Monks Park National Challenge Trust School

AGENDA ITEM NO 8 BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL CABINET 25 June 2009 Report of: Strategic Director of Children, Young People and Skills Title: Monks Park National Challenge Trust Officer presenting report:

Ward: Horfield

Nick Batchelar - Service Director, Learning, Achievement and Schools

Contact telephone number: 9224836 RECOMMENDATION To approve the re-designation of Monks Park School from a Community to a Foundation Trust school, the Trust in Learning as the Trust of choice and the transfer of land to the Trust .

Summary What is a National Challenge School? National Challenge Trust Schools were launched by the DCSF in 2008, as one of the structural interventions which can be used to support schools where fewer that 30% of students achieve 5A*-C at GCSE (including English and Maths). The DCSF provide an additional £750,000 funding for National Challenge Trust Schools. The National Challenge Trust route is intended to enable schools that do not have the capacity to reach the set target by 2011 and to work towards sustainable improvement through collaboration with strong educational and/or business partners.

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National Challenge Trusts are intended to be at the heart of the drive to raise attainment and will be committed to multi-agency working. They will collaborate with other schools and colleges, seek active partnership with parents, serve as a resource for families and the community and actively engage with the Children’s Trust. Why is Monks Park proposed as a National Challenge School? In 2008 20% of pupils achieved 5 or more A* - C grades including English and maths. Monks Park School has been consistently below the floor target over the last five years and is a high risk National Challenge school. There is an expectation on behalf of central government that Local Authorities will intervene to secure rapid improvement. The school occupies a PFI building opened three years ago, but does not yet recruit sufficient pupils to fill its capacity. The Local Authority believes that the school requires an injection of expertise and vision, if it is to raise standards sufficiently and to sustain them. The Local Authority also recognises the imperative of significantly improving the school’s reputation in order to secure its future. The Governors are in agreement. The Local Authority proposes the introduction of a National Challenge Trust School at Monks Park as both structural and school improvement interventions. This is strongly supported by central government and Governors. The Trust will focus on securing strengthened leadership and governance and improved standards of achievement, so that by 2011 results are securely above the floor and on target for at least 34% 5+ A* - C (including English and maths). In particular, City of Bristol College will bring experience of strong leadership in delivering 14 – 19 vocational education and progression routes into further training and learning. University of West of England will bring expertise in accredited continuing professional development for staff at all levels and stages of their careers, and in curriculum development and innovation in learning.

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Both partners will enhance the capacity of the governing body through Trust appointed governors and will provide expertise and support for the Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team. What are the implications of establishing a Trust School at Monks Park? The proposed alteration is to change the school category from Community to Foundation, acquire a Foundation established otherwise than under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 and acquire a Majority of Foundation Governors from the 1st September 2009. The name of the proposed trust to be acquired will be “Trust in Learning”. This Trust already acts for the Bridge Learning Campus in Bristol. The Trust partners are Bristol City Council, City of Bristol College and the University of the West of England. On the implementation date (1 September 2009) the land will statutorily transfer to the Trust. It is likely that a similar solution would be put into place for Monks Park School as that for The Bridge Campus. The freehold of the land will transfer to The Trust for a nil consideration, with an immediate lease back to Bristol City Council to enable it to operate the PFI terms and an occupational "bare" lease (ie without any repair or other obligations) back to the Trust (to allow their physical occupation of the site). The significant issues in the report are: • Support the re-designation of Monks Park as a National Challenge Trust (Foundation) School. • Support the Trust in Learning Trust as the Trust of choice. • Approve the transfer of land to the Trust and subsequent leases. Policy The recommendation relates to the Council’s Corporate Plan 20082011 themes:

Our City: Making a Difference

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For children and young people – The creation of a National Challenge Trust School will ensure that, with our partners, Bristol City Council will deliver the best possible outcomes for Bristol’s children, young people and families. Priority 1 in the Children and Young People’s Plan is to raise attainment in all key stages and in relation to under performing groups. The key areas for improvement are: • Raise standards of attainment at Key Stage 3 and 4 in secondary schools; • Raise standards of attainment 14-19; • Secure improvement in the performance of under-achieving and vulnerable groups, including BME students; • Improve the quality of teaching and pupil-tracking; • Improve attendance in secondary schools; • Maximise inclusion, reducing the number of permanent and fixed term exclusions; • Strengthen leadership and governance; • Develop strategic partnerships with outside bodies and agencies to accelerate progress in raising attainment and transform Bristol’s school facilities and learning environments. Our City: Better Neighbourhoods By developing a high quality educational provision in this area, which is committed to active partnership with parents and to serving as a resource for families and the community will ensure that neighbourhoods retain their identity and cohesion Consultation Internal • Clare Campion-Smith – Executive Member Children and Young People. • Legal services. External • Jim Knight, previously Schools Minister and the DCSF have supported the Statement of Intent. A full consultation exercise was held between 23rd March 2009 and 6th May 2009. The consultation report was sent to parents

