LEA wants to increase school size

[IndigoBell]

Our LEA is trying to increase the size of our school from a 3 form entry to a 4 form entry.

The school, parents and governors all don't want the school to expand (because we won't have the playing space for that many kids).

Does anyone know, if our school became an acadamy could the LEA still force it to expand??????

[prh47bridge]

The LA cannot force an academy to expand.

[admission]

I agree with PRH that an academy would be able to make it very difficult for the LA to expand the school.
However I would suggest that actually that is a completely wrong reason for considering becoming an Academy.
I think the school should be realistic about the request from the LA. They are in the best possible situation to get a good deal at the moment. Playing space can usually be found if you are creative, as can an extended hall, staff room and other rooms necessary to accomodate what will be 7 extra classrooms including staff and resources.
The alternative is actually a new school. if the LA get the brush off from you then they have no alternative but to look towards a new school. The outcome of a new school that thrives may not be the outcome you want, as parents desert your school for the new school! So there is more to think about than another form of entry in the school!

[admission]

Sorry forgot to say, any application to become an academy does include the need to agree the size of the school with the DfE. Which of course may also not be the answer you are looking for!

[IndigoBell]

Thanks for your answers.

The LEA does have to create more school places for the predicted intake. But it does not have to create them in our school.

Not sure why we should be concerned about parents choosing a different school than ours? The purpose of a school is to provide a great education for the children it has - not to be popular.

But as the LEA is so sure that the whole borough will need an awful lot more places than it currently has - falling rolls are not anyone's concern at the moment.

[IndigoBell]

Giddy - while the LEA wants to paint a black and white picture like you described, in reality there are a lot of options which have not been considered.

Your schools had a choice of 'jumping' or 'being pushed' - so you are obviously in a different LEA to me....

At the moment becoming an academy to escape the LEA's heavy handed tactics looks like a good option.

[IndigoBell]

A new 3 form entry is definitely going to be built around the corner from our school. And we are happy to accept a bulge year. But the LEA won't agree this.

[nlondondad]

Your school does NOT have to expand just because the LEA wants it to. Your Governing Body would have to agree.

What do the Governors think?

I would comment by the way that I would oppose becoming a four form entry school. Too big. Two form is the best size. Three form can be made to work.

[prh47bridge]

Nlondondad - The LA sets the admission number for LA schools, NOT the governing body. If the LA wants to make a school expand it can do so simply by setting a higher admission number. The school can object to the Schools Adjudicator but the published guidance suggests that the Adjudicator will generally side with the LA due to its role as the strategic commissioner of school places. So if the LA wants an LA school to expand it will almost certainly have to do so regardless of the views of the governing body.

[nlondondad]

The Governing Body has a legal duty of care for the welfare of the children in the school. Moreover the school cannot be expanded without extra building work carried out, what presumes, by the LEA.

The GB citing the duty of care can say that it refuses to accept the additional children, objects to any increase in the admission number and start the a statutory consultation to become a trust school.

The LA may have the statutory power to set the number higher tho' I must say that is news to me. But actually exercising it, if they have it, against the marshalled will of a school community, would carry a political price.

I have never heard of a school being forced to expand.

School expansions I know of, from one form to two, or from two to three have always, in my experience had the consent of the GB.

[IndigoBell]

I'm on the governing body. We (and the HT and parents) have objected at every consultation and every stage.

The LEA are just going ahead regardless. They don't care about the policital price.

What is a trust school? Is that like an acadamy?

Any advice about how we can fight this would be truly appreciated.

[IndigoBell]

Googling trust schools I found the following:

A trust school is not:

?Separated from the local authority
?Able to avoid local authority reorganisation plans

So looks like the LEA would still have the authority to force the school to expand...

[prh47bridge]

The governing body can object all they like but the fact remains that the LA has the power to set the admission number and the guidelines for the Schools Adjudicator suggest that, in any disagreement over admission number, the LA will generally win. If the politicians get involved they would probably calculate that the backlash from having insufficient school places would be a lot worse than the backlash from forcing a school to expand when it doesn't want to. Of course, a concerted campaign in the local press may persuade them otherwise as may the threat of the school becoming an academy.

[nlondondad]

Looks like becoming an academy is your best option.

A four form entry primary school is too big.