Purpose

Proposed decision
 
The Cabinet Member for
Education and Skills is asked to:
 
a)      authorise the allocation of
£6,900,000 from the Children Young People and Education
Services Basic Need Capital Budget to fund the permanent expansion
of New Line Learning Academy by 1FE, increasing its Published
Admission Number (PAN) from 180 to 210 from September
2025.
 
b)      authorise the Director of
Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services in consultation
with the Director of Education to enter into any necessary
contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council with The
Future Schools Trust.
 
c)      authorise the Director of
Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services to be the
nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements
and to enter into variations as envisaged under the
contracts.
 
 
Reason for Decision
 
The expansion of New
Line Learning Academy is proposed in response to the significant
demand for places within the Maidstone non-selective planning group
indicated in the County Council’s Commissioning Plan for
Education Provision in Kent 2024-28 (KCP).  The planning group has a forecast deficit of 129
places in 2024-25, which is set to increase throughout the Plan
period.
 
In recent years,
schools within this planning group have admitted over PAN, creating
additional capacity.  We anticipate this
pattern to continue and will accommodate some of the forecast
deficit.  However, up to 90 temporary
places via bulge provision within the existing Secondary schools
will be needed to meet the demand initially, prior to permanent
expansion works of up to 3 FE from 2025-26.  The proposed expansion of New Line Learning by
1FE, increasing the Published Admission Number (PAN) from 180 to
210 from September 2025, will form part of Kent County
Council’s (KCC) co-ordinated response to the forecast
demand.
 
Background
New Line Learning is a
co-educational non-selective school for students of 11-16 years
that converted to academy status in September 2007 and is now part
of The Future Schools Trust.  The
academy was rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted at its November 2019
inspection.  The academy and the trust
are keen to expand the school and welcome the opportunity to
temporarily expand in September 2024 prior to the proposed
permanent expansion in September 2025.
 
Following discussion regarding the
accommodation needs of the school, KCC has agreed with
TheFuture Schools Trust
that, should this proposal go ahead, it will be a trust managed
scheme, with KCC providing the Basic Need funding and the Trust
undertaking the necessary capital works. The Trust has previously
undertaken capital works relating to school improvement and
maintenance and has the organisational infrastructure to manage
such schemes.
 
Securing Kent’s Future
 
The 'Securing Kent's
Future' strategy outlines the measures that KCC intend to take to
ensure that Kent remains financially stable, now and in the
future.  It describes the statutory
priorities, one of which being the statutory duty, as the Strategic
Commissioner of Education Provision in Kent, to ensure sufficient
school places are available to any child or young person who
requires one. 
 
The KCP is a five-year
rolling plan which is updated annually that sets out KCC’s
future plans as Strategic Commissioner of Education Provision
across all types and phases of education in Kent. A copy of the
plan can be viewed from this link:

http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/strategies-and-policies/education-skills-and-employment-policies/education-provision
 
The KCP highlights
significant demand for additional places in the Maidstone
non-selective planning group over the coming years.  Therefore, the proposed expansion to New Line
Learning is necessary for KCC to continue to deliver its statutory
duty, in a cost-effective way, in line with the guidelines
described in the Securing Kent's Future strategy. It will help to
maintain KCC’s strategic role in supporting schools in Kent
to deliver accessible, high quality education provision for all
families.
 
Options
The short to medium
term expansion options within existing Maidstone schools are
limited, with 2 of the town centre schools having already expanded
in recent years, whilst others are constrained by site and
infrastructure limitations.  KCC are
working with a number of schools within the planning group to
formulate expansion proposals over the coming years and New Line
Learning is the first scheme to proceed to the detailed feasibility
stage.
 

Financial Implications
 
Capital Funding:
In depth feasibility
work has been undertaken which estimates the total cost of
additional accommodation to be £6,888,200.  The cost of this project will be funded through
the CYPE Basic Need Capital Budget that was agreed at County
Council in February 2024. 
 
It is proposed that it
will be a trust managed scheme and The Future Schools Trust have
engaged a suitable contractor who has completed previous building
work for the trust.  KCC will monitor
progress regularly during the building works to ensure that the
accommodation needs are being met.
 
Revenue Funding:
There is no General
Fund revenue funding requirement. Should the scheme not proceed
through to completion, any costs incurred at the time of cessation
would become abortive costs and are likely to be recharged to
Revenue. This would be reported through the regular financial
monitoring reports to Cabinet
 
Should the scheme
progress, £6,000 per new learning space would be provided
towards the cost of furniture and equipment. This would be provided
to the school to purchase required equipment. In addition, an
allowance of up to £2,500 may be payable to outfit each new
teaching room with appropriate ICT equipment, such as touch screens
or projection equipment.  The school
would receive funding for the additional pupils that it admits in
line with the funding allocated to schools through KCC’s
funding formula. All school related revenue costs will be met from
the Dedicated Schools Grant as ring-fenced  from the Department of Education, the expansion
will fall into Kent’s Growth Funding Policy.
 

Decision

As Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, I agree
to:

 

(i)            
authorise the allocation of £6,900,000 from
the Children Young People and Education Services Basic Need Capital
Budget to fund the permanent expansion of New Line Learning Academy
by 1FE, increasing its Published Admission Number (PAN) from 180 to
210 from September 2025.

 

(ii)           
authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic
and Corporate Services in consultation with the General Counsel and
Director of Education to enter into any necessary contracts/
agreements on behalf of the County Council with The Future Schools
Trust.

 

(iii)         
authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic
and Corporate Services to be the nominated Authority Representative
within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as
envisaged under the contracts. 
Variations to contract value to be no more than 10% above the
capital funding agreed by the Cabinet Member without requiring a
new Record of Decision.