The Council’s plans for the Clifden road site

• [Oct 17] At the Education Scrutiny Committee meeting: ' . . IT was reported that the issue of a potential Catholic secondary school resided firmly with the Diocese of Westminster, as they were responsible for formulating any proposals and following the statutory process for establishing a new voluntary aided (VA) school. The Director of Education stated that the Archdiocese was not seeking to open a faith academy as this would limit the number of places they could reserve for Catholic children.

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Mr Jeremy Rodell was invited to speak to the committee on behalf of the Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign (RISC). He said that there had been no consultation on, or decision, regarding the Council's choice to support the introduction of a new faith school; the Council appeared to be acting outside of the set process. He added that a recent consultation undertaken in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames could be used as a template for one in Richmond upon Thames. Mr Rodell said that the Archdiocese did not have to enter a competitive process, should it be seeking to open a new school. This was in contrast to the route which the Council must take, should it wish to open its own new school. Mr Rodell asked the committee to demand that this process be halted to allow for consultation and formal decision to be undertaken by the Council.

Following questions from members of the committee, Mr Rodell confirmed that the consultation the RISC was calling for would give residents the choice between a Catholic secondary school or a community one. He added that the Administration's manifesto stated they would work for a Catholic secondary school, but that it also said they would "consult first, act second". Mr Rodell felt that these were conflicting statements and the latter was not happening.

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Charlotte Wilkinson Prior was invited to speak to the committee. She said that she disagreed with paragraph 4.2 of the report as she felt that a school which excludes 90 % of the local population would not release places at other local schools. She was concerned that this decision would have a long-lasting effect on the borough and that her two children would miss out on the opportunity of a quality community school. Ms Wilkinson-Prior felt that the Catholic population were already catered for, as there were a number of out of borough, yet still local, schools to be chosen from.

Following a question from a member of the committee, Ms Wilkinson-Prior said that schools were not facing an issue of choice, but one of capacity.

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Cllr Hodgins said that there were no firm proposals for the Clifden Road site to be a Catholic secondary school, which meant there was nothing to consult on at this stage. He said that the Archdiocese of Westminster was currently applying to the Secretary of State, for permission to open a voluntary aided secondary school. Should they get permission to do so, an Archdiocese led consultation would be instigated as part of the statutory process. Councillor Hodgins said that the establishment of a Catholic secondary school within the borough was an important element of his party's manifesto commitments around increasing choice in schools. He agreed that all children were entitled to a quality education and stated that other work was taking place to improve the quality of the borough's community schools.

The Director confirmed that there were no firm proposals and reported that the Clifden Road site was not yet in the Council's possession. He said that there was long-standing pressure from the Catholic community, who had been pushing for an in-borough Catholic secondary school for a number of years. He added that there was a need to further improve the achievement in the borough's secondary community schools and that increasing capacity in a system where there was already space would be detrimental to achieving this aim.

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Following questions from members of the committee, the meeting was advised that:

■ No key decision had been taken regarding the type of secondary school to be introduced.

■ The only decision taken regarding the Clifden Road site was an in-principle one to purchase the site, subject to various legal agreements.

■ Consultation would take place at the appropriate point in the process.

■ The schools listed in the section of the paper regarding sixth forms were part of an initial feasibility study, which focussed on looking at whether existing school sites could house sixth forms.

■ Richmond upon Thames did not yet own the Clifden Road site; there were various agreements and legal processes to go through with the current owners.

■ Purchasing the site followed a different process to that of buying a private residential property.

■ The Archdiocese of Westminster had made an 'in-principle' application to the Secretary of State, to form a school at the Clifden Road site, should it become available.

■ The Archdiocese, by law, had to make a proposal to the Secretary of State; Richmond upon Thames was unable to do this.

■ The process by which the Archdiocese could open a new school was strictly governed and involved public consultation

■ If the Archdiocese gained permission to open a new VA school, the Council would enter negotiations to lease the site to the Archdiocese for a peppercorn rent. This would be done via the Council's decision making process.

■ The Council could look at whether it was content with the consultative measures the Archdiocese had carried out at the appropriate time.

■ The Clifden Road site was very accessible, being only a short walk from Twickenham Station.

■ Opening a new community school at the present time would be detrimental to improving the quality of all the borough's secondary schools, as a local system with lots of additional capacity affected budgets and morale.

■ Around 200 local children gained places in London Borough of Hounslow Catholic schools each year.

■ The Clifden Road site could be a self-contained three-form entry secondary school, although this could be increased to five-form entry if additional sporting facilities were found off-site.

