Showing posts with label school expansion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school expansion. Show all posts

Sunday 15 January 2017

More questions than answers at Brent Council on school expansions and Bridge Park

I drew attention recently to the blackout on the apparent problems with some current Brent school expansion projects that the public have not been allowed to hear about. LINK

Information was withheld at the Cabinet meeting and the decision made in private session and now councillors have been told that the public will have to be excluded if the issue is raised at Full Council on January 23rd.

The issue is possibly about three current expansion projects at Byron Court Primary,  Stonebridge Primary and Elsley Primary schools. It is likely that the price agreed on the projects with contractors has not been viable and the Council is either left with having to pay out more or downgrading the designs.

The accountability issue is whether there was any fault by either side on the procurement of these works and at what financial or quality cost.


Item 9 is about decisions taken by the Leader and/or Cabinet because of their urgency before before Full Council.

Apart from the IT items clearly the Bridge Park Conditional Land Sale Agreement is important.  This involves Brent Council working with development companies registered in off-shore as covered on Wembley Matters LINK.

It is not entirely clear whether Full Council will be able to discuss this as the note above states, 'The matters before the Council are merely for reporting by the Leader of the Council.' Will the public me excluded from any discussion on this as well?

Monday 5 December 2016

Information blackout on Brent school expansion design and build

Brent Cabinet will be getting an update on the design and build of school expansions in the borough at their next meeting but the public will not be allowed to see any report.

This is because the item has been restricted for 'commercial reasons' under the relevant legislation on the basis that:
Information is exempt to the extent that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
As this is 'commercial information' about a public resource it is likely to refer to building contracts, architects fees and other costs which may well be higher than the Council expected and thus require some modification of the building specification.  It could also mean a delay in completion of the expansions.

'Wards affected' are Northwick Park, Kenton and Stonebridge so my assumption is that the item refers to Byron Court and Stonebridge Schools.   The closed down Stonebridge Adventure Playground is currently being demolished.

I would argue that an explanation is in the public interest as the general public need to know of any budgetary implications and their impact on services and parents need to know when, or perhaps if, expansion is going ahead.


Tuesday 20 October 2015

Barry Gardiner wins parents' meeting with minister over Byron Court school expansion

Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, yesterday agreed to try and arrange a meeting with parents from Byron Court Primary School either with her or the Minister for Schools to discuss their concerns over expansion of the school.

She was responding to the following question in the House of Commons from Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North:
The Secretary of State said that her policy is that all “good and outstanding schools” should be able to expand to meet “the needs of parents” in their local areas. Byron Court primary school in my constituency is being forced to expand against the needs and wishes of parents in the local area. I shall not go into the details now, but will the Secretary of State meet me, parents and local residents who are desperately concerned about the state of this school’s expansion programme?
Brent Council has backed the expansion despite the parents' objections and a letter to the Cabinet from Barry Gardiner representing the parents' and residents' concerns. LINK

It became an issue during the General Election campaign. LINK

Monday 25 August 2014

Controversial issues ahead for Brent Cabinet on September 15th

Brent Council's Forward Plan gives clues to what is coming up at future Cabinet meetings although explanation is minimal. Full details of reports and agenda items are only available to the public one week before the meeting.

With the lack of an effective opposition and poor scrutiny arrangements (and doesn't the Care Quality Commission report on the NW London Hospitals NHS Trust make the case for a powerful separate Health Scrutiny Committee) early notice becomes more important, although actvists may have to speculate about what indiviual items really mean.

Here are the reports/proposals coming up for discussion at the September 15th Cabinet with my comments in italics. Note how much background information is withheld from the public on various items.

The Cabinet now alternates day time and evening meetings. This meeting will be at 2pm.


Developing a new Borough Plan for Brent 2015-2019

To approve the process and timetable for agreeing the key priorities for Brent over the next five years and the plan to achieving them. (This will be in the context of continuing major cuts to LA budgets)

Consultation on the proposed Mayoral Development Corporation for Old Oak and Park Royal

To approve the response to the GLA consultation on the proposed Mayoral Development Corporation for Old Oak and Park Royal. (This also affects Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham boroughs and it means Boris Johnson will takes planning powers away from those boroughs.Hammersmith and Fulham Council have objected LINK. Will Brent?)

