Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Governors of Manor CE Secondary School regarding proposals for the enlargement and relocation of Manor Church of England Secondary School (VA).

Consideration was given to the report of the Governors of Manor CE Secondary School which sought the Committee’s approval for the development of Manor CE Secondary School.  The report outlined the reasons for the development and the three main purposes for it

·        Firstly, it is the Governors' wish to support the City of York Council's planned restructuring of education provision on the west side of the city. This has been driven by the Local Authority's need to remove surplus places where possible in order to achieve the Audit Commission's requirement of best value education consistent with raising standards.

·        Secondly, it is planned to replace the unsuitable and seriously undersized present school building, which is completely inaccessible for wheelchair users or others with mobility problems, with a new building to provide accessible education facilities for the children of York, appropriate to 21^st century education standards.

·        Thirdly, Manor School has been consistently oversubscribed for many years, with up to 50 appeals in some years.  It is hoped that the enlargement will allow those parents who wish to send their children to this popular and successful school to be able to achieve this wish, contributing to City of York Council's objective of meeting parental preference as far as reasonably possible.

The report also detailed the outcome of recent consultations, following the publication of statutory notices, outlined the statutory procedures and possible timescales to be followed in securing the new site and building accommodation and information on the funding grant from the Department of Education and Skills.

The following points were raised

·        Questioned the admissions numbers and allocation of places between Community and Foundation.

·        Confirmation that Manor did allocate places for different faith pupils to serve the local community and that the community’s perception of the school relating to admissions was changing.

·        In answer to questions it was confirmed that consultation had taken place with young people in relation to the design and what they wanted to see in a new school which unfortunately had not been reflected in the report.

RESOLVED:   i) That, in accordance with the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 and following publication by the Governors of Manor School of Statutory Notices on 23 March 2006 the Committee approve the following change to school organisation in the City of York:

The enlargement of Manor CE Secondary School to a 900 place school, to be achieved by increasing its Admission number by 56 children to 180 in September 2009 from 124 in 2006.

ii)            That the Committee note the following:

·        The relocation of the school to the new site off Millfield Lane, subject to Planning Permission.

·        That no objections were received during the four week statutory “representation” period following publication of statutory notices.

·        That the strong support of the parent body.

·        That no objections were received during the local consultation period following meetings and the wide circulation of an information leaflet produced by the school and the Diocese.