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and staff of Monks Park School, Trade Union representatives, parents and Headteachers of feeder primary schools and identified other community and education stakeholders. In addition the consultation was published on the Bristol City Council website, the Bristol Evening Post and the school website. A public consultation event was held on 22nd April 2009. A consultation event with staff was held on 20th April 2009. Nine responses were received. Five of the responses were positive, three were neutral and one was negative. All applicable statutory requirements in relation to the proposal to consult were complied with. Notice was given on the 22nd May 2009, in accordance with section 19(3) of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, that Monks Park School Governing Body intends to make a prescribed alteration to Monks Park School (Community School), Filton Road, Bristol, BS7 0XZ. The proposed alteration is to: • Change school category from Community to Foundation; • Acquire a Foundation established otherwise than under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 • Acquire a Majority of Foundation Governors from the 1st September 2009. The notice period lasts four weeks from the date of publication and all comments should be received by 10.00am on the 23rd June 2009. Context 1. Background Monks Park School moved to a completely new building procured under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) in 2006. The current headteacher was appointed 2006. The school was judged by Ofsted to be satisfactory and improving in March 2008. Leadership and management were judged to be satisfactory, with satisfactory capacity to improve. In November 2008 the school was designated as one of the National Challenge schools

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Bristol City Council submitted proposals to create a National Challenge Trust School at Monks Park to the DCSF for approval. The school’s Governing Body agreed with these proposals. The Executive Member endorsed proceeding to consultation on the plans in December 2008.

2. Implications of Monks Park School becoming a Trust School Governance The Trust must appoint the majority of Governors to the new Governing Body. This allows the Trust to bring in expertise from the partners to assist the Governing Body to fulfill its important role in school leadership, management and improvement. Trust in Learning is responsible for appointing a majority of the Governors. There is a legal requirement for the establishment of a Parent Council, which can offer advice and feedback to the Governors. Admissions The Governing Body of the Monks Park Trust will be responsible for agreeing the admissions arrangements for the school, after consultation with the local authority and other schools. They will continue to be bound by the School Admissions Code. They expect to keep very similar arrangements and over-subscription criteria to those that are now in place. 3. Next Steps Working closely with the Local Authority, the Governors considered the responses from the consultation, which closed on the 6th May 2009. A formal notice of the proposal to become a Trust School in partnership with Trust in Learning has been published for a further period of consultation, culminating in a final decision in July 2009. Proposal The proposed alteration is to: • Change the school category from Community to Foundation; • Acquire a Foundation established otherwise than under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998;

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• Acquire a majority of Foundation Governors from the 1st September 2009. The name of the proposed Trust to be acquired will be “Trust in Learning”. This Trust already acts for the Bridge Learning Campus in Bristol. Other Options Considered • Status quo – This is not favoured as it is unlikely to lead to the acceleration in the improvement in standards required by both the DCSF and the Local Authority, in order to meet the 2011 floor target. • Academy – This is not a favoured option in this instance, as there are currently seven Academies in Bristol (eight in September 2009). The Local Authority aims to provide a diverse, high quality secondary sector, with different types of secondary school available in different parts of the city to facilitate parental choice. The Local Authority has already established a secondary Trust school in the south of the city (The Bridge Campus), in partnership with Trust in Learning. • Closure – This is not favoured as an option because the Local Authority has invested in a PFI new build school. There is a community of young people who need to be educated in this part of the city. Risk Assessment A Risk Assessment has been completed and is included as Appendix A. Equalities Impact Assessment The Equalities Impact Assessment has been completed and is included in Appendix B.

Legal and Resource Implications Legal

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The proposal will require that the land be transferred to the Trust as a part of the process. Monks Park School was one of the original schools included within the PFI concluded by the Bristol City Council in 2004. That PFI arrangement imposes on-going legal obligations on the Council and the School’s Governing Body that will need to be addressed by the entering into of appropriate lease- back and licence arrangements and by the completion of a new agreement between the Council and the Trust to ensure that the Trust ownership and occupation of the site does not place the Council in breach of any of its on-going legal obligations under the PFI arrangement. These arrangements will be completed so that they fall away once the Councils contractual obligations under the PFI have been met. Legal implications advice given by Joanne Mansfield Principal Solicitor. The Council has obtained Counsel's opinion on the employment law implications of the change in status of Monks Park School from a community school to a foundation school. Counsel has advised that the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Act 2006 will apply due to the fact that the change in status will involve a change in the contractual employer of the staff employed at Monks Park School. Advice from Husinara Islam, Senior Practitioner Solicitor for Head of Legal Services Financial A Trust School remains part of the LA and is funded in the same way as all other Bristol schools. However, acquiring a Trust means that a school has 'Charity' status, resulting in an 80% reduction in National Non-Domestic Rates. In the case of Monks Park, this amounts to a reduction of £116,000 in a full year and will be redirected to all Bristol schools. (Note that this does not impact on the collection of Council Tax.) As a National Challenge Trust School, Monks Park will receive an additional grant from the DCSF totalling £750,000 over a three-year period. The Local Authority will incur Project Management costs, which are currently estimated at £57,000. This will be funded from the school improvement budget. Legal costs will also be incurred and will need

