Decision details

15      SCHOOL PLACES AND CAPITAL INVESTMENT – The Director: Children and Families submitted a report providing a line of sight to members on the statutory duty to ensure sufficient school places as per the Education Act 1996 Section 14; and details of sources of funding and delivery of projects ensuring sufficient school places.

The demand for existing and future school places was reviewed annually and included:

• Health data on the home address registered at GP practices for children

• Capacity of local schools to accommodate pupils

• Migration trends both within and in/out of North Lincolnshire

• Preferences for places and allocations as at National Offer Day

School capacity and projections (SCAP) data was submitted to the DfE on an annual basis in July together with a commentary providing local context and proposals/planned investment to ensure sufficient places were provided in a timely manner. The SCAP data did not include Special Schools but the DfE had announced that they would be included in the 2023 return.

The capacity of community, voluntary controlled and voluntary aided schools was determined by the DfE net capacity. Historically the capacity of academies had been determined by the DfE funding agreement rather than the physical capacity of the buildings. The DfE had undertaken to review the capacity of academies, so that both schools and academies had capacities that reflected the physical space within the school.

For the purposes of school place planning, North Lincolnshire had been subdivided into school place planning areas as shown in the maps in Appendix 1 of the report. The summer 2022 data update and review showed that the demand for primary places was projected to fall - this aligned to health data, birth rates and ONS information. Paragraph 2.7 of the report gave further information on primary school places in various areas of North Lincolnshire.

Numbers were rising in the secondary sector in line with projected larger cohorts moving through from the primary sector. The LA worked with schools to ensure there were sufficient school places for the September 2022 Y7 intake. Paragraph 2.8 of the report gave further information on secondary school places throughout North Lincolnshire.

Resolved – (a) That the overall position in relation to school populations be noted, and (b) that the fact that popular schools would continue to thrive in terms of number on roll (NOR) but some schools would be facing significant reductions in NOR and would impact on their budgets, be noted.