APPENDIX 4
GALLEYHILLPRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY:
PROPOSAL TO ENLARGE THE PREMISES by 0.5 f.e. from September 2014
1.Response to the consultation.
1.1A total of 25 responses were received to the consultation of which 52.0% disagreed with the proposal. A breakdown of the responses is shown below:
Respondent / Agree / Disagree / Don't know / Grand TotalGoverning Body / 1 / 1
Parent/carer / 2 / 5 / 3 / 10
Other / 3 / 3
Resident / 3 / 4 / 3 / 10
Staff / 1 / 1
Grand Total / 5 / 13 / 7 / 25
% / 20.0% / 52.0% / 28.0% / 100.0%
1.2Officers have been liaising with the Governing Body during the consultation period.
1.3The Governing Body has yet to indicate whether it agrees or disagrees. It is willing to enter a dialogue regarding the proposal, which has started. An interim response can be seen at the end of this appendix.
1.4Copies of every response received are available in the Members Room to enable Members to review the detail prior to the Education Panel and Cabinet meetings.
2Key issues raised
2.1The following key issues were raised and a response to them provided below.
Main Issues / ResponseThe expansion will add to the existing traffic congestion and parking issues.
- Inconsiderate and dangerous parental parking
- Congestion at pudding Lane
- Additional staff parking required
Should this proposal be progressed, plans to enlarge the premises would be subject to a town planning application. This is a separate statutory process, to which the highways authority is a consultee. It will need to be satisfied that sufficient measures have been taken to mitigate the affects of the additional traffic that is anticipated.
Officers will also work with the school to promote proactively sustainable travel to school as part of the school travel plan.
MartindaleSchool should not have closed because demand for places is rising/can it be re-opened / At the time of closure, forecasts indicated that pupil numbers were falling. Rising demand in Hertfordshire reflects a national rise in demand for school places and it is now necessary to provide additional places.
There is only a need to provide an additional 15 places in each year group and a school of this size would not be viable. In addition, feasibility work indicated that there are significant condition issues with the existingbuilding and demolish and rebuild would be a costly solution. These challenges mean thatthe value of the site in terms of meeting local demand for school places is therefore limited.
Evaluation of the options considered was made using HCC’s four tests (details were made available on HertsDirect throughout the consultation Consultation on the proposal to enlarge the premises of GalleyHillPrimary School and Nursery, Galley Hill, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 3JY. | Consultation on the proposal to enlarge the premises of GalleyHillPrimary School and Nursery, Galley Hill, Hemel Hempstead(click here for hyperlink consultation overview)
Expanding the school will adversely impact on the quality of education / The county council is confident that the school will be able to maintain its ethos and standards. If required, advice is available from the School Effectiveness team.
Expansion to 2 forms of entry (f.e.) allows the school more flexibility to offer a broad curriculum for teaching and learning, as well as improved opportunities for staff development.
There is not a direct relationship between the size of a school, the standards it achieves and its overall effectiveness. Schools of differing sizes can, and do, perform very well The key factors which contribute to school standards and effectiveness are the quality of leadership and management, and of learning and teaching.
Where these factors are equal, larger (2 f.e.) schools have some significant benefits. The larger budget provides greater flexibility in terms of staffing and resources; there is a better distribution of management responsibilities; there are improved opportunities for staff promotion within the school leading to better capacity to sustain leadership; and consequently the school is less vulnerable to turbulence.
What additional accommodation and external play space will be provided? / Given the scale of expansion required across the county, it is not possible to upgrade whole school sites as part of enlargement proposals. However, it is proposed to provide the school with additional accommodation to ensure that there is sufficient space for the whole school.
The current enlargement proposals include additional classrooms with associated cloaks/toilets appropriate to the number of additional children and additional space for small group activity. In addition, the school will be provided with additional funding which it can use to improve their existing facilities.
Additional hard play space will be provided as a direct proportion to the number of additional pupils that will arise from the expansion.
Importance of children having access to local school / The reason for the proposal to expand the school is to meet the increase in demand for school places locally. The county council works closely with schools to provide an appropriate number of places as close as possible to areas of demand.
Galley Hill uses Hertfordshire County Council’s admission rules and is therefore included in the definition of “nearest school” for admission allocation purposes.
Noise and disruption to children and local residents during building works / The County Council will work closely with the school to ensure minimal disruption during the building works. Modern construction methods, including an off-site build solution, significantly reduces the amount of time building contractors are required on site.
