smith were in attendance to explain why there was a need for the expansion of capacity to go ahead, and to answer questions and queries from the Committee.  Some of the points highlighted to the Committee included the following:

·         There were currently 367 pupils enrolled at the school;

·         It was still a maintained school and took children predominantly from the Sincil Bank area of Lincoln;

·         There had been 'Good' or better achievement across the school, this financial year in all year groups;

·         Following increased involvement of parents, attendance was now in line with national expectations and often exceeded 96%;

·         Ofsted had rated Pupils Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development as strong;

·         Three bilingual support staff had been appointed which covered 6 of the main languages spoken at the school;

·         There was a focus to improve key skills in Reading, Writing and Maths across the school;

·         The best attainment in 2013/14 was made by Early Years and Key Stage 1, all of which have single aged classes;

·         There were an increasing number of Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO's) in Park Ward which led to a high turnover of residents and the School provided consistency and stability for children;

·         The Leadership and Management Team was now stable, and recruitment had been carried out to ensure that the right people were in the right jobs;

·         When this proposal had been subject to consultation, there was general support for it, and only one objection was received which related to parking;

Councillor N I Jackson was in attendance at the meeting as the Local Member and informed the Committee that this was the only primary school in the area which was able to expand, as it had the land available.  The school also had very strong community links as it was also close to the Children's Centre and the Head Teacher would attend discussion meetings at the Children's Centre.  It was commented that the benefits of expanding this school were significant, and it did have the ability to reach the required standards.

Members of the Committee were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         Members supported the statements made by Councillor Jackson in relation to the School, and added that the school worked very well;

·         There were concerns regarding the amount of time that the Headteacher spent being involved in social work, and how this would continue to be managed if the number of pupils increased.  Members were advised that there were currently 48 families involved with Children's Services at some level and a full time member of staff had been involved who now managed this work load.  It was noted that the Head Teacher only got involved if it progressed to a child protection issue.  Other various additional responsibilities had been delegated to other members of staff, and all staff had received safeguarding training;

·         The Diocese of Lincoln fully supported the expansion of the School.  It was commented that the school served a challenging area but it had been seen first hand that the Head Teacher was an inspirational leader and the staff worked hard to give the children the best opportunities.  The Diocese had confidence in the school and the Senior Leadership Team to continue to make improvements;

·         A concern was raised regarding the need for the building work to not distract from the work that the Head Teacher was currently doing.  It was noted that last time building work was undertaken at the school it did become a distraction, but that was due to the project becoming more complex than originally thought.  It was not expected that the same problems would arise again;

·         The space in relation to car parking was thought to be adequate, however, the surfacing was not.

RESOLVED

            That the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee support the        recommendation to the Executive Councillor as set out in the report.