Following a formal review of a recent decision to go ahead with plans for the provision of school places in the Bath & North East Somerset area, the original proposals will continue.
A recent decision by the Cabinet Member for Children & Young People on the proposed plans for the provision of school places for 2017-2021 and beyond, was reviewed by the Children & Young People Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel, at a public meeting on the 15th May.
10 councillors formally asked for the Cabinet Member’s decision to be reviewed, or Called-In.
In particular they questioned the impact on families being allocated places at schools which are the furthest from their home.
Cllr Richard Samuel (Liberal Democrat, Walcot) questioned whether the plans fully considered the air quality implications of home to school travel as well as issues of congestion, time taken, and cost to families.
The Scrutiny Panel also listened to the thoughts and concerns of families and in particular the impact that this would have on children with additional needs and on the future social development for those children travelling long distances to get to school.
To assist in their deliberations, the Panel also received a range of evidence, interviewed Cllr Paul May, (Conservative, Publow & Whitchurch), the Cabinet Member for Children & Young People, and a representative, Councillor Paul Crossley (Liberal Democrat, Southdown), on behalf of those Councillors who signed the request to review the decision for the call-in request.
The panel heard from the Cabinet member that the demand for school places in Bath this year was greater than predicted and that some schools had admitted more pupils in order to ensure every new year 7 pupil in Bath could have a place at a Bath school in September.
The majority of the pupils who will need to travel from South West Bath across the city to St Marks School will receive free home to school transport.
After and full and frank debate considering all of the evidence, the Panel voted to dismiss the call-in and allow the decision to be implemented as set out.
Cllr Alison Millar (Liberal Democrat, Bathavon North, Chair of the Children & Young People Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel, said: “The Panel noted the huge difficulties faced by some families, particularly those in the south of Bath, as a result of the pressures on secondary school places this year.
“It has asked to monitor the forthcoming work on next year’s school plans to avoid the same situation occurring again and to ensure that the needs of all Bath and North East Somerset residents with children approaching secondary school age are addressed.”
This means that the original decision made by Cllr Paul May, Cabinet Member for Children & Young People, can take place with immediate effect.
Following the decision, a number of Lib Dem councillors have said that secondary school admissions in Bath should be reorganised to give more weight to where pupils live.
At the hearing of the Council’s Children and Young People committee, opposition Councillors argued that the current system gives “an illusion of choice” whilst penalising some families.
Lib Dem Group Leader, Councillor Dine Romero (Southdown) said: “The nature of schools in Bath does not give parents a real choice. All the secondary schools in Bath are lumped together under a single catchment, but not all schools are available to all pupils.
“Despite the illusion of choice, the reality is that most pupils can only pick from three or four schools and may end up being allocated a place far from their home. This needs to change.
“I have suggested dividing Bath into separate catchments for the three co-educational, non-Catholic schools and continuing with the current system for the single-sex schools and St Gregory’s.
“This would be much fairer and give children a better chance of attending a local school.”
Councillor Paul Crossley (Southdown) commented: “The closure of Bath Community Academy at the end of this school year has created a completely unfair situation for local families whose children would have gone to BCA.
“Some children have been allocated places at St Mark’s, on the opposite side of the city. This will have a huge impact on families and the city in terms of cost, time, traffic congestion and pollution.
“The blame for this situation can be firmly laid at the feet of the Conservative administration which failed to fight to save BCA and is failing local families.”