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to be covered centrally from the school improvement budget. Revenue The DCSF allocates the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), based on the January pupil count. The Schools Finance regulations (England) Regulations require schools to be funded on the January pupil count with no in-year adjustments unless the Schools Forum has agreed in advance of the financial year that a central contingency can be held for specific purposes. The exceptions to this are exclusions. The school is also in receipt of Standards Fund Grants. The school is in receipt of £48,005.10 (Grant 1.8) for targeted school improvement and £47.840 (Grant 1.5) to fund 1:1 Tuition Funding in 2009-2010. Geraldine Mead, Strategy Leader: Finance Children and Young People’s Services. Capital There are no implications for the capital programme. Land On the implementation date (1 September 2009) the land will statutorily transfer to the Trust. It is likely that a similar solution would be put into place for Monks Park School as that for The Bridge Campus. The freehold of the land will transfer to The Trust for a nil consideration, with an immediate lease back to Bristol City Council to enable it to operate the PFI terms and an occupational "bare" lease (ie without any repair or other obligations) back to the Trust (to allow their physical occupation of the site). Personnel The staff of Monks Park School will transfer to the employment of the new Governing Body on 1st September 2009. As the employees will transfer from the employment of the Council to the Governing Body, the Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment Regulations (TUPE) apply. Occupational pension scheme arrangement are unaffected by the transfer. Formal consultation with the Trades Unions and employees on the transfer has commenced. Mark Williams, HR Manager

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Children and Young People’s Services Appendices: Appendix A - Risk Assessment • A risk assessment has been completed for this project and a summary of the major risks is attached at Appendix A. Appendix B - Equalities Impact Assessment • An equalities impact assessment has been completed for this project and a summary of the major risks is attached at Appendix B. ACCESS TO INFORMATION Background Papers • Monks Park National Challenge Trust Proposal • Monks Park Strategic Plan

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Appendix A Risk Assessment No.

RISK

ASSESSMENT OF INHERENT RISK

RISK CONTROL MEASURES

ASSESSMENT OF RESIDUAL RISK Impact Probability H/M/L H/M/L

Impact H/M/L

Probabilit y H/M/L

Mitigation (ie controls) and Evaluation (ie effectiveness of mitigation)

1 Failure to re-designate Monks Park School as a Community School by 1st September 2009

H

M

Additional Project Management in place to provide additional capacity. An agreed project plan and schedule of deliverables is in place and regular reports are made to the Monks Park National Challenge Trust Steering Group.

H

L

2 Proposals to open as Foundation school and acquire Trust in Learning Trust are not supported in public consultation process

H

L

A full consultation exercise was undertaken with school community and wider community prior to the publication of the Notice. Response was limited, but overall positive. Governor support has been secured. No objections received from staff associations and Trade Unions.

H

L

3 A change in leadership (Council/school) results in changed educational priorities

M

L

Ensure there is a sound business case for the re-designation of Monks Park School and a clear strategic plan to address key priorities.

H

L

Threat to achievement of key objectives in the report

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No.

RISK Threat to achievement of key objectives in the report

ASSESSMENT OF INHERENT RISK Impact H/M/L

RISK CONTROL MEASURES

Probabilit Mitigation (ie controls) and Evaluation y (ie effectiveness of mitigation) H/M/L

ASSESSMENT OF RESIDUAL RISK Impact H/M/L

Probability H/M/L

4 Standards fail to improve in 2009

H

M

A Raising Attainment Plan has been operational since September 2008 to address key priorities for the school. Plan is monitored internally by the LA and externally by the DCSF.

H

L

5 Aspirations for the National Challenge Trust are not met.

M

M

A Strategic Plan will be produced to address key priorities, set challenge targets for improvement and account for expenditure of resources. Progress will be monitored by the Trust in Learning Trust Board, the Local Authority and the DCSF.

