Shortage of school places?

[James Barber]

At last nights full council assembly I had a question asked about school places (No.10 it's logged as coming from the chair of the Dulwich Community Council Cllr Lewis Robinson).

The answer stated that September 2012 an extra 1 to 1.5 form entries will required above the current capacity for the area. 1 FE = 30 children.

That by 2015/16 revised forecasts state we'll need an extra 2 to 2.5FE.

The recommended optimum school size is 2 FE. So assuming further investigation confirms these new forecasts we need a new school in Dulwich. The obvious place would be Dulwich Hospital. With a new government perhaps the 5-7 year process can be abridged.

The reason I had this question asked is we've produced a Lib Dem paper about Dulwich Hospitals future and we need to know whether a new school needs to go on that site.

[EDmummy]

Of course we need a new school but I would think that there would be a slightly more scientific formula than 'whether a new school should go on the Dulwich hospital site'. The admissions office should be able to give you data on where applications are coming from and other data that would allow these calculations to be made.

What other options are being considered for the site? If housing is considered then there would be further pressure on existing schools if not co-located with a school there or nearby.

How would you 'abridge' the 5-7 year process (is this an estimate or an actual figure)?

Yes, we need a new school but lets make sure it is in the right place. Personally I would like to see at least two new schools built and classroom size decreased to a more manageable 20-25 pupils but that is pie in the sky now.

[sillywoman]

James, I could be wrong but I think the site has a covenant on it which prevents it from being used for a school. The Campaign group who managed to create The Charter School considered the site as a possibility for their new school 10 or more years ago, but it was impossible because the land is given for the benefit of public health and could not be used for anything else.

But as I say, I could be wrong about that. It was a good few years ago now.

personally I think a few allotments on that site would be a much better use of the land, and a benefit to public health.

[Earl Aelfheah]

.

[citizenED]

Sillywoman - I like your idea of reducing class sizes to 20 - 25 but agree that with the current administration this is unlikely. Did you read that Michael Gove has been urged to allow class sizes to rise to 32? Article here.

[civilservant]

James, are you talking about primary or secondary school places?

If you can indeed speed up the normal planning schedule (and what did you mean by a 'new government'?), then you may be making provision available just in time to accommodate the bulge classes when they 'graduate' out of local primary schools in 3-4 years' time.

[DVnewbie]

I think Dulwich Hospital sounds like a good position for a new school - if it is possible (and it sounds like it may not be). Can you look into where there are "black holes" maybe? i.e. Where families can't send their children to their nearest primary school (or even the second/third nearest) because the "catchment areas" are so small. I appreciate the distances for first round offers to non-siblings change every year but are there pockets in the area where families consistently fail to get into a "local" school and have to send their children to school a few miles away from their home. Personally, we're fortunate as we're close to a v good primary but I know it's a really frustrating issue for some families. [20-25 per class sounds great but I agree that's extremely unlikely in the current environment, especially given that it's never been that low for state schools, even with strong economies - well, not since the mid 70s at least...]