Agenda and minutes

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Young People which provided the response to the statutory consultation on the closure of St Chad’s Catholic High School and the establishment of a new joint faith Catholic and Church of England Voluntary Aided High School. 

 

            It was noted that formal consultation with stakeholders commenced in June 2007 as part of the secondary reorganisation process. A further round of consultation was then undertaken in November 2007. Permission was then sought from the Secretary of State to publish the proposal without holding a competition.  On 9^th June 2008, the Secretary of State exercised the powers conferred on him by Section 10 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and decided to grant consent to the publication of a proposal for a new 11-19 joint Catholic/Church of England Voluntary Aided Secondary School.

           

The statutory proposal was published by the governing body on 3rd July 2008. The statutory proposal was a joint agreement with the Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury and the Church of England Diocese of Chester.  The notice outlined the intention to close St Chad’s High School in order that a joint faith Catholic and Church of England (11-19) school could be established on the current site.  It was proposed that St Chad’s Catholic High School close on 31st August 2009 and the new joint faith school commence on 1st September 2009. All the pupils from St Chad’s Catholic School would transfer to the new joint faith school from 1st September 2009. The published admission number would increase to 190 from 1st September 2009 and from 1st September 2013 it would increase to 240 with 100 sixth form places.

Members were further advised of the consultation process undertaken and that those people wishing to respond to the consultation were advised to put their views in writing to Operational Director, Legal, Organisational Development and Human Resources.  No responses had been received within the representation period of 3rd July 2008 to 14th August 2008.

It was further noted that approval to the proposal had to be agreed within two months of the end of the representation period otherwise the decision would be referred to the Adjudicator for a decision. The Board was advised of what this would mean along with the issues the decision maker needed to consider.

RESOLVED: That

 

Having had regard to the statutory guidance and in pursuance of the powers set out in Section 10 of the Education and Inspection Act 2006 and the related Regulations and the permission that was granted by the Secretary of State IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT the following related proposals be approved:-

 

(a)       With effect from 31 August 2009 St Chad’s Catholic High School be discontinued.

 

(b)       With effect from 1 September 2009 the new St Chad’s Catholic/Church of England Voluntary Aided Secondary School be established on the current St Chad’s Catholic High; and

 

(c)        With effect from 1 September 2009 the St Chad’s Catholic/Church  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

(NB: Councillor Wharton declared a personal and prejudicial interest in the following item of business due to being the Chairman of the Friends of Hale Park).

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Young People which updated Members on the progress made in developing the Playbuilder programme and which sought consideration of the proposals for its delivery. In addition it sought to give Members the chance to consider the opportunity and implications of a bid for Wave 2 Play Pathfinder Status.

 

Members received a report on the 21^st May 2008 informing them of the success of the authority in achieving Playbuilder status. Halton had received formal confirmation of this status on 31^st May 2008 and confirmation of the funding awarded, as detailed within the report.

 

From the guidance received, it had been identified that Halton must deliver a minimum of 6 new/transformed playgrounds in 2008/09 and a further 18 in 2009/10 and 2010/11 making a total of 24 over the 3 years.

 

It was noted that Halton Play Partnership had been asked to consider appropriate models for the consideration, commissioning and management of play area development proposals.  At it’s meeting in May 2008 the Play Partnership agreed the formation of a Playbuilder Implementation Project team and the Membership details were outlined in the report.

 

The Project Team had met twice to date and progress had been made to develop a ‘Playbuilder Project Plan’ and a ‘Draft Plan’.  The draft plan would include proposals for the identification of and timetable for year 1 2008/09 projects.

 

As a result of the challenging timeframe (all yr1 capital allocation must be spent by 31^st March 2009) the project team had, based on the consultation carried out to develop the Halton Play Plan 2007-2011 and the Big Lottery Funded Children’s Play Initiative, identified a number of projects which could meet the challenge of delivering within the timeframe and that it met the criteria proposed for year 1 projects.

 

The Board was advised that only £15,000 of the year one allocation could be carried over into the following year. Year one projects must therefore be deliverable by March 31^st 2009.

 

It was noted that projects in years two and three would be invited for submission to the Council. This would afford time for a formal application process to be developed where projects would be subject to strict eligibility criteria developed by the Play Partnership.

 

Members were advised on the Wave 2 Play Pathfinder Status. Existing Playbuilders had been asked if they would like to be considered for play pathfinder status in Wave two and were given until 19^th September 2008 to advise DCSF that they wished to be considered.

 

            The final date for the submission of full pathfinder bids was 12noon on Friday 24^th October 2008 and there would be 10 Play Pathfinders awarded funding from all applications.

           

            In addition to the £1.1 million capital already approved for playbuilder the 10 Pathfinders would each deliver at least one large adventure playground or play park, costing around £800k.

 

Pathfinders would also receive revenue funding to cover activity such as generating learning on innovative  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

MINUTES ISSUED: 14^th October 2008

CALL IN: 21^st October 2008

Any matter decided by the Executive Board may be called in no later than 21^st October 2008