Split Site Infant/Juniors?

[SplitSiteQuery]

Name change for this as this is all very early stages...

I'm a governor of a primary school that currently takes 15 per year group. There is a large amount of housing being built locally and we have been asked to consider expanding our current site to be an infant school taking 60/year and being joined with a brand new school that would be a junior school also taking 60/year. So we would be a split site single school - children would not have to reapply for a Y3 place, they would automatically transfer to the other site.

We currently have 5 classrooms, so slightly oversized for 15, and would need one single classroom building to take us to a 60 entry infant school.

I need to come up with a list of pros and cons for us to discuss as a governing body and I was wondering if I might get some help here. The two sites will be approx 10min walk from each other. So far I have

Pros

Finance - we would be much more financially secure with 60/year group
We would have single year group classes across the board - at the moment we have some composite classes
New building would mean better facilities for both sites - current facilities would be upgraded.
Economies of scale but still two smaller schools with the benefits of all staff knowing all children etc.

Cons

Logistics of pick up/drop off with kids at different schools
How do we budget while the school is filling up as we won't attract enough pupils overnight?
Headteacher not on site all the time - but I assume we would have two assistant heads, one per site.

If anyone has any ideas, both bad or good, I would love to hear them so we can think about whether this would work. The other option is to expand to 30/year group on our current site (needing two more classrooms) but we are then getting very tight on space and would still be somewhat precarious financially although much better than 15/year group. There is no additional land available where we are, it's either built on already or cannot be built on for various reasons (mostly flooding!).

My gut feeling is that this would be a good idea if we can get over the pick up/drop off dilemma. But I don't want to miss anything when I present at the full governing body in a couple of weeks.

Thank you in advance!

Logistics of pick up/drop off with kids at different schools

But as you're an infant school, that applies already? Unless you're suggesting that an alternative is closing your school and just building a single site school. So I'm not sure why it should really make any difference to the decision?

I am near a split site school like the one you describe. They get round the drop off and pick ups by staggering starts. Juniors start 10 mins earlier and finish 10 mins later than infants. Not sure whether they put in an extra break time or whether it is extra lesson time or a bit of both though.

When I went to primary school we were a split site. You just work the timings. So infants starts 8.30, 1st Yr juniors starts 8.55. Infants finishes 3 pm, juniors 3.30
etc.

Sir Fred I read it as currently small primary. Suggestion is to use current primary building just for infants and new build just for juniors.

Do many of your parents drive? What is the drive like between schools?

I would first of all be very clear in confirming what the school will be because unless you get this right you could end up with an infant school and a separate junior school, which would be to nobodies advantage. It has to be a single school on two sites with one headteacher and one governing board, as you describe it but get that in writing, preferably signed in blood, otherwise there could well be an attempt to change midway through the process.
The other critical point is to establish how exactly the expansion will take place. The way you describe it, you could easily find yourself in a position where you expand on the current site and then the new site does not happen. There needs to be a guaranteed plan with the funding in place to build the new junior site to 60 PAN and also a plan to allow current site to increase to infant site with 60 plan. I have experience of "plans" not being anything like a plan, it needs to be in writing with full financial commitment to the final size of school.
In terms of finances you need to check out what your LA's current financial deal is around split sites and what it will mean when the national funding formula is in place. My understanding is that you should gain from split site allowances but will only get one fixed cost payment of £111K, so you might not be as well off as you think. You will be funded as a single school for 420 pupils when full so you will have extra site costs, such as office staff to cover for.
The other advantage is that as full 420 pupil school you will be able to share some facilities and jobs across the two sites and with the extra pupils probably be able to achieve a lot more as well as the obvious thought that a 420 pupil school is much better off financially than a 105 pupil school.
I would however suggest that you consider another option, which would be financially to your advantage and would get you over the collecting pupils issue. Rather than have an infant and junior site for a single primary school, have two 1 form entry primary schools that are federated under one head and one governing body. You will loose the split site allowance but gain the fixed costs funding of £111K, as you will both get it as separate primary schools.
It could also be to your advantage in the building process, as you could build the new school, then decant all pupils into the new school, to allow rebuild of the existing site and then open as a new school. Of course the LA will hate the idea as it means destroying their ideas.

My secondary school was split site and had staggered starts (and finishes), ten minutes difference with the older years starting earlier. It was fine as this was plenty of time to walk from one site to the other.

My children are at a school like this. Infants runs 8.45 to 3.15. Juniors 9am to 3.30. It’s fine!

The split site school here has a staggered start time. Infants start at 8.45 and finish at 3.00, juniors start at 9.00 and finish at 3.15. The walk is about 10 mins at child pace. It was a similar setup, two schools expanded to higher intake and split by years.

They did it that way round because the juniors as a rule stress less if the parents are slightly late. Junior school staff learn quickly which kids have siblings in the infants.

Sir Fred I read it as currently small primary. Suggestion is to use current primary building just for infants and new build just for juniors.

Ah yes, that makes sense!

Wow loads of information!

Especially about getting it written in blood...

The housing development is just getting going so we will probably try and get them to commit to making us 30/year on our current site and then seeing. We then have the option of becoming an infants at a later date, or federating with another 30/year.

I will try and get all this into some sort of document to present, especially the costs element.

Can I ask where those allowance come from? So I can reference the documents please?

And yes we are currently a small primary, considering developing our site just for infants

And good to hear that the drop offs and pick ups seem to be relatively easily solved with a staggered start.

