Purpose

Proposed
decision:
 
The Cabinet Member for
Education and Skills is asked to:
 

APPROVE the expansion of Northfleet
Technology College from a PAN of 165 to a PAN of 189.

 

AGREE to allocate the funding from
the CYPE Capital Budget that will be required to complete the
project.

 

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
Northfleet Technology College has been developed because the Kent
Commissioning Plan 2024/28 indicates that there will be a shortfall
in year 7 places in the Gravesham and Longfield Non-Selective
planning group.
 
Northfleet Technology College,
a member of the Northfleet Schools Co-Operative Trust, is a boys
secondary school.  Following an
inspection that took place in October 2022, Ofsted deems Northfleet
Technology College to be a ‘GOOD’ school, in all
areas.
 
Following initial discussions,
Northfleet Technology College agreed to offer 189 places on a
temporary basis in 2023. This agreement has been repeated for
September 2024. This proposal seeks to make the expansion permanent
and so the senior management and governors of Northfleet Technology
College have agreed to consult on this proposal to permanently
expand the school and enlarge the secondary provision within the
school by the addition of 25 places per school year.
           
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
Gravesham and Longfield Non-Selective planning group.
 
 
Background
 
Gravesham 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.
 
The Northfleet Technology
College does not have sufficient accommodation to offer the
requisite additional places, so as a temporary measure, four mobile
teaching rooms will be placed on the site.  This will be a revenue expense.
 
KCC will design and construct a
new standalone block to be ready for the September 2026
intake.  This will need to be funded
from the CYPE Capital Budget.
 
 
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 long into the
future.  It describes the statutory
priorities, one of which being the statutory duty to ensure
sufficient school places are available to any child or young person
who requires one.  This duty applies to
Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision, as well as mainstream
settings.
 
This proposal is necessary for
KCC to continue to deliver the 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.
 
The County Council’s
Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent 2024-28 is a
five-year rolling plan which is updated annually.  It 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 latest plan can be viewed from
this link:
 

https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools/education-provision/education-provision-plan
 

 

Financial Implications
 

Capital

 
Progression of the scheme will be dependent on the outcome of
detailed feasibility and design work – these will inform the
full overall cost of the project.
 
The cost of the new standalone
block will be borne by the CYPE Capital Budget.  Currently the estimated cost for the whole scheme
is £8.3m.  This sum has been
included within the Basic Need Capital Programme that was recently
agreed by Council. KCC Project Managers will be undertaking
continuous checks to keep build costs as close as possible to this
estimate.
 
Northfleet Technology College is a Public Finance Initiative
(PFI) school. The PFI Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) have been on
board from the start of the project and a change notice is in place
for the Deed of Variation (DoV). The works will result in part of
the land being removed from the PFI red line. Forecast legal costs
for the DoV will be included within the total project cost for the
main capital works.
 
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.
 
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.

 

Revenue

 

The initial phase involves the
installation of four mobile teaching rooms at a cost of
£311,168.  This will be a Revenue
expense, funded from the Mobiles and Temporary Accommodation Budget
included within the Education Revenue Budget.

 

As the scheme progresses, £6,000
per newly created learning space, would be provided towards the
cost of furniture and equipment, such as tables, desks, chairs,
cabinets and learning resources.

 

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.

 

Both the £6,000 per classroom, and
the additional pupil funding 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 Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, I:
 

AGREE to allocate
£9,165,120 from the CYPE Capital Budget to enable the
expansion of Northfleet Technology College from a PAN of 164 to a
PAN of 189.

 

AGREE to 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