Accuracy of forecasts/inclusion of new housing / The current forecasts are based on actual numbers of pre-school aged children living locally, and take account of known new housing developments and historic migration patterns. Forecasts are monitored closely and reviewed every 6 months.
Other issues raised by one or two people were: request for more information.
3Conclusions and recommendations
3.1The majority of the respondents to the consultationdisagreed with the proposal to enlarge GalleyHillPrimary School by 15 places to 2 f.e. The key concerns related to: the 2008 amalgamation of Rossgate and MartindaleSchools to form GalleyHillSchool and the impact of additional pupils on the existing highways issues.
3.2The governing body has yet to indicate its support or not. It has identified a number of issues over which it wishes to continue a constructive dialogue with the county council.
3.3The site is capable of the proposed expansion and expansion would allow the school to operate more efficiently and provide greater financial sustainability for the future. However, in view of the recent increase in demand for school places the local frustration about the earlier amalgamation the reservations are understandable.
3.4In view of this there would be merit in allowing a further period of time to facilitate the further dialogue requested, updating the Panel and Cabinet in June. This would maintain the ability to deliver an expansion within the necessary timeframe.
3.5It is therefore recommended that dialogue with the Governing Body continues and a report for a decision on whether or not to proceed to the next stage is provided for Panel and Cabinet in June 2013.
Governing Body Statement
The Governing Body (GB) of Galley Hill Primary and Nursery School welcome the opportunity to respond to the consultation on the proposed expansion of the school.
To date LA representatives have had two high level discussions about the expansion proposal with the COG and HT. Due to the consultation timing around the half term holiday, the GB has not been able to meet within the consultation period; therefore the GB has not had opportunity to consider or debate the proposals in order to provide a formal response. This document must not therefore be considered as a formal consultation of the Governing Body of GalleyHillSchool This interim response has been prepared by the Chair of Governors, to highlight the broad concerns of the GB around the proposals.
While we have many reservations about the proposal to expand Galley Hill, the GB considers that it will be essential for the LA to engage in a genuine and constructive two-way dialogue with the school to ensure a positive outcome. We therefore ask that both Officers and Elected Members give due consideration to the issues discussed in this response. The GB is happy to provide clarification on any of the points raised, should this be required.
Need for expansion
The GB acknowledges that the LA has a duty to ensure sufficiency of educational provision, in terms of both quantity of places and raising standards. This is consistent with the obligation of the GB to promote standards within GalleyHillSchool.
It is arguable that HCC recent approach to school planning has been inconsistent and short-sighted. This presents additional challenges to schools in maintaining a positive ethos, as members of the community question the necessity of continuing disruption, and the validity of conflicting arguments presented by the LA at each stage of reorganisation.
However this does not address the current issue of the shortage of school places. On the basis of the population data, the GB does accept that there is a genuine need to provide additional places within the planning area.
School effectiveness
Galley Hill has made much progress in standards since opening, and was judged ‘Good’ by OFSTED under the new framework. This is a significant achievement and the GB is keen to ensure that progress continues unabated.
Unfortunately Galley Hill’s previous experience with LA school reorganisation has not been positive. The GB feels that HCC management of the school’s opening in 2008 was severely lacking, particularly with respect to planning and implementation of refurbishment works. We are also aware that other local schools involved in reorganisations have on-going difficulties. At Galley Hill the school’s leadership and GB have had a substantial additional workload in dealing with on-going issues with the refurbishment works.
This has been a major distraction to the school’s leadership, which the GB believes detracted from their core role to raise standards. OFTSED reflected this view; inspectors were sufficiently concerned to identify the successful conclusion of building snagging as a priority for the school in the 2009 report. However, despite the best efforts of the school, the LA has been very slow to respond and the school is still dealing with some refurbishment issues dating back to 2008
Consequently the GB is keen for the LA to explain the process and actions that will be put in place to mitigate potential negative impacts the proposed expansion may have on school effectiveness.
Buildings
The GB accepts that subject to a number of caveats, the Galley Hill Site does have space for expansion. However the nature of the site imposes challenges, so the GB is keen to ensure that any expansion works at least meet the basic sufficiency requirements of the school. In particular we would seek to address the following concerns:
- The GB believes that as far as reasonably practicable, any modifications to the school’s buildings must appropriately reflect the proposed organisation of the school. To this end, the COG and HT are already working with the school’s HIP to identify possible issues and solutions, in the context of overall school effectiveness, including child protection and staff wellbeing.