M

L

6 DCSF does not release additional funding to enable school to address key priorities

M

L

Statement of Intent has been approved by the DCSF. Officers have been working closely with DCSF to ensure all key processes have been followed and that quality documentation has been produced.

M

L

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No.

RISK

ASSESSMENT OF INHERENT RISK

RISK CONTROL MEASURES

ASSESSMENT OF RESIDUAL RISK

Mitigation (ie controls) and Evaluation (ie effectiveness of mitigation)

Impact Probability H/M/L H/M/L

Impact H/M/L

Probabilit y H/M/L

7 Support of Trust in Learning Trust Partners is not secured.

H

M

Officers have been working closely with Trust partners to ensure the vision and plans to open a National Challenge Trust are closely aligned with the Trust in Learning’s Memorandum of Association.

M

L

8 Delays occur in securing the legal transfer of land to the Trust, followed by leaseback to the Council to ensure the PFI contract can be continued.

H

M

Officers have been working with the Legal team to ensure that all appropriate paperwork is completed within 6 months of the opening of the Trust school. Lessons have been learnt from The Bridge Campus transfer procedures.

M

L

9 Failure to follow statutory processes in re-designating the school

H

M

Local Authority officers & Project Managers have been working with School Organisation team & the DCSF to ensure all statutory processes are followed.

L

L

Threat to achievement of key objectives in the report

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Appendix B Equalities Impact Assessment BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL Name of policy, project, service, contract or strategy being assessed

Re-designation of Monks Park School as a National Challenge Trust School

Directorate and Service

Children and Young People’s Services, Learning, Achievement and Schools Directorate

Names and roles of officers completing the assessment

Jackie Turner, Strategy Leader: Secondary

Main contact telephone number

(92) 24762

Date

08.06.09

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1. Identify the aims of the policy, project, service, contract or strategy and how it is implemented Key Questions

Notes / Answers

1.1

Is this a new policy, project, service, contract or strategy or a review of an existing one?

This is a new project for Monks Park School.

1.2

What is the main purpose of the policy, project, service, contract or strategy?

The proposed alteration is to change the school category from Community to Foundation, acquire a Foundation established otherwise than under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 and acquire a Majority of Foundation Governors from the 1st September 2009. The name of the proposed trust to be acquired will be “Trust in Learning”. This Trust already acts for the Bridge Learning Campus in Bristol.

1.3

What are the main activities of the policy, project, service, contract or strategy?

Support the re-designation of Monks Park as a National Challenge Trust (Foundation) School. • Support the Trust in Learning Trust as the Trust of choice. • Approve the transfer of land to the Trust. The overriding aim of this project is to improve the quality of education for all young people attending the school.

1.4

Who are the main beneficiaries?

Children and young people aged 11-16 attending Monks

•

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Whose needs is it designed to meet?

Park School. Use of existing school facilities, with a focus on learning for families and members of the community.

1.5

Which staff carry out the policy, project, service, contract LA officers are leading the strategy in consultation with the or strategy? Trust in Learning Partners, the Headteacher and Governors at the school.

1.6

Are there areas of the policy or function that could be governed by an officer's judgement? eg. home visits "where appropriate". If so, is there guidance on how to exercise this to prevent any possible bias/prejudice creeping in?

There are none. The Trust in Learning Partners will approve the strategic plan, prior to the submission to the DCSF.

1.7

Is the Council working in Partnership with other organisations to implement this policy or function? Should this be taken into consideration? eg. Agree equalities monitoring categories

Trust in Learning Trust – Partners are Bristol City Council, University of West of England, City of Bristol College. The Charitable Objects of the Trust are laid down and meets the requirements of the School Organisation (Requirements as to Foundations) (England) Regulations 2007. The Trust is committed to the advancement of citizenship, community development and community cohesion.

Should the partnership arrangements have an EqIA?

1.8

Taking the six strands of equalities,

No.

Do you have any initial thoughts that any of the six equalities strands have particular needs relevant to the policy or function?

The whole purpose of the project is to improve the educational provision of all young people who attend Monks Park School.

Or is there anything in the policy, project, service, contract or strategy that you can think of at this stage that could discriminate or disadvantage any groups of

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people? ie. •

Gender (include Transgender)

•

Disability

•

Age

•

Race

•

Sexual Orientation

•

Faith/Belief

No – The school will continue to be bound by the

School Admissions Code.

Do any other specific groups have particular needs relevant to the policy, project, service, contract or strategy? 1.9

Did you use any data to inform your initial thoughts above?

Number of children of each ethnic group, gender and age from the PLASC January 2009 data return.

What data do you already have?

1.10

Are there gaps in the data that require you to do further work?

There are no gaps in the current data.

What are these gaps?

Signed:

Jackie Turner, Strategy Leader: Secondary

Date:

8th June 2009

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