Performance and Finance Review Q1

To confirm the first quarter’s performance and spending in 2014/15.

Mobile Workforce Software Procurement

To agree to procurement of a Mobile Workforce Software Solution through competitive tender that can be used by any field officer working in areas such as Social Services, Building Control, Planning, Environmental Health etc. to carry out their key tasks interacting with their line of business systems when offsite using mobile devices such as tablets.

These are the following key benefits:
* Customer service improvements and actions can be carried out immediately.
* Staff and efficiency savings as staff can spend more time in the field and will not need to travel to the office before or after their appointments.
* Potential cost reductions data will not need to be re-keyed when staff come back to the office

Initial communications provision at the new Civic Centre was poor, will this be an improvment. Interesting also that this aims to reduce use of the £100m Civic Centre by staff. The Council is already proposing to lease two floors to Air France, is this intended to release more space?

Update on Public Health Contracts

To note the progress on the procurements of the public health services and to approve the selection criteria and timetable for the procurements

School Expansion

To agree procurements and statutory consultations to take forward specific school expansion proposals.

An appendix to this report will be not for publication as it contains the following categories of exempt information specified in the Schedule 12 of the Local Government Act, namely: information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information); and, information relating to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the authority or a Minister of the Crown and employees of, or office holders under, the authority.

Contracts for building works associated with school expansion are lucrative but have not always delivered on time or of best quality with sub-contracting sometimes an issue.

Brent Education Commission Review

To consider the action plan based on the recommendations of the Brent Education Commission review.

The Review has major implications for the development of education in Brent LINK and includes some controversial proposals including encouraging free schools to set up in Brent to provide extra places (the current restriiction on LAs building new schools coudl be lifted by a new government in 2015) and the scaling down of Brent's school Improvement service. Certainly any Action plan needs to be subject to widespread discussion and consultation.

I would argue that Education, or Children and Families, due to the complex issues involved also needs its own Scrutiny Committee.

Brent Local Implementation Plan (LIP) submission for 2015/16 - 2017/18

To endorse the 2015/16 LIP submission to be submitted to Transport for London

To delegate authority to Operational Director, Neighbourhoods to proceed with schemes subject to results of consultation and to deliver the programme within overall funding allocation.
(Signficant expenditure/savings > 30% of budget for the function in question)

Domestic Violence Advocacy, family support and MARAC coordination services

To award the contract for the provision of domestic violence advocacy, family support and MARAC coordination services for a period of two years from 1 November 2014 to 31 Oct 2016, with the option to extend for further one year.

Housing Zones

To approve the submission of an application to the GLA to establish a housing zone and its location in the borough to accelerate housing supply.

This relates to a government initiative to release brownfield sites for housing. The Mayor of London has invited bids for £400m funding to set up 20 housing zones in the capital.

South Kilburn Regeneration Programme

To note the progress on the South Kilburn regeneration programme and to approve the progress the procurement (sic) of a developer partner for the Gloucester House and Durham Court redevelopment site.

Appendices to this report will be not for publication as it contains the following categories of exempt information specified in the Schedule 12 of the Local Government Act, namely: information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

South Kilburn residents have not been happy with the regeneration so far LINK









Monday 13 January 2014

Parent power overthrows school expansion plans

I had a clash of meetings tonight so was unable to attend the Brent Executive. However Cllr James Denselow has tweeted that they rejected the officers' recommendation to expand Princess Frederica Primary School.  An unusual event.

Congratulations to the parents who fought a well informed campaign and managed to persuade Councillors Pavey and Denselow of their cause at a public meeting just before Christmas.

Officers, schools, the Diocesan Board and governors were thanked for their efforts and a review of current needs, to include community feedback was promised.  A new programme of expansion, including more creative solutions, will be developed during 2014.

The problems and limits of expansion on existing sites makes it even more important that local residents, parents and Brent Council support the School Places Crisis Campaign which seeks to reinstate local council's right to build new local authority schools where they are needed. LINK

Earlier coverage of the issue HERE

Friday 10 January 2014

Crucial Executive vote on Monday on Princess Fred expansion plans

On January 4th LINK I wrote about the officer's report going to Monday's Brent Executive recommending the expansion of Princess Frederica Primary School in Kensal Rise, despite 90% opposition from parents.

