Secondary School Expansion

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Competition to provide a new secondary school in the north of the Borough

A Competition Notice to seek proposals for a new secondary school in the north of the Borough was issued on 23 April 2010. This replaces the Competition Notice issued on 16 April 2010 which has been withdrawn. The outline specification for the new school is outlined in the Invitation to Bid Complete Proposal attached below. In summary, this is for a co-educational, non-selective school for 11-19 year olds on the North Kingston Centre site.

This follows a statutory consultation which took place between 15 January and 26 February 2010 which sought views on providing a new secondary school in the north of the Borough.

The Public Notice, which is an extract of the complete proposal, was published in the Times Education Supplement and the Surrey Comet on 23 April 2010. Flyers and posters were circulated by the Office of Public Management (OPM) and can be seen below.

Prospective proposers can access the form for submitting a proposal and guidance issued by the Department for Education below.

The deadline for proposals is 23 August 2010 and a second notice outlining proposals received will be published within three weeks of this date.

A proposers seminar arranged by the Office of Public Management (OPM) was held on 18 May 2010. This provided an opportunity for prospective promoters to hear from the Royal Borough of Kingston and OPM about the proposal and to consider whether they wished to submit a bid. A copy of the presentation given, a report summarising the seminar (with questions and answers) and a list of attendees have been attached below.

Following the recent government decision to end the Building Schools for the Future Programme, the Local Authority has put its case to the Secretary of State regarding the need for additional places in the borough including the provision of a new school in the north of the Borough. Due to the pressure on secondary school places from 2015 we are hopeful that forthcoming announcements on future funding will be favourable to Kingston. In the meantime, the Local Authority is continuing with the Competition Process and is considering all alternative funding that may be available.

The full news item relating to the end of Kingston’s Building Schools for the Future programme can be found at the link on this page (under 'Building Schools for the Future - latest news').

Potential proposers are advised that OPM are no longer contracted by the Department for Education to support this school competition. All enquiries about the competition should therefore be made directly to the Local Authority. Please contact:

Bjorn Simpole
Policy Officer (School Organisation)
Telephone: 0208 547 5306
Email: bjorn.simpole@rbk.kingston.gov.uk

Following a request for information from a potential provider, the Local Authority has published further background information which may be of interest to potential providers. These documents are below.

Comments received during the new secondary school consultation - 1 January to 26 February 2010

Below we have also attached documents outlining all comments received during the consultation period. We have included responses  provided by the Canbury Area Residents Association (CARA) Survey, the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and Grey Court School.

A public consultation meeting was held on Tuesday 9 February 2010 at Fern Hill Primary School.  A copy of the presentation made at the meeting and notes of the comments and questions made can be obtained below.  

At the Public Meeting a change in the arrangements for the planning and design of the new school was outlined. The attached document explains why the Local Authority will be undertaking a planning brief approach rather than submitting a planning application during the period April – August 2010 as outlined in the original table.

The amended timetable will now involve: -

• June to Mid July 2010 – consultation on a Planning and Development Brief for the North Kingston Centre site
• September 2010 – anticipated that planning security provided to Partnership for Schools
• Early 2011 – pre-application consultation prior to the submission of a planning application
  

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We held an informal consultation on the site of a new secondary school between 9 July and 14 September 2009. Thank you to everyone that responded.  The findings of this were presented to the Council’s Executive on 29 September 2009 who agreed that the proposal be developed further. The papers to the Executive including details of other sites explored for a possible school can be accessed below.

A number of research projects have been undertaken over the last few years on how the size of a secondary school affects its educational performance.