Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence from those Members who are unable to attend the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillor Richard Smith and Councillor Ashleigh Robinson.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on the 14^th March 2025.

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 14^th March 2025 be approved as a correct record.

Members will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have any disclosable pecuniary interests or any other interests, which may prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items.

No interests were declared.

Most agenda items take place in public. This only changes where there is a need to consider exempt information, as contained at Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. You will be informed at this point which items are to be recommended for exclusion and to be resolved by the Committee.

All agenda items were considered in public session.

The Panel will receive any petitions and/or deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also submit a petition at the meeting relating to a matter on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Members of the Public must submit a deputation in writing, at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting and shall subsequently be notified if the deputation shall be heard. A maximum of four deputations shall be heard at any one meeting.

No deputations or petitions were received.

To receive any public questions.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11, the period for the asking and answering of public questions shall not exceed 15 minutes.

Any questions must be submitted in writing at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting.

No public questions were received.

The Panel will consider a report giving an update on the rebuild of 2 new special schools at Joseph Norton Academy and Woodley School and College. 

Contact:         Martin Wilby, Head of Education Places and Access Strategy

                        Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director, Learning and Early Support

The Panel considered a report providing an update on the rebuild of two Special Schools, Joseph Norton Academy and Woodley School and College, presented by Stewart Horn, Head of Children’s Integrated Commissioning and Martin Wilby, Head of Education Places and Access.

Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director for Learning and Early Support, provided an introduction and advised the Panel that Kirklees was making a huge investment as part of its sufficiency duty, to enable the ambition of placing Kirklees young people close to where they live. It had been recognised that there was a growing need for places for children with complex autism, and for children with Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs and additional places would be provided as part of the rebuilds.

Stewart Horn highlighted the following key points regarding the rebuild of Joseph Norton Academy:

·       Joseph Norton Academy was facing growing demand for places for children with SEMH needs. The Academy was currently based in Scissett and had 63 places, however there was a need for more places and for a higher-quality learning environment.

·       The new building had been designed to incorporate the views of staff, and the children currently at the school had also been consulted using the Our Voice Team.

·       The new school would be built on the site of the former Deighton Centre.

·       The pre-contract phase involved checking the design against value for money for Kirklees and finalising the design, costings and timelines.

·       Groundworks were due to start on site in early June 2025.

·       Links between the school and the Deighton and Ashbrow communities were being developed.

·       The number of pupils at the school was increasing by utilising other sites, so that pupil numbers could gradually grow before the new building was completed.

·       Other ongoing activities included the purchasing of furniture and IT for the school, and transition arrangements.

Martin Wilby highlighted the following key points regarding the rebuild of Woodley School and College:

·       Staff and pupils had been involved with the design of the new build to ensure it met the children’s needs.

·       The future Woodley site presented more complexity due to the existing buildings.

·       In July 2024 a report had been presented to Cabinet with a list of key elements that would need to be addressed in order to start the build process and some of these had been addressed and others were underway.

·       Telecoms masts on the building had now been removed after legal challenges had been overcome.

·       The private pre-school site had moved to alternative and improved facilities at Almondbury Library.

·       The Private Public Partnership arrangement that the building was under was due to be exited within the near future.

·       Procurement had taken place to recruit a demolition contractor and activity should start on site over the coming weeks.

·       A temporary site in Crosland Moor was being used as a satellite site for the school, with 25 pupils gaining a positive experience there prior to the new site opening.

In response to a question from the Panel about when the schools  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Panel will consider a report giving an update on the decline of the cohort of children in primary schools in Kirklees.

Contact:         Martin Wilby, Head of Education Places and Access Strategy

                        Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director, Learning and Early Support

The Panel considered a report on the decline of the cohort of children in primary schools in Kirklees, which was presented by Martin Wilby, Head of Education Places and Access.

Martin Wilby gave an overview of the report and highlighted the following key points:

·       The number of children in the cohort entering Reception had been in decline since a peak in 2015/16, and the cohort across Kirklees had reduced by over 1,000 since then.

·       A large proportion of school funding was determined by the number of children on roll, and the decline in numbers was having an impact on the budgets of some schools.

·       Over the last five years opportunities for reducing places had been considered, to enable schools to have a more efficient financial model.

·       The mechanism for this had been a reduction in Pupil Admission Numbers (PAN).

·       Progress had been made, with a reduction of 7.7% Reception places, over 400 places less than 5 years ago. At the same time, the cohort reduced by 8.2%.

·       In some geographical areas progress had been limited, and there were a larger number of surplus places available, with two named areas having a 26% surplus.

·       A healthy surplus would be 5-10%, so 26% was being highlighted as a concern.

Martin Wilby informed the Panel of the background to School Planning Areas and explained that there were 23 Primary Planning Areas in Kirklees which were geographical areas signed off by the Department for Education. All schools in the planning area were looked at when planning school places. Pupil cohorts fluctuated year on year within a single schools’ locality, so having a larger number of schools within a local area made planning more effective. More information could be found in the school place planning document which provided the evidence base for this report (School Place Planning 2024-2027).

The Panel was informed that there were no plans for school closures, but this was the ultimate destination for schools if they could not remain sustainable. There was a heightened risk of school closures in cases where high surplus places could not be resolved.

In response to a question from the Panel, Martin Wilby advised that the majority of engagement to date had been with school leaders, and where this had not resulted in progress being made, he recommended that the next steps would be to present the facts and information to both school leaders and governors, and to discuss potential opportunities in partnership with them. The Panel noted that Kirklees was not the admission authority in some schools as they had their own admission arrangements and made their own decisions. Martin Wilby advised the Panel that by bringing the report to Children’s Scrutiny, awareness of the facts on this issue would be raised and suggestions from the Panel were welcomed.

The Panel suggested that where schools were run by Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) the governors of the MATs were often spread across a large geographical area, however there were often individual school subcommittees/governors whose  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Panel will consider any potential areas of pre-decision scrutiny in accordance with any cabinet decisions relating to children and young people which are on the horizon and receive updates from senior officers in Children’s Services.

Contact:          Service Directors (Children’s Services)

No items of pre-decision scrutiny on Cabinet decisions were discussed.

Panel Members who attend the Kirklees Parenting Board, will feedback on key areas of focus considered by the Board, which will be of interest to the Panel.

The Panel noted that there had been no meetings of the Kirklees Parenting Board since the last meeting of the Panel in March 2025.

The Panel will discuss progress of the work programme and agenda plan for the 2024/25 municipal year and consider new issues for inclusion in the work programme during the 2025/26 municipal year.

Provisional dates for the 2025/26 municipal year have been arranged, but are subject to approval by Council Annual General Meeting in May.

Contact:         Helen Kilroy, Assistant Democracy Manager

The Panel noted the end of the Work Programme for 2024/25 and that the scrutiny visits scheduled during May, June and July 2025 would lead into the Work Programme for the next municipal year 2025/26. The Panel noted that the Children’s Scrutiny Panel workshop to plan the 2025/56 Work Programme was scheduled to take place on the 13^th June 2025.

RESOLVED:

That the progress on the Work Programme and Agenda Plan for 2024/25 be noted.