On December 17th 2013 there had been a well-attended public meeting about the issue which Cllr James Denselow reported on his blog LINK where Princess Frederica's case was discussed along with the more general issues around rising school population and school places provision.

The Council, schools and parents are in a difficult position because of Michael Gove's policy that local authorities cannot build new schools - these have to be provided by free schools or academy chains. The local authority is left with little option but to expand existing schools on their present site and exceptionally open 'annexes' near a school such as has happened with Leopald in Harlesden and the old CSD building in Brentfield Road and Stonebridge Primary and the disused day care centre on the opposite side of the road.

Expansion on existing sites can reduce play space, convert shared spaces such as school libraries, computer suites and assembly halls into classrooms and create more crowded conditions with more children occupying less space. Parents often prefer smaller primary  schools because of the family atmosphere where the head knows every child by name and the youngest of children feel safe and secure.The officers' report makes the case for larger schools (large school successes in the borough, teachers' career prospects, curriculum opportunities, outside school provision) but doesn't balance that with the case for smaller schools.

Free school providers cash in on this by planning small schools as local schools become bigger and end up competing with them.  So far primary free school providers have not come forward in Brent, instead we have four secondary free schools where generally at present there is not a shortage.

The rub is that in seeking to preserve the positives of space, intimacy and ethos and deciding against expansion other children will be deprived on any education at all.  The real villain is Michael Gove and his policy but children suffer either way.  That is why there is a growing movement, supported by the Green Party, the NUT, Michael Pavey LINK and Barry Gardiner amongst others to restore local authorities' power to build new schools.You can support the School Places Crisis campaign by signing the petition HERE

NUT research suggests that by 2016 2/5 reception age children in some parts of London will not have a school place.

It now appears that as a result of the public meeting and strong opposition to Princess Frederica's expansion that the Executive will reject the officers' recommendation. Michael Pavey told the Wembley Observer 'We are listening to the views of the community and they got their mesage across very clearly'.

Rejection of a tabled report is unusual under the present administration. .It would have been more likely to be withdrawn before the publication of the Agenda if it was clear Executive members, and particular the lead member, were against it.

Th following message appears on the school's expansion blog today:
 The next milestone in the expansion proposal project is on Monday, 13 January 2014 at 7.00pm when the Brent Council Executive will review the report on the outcome of the statutory consultation at the Board Room in the new Brent Civic Centre: http://democracy.brent.gov.uk/documents/s21137/cf-princess-frederica.pdf

This report still recommends that Princess Frederica should expand, subject to planning permission.

However, in a significant recent development, Councillor Michael Pavey, Lead Member for Children & Families, Brent Council, has suggested that he may vote against the proposed expansion of Princess Frederica CE VA Primary School.

In the meantime, the governing body continues to await key information from Brent which would allow it to make a definitive decision about whether or not it supports the proposal to expand.

As soon as we can, we will update you further.
 Unfortunately I cannot go to the Executive on Monday but I will be interested to hear of the outcome.

Meanwhile another consequence of Gove's ban on LA's building new schools is emerging as Brent Council  has started 'instructing' headteachers to take additional Key Stage 2 children who currently are not in school despite their schools being full. This would take class sizes above 30 and conflict with the NUT's class size limit. Some of these children will be new to the UK and some may not have been to school before so they will need additional resources and teacher time.










Saturday 4 January 2014

Expansion of Princess Frederica school proposed despite strong parent opposition

Princess Frederica  Cof E Primary School, Kensal Rise
The Brent Executive on January 13th will be asked to approve the expansion of Princess Frederica Primary School despite substantial opposition.

The school would grow from 420 pupil capacity to 630 by 2020 with some new build and partial demolition and rebuild of the present building.  The new build would include a roof top playground.

The Council argue that the expansion is needed to address the current shortage of school places due to the rising child population of Brent.

The Officers' Report LINK states that in the initial consultation 7 local residents were for expansion and 14 against, 3 parents were for and 22 against and 26 staff were for with 1 against.

