Putting Pupils First: Shaping Our Future: Consultation Document

Putting Pupils First: Shaping Our Future: Consultation Document

Grosvenor Grammar School Response

Close of Consultation Process: 26th October 2012

Question 1:Please select the category that best describes you as a respondent: (please tick one box only)

Response: Select the category that best describes you as a respondent.

Question 2: Please select the category which best represents your sectoral interest: (please tick one box only)

Response: Controlled Sector

Question 3: Having read the Strategic Area Plan for Post Primary Provision, do you understand the need for change within your area?

Response:Yes

Comment: There is a need for effective area based planning to take place as soon as possible to secure an efficient and effective education system which meets the needs of the pupils in our community.

Question 4: Having read the Strategic Area Plan for Post Primary Provision, are you better informed now about the challenges facing education and, in particular, post primary education within your area?

Response: Yes

5. The Strategic Area Plan shows a way forward for Post Primary Provision in the Belfast City Council Area.

Response:Strongly Disagree

Comment: The plan outlines why the area plan is necessary (Terms of Reference). It presents a way forward for those under-performing/struggling schools but does not identify a way forward for successful schools such as Grosvenor Grammar School. Those schools such as Grosvenor Grammar School, who are meeting the Entitlement Framework, are oversubscribed with pupils achieving high levels of attainment are not addressed within the document. Schools such as Grosvenor Grammar School should be allowed to grow by increasing enrolment thereby allowing them to become financially viable. It is worth noting that the area based plan does not in any way take into consideration the voluntary sector. In addition there has been no consultation to date with schools regarding the draft strategic area plan and it is essential that there is meaningful consultation as we move forward to the final area based plan.

6. The Strategic Area Plan for Post Primary Provision will lead to a network of sustainable schools in the Belfast City Council Area which will:

a) Meet the needs of all pupils in the longer term.

Response: Uncertain

b) Deliver the statutory curriculum, including the Entitlement Framework.

Response: Uncertain

c) Enhance the quality of provision and raise standards.

Response: Uncertain

Comment: The final strategic area plan will determine these outcomes. It is vital that we have sustainable and efficient schools so that pupils can achieve the best possible educational outcomes. The needs of 'ALL' pupils must be met therefore the plans must incorporate schools that meet the needs of academic pupils. We have consistently surveyed our pupils and parents regarding our ethos and both have asserted that they want and need an academic route that meets the needs of our pupils. Obviously schools must be financially viable in the long term in order to meet the needs of pupils. Grosvenor Grammar School is already fully compliant with the Entitlement Framework and we are committed to meeting the needs of the pupils and enhancing the quality of provision. Our only concern is our long term financial viability as the pressure on the school will impact the offer for the pupils and the ability for us to offer a flexible, broad and balanced curriculum therefore good successful schools like Grosvenor Grammar School must be allowed to grow as Mr O’Dowd said, ‘these plans should allow for popular, oversubscribed schools to grow further.’

7. The Strategic Area Plan for Post Primary Provision will lead to a network of sustainable schools in the Belfast City Council Area which will:

a) Reduce the number of surplus places.

Response: Strongly Agree

b) Be within reasonable travelling distance.

Response:Agree

c) Reduce the duplication of provision.

Response:Uncertain

Comment: The proposals in the plan will inevitably reduce the number of surplus places. The majority of pupils attending a school should be travelling a reasonable distance, however it should be noted that some schools have a large catchment area like Grosvenor Grammar School and pupils are prepared to travel using the main public transport links via the arterial route into Belfast that is the Castlereagh Road. Pupils should not be restricted by boundaries if it is their choice to receive high quality education in a school such as Grosvenor Grammar School. There is a need to provide strong academic schools alongside vocational/technical schools which meet the needs of the pupils in our community.

8. The Strategic Area Plan for Post Primary Provision identifies realistic, innovative and creative solutions to address need in the Belfast City Council Area which:

a) Include opportunities for shared schooling on a cross sectoral basis.

Response: Disagree

b) Maximise the use and sharing of the existing schools estate.

Response: Uncertain

c) Identify the potential for co-location of mainstream and special schools.

Response: Uncertain

d) Take full account of appropriate and relevant FE sector provision for 14-19 year olds.

Response: Uncertain

e) Explore opportunities for cross border planning with the ROI where applicable.