■ It was unlikely a new VA school would impact on the neighbouring schools of Orleans Park or Waldegrave.

■ The new north Kingston school was a consideration, as this was likely to have a significant impact on Grey Court's capacity, freeing up more spaces for Richmond upon Thames children.

■ Free schools were also being considered, as this may make more places available to Richmond upon Thames residents.

■ The eventual aim was to have quality schools across the borough, all of which were at near capacity.

■ The Director had been in discussions with the Archdiocese, but he stressed that these discussions were not linked to the Clifden Road site.

■ A larger than usual number of children whose families had only selected Catholic secondary schools had been unsuccessful in getting their child into any.

■ Next year's demand was yet to be predicted, as this year's school place take-up figures had only recently been available.

■ The Director had never had to take short notice reactive measures to increase capacity in Richmond's secondary schools, as at present there was excess capacity. This was in contrast to primary admissions, where there were capacity issues.

■ The expected additional uptake of secondary places because of the recession had not materialised.

■ Parental perception of schools could be measured by the number of first choice options for each.

■ There had been very few demands for an all boys school, which was expected as they typically did not achieve as highly as they did in mixed schools.

■ Faith academies were currently not welcomed by any Diocesan Board, as they limited the number of faith places. This was expected to change in the future when various issues had been resolved between them and the government.

■ The Catholic population in Richmond upon Thames was estimated to be around 12 %, with 11.6 % of primary places offered by the borough being in Catholic schools.

■ The Cabinet had not committed any funding to the Clifden Road site, aside from the money needed to purchase it. Funding options would be explored, should the Council be in a position to open its own school at a later date.

■ If the Archdiocese was unsuccessful in opening a new VA school, the Director would not, at this time, recommend opening a new community school as this would harm improvements being made in other borough secondary schools.

■ It was not possible to predict what portion of places would be taken by Catholic children in any new school, although the Cabinet Member said that the committee would be able to see information about school places mapping at its next ordinary meeting.

■ Free schools were likely to be fairly small establishments.

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Some committee members were concerned that a Cabinet Key Decision had been taken in relation to offering the Clifden Road site to the Archdiocese of Westminster, without following the correct decision making process. They drew attention to the content of the Archdiocese's application to the Secretary of State, which some felt showed the Council was actively engaged in discussion with the Archdiocese.

The Cabinet Member and Director assured the committee that they would have discussions with the Archdiocese of Westminster regarding the content of their application to the Secretary of State.

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• Educational Priorities [Report for the Oct 17 Scrutiny meeting]

. . Priority: Providing sufficient numbers of high-quality secondary school places: The academic profile of secondary schools in the borough continues to improve year on year, and parental confidence in the quality of secondary school provision continues to grow; however, there is still considerable spare capacity in secondary schools. There are approximately 200 spare places in the Year 7 cohort that started in the three academies in September 2011. Unlike at primary level, where most state-funded schools in the borough are consistently successful and therefore popular, it may take time for the positive changes at the three academies to translate into oversubscription in secondary schools. For that reason, it is unlikely that the increased demand in the primary sector will lead to additional secondary school places being required until beyond 2016 at the earliest, if at all.

It is also the case that the first groups of families whose children would miss out if the academies became oversubscribed would be those living well outside the borough. There would therefore be some degree of cushioning for in-borough residents. Although the establishment of a Catholic secondary school in 2013 has been in the context of increasing choice and diversity, it would also meet basic need by releasing places at the eight secondary schools. This would be most notable at Christ's School, because it has traditionally admitted a number of Catholic children as part of its 'Foundation' category. Within this context, the increases in numbers at the three academies could safely be reversed down to 180 places each in order to accommodate sixth form provision. It has also been agreed that, from 2012 entry onwards, the temporary increase in Grey Court's admission number should be reversed down to 200.

Christ's has proposed increasing its intake by an additional form of entry if investment in adequate buildings is available. This would make the school's budgetary position more viable, enabling it to compete more effectively with other schools.

The capacity of the other secondary schools is likely to remain as at present, i.e. Orleans Park and Waldegrave would admit 200 pupils per year and Teddington would admit 240 pupils per year.'

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• The minutes of the Oct 17 meeting of the Education and Children's Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee

• Determination: ' . . Under the powers conferred on us by schedule 2 to the Education and Inspections Act 2006, we hereby determine that the proposed new secondary school in North Kingston shall be established by the Kingston Education Trust from 1 September 2015.'