Following the Statutory Notice during the four week Representation Stage  224 responses were received of which 16 were for the expansion and 208 against.

These are statement from some of the objectors:
“I am writing to ask you to turn down the request for the school expansion of Princess Frederica. The local area and infrastructure will not be able to sustain the added congestion. Already both the pupils and local community are put at risk through the cramming of small pavements and roads. I would suggest a much better use of Brent’s resources would be to turn around the local schools in the area –meeting specifically Furness Road School.

Piling all the resources into one local school which for now is popular, shows no sense of long term  planning for the broader community.”

“- the proposal is far too large for the footprint of the site and the access roads in the surrounding areas. The works will cause severe disruption to the education and welfare of the children there in 2014 and the dust created by building work will create a health hazard for my daughter who suffers from asthma there are better alternative schools sites for building expansion in the vicinity, we have real worries about how the building work - dust, noise, heavy machinery is inevitable - will affect the education of the current children, and also that the pressure on space from the additional classes each year will affect the future education in the widest sense, as well as the logistical issues of safety in delivering and collecting a greater number of children from school each day.”

“College Rd & Purves Rd are narrow & bottle neck at the slightest provocation. How will they & their residents cope with the heavy lorries & construction vehicles that will be needed on top of an already precarious equalibrium? If, as I understand,  the admission criteria are not to change to include more children on proximity rather than church attendance, there will be more cars & bicycles at drop off  & pick up times. Bicycles are being stolen from the railings outside the school on a regular basis & campaigns for parking them on the school premises have failed for years for reasons of short space!”
 “I believe that the school facilities are already over stretched and the addition of more pupils at the expense of outside s pace does not serve the educational interests of the pupils. In addition, two years of packed lunches and studying next to a building site will not help the children's education
 On space the Council respond:
Design work shows that it is possible to fit the additional buildings/internal space needed for the
increased number of children on the existing school  site and leave sufficient outside play area to  meet guidelines.

The additional proposed roof top play area and changes to the surfacing of ground level play areas, mean that based on the government’s method for measuring outdoor play areas there is sufficient to meet guidelines for a 3FE school on a confined inner city site.

It is accepted that during construction the available outside play space will be reduced but this will be managed to minimise the impact on existing children.
 On parking and infrastructure the Council state:

There is no parking on the school site and no facilities to drop off children by car other than on roads immediately surrounding the school. The school travel plan will actively encourage a majority of parents to walk or  cycle to school with their children.Cycle and scooter storage will be provided on site to avoid congestion created on the pavement by cycles being chained up outside school.  

It is proposed to widen the pavement in parts along  Purves Road to alleviate pedestrian congestion.  

A full transport assessment has been undertaken and will be submitted with the planning application. LBB Highways will review the application in detail and make further recommendations if required to minimise the  impact of proposed expansion on the existing road network.

On the community's preference for a 2 form entry school the council gives no quarter and presses what it sees as the benefits of larger shcools and in a new departure suggests they are becoming the norm:

Brent has 12 successful 3FE primary schools and 6 successful 4FE primary schools. 3FE and larger primary schools are now becoming the norm across London. Larger primary schools have considerable advantages in being able to afford higher levels of expertise, including subject expertise in e.g. MFL.
They also offer a wider range of extra curricular and after school activities. Brent also has many primary aged children currently without a school place. The council has a statutory duty to ensure that there are sufficient school places for Brent residents who require a school place.
The Council say that it cannot changes the admissions criteria because the school is a Church of England Voluntary Aided School and therefore in charge of its own admissions. These currently give preference of church worshippers.

 Clearly this case raises issues that have been previously addressed on Wembley Matters over the optimum size of schools and the importance of play space. Most importantly of course it raises questions about consultation processes when, in this case, overwhelming views of parents as stakeholders are rejected.

The expansion plans will not be going to Planning Committee until June 2013 but the Council proposes that an additional 30 pupils will start in existing accommodation in September 2014 with the building works finished before the start of the 2015/16 academic year. The additional forms of entry will then gradually fill up the school year by year.


