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ITEM CA6

CABINET – 17 OCTOBER 2006 ORMEROD SCHOOL – REPORT OF INFORMAL CONSULTATION

Report by Director for Children, Young People & Families

1. Ormerod School is a school for children with Physical Disabilities (PD) that has all of its secondary age pupils on the roll of The Marlborough School, Woodstock where its secondary section is located. The Headteacher also manages the Physical Disability Support Service (PDSS), part of the Oxfordshire Special Educational Need Support Services (SENSS), which supports PD provision in mainstream schools. The school and service also provide for a small number of Early Years children in their building in Headington, Oxford.
2. The school and service have a long history of successfully supporting mainstream schools to include children with PD. They have been so successful that parents rarely feel the need to seek a place at Ormerod and the number of pupils on the school roll is falling. There are, no longer any primary age children on the roll.
3. The Governors of both The Marlborough and Ormerod Schools recognise that the success of their practice, in supporting children to return to or remain in mainstream schools, inevitably leads to a reduction in pupil numbers at Ormerod. The table below shows projected numbers. Parents of children with disabilities have an almost unqualified right to have all their needs met within mainstream schools and Ormerod School and the PD Service have worked tirelessly to make that a reality.

Forecast Ormerod School Roll at The Marlborough School

Year	School Roll
September 2005	27
September 2006	21
September 2007	16
September 2008	12
September 2009	?





The Governors’ Proposals

4. The Governors of both schools asked officers to explore the possibility of building on the excellence of provision at Marlborough School but recognising that there is a much reduced need for solely PD provision and no longer a need for a separate school.
5. They share a vision of one inclusive mainstream secondary school at Woodstock that continues to offer:

• An excellent education to all its pupils, irrespective of any special educational needs
• The continuation of provision for children with physical disabilities using the excellent facilities and staff expertise currently on the Marlborough School site
• Opportunities for children with a wider range of special educational needs to access specialist provision on the site
• The continuation of a specialist service to provide guidance and support to all Oxfordshire schools on appropriate provision for children with physical disabilities

6. Officers recognised the need to:

• Continue to make specialist provision for a small number of secondary age pupils with physical disabilities, where their needs and the wishes of their parents are not best provided for in their local schools.
• Continue to offer to all schools a specialist service to support pupils with physical disabilities.
• Improve specialist provision in the west of the County for a small number of pupils with Communication & Interaction Difficulties (which includes children on the autistic spectrum).
• Ensure that there is no reduction in the quality of education for all children at The Marlborough School.
• Ensure that funds and expertise are made available to protect and enhance the provision for pupils at The Marlborough School.

Consultation

7. A working group, including the head and governors from both schools and officers, explored the possible options for the future and consulted widely on two proposals. The consultation included governors, parents, unions and all Oxfordshire schools. A copy of the consultation paper has been placed in the Members’ Resource Centre. The options were:

• Continue with existing successful inclusive arrangements for The Marlborough and Ormerod Schools.
• Reduce staffing and expenditure in line with the likely fall in pupil numbers.
• If pupil numbers fall as expected, decide when to close Ormerod School.

• Maintain the existing educational provision for all Ormerod School pupils currently on The Marlborough School site but not as part of a separate school.
• Enhance the specialist SEN provision on The Marlborough School site to include a small number of pupils with Communication and Interaction Difficulties, as part of the network of SEN Bases, managed by the Oxfordshire SEN Support Services (SENSS).
• Plan for the closure of Ormerod School, as a separate special school, on the 31 August 2007 and replace it with an SEN Base using the existing facilities.
• Fund all of the SEN provision required by pupils in the Base through SENSS and not from The Marlborough School’s delegated budget.
• Continue the inclusive and effective curricular, social and managerial arrangements whereby pupils are, according to their needs and abilities, offered a combination of mainstream and specialist support on The Marlborough School site.
• Make admissions arrangements which comply with the requirements of the SEN and Disability Discrimination Act and the SEN Code of Practice for pupils with Statements of SEN and which include consultation on each admission with the Headteacher and Governors of The Marlborough School.
• Continue to support Foundation Stage children with Physical Disabilities through the PD Service and by appropriate provision in local mainstream and special schools.
• Offer posts within SENSS to all current Ormerod staff who wish to transfer and to offer appropriate training and support to facilitate this.
• Release the Ormerod School site at Headington for other educational provision as yet to be determined.
• Continue to provide specialist advice and support to all Oxfordshire schools and parents through the PD Support Service (which would continue to be centrally funded and managed by the Oxfordshire SENSS).

8. The results of the consultation are set out in Annex 1 (download as .xls file) but, in summary, 93% of responses favoured option 2.
   
   (Annex 2 - download as. doc file)
9. There was a small but significant negative response from the parents of the 10 children who attend the Ormerod nursery on the Headington site. As a result further work on more detailed proposals was carried out and a group, including two parent representatives, agreed a model of working which offers continued access to specialist early years provision, as now, but delivered locally rather than at great distance for many parents. This more detailed model was the subject of further consultation with the parents of children under 5 and met with unanimous support.
10. It is envisaged that provision will continue to be made for Early Years children on the Headington site using existing staff and facilities but through the SENSS. Work will be carried out during 2006/07 to explore the opportunities for creating group provision elsewhere in the County, in existing accommodation, as and when numbers justify this. For example, while it is likely that the city area will always generate sufficient children who would benefit from an intensive group provision, it may be that groups could also operate in other towns, possibly in children’s centres or nurseries.

Next Steps

11. To achieve the aims of the Governors and the great majority of those consulted (as set out in option 2 above) the following is required:

• Publication of Notices describing the proposed closure of Ormerod School and the arrangements for children currently on roll.
• In the event of objections, consultation with, and approval of, the Schools Organisation Committee.
• Agreement of the Cabinet to transfer funding, currently allocated to Ormerod School through the scheme of delegation, into SENSS, to allow for the continued provision of facilities at the Marlborough School and elsewhere.

12. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

1. approve the issuing of Public Notices setting out the proposals outlined in option 2 of the consultation and subject to no objections being received authorise the Director for Children, Young People & Families to implement the proposals; and
2. agree to the transfer of the existing budget from Ormerod to SENSS from September 2007.

KEITH BARTLEY
Director for Children, Young People & Families

Background Papers: Ormerod School A Consultation May 2006

Contact Officer: Simon Adams, Assistant Head of Service, Children & Young People. Tel: 01865 810602

October 2006

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