The case for a new school
The Royal Borough is well known for the high standards of its schools, which inevitably means they are oversubscribed. The biggest challenge for many parents is securing a place for their child, as each year many are left disappointed. One solution is to provide more places, which means building a new secondary school in the north of the borough.
The unbalanced way in which secondary schools are currently provided in the Royal Borough means that the proportion of pupils transferring to a secondary school who are offered their first preference school is usually only between 50 and 60 per cent, against a London average of between 70 and 80 per cent and a national average of more than 90 per cent.
In addition, only about 300 (45 per cent) of the 660 resident pupils who transfer to secondary school each year are offered a place in the Royal Borough.
The Council’s first priority in trying to tackle this problem was to meet the urgent demands of parents in South Kensington, Chelsea and the Earl’s Court areas for whom Holland Park School is not readily accessible and good quality alternatives are not easily available.
The new Chelsea Academy, jointly sponsored by the Royal Borough and the Church of England, will open in 2009 and provide high quality, local, secondary education for children in this part of the borough.
Improving the situation
The Council is now looking to improve the situation in the north of the borough. In March, Cabinet considered a report from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Family and Children's Services on the development of a new secondary school to serve this part of the borough.
Cabinet agreed:
- that the academy route be selected as the preferred route to develop the new school
- that the new school should offer a maximum of 180 places in each year, making it a six form entry school, and should offer a further 250 places in the sixth form
- that the Council agrees to co-sponsor the academy and will seek an appropriate co-sponsor
- to use Building Schools for the Future funding to pay for the development and investigate other funding sources
Academies are all-ability, state-funded schools established and managed by sponsors from a wide range of backgrounds. Because an academy can be co-sponsored by the Council, it is able to retain some influence over the strategic leadership of the academy while obtaining the benefits that an external sponsor can bring. It is essential that the new school lies at the heart of the local community in the north of the borough and meets local demand by providing places for children within that community. A co-sponsored academy would meet these needs. The proposed site for the new school is the north Kensington sports centre.
A new academy
The Council is already sponsoring the Chelsea Academy, along with the Church of England, and co-sponsoring any new academy in north Kensington is considered to be the most appropriate way forward.
To meet the GLA’s population projections to 2018 and other local developments the school will offer a maximum of 180 places in each year (six form entry) and cater for a total of 1,150 pupils, including 250 places in the sixth form.
Academy buildings are now procured through Partnerships for Schools (PfS) and local authorities as part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, and sponsorship takes the form of an endowment fund that is not connected to building work. Any decisions about the capital project will take account of the sponsors' views as well as expert advice commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Under the BSF programme the funding available for the new school is likely to be approximately £22m, although it is difficult to estimate the final cost at this stage. The cost of building Chelsea Academy, which could give an indication of the approximate cost of a new school, is in the region of £40m.
The affordability gap could be funded by borrowing, from the Council’s reserves or, depending on the site, by the Council trying to generate capital from part of the land. This could be, for example, from developer contributions, selling ‘air space’ or site space for private development. These options would need to be investigated.
There has for a long time been a serious shortage of secondary school places in the Royal Borough which will be only partly alleviated by the opening of Chelsea Academy. The opening of another secondary school in North Kensington will considerably ease that situation.
What do you think?
Academy schools tend to have a specialist status. The Chelsea Academy will specialise in the sciences. What speciality do you think this new school should have?
Email any comments or questions you may have to rbkcdirect@rbkc.gov.uk
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