Friday 15 November 2013

Controversial school expansion plans bring accusations of skewed consultation

Princess Frederica Primary School, Kensal Rise
I have been reporting here for some time some of the controversies around school expansion: loss of play space, loss of additional rooms such as libraries and ICT suites for classroom conversion, and concerns that primary schools can become too big and lose the intimacy and family centredness valued by many parents.

Present government policy restricts local authorities' ability to build new schools where they are most needed so they instead expand existing schools to cope with increased demand.  The government argues that Free Schools can provide additional places but this is dependent on a provider setting up in an area of shortage and many actually set up where there are already enough places. In addition Free School are not democratically accountable through the local authority system and do not have to employ qualified staff.  They are also much more expensive to set up than a local authority school and thus deprive LAs of finance.

Barry Gardiner MP and Cllr Michael Pavey have both supported the campaign for local authorities to be given powers to plan and build new schools. Meanwhile the problem remains,

The proposed expansion of Princess Frederica Primary School has been particular controversial with parents raising concerns in a letter to the governing body as long ago as July.

Now a local parent and residents has written to MPs and councillors about his concerns over the way the consultation has been carried out and made a formal complaint to Brent Council:

Monday 15 July 2013

Looking for the X Factor at Brent Civic Centre's first Executive meeting


Well not really! The X Factor was filming outside the Civic Centre in Arena Square and Cllr Krupesh Hirani was quite overcome by seeing Nicole Scherzinger strutting her stuff, but inside Boardrooms 4 & 5 the X Factor or almost any other factor was decidedly absent. The photograph should be evidence enough.

A discussion on parking charges went on for ages and nearly made me rush out and throw myself off the Boardroom's balcony thoughtfully provided by the Civic Centre designers  for any Brent residents who can't stand it any more.

The parking discussion, where actually there appeared to be no major disagreements, was about ten times as long as the discussion on two major housing reports which will have a much more serious impact on families and individuals forcing some of them to leave Brent and others to choose between paying their rent or buying food for themselves or their children.

As Robin Sivapalan of Brent Housing Action pointed out from the floor, the report on Supply and Demand almost seemed to welcome the Coalition's Bedroom Tax as a way of shifting tenants from 'under occupied'  housing, while other actions appeared to reduce demand only by redefining overcrowding or disrepair rather than by  providing actual housing. The second report promised action to build new affordable housing but lacked detail while action was promised both to tackle poor landlords but also to encourage more landlords to rent out properties.

Michael Pavey in an outbreak of left rhetoric called private foster agencies exploitative but then seemed only to want to get a better (cheaper) deal out of them, He also suggested primary school expansions were preferable to the 'anarchy' of free schools.

Muhammed Butt was very tetchy and lost his cool on at least two occasions, giving the impression that opposition councillors had no right to disagree with him.

Sunday 19 May 2013

More Brent schools to expand as Gove restricts new LA school builds

Michael Gove receives a vote of 'No Confidence' from headteachers but at the same time his Tory leadership bid, launched last weekend regarding Europe, seems to be going well. The New Statesman this week carries an article suggesting a Tory leadership combination of Boris Johnson and Michael Gove ('BO-GO'). Enough to give you nightmares.

But the nightmare is already with us because Gove's policies are wreaking havoc. Most obvious at the moment is the ludicrous requirement that any new school must be academy or free school - despite the latter being mainly set up in places with a current surplus of places. Local authorities such as Brent are denied the opportunity to rationally plan new local authority schools in areas where there is a shortage.Instead they have to wait for the market to provide and meanwhile add extra classes to existing schools, or even annexes or 'satellites' to escape government restrictions. Boris adds his tuppenyworth by ear-marking any surplus GLA buildings for possible use as free schools.

Some primary schools are increasing in size to more that 1,000 5-11 year olds, an issue that I have raised several times on Wembley Matters and taken up on Saturday by the Guardian(1,000 pupils and rising - primary schools go supersize LINK )My view is that these are just too big to provide the care and contact that young children need but others think that given the right internal arrangements and ethos these difficulties can be overcome.

Meanwhile the new Brent Executive will tomorrow consider the latest report on primary school expansion which will be presented my Michael Pavey, the new lead member for children and families, and himself Chair of Governors at one of Brent's largest primary schools, the four form entry Wembley Primary.

