Just received statement from defendant in our secondary school appeal. Some points are interesting; and I would welcome feedback from others to check my understanding.
No identifying info. is given for the academy involved. But I can say that it is one of the top-performing academies in the country.
Should also say that the straight line distance (from home to school) of the final place offered (measured by Datamap programme) is 2.724 miles and we are at 2.800.
Points from Statement - Prejudice Against Efficient Education Expressed Through LEA
1.) Whole school cohort for Sept - 1080 (Net Capacity 1125, Maximum 1161, Minimum 1044)
2.) 'Although numbers on role are less in years 8 and 9 this does not enable further capacity for higher numbers in other year groups. In years 10 and 11 numbers have exceeded 225 due to appeals being allowed, we would like to make you aware that this does compromise resources and the use of space significantly'
3.) 'Timetabling lessons in an appropriate curriculum area is a hugely onerous task, with room utilization very high and rarely a spare classroom available'
4.) '19 out of 51 classrooms in the school are small (below 50m2)'. 18 of these are what I would call general/light use classrooms. 'All of these classrooms have to support classes up to 30 (and from time to time a higher figure). Teaching activities are limited due to the cramped nature of some of these classroom - furniture alone is 16 desks, 32 children's chairs, 1 teacher's desk and chair'
5.) Narrow corridors - 'In one area there are 120 pupils who have to queue during rainy weather and make use of the fire entrance so that they can safely access the building. In winter; no access to the playing fields at lunch/break times so space on the already limited hard play areas is at a premium'.
6.) 'The hall has seating for 200 pupils and the school currently has 400+ who bring packed lunches. During the summer months, when the hall is used for examination purposes and in inclement weather; packed lunches are eaten on the school corridor with the inevitable problems of litter and parental complaints about the fact that children cannot have a sit down meal'.
7.)'Logistically, examination arrangements put the site supervisors under constant pressure in terms of moving desks in an out of the assembly hall'.
8.)'20 members of staff forego a lunchtime break to ensure the recommended staffing ratio of 1:50 pupils is in place. This has obvious implications for staff welfare and wellbeing'.
9.) Currently there are 5 dedicated ICT suites with 150 machines. With classes larger than 30; pupils would have to share computers. Computers are available throughout the school for other subjects. (I should say this is academy received funding as a specialist technology college)
10.)'To ensure every child achieves their full potential, the school has always aimed to educate the less able in smaller groups, with the knock on effect of up to 30 pupils in middle sets and as many as 33 in the top sets.
11.) 'If pupil numbers increase in any year group, it will become increasingly difficult to offer students their first preference in terms of option groups at KS3 and KS4'
12.) The NUT class size policy is long-standing and specifies class size figures based on guidelines from the DfES Building Bulletins - 20 pupils for practical subjects (design-tech, science and art). English and Maths are being taught in class sizes above 30 and in PE,ICT, Art and Music all class sizes exceed 20.
13.) Various comments about number of Year 11 students with challenging behaviour and one student who was excluded went to another school and then returned as the other school found him to disruptive - all will be left by time my DS goes.
14.) 'Taking into account the National Workplace Reform, resources have had to be diverted towards administrative and support staff, sometimes at the expense of frontline staffing'
15.) Parents often argue that pupil numbers do not have an impact on the delivery of education because the academy continues to achieve such good examination results. The Academy is successful due to the dedication of its staff and continuation of additional numbers about the 225 per year group will in the next 48 months exceed our PAN.
Comments/opinions on any aspect much appreciated