Why Change? - Schools For The Future
We are changing the organisation of schools in Poole because:
- there are three different systems within the Borough restricting opportunity to attend Poole secondary schools for some children
- the Borough faces falling school rolls in some areas, raising concerns about the viability of some schools
- the schools most at risk of closure if no action is taken, serve vulnerable communities
- central government changes to the curriculum, especially at 14-19, and schools’ responsibilities in relation to vulnerable children bring new considerations to decisions about the structure and location of schools
- neighbouring authorities have different structures to our own, causing a loss of pupils for some schools
- admission arrangements are necessarily complicated and therefore difficult for parents to understand
- other local authorities with the 4-7, 8-12, 13-16 structure are changing. If we retain our current structure we will in all likelihood be the only LEA with 8-12 middle schools in the near future.
When we became a Unitary Authority in 1997 and took over responsibility for education in the Borough, it was clear that it had inherited a complex school organisation structure.
The Audit Commission in successive annual Management Letters criticised the Council for not addressing the issue, and in January 2002, Ofsted in its inspection of the LEA cited as a Key Issue – School Organisation. In particular it said that the LEA "should analyse the impact of school organisational features and consider ways of rationalising the present complex system".
In 2004 the LEA carried out widespread consultation with partners on the role and organisation of schools. The outcome of this consultation was that parents and carers agreed that the current complicated system of school organisation needs to be changed and the overwhelming majority want a single system of school organisation throughout the Borough.
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