Some schools have already doubled in size to cope with the shortage and in some cases have lost valuable play space or halls, music rooms or IT suites.  The report LINK includes for 2013-14 the following possibilities:
  • 7 primary classes housed in modules at Kingsbury High with the children eventually transferring to Kingsbury Green Primary when it expands. 
  • 15 primary classes at the Centre for Staff Development (Gwenneth Rickus Building) in Brentfield Road ) next to the Swaminarayan Independent School. This building will be vacated when the few staff that remain transfer to the Civic Centre. Originally it was ear-marked for secondary places but the required building money is not available.Both Mitchell Brook and Brentfield primary schools are close by but I have heard it may become a satellite of Leopold Primary in Harlesden.
  • Use of temporary classrooms previously used by Preston Manor and Brentfield schools and creation of more 'bulge classes' - one off additions to a school rather than a change in the numbers of forms of entry.
There are schemes suggested to provide full new capacity by September 2014 at:
  • Wembley High School - a new building providing a 4 form of entry (840 children) primary school making Wembley an 'all-through' school along with Ark and Preston Manor.
  • Uxendon Primary - an additional 2 forms of entry (420  children)
  • Harlesden Primary - an additional 2 forms of entry (420 children)
  • Preston Park, Princess Frederica and St Joseph Primary will all add 1 for of entry (210 children)
  • Vicar's Green in Ealing but serving many Brent children will add 0.5 forms of entry (105 children)
These schemes would provide new capacity between September 2015:
  • Elsley Primary - an additional 2 forms of entry (420 children)
  • Stonebridge Primarary - an additional 1 form of entry (210 chilren)
  • Malorees Infant and Junior - an additional 1 or 2 forms of entry (210-420 children)
  • Oriental City Primary - 2 forms of entry (dependent on Section 106 agreement - not clear re governance)
Other longer term sites in case the need continues have been identified.  These include the Wembley Quintain site for a 2 form entry primary school (420 children), Our Lady of Lourdes (Stonebridge) additional 2 forms of entry (420 children), John Keble and St Francis and St Andrew additional 1 form of entry (210 children) each.

Tuesday 5 June 2012

"Heard it in the playground, not enough space!"



Mindful of current concerns about child obesity and the lack of outdoor play opportunities for children, I have been interested in how the current school expansions affected the play space available to children when at school. Following a Freedom of Information request I now have the figures which are tabulated below.

These show an overall reduction in the space (expressed in square metres) available per child after expansion. I have left out those for Mugas (Multi-use games areas) as these are likely to be used per class or after school activity, rather than shared. Clearly however access will be less because more classes will have to be timetabled to use it within the confines of the school day.

The amount of playground space available at break times and lunch times is of major concern. Recent research has shown that children use more energy then than when they take part in PE activities. The reduction in play space can be addressed by staggering break times so that different phases or year groups use the playground at different times, but this then reduces the time for their use for class games activities.

Over crowded playgrounds restrict the amount of space for 'tearing about' and using up surplus energy as well as increasing the number of collisions, bumps and scrapes. Competition for space, unless well supervised, can lead to more playground fights.

Mitchell Brook Primary has the additional resource of Gibbons Recreation Ground which it backs onto, but the other schools are less fortunate.


PLAY SPACE IN SCHOOLS SCHEDULED FOR EXPANSION (square metres to nearest 0.5)


FRYENT
Existing
(420 pupils)
Per pupil
Proposed
(840 pupils)
Per pupil after expansion
Habitat
262

310

Hard Play/Games Courts
2447
6.0
3325
4.0
Pitches/Soft Play
6714
16.0
4974
6.0
Muga
360

360

BARHAM
Existing
(630 pupils)

Proposed
(840 pupils)

Habitat
Playing field edge

Playing field edge

Hard Play/Games Courts
2501
4.0
3254
4.0
Pitches/Soft Play
4748
7.5
3713
4.5
Muga
254

254

MITCHELL BROOK
Existing
(420 pupils)

Proposed
(630 pupils)

Hard Play/Games Courts
3773
9.0
2738
4.5