Establishment of a 26 Part Time (13 Full Time Equivalent) Place Nursery at Manchester Road Primary School

Consultation Document

October 2007

1. Objectives

To change the age range of Manchester Road Primary School by the addition of a 26-part time (13 full time equivalent) place nursery in line with the Council's long-term aim that all primary schools in Tameside have their own nursery provision, wherever practical.

2. Background

It is the Council's long-term aim that all primary schools in Tameside have their own nursery provision, wherever practical.

The Council has a duty, under section 118 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, to secure sufficient nursery provision for all 3 and 4 year olds. This duty is currently met in Tameside. Such provision, however, may be provided through the voluntary and private providers and does not necessarily need to be made by the Council. The Council will also acquire, in the future, a duty under the Childcare Bill to ensure a sufficiency of childcare provision in the area.

The government's Ten Year Strategy, 'Choice for Parents, the best start for children', published in December 2004, sets out key principles for local authorities to follow when planning and managing the delivery of free nursery provision. These include:

• The free entitlement (formerly nursery education) for 3 and 4 year olds, which should be delivered to consistently high standards and provide planned learning activities to help children to progress towards achieving the early learning goals of the Foundation Stage curriculum and its future replacement by the integrated education and childcare provisionally called the Early Development and Learning Framework for 0-5 year olds.
• Wherever possible parents should be able to combine the free education offer with affordable childcare.
• A duty to ensure a sufficiency of childcare.
• Expectancy that Local Authorities will manage the local childcare market to best advantage for children and their families.

The new Code of Practice on the Provision of Places for 3 and 4 year olds under the Free Entitlement to Nursery Education Places, extends the minimum free entitlement of 12.5 hours a week from 33 to 38 weeks for all three and four year olds with effect from April 2006. From April 2007, the minimum free entitlement will be extended to 15 hours a week for 38 weeks, for the first cohort of children. By 2008, the new minimum entitlement of 15 hours a week for 38 weeks will be in place for all three and four year olds, on the way to a longer term goal of 20 hours a week for 38 weeks. Parents will also eventually be able to use the free entitlement flexibly across a minimum of three days.

In summary, provision for under 5's is being developed along more flexible lines with an increase in free entitlement.

3. Current Provision at Manchester Primary School

Manchester Road is a 2 form-entry primary school in Droylsden West ward. The school has a Published Admission Number of 60 and a current surplus capacity of 17.9% based on a net capacity of 420. The Key Decision Notice of 3 October 2007 is to consult on reducing the Published Admission Number at the school to 45 from 2009. The school is considering mixed age classes in response to reducing numbers in the last few years that has released some classroom space in which to locate the proposed nursery. The school is in close proximity to the Manchester City Council boundary and has a large percentage of pupils from Manchester .

Manchester Road Primary School is the only school in Droylsden that does not offer maintained nursery provision but has a voluntary provider ( Sunshine Pre-school ) operating within a short distance. An analysis of the reception intake in 2007 into Manchester Road shows that a large number of pupils (13) have attended Sunshine Pre-school with a further eight pupils having attended Twinkle Star Pre-school . Other pupils in the reception intake come from nine other nursery providers, many of them within the Manchester City Council area.

Nursery provision attended by children in Reception at Manchester Road

* Unknown refers to children who did not attend registered nurseries, they may have attended child minders or been looked after by family members.

4. Identification of Need

Although not all three and four year olds attend private or community nurseries, there is a potential requirement for a maximum of 279 nursery places for children aged three and four years of age in the Droylsden area. It is, however, reasonable to assume that approximately one third (90) of these children will receive their free entitlement in reception class bringing this requirement to 189 places.

There is currently a sufficiency of provision in the area across a range of providers.

Maintained nursery provision in Droylsden 2006/07 school year

Private, voluntary and independent (PVI) nursery provision in Droylsden 2006/07 school year

* there may be more children attending than registered places due to some children attending less than five sessions a week of NEG funded provision

5. Droylsden Primary and Nursery Places Review

The recent Droylsden Primary and Nursery Places Review and subsequent Key Decision will reduce the number of reception and nursery places in the area as shown in table below. Whilst there is currently a sufficiency of nursery places in the area, these do not provide a good geographical spread in the area. Removing places from Fairfield Road and St Mary's Primary Schools will provide a better geographical mix of places.

