Further to Minute No. 55 of the meeting held on 1 November 2018, the Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Schools and Families which provided details of the officer’s response to the alternative options put forward by the Sand Dunes Nursery School staff and parents for the continuation of the Nursery School. The report indicated that no further representations had been received following the publication of the Statutory Notice and Stage 3 consultation period held from 14 November to 12 December 2018.
The report also indicated that the school was currently overspending by approximately £170,100 a year and has now exhausted its available balances. The projected financial position for 2018/19 was a deficit of £306,600. Should the school close at the end of August 2019 the closing school deficit budget was predicted to be -£404,600 and this would need to be met by the local authority. There would also be closure costs that would need to be factored into the final deficit position but these were unknown at this time and so cannot be quantified.
The Head of Schools and Families referred to the alternative options set out in Section 3 of the report and the officer’s views that the options were not financially viable and that no business case had been provided for the options; the decision-making process set out in Section 5; the matters to be considered in determining the proposal to close the school set out in Section 8 and the summary and conclusion set out in Section 9 of the report.
During the deliberations, Members raised the following observations/questions:
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Councillor Lappin enquired if the School were in agreement with the officer’s assessment of the alternative options submitted?
The Head of Schools and Families indicated that a number of meetings had been held with representatives of the school to discuss the alternative options and the Chair of the Governing Body and the Headteacher had agreed that the options submitted would not balance the school’s budget.
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Councillor Cummins enquired about the support that would be offered to staff at the school, if a decision was taken to close the school.
The Head of Schools and Families indicated that all of the staff would be provided training on writing CVs and job applications, and on interview techniques. The Personnel Team would meet with each member of staff to develop and produce personalised packages of support for them.
All of the primary schools in Sefton would guarantee an interview for members of staff at Sand Dunes Nursery who met the essential criteria requirements for each job advertised.
If it was decided that the Nursery School should be closed, statutory consultations would be held with the trade unions.
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Councillor Hardy enquired about the support that would be offered to families to find new nursery places for their children if a decision was taken to close the school.
The Head of Schools and Families indicated that around half the children at the school would be moving on to primary school reception classes in September 2019 and that officers would contact the families of the remaining children to provide support with the transitions of the children to alternative nursery school provision and any special educational requirements. Bespoke support would be provided to meet the individual needs of each child. |
Decision Made: That
1) the information on the alternative options put forward and the proposal to close Sand Dunes Nursery set out in the report be noted;
(2) it be noted that no representations had been received following publication of the statutory notice on 14November 2018;
(3) the financial position of the school in terms of its significant deficit and the fact there are no viable proposals to address this, be noted; and
(4) with deep regret, approval be given to the proposal for the closure of Sand Dunes Nursery School with effect from 31 August 2019.
Reasons for Decision:
The local authority has the statutory power to close a maintained school following the statutory process detailed in the report.
Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:
All alternative options had been explored by the governing body with support from Officers prior to the governing body making their request for the closure of the school. No viable alternative options to address the financial viability of the school had come from the consultation process. More detail was provided in the body of the report.