Agenda item

(To receive a report which provides the Committee with information in relation to the Monks' Dyke Tennyson College Options)

Consideration was given to a report which informed members of the proposal from the Governing Body of Monks' Dyke Tennyson College (MDTC) to close the Mablethorpe site and consolidate provision on the Louth site.  It provided information about the statutory process and the role of the Local Authority as decision maker regarding the proposal of the Governing Body to close the Mablethorpe site.  The report also explored options for the provision of future secondary education in Mablethorpe and informed Members that at the direction of the Department for Education (DfE) MDTC was also proposed to become a sponsored academy in response to the need to raise academic standards.

Members were advised that the option to do nothing was not available as the governors had voted to close the site.  There were 16 options which had been put forward, however there were only two of those options where the County Council could be involved.

The Chairman reported that a small group of councillors had met with the Head Teacher and visited the school, and so invited them to share their experience with the rest of the Committee, and some of the comments made included the following:

·         Members were impressed by the standard of commitment from the teachers;

·         There were concerns regarding the difficulties that the children had coping with changes which made members nervous about the proposal to close the school and what would happen to the children and how they would cope with the change of location;

·         One of the main concerns was regarding the amount of time that children would need to travel from Mablethorpe to Louth.

The Chairman informed the Committee that a local councillor for Mablethorpe, Councillor T Howard, had requested to speak to the Committee regarding the proposed closure of Monks Dyke Technology College site in Mablethorpe.  Some of the comments made to the Committee included the following:

·         It was believed there should be secondary education provision in Mablethorpe;

·         It was reported that the decision by the governors to close the school had not been unanimous;

·         The Committee was asked to consider the effect that travelling from Mablethorpe to Louth would have on young people;

·         The effect on primary school children who currently had the option to go to a secondary school in their neighbourhood;

·         Mablethorpe was the largest community on the north of the Lincolnshire coast;

·         It was queried what message this would send out in terms of economic development if there was no secondary provision in the town;

·         The effect on parents with more than one child;

·         There were only two parents in Mablethorpe that had elected to send their children to Cordeaux School;

·         There had been a lot of uncertainty about the future of this school for a significant period of time;

·         The school was a hub for the whole community with a number of local events centred around the school;

·         There was a need for stability for this school in the future.

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

·         It was queried whether any future building in the area had been taken account of.  Members were advised that there was very little development proposed, and no housing development with planning permission which would have an impact on pupil numbers was planned;

·         It was commented that 60 houses had recently been built, and it was planned for that total to reach 180.  However, members were advised that to make an impact on pupil numbers, there would need to be a housing development with hundreds of homes;

·         There were concerns that the town would not be able to attract future development if there were no secondary school places available;

·         The dedication of the staff and the management within the school was recognised;

·         There were concerns that travelling would have a significant impact on the children;

·         There was a need to find out what the Mablethorpe community would want;

·         There were concerns that families would not choose to settle in a town which did not have a viable secondary school;

·         The concerns were understood and financial constraints recognised, but it was commented that the County Council should be doing everything possible to maintain secondary education in Mablethorpe;

·         It was queried whether the money which would need to be spent to transport all the pupils to the Louth site could instead be invested in the school.  However, members were informed that the money for school transport came from a separate funding stream and so it could not be redeployed.  It was also noted that the cost of transport, whilst significant, was still significantly less than the amount which would be needed to keep the school open;

·         Work which had been done around potential transport costs was mainly around designated areas, however, some initial estimates indicate that the transport costs would be around £250,000 per year;

·         The majority of the sixth form courses were delivered at the Louth site;

·         There would always be problems with ensuring that the pupils at the school received a diverse education, and it was understood from the report that the children were not getting the education they deserve;

·         In relation to the school becoming an academy, it was noted that no sponsor had been found who was willing to take on both sites;

·         The school had been inspected in 2014 and graded by Ofsted as 'requires improvement';

·         Due to very low pupil numbers the breadth of curriculum subjects which were offered was extremely limited;

