/ Schools Forum / Item 4b /
/ 13 July 2010 /
/ Infant Class Size Pressures /
/ Report of the Director of Children’s Services and the County Treasurer /
Contact: Gill Boutflower, 01962 846423,
Rebecca Baker, 01962 845309,
Martin Goff, 01962 846185,
1 Summary
1.1 This paper highlights the issues faced by the County Council as the numbers of pre-school age children grows in the County. The pressure can be illustrated by the effects experienced now and forecast for the future. This paper focuses on Winchester and Eastleigh/Chandlers Ford, and highlights the pressure this is causing on school admissions and planning options.
1.2 This paper also considers the implications on schools, parents and pupils of the current systems for dealing with additional pupils on both schools and pupils and outlines a new proposal for widening the use of current funding to address these problems. It is for Schools Forum to endorse.
2 Current pupil numbers
2.1 The current pupil numbers resulting in Winchester and Eastleigh/Chandlers Ford areas have increased, meaning the Reception classes in all the primary schools are reaching capacity. It is accordingly increasingly difficult to meet demand and the school admissions team is finding it difficult to find enough Reception places each year.
2.2 The spring term census data shows that the total Published Admission Number (PAN) in these areas is 1,079 and the anticipated pupil numbers for 2010/11 is forecast to be 1,105 rising from 1,009 in 2009/10.
2.3 The complexity of the problem being faced by the Admissions Team, schools and parents is highlighted by the recent problems in Eastleigh/Chandlers Ford:
· When main round offers were made at the end of January almost all places in Eastleigh Town and Chandler’s Ford were offered.
· By the end of May, with children having accepted places and more applications received, there were 10 children in Eastleigh Town and Chandler’s Ford without places.
· These children came under the catchment areas of four different schools.
2.4 In order to address this, an additional class will be run at one school but this introduces 30 extra places, rather than the actual number that are needed. However, this does not provide places in any of the catchment areas served by the schools that face pressures.
2.5 The school that will admit extra pupils can only do this once; in future this will not be possible without building school places.
2.6 The 30 extra places are likely to lead to some adjustment of enrolments between this school and others. This would cause difficulties across a number of schools and eventually some schools are likely, in September, to have surplus places.
3 Pupil number forecasts and Infant class size funding
3.1 The pupil number forecasts in Winchester and Eastleigh / Chandlers Ford areas show a fluctuation in activity between 2010/11 to 2012/13. The data suggests that the PAN will be exceeded by 2.4% in 2010/11, which will drop to 1.1% in 2011/12 and then rise to 5.8% by 2012/13. The evidence currently available beyond 2012/13 does not suggest a sustained peak in Year R pupil numbers.
3.2 The fluctuation in pupil numbers would suggest that finding a permanent solution may not be the most cost effective option and a short-term option needs to be considered. Also an interim short term measure may be best as demand is assessed in the medium term.
4 Current approaches to additional children
Infant class size funding
4.1 Under current regulations the infant class size rule (maximum of 30 pupils in a class) can be breached in certain circumstances if the admission is outside the normal admissions round. These exceptional circumstances are:
· a statemented pupil
· admission appeal panel placement
· a child in care
· a child who has recently moved to the area and no other place can be found within a reasonable distance of the home.
· Children admitted to correct an administrative error.
4.2 For all other circumstances an additional teacher must be employed once the class exceeds 30.
4.3 If the breach is within the normal admissions round process or is caused by the admission of twins and other multiple births and same cohort siblings then the cost of an additional teacher will be funded from the LMS Contingency budget. Similarly, when there has been an allowable breach in the previous school year or a situation which caused extra in-year funding continues, then the cost of an additional teacher will be funded. The additional allocation to the school will be made on a termly basis while there are more than the number needed to comply with the class size rule. The funding allocation for an infant class size case is 90% of the notional cost of a supply teacher, including on costs. The annual cost for 2010/11 is £32,676.
4.4 The amount of additional infant class size funding allocated to schools has increased from £28,618 in 2007/08 to a current projected figure of approximately £226,000 for 2010/11. The increase in funding highlights the rising pressure in class size numbers at infant class level.
4.5 It should be noted that the support for schools to avoid breaking the infant class size rule in accepted circumstances is an exception to the rule that funding is tied to pupils on roll.
