hertsdirect.org The Future for Thumbswood Infant and Blackthorn Junior Schools (Archived Document)

The Future for Thumbswood Infant and Blackthorn Junior Schools (Archived Document)

INTRODUCTION

Jointly with the schools’ governors, Hertfordshire County Council is consulting parents, staff and the local community on the future of Thumbswood Infant and Blackthorn Junior Schools in Welwyn Garden City.

There are two possibilities for the future of the two schools:

Either

Thumbswood Infant and Blackthorn Junior Schools amalgamate on their existing site and in their current buildings to create a new primary school;
the new primary school would open in January 2002 with an annual intake of up to 60 pupils.

both schools could remain as separate Infant and Junior schools at their existing sizes.

This document:

explains why the possible change is being proposed;
covers in detail the implications for the two schools;
includes a response form for your comments.

No Decisions Have Been Made Yet. The Governors Of The Two Schools And The County Council Want To Know What You Think.

HOW YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONSULTATION

This document has been sent to parents of children at the schools, staff and other interested parties. Further copies are available at either school or by contacting Benjamin Wright, in the Education Planning Unit, on 01992 555897.

There will be a public meeting at the junior school to discuss the proposal:

Date	Time	Venue
24^th January, 2001	7.30pm	Blackthorn Junior School Hall

Governors and Education Department officers will explain the background to the proposal and answer your questions. County Councillors will be there to listen to your views.

Everyone is welcome at the meeting. Please come along and listen and take part in the discussion. Separate meetings will be held with the staff and governors at each school.

We also welcome your views in writing. Please use the form in the centre of this booklet if you wish, and return it to the address on the form by 23^rd February 2001. All views and comments must be received by this date.

We hope that you will attend this meeting and let us know your opinion of the possibilities outlined in this document.

WHY WE ARE PROPOSING CHANGE

Thumbswood Infant and Blackthorn Junior Schools are located in the Peartree Ward of Welwyn Garden City. Both schools currently admit up to 60 children in each year group, with a total capacity of 180 in the Infant and 240 in the Junior school. The current and projected numbers on roll at the two schools (as at September, 2000) are given below:

	School capacity	Actual	Forecast
	School capacity	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Thumbswood	180	160	144	115	110	131	156
Blackthorn	240	200	214	224	217	198	174
Total	420	360	358	339	327	329	330

The chart shows that the number of children on roll at Thumbswood Infant School is set to decline over the next three years before increasing again. These changing numbers will also affect Blackthorn Junior School in due course. The falling numbers will affect the amount of money that the schools are given, and so may cause problems with finance and class structure in the medium term. Amalgamation of the two schools could help offset the impact of these changes in pupil numbers.

The Governing Bodies of Thumbswood Infant and Blackthorn Junior Schools have asked Hertfordshire County Council to undertake consultation on the possible future amalgamation of the two schools. They have considered the advantages and disadvantages of amalgamation and have concluded that staff, parents and the wider community should be asked for their views about the proposal. The Governors are aware that a number of infant and junior schools elsewhere in Hertfordshire have already amalgamated to create successful primary schools. Governors have visited recently amalgamated schools and talked to their headteachers and governors.

The next two sections outline some of the potential advantages and disadvantages of an amalgamation.

Potential benefits of amalgamation

Easier and more effective opportunities for curriculum planning across all the primary age groups

There would be more opportunities for long term planning to improve the educational experience of children across the infant and junior stages of primary education. ‘Whole school’ policies could be developed for reading, mathematics, science and other areas of the curriculum from reception age to eleven years old. This approach would offer greater potential for improving the level of achievement of all pupils.
Easier transition for children from the Infants’ to the Juniors

Children would not have to learn different routines or behavioural policies as these would be common throughout a child’s primary education.
More opportunities for interaction between staff and children of all ages

This would help children and particularly those with special educational needs. The children would be monitored and supported throughout their time at primary school by teachers who know them. Common methods of monitoring progress would be available.
Greater breadth of staff experience

Recent curriculum developments have led to an increase in the number and range of specialist tasks to be done in schools. The sharing of these tasks and the availability of a wider range of experience would help to enhance the education of the children.
Increased opportunities for staff development

A wide range of teaching and learning expertise is needed in a primary school. The skills and knowledge of teaching staff would be extended. This would benefit the children. This would also support the recruitment and induction of new staff and the retention of existing colleagues.
Budget and staffing flexibility

The Headteacher and Governors of the school would gain more flexibility in responding to the needs of the school through having a single budget and combined teaching and non-teaching staff. This would help to reduce the impact of fluctuations in pupil numbers across the whole age-range.
Management and support structure

Provide a simplified school management and support structure covering the whole age-range.

Possible disadvantages of amalgamation

Although Governors identified a number of benefits from amalgamation, they recognised that a number of possible disadvantages would need to be considered.

Appropriate education of pupils of different ages

It is essential that particular educational provision for infant and junior pupils is guaranteed. Strategies would need to be in place to ensure that the special qualities of education for younger and older children are preserved.
Disruption to pupils’ education during the transition

A new set of ‘whole school’ policies and practices would be developed as part of planning the way the new school will work.
Suitability of buildings

There is some distance between the buildings. It is envisaged that the infant and junior classes would mainly take place in their current locations but some adjustments to office, staff accommodation and other ancillary spaces may be appropriate and are being discussed with governors and staff.
Budget implications
In the longer term the budget for the new primary school will be smaller than the total amount currently available to both primary schools but savings will also be made from running one school instead of two and from economies of scale. This will offset this slight reduction in the budget and so the overall effect on the new school is expected to be broadly neutral.

