| SPOTLIGHT |
The Office of the Schools Adjudicator has upheld Warwickshire County Council’s objection against plans by an Academy to reduce its year 7 cohort from 190 to 150 next September.
The George Eliot Academy, a mixed non-selective secondary school run by the Midland Academies Trust, planned to cut its year 7 intake ahead of the opening of a new secondary school nearby in 2025.
However, the council objected, noting that the resulting shortfall in places would have to be met by two local schools with less-than-good Ofsted grades.
According to Schools Week, the Midland Academies Trust, which runs George Eliot, said the council’s objection was based on “short-term need”.
The local authority set out its objection to the adjudicator in the following terms:
“The reason for objecting to the 2024 admission arrangements relates to an LA’s duty under the Education Act 1996 to ensure there is sufficient education provision to meet the needs of school age children.
“Warwickshire County Council (WCC) continue to forecast a shortfall in secondary school places in the Nuneaton Planning Area and therefore existing published admission numbers (PANs) need to be maintained whilst at the same time continuing discussions with existing secondary schools to increase pupil numbers to meet the additional demand for September 2024.”
In evidence submitted to the adjudicator, the Midlands Academies Trust pointed to a government publication that found Warwickshire “one of the least accurate local authorities in terms of accurately predicting pupil numbers”.
However, on this, the adjudicator said: “I am not persuaded by the trust’s views concerning the forecast methodology employed by the LA and since it seems to me that this ought to be capable of producing at least reasonably accurate results, I am of the view that the shortfall in Year 7 places for 2024 which the LA is forecasting must be taken seriously.”
The Office of the Schools Adjudicator concluded that it was unpersuaded by the trust’s argument that a reduced PAN is “necessary to match long-term average pupil entry numbers for educational and financial planning purposes.”
The adjudicator found that the school’s reduction in places would have made “more likely the possibility that some children will not be found places there and have to travel out of the area to secure a school place”.
The council’s objection was upheld, and the admission authority was ordered to revise its admission arrangements.
The adjudicator directed that the arrangements must be determined by Friday 13 October 2023.
Warwickshire County Council and the Midlands Academies Trust have been approached for comment.