6. Proposed Nursery Provision at Manchester Road Primary School

Manchester Road Primary School has experienced a fall in the number of pupils coming into the school over the last few years. This, alongside a reduction in the PAN at the school to 45, has released accommodation that could be remodelled into nursery accommodation.

It is proposed that a Foundation Stage unit with 26 part-time (13 FTE) nursery places is established at the Manchester Road Primary School to provide the free entitlement to 26 three and four year olds from September 2008.

7. Other factors to be explored by Tameside Council during the consultation

A high level feasibility study has been carried out on the potential cost of establishing a maintained nursery at Manchester Road Primary School . The falling rolls at the school over the last few years have released some accommodation within the school as the number of classes has reduced. This accommodation would need to be adapted to suit the curriculum and space requirements for the Foundation Stage curriculum. A number of options for adapting the space have been proposed with potential costs ranging from £70,000 to £130,000. Funding to facilitate any proposed accommodation changes could be accessed through Early Years Entitlement Funding, however, any proposal would need to provide an effective use of resources.

The high level feasibility study looked at internal re-modelling to facilitate nursery provision at the school. Further detailed work needs to be undertaken to look at the potential impact of a number of other issues. These include:

• Manchester Road Primary School site is small and constrained by highways and housing on all sides. Additional pupils attending the nursery would require additional playground space to be made available using current playground space. The impact of this on current pupils would need to be evaluated.
• The impact of increased traffic bringing children to the nursery in the morning, at lunchtimes and at the end of the school day will need to be considered.
• The impact on current provision of education and the management of the school would need to be considered.
• The efficient use of resources from both school budgets and Early Years Entitlement Funding would need to be evaluated.
• The current infant and junior buildings that form the main accommodation for the school are considered to have a significant number of condition, suitability, accessibility and management issues. In the medium term the best use of resources for the main school, would be obtained from rebuilding the school rather than continuing to manage the existing facilities. However, at the time of writing this report, the Council has insufficient capital resources to deliver this. Future allocations of Primary Capital Funding are likely to be made to the Council which, will provide an opportunity for a new school to be delivered at some point in the future and therefore, value for money needs to be considered when adapting or extending the main building as there is a real possibility that any work carried out would have a limited use if the main school were to be replaced.

£100,000 early years capital funding has been earmarked for the remodelling of Manchester Road Primary to create a nursery unit. Any additional funding for the project would have to be identified from within the Children's Services Capital Programme that is already fully committed until 2009.

8. The Consultation Process

The consultation in connection with the establishment of the nursery will take into account not only the educational impact on the proposed nursery and the existing school but also whether or not the most efficient use is being made of finance, building and staffing resources in the final solution. The cost of remodelling school buildings of this type often increases significantly above the original estimates due to inherent problems with the existing structure that are only revealed when intrusive surveys are undertaken. In addition the site on which Manchester Road Primary School is located is extremely constrained with no playing field provision. The establishment of the nursery within the main school will effectively mean that the Planned Admission Number for primary places could not increase back to 60 in the future on the current site.

The consultation process will take place as follows:

Step One: Consultation Meetings

Meetings s will take place with governors, staff and parents of all schools Manchester Road Primary School affected within the scope of the review , local councillors and interested parties. The consultation period will be from 19th October 2007 to 30th November 2007.

Step Two: Key Decisions Report

The LA will prepare a Key Decision Report for the Council based on the feedback received during the consultation process. The Council will decide on one of the whether to proceed with the proposal options and will publish statutory notices.

Step Three: Statutory Notices

Following the Key Decision, statutory notices will be published, which provide for a six-week period during which formal objections/comments may be submitted.

All those interested in responding to the consultation are invited to comment in writing to:

Catherine Moseley
Services for Children and Young People
Room 2.111, Council Offices
Wellington Road
Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 6DL
Send a Comment to Catherine Moseley no later than Friday 30th November 2007.