This issue, and details of transitional funding, are addressed more fully in the section titled ‘Finance, the Governing Body and Staffing’ below.

The Governors’ view is that the final decision on whether to amalgamate or not must be made on the basis of giving the children the best chance of a good quality education.

HOW WOULD THE AMALGAMATION TAKE PLACE?

The amalgamation of the two schools would create a new primary school. The new school would take over all the pupils and everything to do with the existing two schools, including, for example, the books, furniture and equipment.

Legally, on one day Thumbswood Infant and Blackthorn Junior Schools would close, and a new primary school would open the next day. A new name, logo and uniform would be chosen.

FINANCE, THE GOVERNING BODY AND STAFFING

Technical information about finance, the Governing Body and staffing can be found in the appendix on pages 7 and 8 of this document.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

The consultation period about the proposal to amalgamate Thumbswood Infant and Blackthorn Junior Schools ends on Friday 23^rd February, 2001.

The County Council will then need to consider the outcome of the consultation exercise and decide whether or not to proceed with the proposed amalgamation.

The County Council could decide not to proceed, in which case both schools would continue as present as separate Infant and Junior Schools.

If the outcome of this process leads the County Council to decide to amalgamate the two schools then it has to publish a legal notice called a ‘Statutory Notice’. This notice, which would need to be published in May 2001, would formally state that the County Council intends to close Thumbswood Infant and Blackthorn Junior Schools and open a new primary school. The notice would explain how and when it would do this and would also give people the opportunity to lodge a formal objection to the proposals. Any objection would need to be made within two months of the publication of the Statutory Notice.

If any objections are received, the Hertfordshire School Organisation Committee will then be asked to consider the proposal. If this were necessary it would take place in July, 2001.

If there are no objections, a final decision will be taken by Hertfordshire County Council to proceed with the amalgamation of the two schools.

If it is decided to amalgamate the schools, then the Governing Bodies think that this should take place quickly so that everyone can start to work together. A decision by July, 2001 should mean that the schools would amalgamate in January 2002.

APPENDIX - FINANCE, THE GOVERNING BODY AND STAFFING

Finance

Under the arrangements for funding amalgamated schools, the new school would receive additional funding to ease the transition from two schools to one. The new school would, therefore, be funded as the equivalent of two schools for the first two years from the date of the amalgamation. In the third year, it would receive 50% of the difference between the funding of one and two schools. In the fourth and subsequent years after the date of amalgamation there would be no additional funding and the school would be funded as one school.

The balances, both surpluses and deficits, of the existing schools would transfer to the new primary school on amalgamation.

The combined budget of both schools is currently £641,212 (this excludes [a] any adjustments made to the budget due to changes in pupil numbers; and [b] any protection funding given where a fall in pupil numbers has led to a year on year drop of 5% in the school budget). The budget of any school is worked out on the basis of a School Funding Formula that takes into account the size of the school and the number of children on roll. This means that the budget can fluctuate from year to year as the numbers of children go up or down.

The table below gives the budget available to the new school following amalgamation. The base budget figure assumes that there will be no change to the School Funding Formula, and is based on projected pupil numbers for the schools.

Financial Year		Base budget (£)	Transition funding (£)	Total (£)
2001/02	1^st year amalgamation	633,598	13,601	647,199
2002/03	2^nd year following amalgamation	568,440	54,404	622,843
2003/04	3^rd year following amalgamation	564,185	47,603	611,789
2004/05	4^th year following amalgamation	570,273	21,666	591,940
2005/06	5^th year following amalgamation	594,221	0	594,221

There will be some building work required. The cost of this work does not normally exceed £100,000 and will be met from the County Council’s central minor works budget.

The Governing Body

Before the new primary school can open the law requires that a Temporary Governing Body is appointed in order to set up the new school. The Temporary Governing Body would be equivalent in composition to Option B in the table below, and would, therefore, be smaller than the existing Governing Bodies. In an amalgamation, members of the Temporary Governing Body are drawn as far as possible from the Governing Bodies of the closing schools.

The current Governing Bodies for Thumbswood Infant and Blackthorn Junior Schools would continue to look after the two schools until the end of December 2001. During this period the Temporary Governing Body would appoint the Headteacher and take other steps to set up the new primary school. In January 2002, the process of creating, through appointments and elections, the new Governing Body for the new primary school would begin.

The Temporary Governing Body will be able to choose one of two models for the composition of the permanent Governing Body. These models, and the existing Governing Body compositions are given in the table below:

	Existing composition of Governing Bodies		Options for new Governing Body
	Thumbswood	Blackthorn	A	B
Parents	5	5	5	4
Teachers	2	2	2	1
Staff	1	1	1	1
LEA	4	4	4	3
Co-options*	5	5	5	4
Headteachers	1	1	1	1
Total	18	18	18	14

*one of which is a nomination by Welwyn Hatfield District Council

Staffing

One of the jobs of the Temporary Governing Body will be to appoint the Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher(s) and other staff to the new primary school. The Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher(s) posts must be advertised nationally. The existing Governing Bodies, depending on the staffing structure and future pupil numbers, hope that all staff (teaching and support staff) would be able to transfer to the new school.

The number of staff currently employed at each school is as follows: