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RESOLVED:
 
1. 
The outcomes of the informal stage of consultation and
Equality Impact Analysis provided as Appendix 1 were
considered.
 
2. 
Whether to publish a statutory notice and proposal for
the closure of Oldhill Primary School
and the amalgamation (merger) of its student body with Harrington
Hill Primary School was considered;
 
3. 
Proceeding to the next stage of the statutory process
by publishing the Notice in order to initiate the statutory
representation period to run from Thursday 6 February to Wednesday
5 March 2025, was agreed.
 
4. 
The further linked proposals were noted: to
reprovision the Oldhill Autism additional resourced provision at
Harrington Hill Primary School, by adding the same specialist
provision there; and to enlarge Harrington Hill Primary School by
increasing its published admission number (PAN) to accommodate
pupils displaced from Oldhill Primary
School to take effect from 1 September 2025.
 
REASONS FOR DECISION
 
The recommendations are made in order to
determine the Council’s response to the consultation
proposals as follows:
 
· 
Closure of Oldhill Primary School on 31
August 2025 and amalgamation (merger) of its student body with
nearby Harrington Hill Primary School. The Published Admission
Number (PAN) for Harrington Hill Primary School would be increased
to accommodate the displaced pupils from both schools. and special
educational resource provision added to Harrington Hill.
 
Prior to determination of the initial
proposals and following the response to the public consultation,
alternatives were explored to support a sustainable Oldhill Primary School. These were discussed with
the School Governing Body in a series of meetings and or
communications between 10 September 2024 and 6 January 2025. None
of these alternatives are considered by the Council to be
viable.
 
The reasons and the rationale for the
recommendation of the proposed merger and the alternatives
considered are set out in Appendix 2. 
 
These recommendations are made in accordance
with:
 
· 
Department for Education Statutory Guidance ‘Opening and
closing maintained schools’ (Oct 2024), which outlines the
options for amalgamations when undertaking school organisation
changes to two or more existing maintained schools, and
· 
Department for Education Statutory Guidance ‘Making
significant changes (‘prescribed alterations’) to
maintained schools’ (Oct 2024), which outlines the process
for significant changes to an existing maintained school.
 
This proposal would mean the closure of
Oldhill Primary School and the
amalgamation (merger) of its student body with nearby Harrington
Hill Primary School at the end of the 2024/25 school year
(ie. 31 August 2025).  Harrington Hill would retain its original
school DfE registration number as it is
not a new school.
 
A separate linked proposal has been developed
to increase the PAN and add an equivalent Additional Resource
Provision for autistic children to Harrington Hill Primary
School,  in
order to secure the continuity of the existing additional resource
provision currently made at Oldhill.  These places
will be available to the displaced children from Oldhill Primary School and other children. These
changes would take place from 1 September 2025.  A further report will be presented for
consideration by the Mayor and Cabinet to ensure that the required
statutory process is followed.
 
DETAILS OF ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND
REJECTED
 
Cabinet could decide not to proceed to the
next stage of statutory consultation, in which case the Council
would not be able to proceed with the closure proposal for
Oldhill Primary School. The Council
would then have to decide on how the school’s increasing
budget deficit would be funded beyond the 2024/25 school year,
given that it is not financially viable and is most unlikely to see
a sufficient increase in its pupil numbers for the situation to
change in the foreseeable future.
 
Cabinet could decide to delay its decision on
proceeding to the next stage of statutory consultation, but this
would mean that the school’s financial position would be very
likely to worsen, further impacting on the quality of education for
its current pupils and leaving an even bigger budget deficit,
should the school close later than the proposed date of 31 August
2025.  Officers are convinced that any
delay would not be in the best interests of educational provision
in the area.