Report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services)

This report provides an overview of Manchester’s current school age population and the numbers forecast for future academic years. It also details work previously undertaken to create additional school places to ensure Manchester meets its sufficiency duty.

The report shows that demand for school places continues to increase and outlines the work that is planned to achieve sufficiency of places across the City in response to this continued growth.

The Committee considered the report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services whichprovided an overview of Manchester’s current school age population and the numbers forecast for future academic years. It also detailed work previously undertaken to create additional school places to ensure Manchester met its sufficiency duty. The report showed that demand for school places continued to increase and outlined the work that was planned to achieve sufficiency of places across the city in response to this continued growth.

Key points and themes in the report included:

• The school age population;
• Approach to securing sufficient school places; and
• Actions to secure sufficient school places in the primary phase, secondary phase and special schools.

The Head of Access and Sufficiency advised that, since the report had been published, two further schools had been secured for the city through the Free Schools Programme, one at post-16 and one at the secondary phase.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• Special school places and resourced provision within mainstream schools;
• Sixth form provision;
• Did planning for school places take into account children crossing local authority boundaries to attend school; and
• The increase in children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND).

The Head of Access and Sufficiency reported that it was planned to have a mixed offer for additional specialist places including further expansion of special schools and specialist units within mainstream schools, which enabled children to remain at the local school that they were originally allocated while accessing additional support and an adapted curriculum.  She confirmed that children attending schools outside their local authority area were taken into account in her service’s planning and forecasting and that information was shared between Greater Manchester local authorities.  She reported that previously a significant number of Manchester children had attended schools outside of the city’s boundaries, particularly at the secondary phase, but that more recently Manchester children were choosing to stay within the city for secondary school, which meant there were fewer places at Manchester schools available for children living outside of the city.  In response to a Member’s question, she confirmed that, if a family moved house during the academic year, they could apply for a school place from their new address, although in some circumstances it might be better for the child to remain at their existing school.  She advised that, if there were no vacancies at their preferred schools, the Admissions Team would work with the family to identify a suitable school which was closer to their new home.

In response to a Member’s questions about children who did not receive a place at one of their preferred schools, the Head of Access and Sufficiency reported that they would be allocated a place at the closest school with a vacancy and, depending on the distance, would be offered free travel.  She reported that in some cases the Council had worked with particular schools on trying to transport children in groups so that they were not travelling alone to schools in different areas of the city.  She outlined work to create more school places in areas where there was pressure on school places, particularly in south Manchester and Wythenshawe.

The Director of Education reported that post-16 education was now at capacity and more places would be needed in future years and she outlined some of the work taking place to increase capacity, including working with sixth form providers to expand their provision, encouraging providers to apply to open additional post-16 provision through the Free School Process and conversations with the DfE about the allocation of capital funding.  She also informed Members about ongoing discussions with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and the DfE about post-16 technical pathways.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People suggested that the Committee receive a separate report on post-16 provision at a future meeting.  He praised how Council departments had worked together to provide additional school places during a period of significant population growth, when there was a shortage of available land and the Council did not have direct control over schools.

The Director of Education reported that the number of children with SEND had risen nationally and that Manchester had been asked by the DfE to lead for the north-west region on work in relation to SEND and early intervention.  She highlighted the impact of the pandemic on children’s development and mental health.  A Member commented on the impact of poverty on children’s development.

The Chair reported that the decline in the birth rate could mean that there would be less demand for primary school places, while recognising that there was a degree of uncertainty about future numbers due to families moving into the city, and that campuses which accommodated children from 3 to 19 would make it easier to manage fluctuating year group sizes.  She also highlighted the impact of the planned expansion of free childcare.

The Head of Access and Sufficiency advised that, while the birth rate had gone down, by Key Stage 2 numbers had recovered in some schools, due to in-year migration, so it was difficult to reduce capacity as it was likely to be needed later.  She reported that her service was monitoring the situation and working with schools in relation to this but, at present, it was not planned to reduce capacity in primary schools.  She also highlighted that the regeneration projects taking place across the city were likely to bring more families into the city in future.  The Chair highlighted the importance of ensuring there were sufficient amenities when new housing was built.

In response to a question from the Chair, the Director of Education reported that the number of children being Electively Home Educated (EHE) had risen during the pandemic and had not returned to pre-pandemic levels but was no longer continuing to rise.  She informed the Committee that work was taking place to ascertain whether there was sufficiency in the childcare sector in the city to accommodate the expansion of free childcare.  In response to a comment from the Chair about one-form-entry Roman Catholic primary schools in north Manchester, she reported that her service was working with the Diocese of Salford.  She reported that her service and the Diocese were also involved in the discussions about large-scale housing developments such as Victoria North.

Decision

To receive an update report later in the year.