Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Panel for Children & Young People will hold a public meeting on Tuesday 10 August 2010, to review the decision made by Cabinet on 21 July concerning the future of secondary schools in Bath.

The decision made by the Cabinet was to: 

a.    Support the proposed federation of St. Mark's C of E school on its current site with St Gregory's Catholic College, with joint Post 16 provision for both schools. Invite the two schools to proceed with this hard federation so that it is in place for 1st September 2011.

b.    Support Oldfield school in seeking to become a co-educational academy and obtain written confirmation from the Head and Governing Body by Friday 17th September 2010 that co-educational status has been included in the school’s Application to Convert to an Academy sent to the Secretary of State, with the intention that it will become a co-educational academy by 1st September 2012. 

c.    If written confirmation that co-educational status has been included in the school’s Application to Convert to an Academy is not received by Friday 17 September 2010 the Council to commence a competition to invite proposers to submit bids for a new 160 place co-educational 11-18 school on the existing Oldfield school site and to propose the closure of Oldfield school and the opening of a new school on 1st September 2012.

d.    Consult on the proposal to close Culverhay school

The reasons stated in the Call-In are:

Ø   The consultation was based on the scenario of closing three schools and reopening two – one in the north and one in the south of the city. This scenario was approved by the majority of respondents (66%). By abandoning this scenario and recommending the closure of one school in the south, the Cabinet has disenfranchised residents who, believing that the outcome of the consultation would be a new, coeducational school at Culverhay (which is what the community has wanted for a long time), did not respond to the consultation in large numbers.

Ø  The decision is premature. The availability of ‘Building Schools for the Future’ funding was a significant driver of reorganising secondary provision in Bath. Given that this funding stream is no longer available following the change in Government, the Cabinet has not adequately considered the need to wait until the situation regarding schools legislation and future funding mechanisms is more certain.

Ø  The Cabinet has decided that there should be no change to schools in Keynsham, but the option of no change to schools in Bath has not been considered under section 9 of the report. This is inconsistent.

Ø  If the primary purpose of the review is to improve educational standards, it is inconsistent to close a school which is rated as ‘good’ by Ofsted but to keep both schools in Keynsham, which have lower Ofsted ratings, open. Furthermore, insufficient consideration has been given to the extra services provided at Culverhay school to pupils and to the community (e.g. leisure centre, extracurricular activities, links with primary schools and Bath Spa University) and to the ‘value added’ to pupils’ educational attainment.

The cross party Scrutiny Panel can  recommend one of three options -

- the Cabinet should reconsider the decision,

- the Cabinet should proceed as agreed, or

- refer the matter to the full Council to carry out the role of the Panel in reviewing the decision (if this option is chosen, the Council could agree that the Cabinet should proceed as agreed or ask the cabinet to reconsider their decision. The final decision would still reside with the Cabinet).

At the public meeting, the Scrutiny Panel will receive a statement from the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Cllr Chris Watt, and from Cllr Paul Crossley (Liberal Democrat, Southdown) on behalf of the twenty seven Councillors who signed the Call-In.
 
The Panel is also keen to hear from local people who have a view about the reasons stated in the call-in.  Members of the public wishing to speak at the meeting and give their views on these four reasons should contact Democratic Services on  394458 by 5pm on 5  August. 

Alternatively, written submission, by the same deadline, can be submitted by email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or in writing to:

Overview & Scrutiny Team
Secondary Schools in Bath Call-in
The Guildhall
Bath
BA1 5AW