·         It was reported that in 2016 the DfE would be introducing new requirements to secondary schools to increase the curriculum choice for pupils which would put further pressure on the school and which the school would not be able to comply with due to low pupil numbers;

·         The size of the year groups at the Mablethorpe site were small, which impacted upon the "setting" of subjects in accordance with ability levels and needs.  In some subject areas, pupils in a year group were taught in a single class which meant that individual learning needs could not be met in the same way as pupils at the Louth site;

·         It was acknowledged that the staff were doing a tremendous job but in extremely difficult circumstances;

·         It was commented that children only get one chance at secondary school, so it was important to ensure they receive the best possible experience;

·         It was confirmed that issues around the viability of the school had been discussed for many years, and so this wasn't a situation which had arisen quickly;

·         In relation to funding, the school was supported by a "split site allowance" which helped to cover the cost of running a single school across two separate sites.  However, this was considerably less funding than when the two sites operated as two separate organisations.  It was noted that funding levels were governed by DfE Policy, not the local authority;

·         Due to the distance between the two sites (15 miles) it had not always been possible to share staff across both sites.  The need for staff to regularly travel between sites had impacted upon the timetable and the availability of staff to support pupils outside formal lessons;

·         It was queried whether there would be any consultation with parents due to the travel time.  Members were advised that it would be the school which would carry out the consultation process, and it was the responsibility of the governing body to consult with parents;

·         Whilst it was recognised that the school would consult on the closure, it was suggested that there was a need for the County Council to discuss with the Mablethorpe community what they would like for the future;

·         There was a need for the local authority to do everything it could to maintain the secondary education provision in the town;

·         It was commented that the governing body had made its decision to propose closure of the site, and it was important that people's expectations were not raised regarding the school staying open before the outcome of the consultation and the subsequent decision was made known;

·         It was also noted that no suitable academy sponsor had come forward who would be willing to take the school with both sites;

·         Sometimes hard decisions needed to be made in the best interests of the pupils and their education;

·         It was noted that if the site in Mablethorpe did close, the pupils there would still have a school, this was not a decision to close the school as a whole.  If the pupils did not want to go to Louth, it would be a parental choice as to where the children continued their education;

·         It was hoped that the school site in Louth would become part of a multi-academy trust;

·         It was noted that no sponsor had come forward that would offer the necessary funding to retain both sites and the DfE would need to approve the sponsor.  It was also noted that work would continue to try and find a suitable sponsor;

·         Members were advised that the estimated cost of building a new school as outlined in Option 9 would be around £15million, and there would also be significant transport costs, as it would be drawing pupils from an area which served three other schools.  It was noted that this option was outside of the control of the local authority.

RESOLVED

1.    That the MDTC governors' decision to propose the closure of the Mablethorpe site be acknowledged;

2.    That the Committee were aware of the reasons for the proposal from the Governing Body, directly linked with the financial constraints of providing a broad and balanced curriculum across two sites with very low pupils numbers;

3.    That the Committee were aware that standards concerns had driven the DfE to require that MDTC became an academy with a strong sponsor;

4.    That the Committee were aware of and understood the statutory process underpinning the proposed closure of the Mablethorpe site and the LA's role as decision maker and support to the process;

5.    That the Committee accepted the evaluation of the range of options (16) around provision of future secondary education in Mablethorpe;

6.    That the Committee accepted that there were only two options within the scope of the LA decision making control (options 2 and 3);

7.    That the Committee were fully aware of the issues and constraints around the options  and LA scope of control.

It was noted that the Committee did not accept the last action which stated that the Committee were, prior to the Governing Body of MDTC commencing the statutory process, fully informed around the complexities of closing MDTC Malethorpe site, in order that the LA could perform its role as decision maker from a position of knowledge and awareness, as the Committee had further queries regarding the costs of transport for the children to attend the site in Louth and what the new Designated Transport Area (DTA) would be for the Mablethorpe area.