Temporary classrooms
4.6 In circumstances where there are a number of children that need placing in one area the only option available to the to the Admissions and Strategic Development teams is to locate a temporary class room on a school site. This will then create an additional 30 places at the school (even if space is only needed for an additional few children).
4.7 The cost of purchase and ‘simple installation’ (i.e. no ground works or infrastructure work needed) of a double temporary classroom is £102,000. The annual rental of a temporary classroom including simple installation is £51,000 and the cost of decommissioning a temporary classroom is £20,000. If further ground works or infrastructure work (e.g. electricity and plumbing) are needed to get the site ready to take a temporary classroom then the installation costs can be much higher.
4.8 In addition to the above costs there is also an impact on the Schools Budget through funding the increase in floor area from the start of the next financial year. It is estimated that a double temporary classroom is 120m², which would attract £3,191 a year in additional funding.
4.9 There is a revenue budget for primary school temporary classrooms totalling £303,500 of which £35,600 was allocated up front in the 2010/11 budget shares. The residual amount of £267,900 will be used throughout the year to cover the cost of temporary classroom requirements which forms part of the LMS contingency budget.
5 Issues with temporary classrooms
5.1 The placement of a temporary classroom can be a long process, usually taking between three to four months to site (although it can be up to six months). This delay means that their use is not always responsive enough to meet the demands.
5.2 Although temporary classrooms are usually placed over the summer holidays to minimise disturbance, this is not always possible. An in-year placement can be disruptive for the school involved as the location of the temporary classroom can also require extensive ground works. It can also result in a reduction in the outside space available for the children.
5.3 The placement of a temporary classroom provides a school with an increase in capacity of 30 children. However, the demand may only be needed for a few additional places. Should the spaces available not be filled this would result in the school not necessarily attracting enough extra funding to cover the cost of employing an additional teacher. For example, four additional children would provide the school with additional funding of £9,672. Therefore, it would be in the interest of the school to fill the additional places, but this may cause problems in future years with sibling groups not being able to enter the same school.
5.4 In addition, installing a temporary classroom at a particular school may result in children moving from other schools in the surrounding area, especially if capacity has been created at a popular school. Should children leave their existing school to attend the more popular school this may lead to funding pressures for the affected schools.
5.5 The additional places required may only be needed for a short-term period as an infant class size may only be breached for one term as a pupil may leave the particular year group. Therefore, putting a temporary classroom at a school may not be a cost effective option.
6 Proposed funding options
6.1 The Admissions and Strategic Development Teams are looking to develop a more responsive method of dealing with situations where there is a pressure in an area but not enough to warrant the placement of a temporary classroom.
6.2 The Strategic Development Team are currently working with schools in key areas to try and identify any space in which it may be possible to put in and operate an additional class or just a few extra pupils within current premises. In order to support this approach, funding for an additional teacher would be needed.
6.3 In order to be able to do this there would be a need to be able to use the temporary classroom budget to be able to support the cost of an additional teacher being placed in schools where teaching space has been identified. This would then allow the school to admit more than 30 pupils. This need could then be reviewed on a termly basis and funding withdrawn if and when the pupil number returns to 30 or less.
6.4 This responsive approach would help to keep children, where possible, with their catchment schools and would help to eliminate the problem of siblings not being able to attend the same school.
6.5 This would allow the Admissions Team to be more responsive to schools and pupil needs and would not involved long term commitment of funding as a temporary classroom does, as the funding would be reviewed on a termly basis.
7 Funding protocols
7.1 The use of the temporary classroom budget for teaching costs would be reviewed on a case by case basis. The decision will be made by joint agreement between the Strategic Development Manager and the Education Officer for Admissions.
7.2 It is proposed that the maximum amount of funding that could be used for this from the temporary classroom budget is £151,750 (50%).This allowance will be monitored by the Devolved Finance Unit with the temporary classroom budget which forms part of the LMS Contingency budget and variances will be reported through the budget monitoring process.
7.3 Use of the funding would be reported to Primary Heads Resources twice a year.
8 Recommendations
8.1 Schools Forum are recommended to note the increase in pupil demand developing in the highlighted areas.
8.2 Schools Forum are recommended to endorse the proposal for 50% of the temporary classroom budget to be used to support additional teacher funding in the situations outline above.
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