Response: N/A

Comment: It is interesting to note that there are 8 non-selective schools and 8 Grammar schools with attainment levels below the minimum thresholds; 7 schools with projective financial deficits (we assume greater than 5% or £75,000); 8 schools with enrolments below the minimum threshold of 500 for years 8-12; 4 schools with enrolments below the minimum threshold of 100 for Sixth Form and a number of surplus places across the schools’ estate.

Obviously as a school situated on the Belfast/South Eastern Education & Library Board boundary our intake has pupils from both areas and the school deems the boundary between the Education & Library Boards to be an ‘artificial’ boundary. However, it is interesting to note that the school has a substantial (38%) number of pupils from the Belfast Local Government District (LGD). As the BELB is no doubt aware the majority of our pupils utilise the main public transport links via the arterial route into Belfast that is the Castlereagh Road.

The Board of Governors recognises that the Department of Education determined the subsets when the projected number of places is being considered for planning purposes. However, the Board of Governors does not believe that subset A, subset B and subset C should be treated as separate groups and indeed Grosvenor Grammar School is a co-educational, inter-denominational school that is open to pupils from all backgrounds and we believe that the future for the schools’ estate in Northern Ireland is via a completely shared education system. Such artificial divisions fundamentally undermine the process.

Grosvenor Grammar School

As the BELB is aware the quality of educational attainment in Grosvenor Grammar School continues to be one of the highest in the BELB. In addition the school wishes to note that we are already fully compliant at Key Stage 4 and Post 16 with the requirements of the Entitlement Framework, and feature most positively in the recent viability report. Therefore the only long term issue for the school as identified by the Board of Governors, as communicated to the BELB on a number of occasions prior to the construction of the draft Area Plan, is the long term financial pressures on the school.

The school also wishes to highlight the fact that we continue to be heavily over-subscribed each year as verified by the transfer procedure 2012 figures on Page 38 of the draft Plan. These figures indicate that Grosvenor Grammar School had 221 first preferences for the admissions number of 155 i.e. 66 pupils/parents were unsuccessful in gaining entry into the school. This represents one of the highest over-subscription of any school in the Board area. As the BELB is aware this is an ongoing trend year-on-year and reflects the wishes of our school community that the admissions number of the school should be allowed to increase.

The Board of Governors has written on numerous occasions to request that the BELB incorporated its request to increase the admissions number, as detailed below, within the draft Area Plan and we take this opportunity to express our deep disappointment that this request has not been acceded to.

The school has recently moved into a new state of the art 21st Century building which has given us an opportunity to further explore the curriculum on offer in the school. As you were made aware following a review of our curriculum provision and our financial forecast for the next 3 years the school has grave concerns about the ability to continue to offer a flexible, broad and balanced curriculum which meets the needs of our pupils. The curriculum has been developed and it would be truthful to say that it is constantly adapted year on year in conjunction with our pupils, parents and in light of future career options for our pupils. The leadership of the school considers our central role to be providing the best education possible that meets the needs of our pupils but with the severe financial difficulties that the school faces this will prove to be extremely difficult if not impossible. Obviously the school is aware of the severe shortage of money in the entire education budget at the moment and therefore suggested a solution to helping to secure the curriculum on offer to the pupils in Grosvenor Grammar School.

The school currently has an admissions number of 155 into Form 1 (Year 8) and our timetable and DE regulations re class sizes in practical subjects facilitate these pupils being timetabled into six core sets and eight practical sets. However, if our admissions number was increased by 18 to 173, we could still deliver the curriculum in junior school with almost the same number of sets. This would obviously mean an increase in the enrolment number from 1075 to 1093 next year and then a further 18 the following year to 1111 and so on until all 7 years had an additional 18 pupils resulting in an increase in our enrolment number from 1075 to 1201. Obviously as the pupils move towards GCSE and Post-16 study we will need to increase our staffing but based on the projections the increase in our LMS budget due to the increase in enrolment would more than balance the number of extra teachers needed to deliver a flexible, broad and balanced curriculum that meets the needs of the pupils. To summarise we are in the ridiculous situation where the investment of over £20m in new facilities is being under utilised despite the fact that parental demand for places has never been higher.

Our pupil/teacher ratio (PTR) in the academic year 2011/12 was 15.5 which according to the Department of Education’s statistics placed us equal 24th out of the 68 Grammar Schools in Northern Ireland. In other words 44 out of the 68 Grammar Schools had a higher number of teachers per pupil than we did. Similarly when we compare our PTR of 15.5 to the Secondary Schools (we obviously recognise that there is very different funding and teaching arrangements in Secondary Schools but felt it was still worth making a comparison) across Northern Ireland we would have been 12th out of 149 Secondary Schools. In other words 135 Secondary Schools had a higher number of teachers per pupil than we did. Recent financial cutbacks have exacerbated the situation with staff reductions increasing the PTR to a record 17.00 one of the highest if not the highest in the Province.