The new junior school will be an academy. Are you wanting to join the same trust?

So we would be a split site single school

No you would be 2 different and distinct schools?

To be the same school you would expand your PAN and could operate over 2 sites. Funding that could be tricky.

What you are describing is changing the age range of your school to be infant and opening a new junior school? Free school or basic place application.

I'm a governor, we have had some schools near us expand and other new ones set up. All have struggled with lack of children, at least for a couple of years and particularly in such a stagnant housing market. The house builders slow down and stagger releases and then it depends on sales.

You may got some initial funding and then get it clawed back. I'd get some written commitments if you can / contract.

Also a governor (of an infant school but we have a similar arrangement to those others have mentioned in terms of staggered starts to allow parents to do pickups for our link junior school)... I'd also add to the pick up and drop off consideration - wrap around care provision for parents across both sites. Again, we have the system whereby kids with a sibling link still at the infants can be brought down onto our site to access our after school care so parents aren't running around all over the place - but obviously this has a staffing ratio involvement to it in terms of keeping ratios right in one location while also transporting the kids across from the other site. If you don't have your own wraparound care (we're quite rare locally that we do provide ours via school and haven't just rented out to an external provider) - it's something to consider.

I'd also second what's been mentioned by the previous poster - we're finding that across the local area - the numbers of children coming in are falling. The property market's stagnated and the current prices are such that we don't tend to attract young families in our area - we have families and older people who bought cheaper and are staying put... so numbers are dropping all over the place and one local academy that expanded quite dramatically have been desperately trying to fill their increased capacity.

I'd also be thinking about how you'd be requiring staff to work across both sites - either you're liable to end up with two quite insular bubbles of staff operating, or you're going to have a lot of staff travel between the two sites and will need to factor that in in terms of staff contracts and things like timing and location of staff meetings etc. I'd be really fecked off if I always had to go trekking off to the other site for a staff meeting every week - it could simmer resentment fairly rapidly - especially toward the end of term where tempers are frayed anyway.

Would you need to look at things like your data security policies and check how they'd work with staff transporting pupil data (physically and electronically) between two different school sites. My brain is somewhat fried - we've had the Ofsted from hell in this week - hopefully you get what I'm trying to get across there - I can't face looking for whatever the relevant policy is called in our own school at the moment - I'm policied out.

I've been in schools (I do a lot of supply teaching as well) where they have had split sites working for infant and juniors in the same school - but they've always been infants and juniors the LEA has decided to merge and it's been an interim arrangement while one site or the other is expanded upon and ended up as a single site setup.

What we do do is a collaboration very closely with another school in the local area - while it's working brilliantly for things like joint moderation and discussing ways to approach and tackle issues, and just getting staff to question their own practice - with not being on the same site - we have not found economies of scale to be something that's really been achieved - there've been a few - but not many when you can't easily really do something like a joint stationery order without someone having to then ferry the relevant bits across to the other school in the back of a car or van (and then you're factoring in those costs).

Also transition arrangements and planning for children moving across sites between key stages - would need to be carefully planned for - especially for those children liable to find this difficult.

I'd also just be sceptical of all this housing actually appearing. We're promised masses of housing developments locally because of various changes - I'll believe it when I see it as I think lots of what is mooted isn't likely to take place at all.

In the context of finances what you need to be doing is looking at the new national funding formula which is supposed to be coming in 2021 - though there are plenty who think it will never be properly implemented.
At present there is a 2 stage system where the DfE (thorough the ESFA) work out what the total funding for a LA would be under the new formula and then give that funding to the LA. The LA can then divide the funding up any way they want. If they have been sensible they will have started moving their funding formula towards the national funding formula but about 25% of LAs are still a million miles away from being anywhere close.
In the national funding formula, there is funding figure per pupil, one for primary pupils, one for KS3 and one for KS4, which represents something like 73% of the total funding. There is an overall lump sum payment no matter the size of the school and that is £110,000. There is then funding for deprivation and low prior attainment which is all pupil led and there is some funding for a split site.

Who is sponsoring the new school? Will it be an academy or is it academy avoidance by extending your school onto 2 sites? I think the Federation idea is better and I know of this working with infant and junior schools in adjacent villages. More than a 10 minute walk! The Head works over both sites and teachers work on one site. The Deputy is also working over two schools. It had many detractors originally but it saved the schools from closing and they are now buoyant.

Gosh so much to think about. We are considering converting to academy anyway, and this would be part of that.

A lot of people are very keen on getting this to happen, as our PAN currently is too low to make the school viable long term. So we need to go with the academy, get them to commit to expanding our site to PAN of 30 and then see if the other school ever actually happens.

You aren't allowed (I think) to be a standalone academy anymore so you'd have to join an academy chain so this decision would largely be theirs.

What would you get out of joining or being an academy. I'm not sure of the benefit for a primary.

Previous poster is correct in saying that it is not now normally allowed for a school to become an academy just on their own. So OP you need to establish just what is being proposed as it sounds a bit like you are being pushed down a route to become an academy as part of a MAT. Has anybody discussed with you what MAT you would be joining?

As such that is a major change and has significant repercussions for the school and the current governing body and probably parents as well.

As I have been involved in both federations and also forming MATs I can offer some help, which would probably be best done as PM but you also need to be thinking if you are going the MAT route that you need both legal and financial advice.