- Albeit that many schools do cope well with less than optimal layouts, we have identified that expansion of Galley Hill presents unusual challenges to circulation and continuity of key stage accommodation, due to extensive previous adaptation to 1.5FE usage, large distances between key stage areas and existing circulation through classrooms.
- At the most simplistic level, expansion to 2FE would require 3 additional classrooms. However, due to the issues above it is likely that some reorganisation of existing accommodation will also be necessary.
Environment
While new buildings will inevitably result in a loss of open space, the GB accepts that in the context of the extensive school grounds, the proposed expansion would not have a significant impact on amenity. However we would be keen to retain existing environmental features, in particular mature trees and hedgerows around the site
The principal environmental concerns relate to access and travel to the school site. Areas around the school entrances are already congested around school opening hours, and the school does not have sufficient parking facilities for existing staffing levels.
The school has worked hard to mitigate these issues with a number of initiatives, but support from the HCC school travel and highways has been somewhat lacking. Problems therefore persist in some areas, resulting in road safety issues and complaints from local residents.
The GB will therefore seek to ensure that any proposals give due consideration to the existing access issues. Better support from school travel and highways will also be essential. HCC may also wish to consider engaging with the district council in relation to parking restrictions and enforcement.
Affordability
The GB is aware of considerable waste in previous LA commissioned capital works at the school. For one extreme example, in 2008 around £60k was spent on unnecessary roofing works that ultimately proved unfit for purpose, causing significant disruption and damage though water ingress. Eventually this work was completely redone at considerable cost to the LA.
The GB are therefore concerned that while the HCC procurement processes for capital works theoretically meet best value principals, in reality HCC does not have a good track record in managing suppliers to obtain genuine value for capital works. A particular concern to the GB is the role of LA appointed consultants in the planning of capital works.
Our experience is that LA appointed consultants often pursue their own agenda that serves neither the interests of the LA as project sponsor, nor the school as recipient of the works. The outcome is overcomplicated, overpriced solutions to otherwise simple problems. Consequently the LA suffers from unnecessary costs, while the school as recipient suffers from limitations to scope, reduced specification and poor build quality due to affordability constraints. We are able to provide a number of examples of this situation in previous capital works, should the LA wish to investigate.
The school’s own capital projects have delivered substantially better value; the school has been able to complete extensive window walling replacement at substantially lower cost (for identical specification) than that proposed by HCC appointed consultants. This work was completed on time and on budget without any of the continuing quality issues experienced with the LA sponsored capital works.
Nonetheless the GB believes that the proposed overall budget is sufficient to provide adequate accommodation for a workable 2FE school at Galley Hill. However, we are still concerned that the proposed capital budget allocation of £30k may not be sufficient to cover modifications to exiting accommodation as discussed above
The GB therefore proposes that the LA must work closely with the school, to apply greater scrutiny to specification and procurement process, and the role of consultants. We also request that the LA offer a more flexible approach to the budget allocations, to ensure that the needs of the school can be appropriately met. The GB needs to discus with the LA how these goals may be met; including the possibility that the GB act as the main project sponsor.
Transitional Issues
Galley Hill is a popular school currently at capacity in most year groups. Therefore any proposal to expand to 2FE raises the issue of in-year migration from less popular schools in the area. This will create transitional difficulties for Galley Hill in managing different size year groups, tracking progress of new pupils, staffing and accommodation.
Although the upward population trend will fill all local schools over time, migration presents transitional issues to the less popular schools, in the temporary loss of pupils. The GB would therefore be keen to explore options to mitigate this issue, such as a tapered expansion whereby the additional 0.5FE starts in nursery/reception only, working though the school each year.
The GB will also seek to ensure that transitional disruption from any proposed building work is kept to an absolute minimum, particularly as the school community has already suffered many years of disruption from building works.
Conclusions
The GB accepts that HCC must address the growing need for school places, however due to our recent poor experience with a HCC reorganisation scheme the GB are unable to offer unconditional support for any proposal to expand Galley Hill to 2FE.
We are therefore seeking a much greater degree of engagement and cooperation by the LA than has been experienced by the school previously. The GB believes that this approach is entirely consistent with the Coalition Government’s ‘Localism’ agenda; and that a more collaborative method will deliver better value for both the LA and the School. However, this approach will require a significant culture shift in the way HCC officers and consultants engage with the school. The school and GB expect to be treated as equal partners, and not simply as token consultees.