It should be noted that the Governors have considered our current financial position and our 3 year financial plan in great detail. We feel that Grosvenor Grammar School is in a unique position, with our new school building and curriculum on offer, to deliver high quality education more efficiently if our admissions number was increased by 18 (from 155 to 173) and a corresponding increase in our enrolment number of 18 year on year for the next 7 years i.e. 1075 (current enrolment number) to 1093 and so on until our enrolment number reaches 1201.

It is interesting when we compare the pupil/teacher ratio of 17.00 with the average, median, maximum and minimum values quoted in Table 26 on Page 40. Obviously our PTR of 17.00 will be outside the maximum value and therefore the Board of Governors of Grosvenor Grammar School again requests that an increase, as outlined above, in the school admissions and corresponding enrolment numbers are included within the Area Plan for Post-Primary Education in the BELB.

9. Where the Strategic Area Plan for Post Primary Provision has identified options or proposals for the Belfast City Council Area, please specify your preferred options or proposals and comment below.

Comment:

Option 1 – Rationalisation(s)

The Board of Governors of Grosvenor Grammar School completely agrees that there is a need for rationalisations of the schools’ estate to produce a more efficient and effective education system; with a broad balanced and relevant curricular and co-curricular provision in each school.

Option 2 – Amalgamations and Rationalisations

The Board of Governors of Grosvenor Grammar School completely agrees that there is a need for amalgamations and rationalisations of the schools’ estate to produce a more efficient and effective education system; with a broad balanced and relevant curricular and co-curricular provision in each school.

Option 3 – Amalgamations and Rationalisations and increase capacity in Ashfield Boys and Girls High Schools

Option 4 – Establish a single joint 6th Form under the management of and at Ashfield Boys and Girls High Schools

The Board of Governors of Grosvenor Grammar School does not feel it is appropriate to comment on this option in detail. However given the financial constraints in the sector serious consideration needs to be given to the most economic and efficient means of providing 6th form provision in the area and the solution most likely to raise standards.

Option 5 – Establish a confederation covering the 6 schools with a focus on addressing quality and raising attainment standards

The Board of Governors of Grosvenor Grammar School does not feel it is appropriate to comment on this option.

Option 6 – Establish a confederation covering the 6 schools and the Grammar Schools within East Belfast and Castlereagh with a focus on addressing quality and raising attainment standards

The Board of Governors of Grosvenor Grammar School wishes to have more autonomy when we move towards the new Education Skills Authority and therefore does not wish to be part of a confederation. A confederation of schools covering so many different schools will result in the Board of Governors not having the ‘power’ to control the outcomes for Grosvenor Grammar School, never mind influence the outcomes in so many other schools. The success of any enterprise is dependant on clear, focused leadership with transparent objectives. A confederation would lead to a blurring of the lines of authority resulting in loss of purpose and direction.

Option 7 – Provide Full Service School funding to facilitate improved links between the schools and the communities in East Belfast and Castlereagh with a focus on raising educational attainment and aspirations.

The Board of Governors of Grosvenor Grammar School wishes to have more autonomy when we move towards the new Education Skills Authority and therefore does not wish to part of any form of full service school funding to facilitate improved links between the schools and the communities in East Belfast and Castlereagh. Such a bureaucratic and ‘top heavy’ system will result in the Board of Governors not having the finances to continue to deliver the high quality outcomes for the pupils of Grosvenor Grammar School. The Board of Governors instead wants more autonomy and responsibility and therefore requests that a larger percentage of the funding is given directly to the school’s LMS account. The success of any enterprise is dependant on clear, focused leadership with transparent objectives. A Full Service School structure would lead to blurring of lines of authority resulting in loss of purpose and direction.

10. Please outline any further comments below, including suggested alternative options which will meet the Terms of Reference (outlined on Page 2).

Comment: The Board of Governors of Grosvenor Grammar School welcomes the opportunity to respond to the draft Area Plan for Post-Primary provision in the Belfast Education & Library Board (BELB) area, produced for public consultation. They also look forward to further engagement and consultation as outlined in the Executive Summary in the draft Area Plan.