Purpose

Proposed
decision:
 
The Cabinet Member for
Education and Skills to agree to:
 

ALLOCATE £9,298,049 from the
CYPE Capital Budget to complete the permanent expansion of Sir
Geoffrey Leigh Academy, bringing the total project budget to
£10,698,049.

 

DELEGATE authority to the Director
of Infrastructure to, in consultation with the Director of
Education, enter into any necessary contracts or other legal
agreements, as required to implement this decision; and

 

AGREE for the Director of
Infrastructure to be the nominated Authority Representative within
the relevant agreements, with authority to enter variations as
envisaged under the contracts

 
Reason for the decision
This
proposal to expand Sir Geoffrey Leigh Academy was developed because
the Kent Commissioning Plan 2024/2028 indicated that there will be
a shortfall in year 7 places in the Dartford and Swanley
non-selective planning group.
 
If
no further action is taken in the longer term, Kent County Council
will find it extremely difficult to provide sufficient secondary
school places in the Dartford and Swanley non-selective planning
group.
 
Background
 
Dartford Borough’s population is increasing with more
families moving into the
area
and as a result, Kent County Council needs to add additional
secondary school places to manage the increase in demand. One
strategy for providing additional school places is to expand
existing successful and popular schools.
 
Sir
Geoffrey Leigh Academy, part of the Leigh Academy Trust (LAT), is a
co-educational secondary school. 
Following an inspection that took place in April 2023, Ofsted deems
Sir Geoffrey Leigh Academy to be a ‘GOOD’
school.
 
Sir
Geoffrey Leigh Academy agreed to increase its PAN from 240 to offer
270 places for September 2023, September 2024 and September
2025.
 
Following further discussions, Sir Geoffrey Leigh Academy agreed
to offer 300 places from 2026, subject to a physical expansion.
This proposal seeks to facilitate the expansion by building a
standalone block and enable various internal and external
works.  The Trust, senior leadership
team and governors of Sir Geoffrey Leigh Academy agreed to consult
on this proposal to permanently expand the school and enlarge the
secondary provision within the school by the addition of 60 places
per school year.
 
 
Financial Implications
 

Capital

 
When this scheme was presented
to CYPE Cabinet Committee in May 2024, the estimated cost was
£10.5 million which was split between KCC for the majority of
the expansion work and a smaller element being allocated to LAT to
undertake some smaller elements of the expansion
directly. 
 
Following that Committee, the
KCC Cabinet Member for Education and Skills agreed to allocate
£1.4m from the CYPE Capital Budget to enable early design
work and small building alterations to be undertaken.
 
As planning for the whole
scheme has progressed and RIBA Stage 3 was completed, the estimated
cost has increased slightly but the increase was minimised by a
range of value engineering measures, which resulted in the total
scheme cost increasing to £10,698,049.  The revised breakdown of costs is as
follows:
 
 

Early Release of Funding for
Preliminaries

Construction
(estimate)

Sub total

LAT costs

 £          
73,000

 

    
£       
73,000

LAT Costs (internals 2024)

  £,       
352,000 

-

    
£     
352,000

LAT Costs (externals & dining 2025)

 

 £        
750,000

 £     750,000

KCC Costs

 £        
975,000

 £      8,398,049

 £  9,373,049

Contingency

 

 £        
150,000

 £     150,000

Sub total

 £      1,400,000

 £      9,298,049

 £10,698,049

 
With the revised overall cost
of the scheme being £10,698,049, this meant a further
decision to allocate the remaining balance of £9,298,049 from
the CYPE Capital Budget was required.
 
An allowance of up to
£2,500 may be payable to the school, to outfit each
new
teaching room with appropriate
ICT equipment, such as touch screens or projection
equipment.  This will be met from the
overall Capital allocation for this project.
 
Revenue
 
The school would
also receive funding for the additional pupils that it admits in
line with the funding allocated to schools through KCC’s
Schools Funding Formula.
 
As the scheme
progresses, £6,000 per newly provided learning space,
would
be provided
towards the cost of furniture and equipment, such as tables, desks,
chairs, cabinets and learning resources.
 
Both of these
revenue allocations will be met from the Growth Funding provision
held within the dedicated school's grant.
 
Human
 
The school will
appoint additional staff as required; utilising revenue funding
allocated through the Schools Funding Formula for these additional
pupils.
 
 
 
 

Decision

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

ALLOCATE £9,298,049 from the
CYPE Capital Budget to complete the permanent expansion of Sir
Geoffrey Leigh Academy, bringing the total project budget to
£10,698,049.

 

DELEGATE authority to the Director
of Infrastructure to, in consultation with the Director of
Education, enter into any necessary contracts or other legal
agreements, as required to implement this decision; and

 

AGREE for the Director of
Infrastructure to be the nominated Authority Representative within
the relevant agreements, with authority to enter variations as
envisaged under the contracts.