'Statement of Intent' Proposal for a New Secondary School in Clare

Ms Rosalind Turner
Director for Children and Young People
Suffolk County Council
Endeavour House
8 Russell Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP1 2BX

Friday, 11 April 2008

Dear Ms Turner

Statement of Intent: Proposal for a New Secondary School in Clare

Background
The Government has stated that it wishes parents and their children to be at the heart of their schools system, so that the system as a whole is increasingly driven by parents and choice.

The Government also believes that all children should be able to attend an excellent local secondary school where aspirations are high, the quality of teaching is good and the children enjoy learning. With that in mind, the Government has passed legislation to give a range of groups the right to submit proposals for a new school whenever one is needed (DCSF guidance, 11/03/08).

Parent and Community Promoters
We are a group of parents and community representatives from the town of Clare and the surrounding area with a desire to create a new secondary school (11-16) in Clare, located on the current Clare Middle School site. Within the proposed reorganisation there will be a serious deficiency in choice and diversity in schools provision for our local children (ref. DCSF Guide to Local Authorities: Duty to Respond to Parental Representations about the Provision of Schools, p.6 (28)).

Our Vision
The new secondary school will provide a centre of excellence for students to gain confidence and expertise in the specialist area (specialism to be decided, in liaison with other local schools and to complement current provision within the area) at the centre of a broad-based curriculum. The students will learn to balance a healthy respect for family values and our community’s environment and heritage, with the insights, intelligence and innovation needed to ensure
that the area continues to compete in an increasingly technological, complex and global market. Above all, we seek to Open Minds to both their personal potential and the possibilities for our community under their leadership in theforeseeable future.

Our school will be at the heart of our community in all respects. As well as serving our students’ needs, our infrastructure will be designed to embrace lifelong learning beyond the compulsory education phase. Our college is committed to the provision of a secure, stimulating and inclusive environment in which all students are equally valued. Moreover, our warm and friendly atmosphere (building upon the current ethos and culture of Clare Middle School) and the confident, considerate, collaborative nature of our students will be key to our reputation and popularity with parents and members of the wider community.

We are keen to investigate the most appropriate category of school, be that a school with Trust status, a Foundation school, etc. We have already identified and approached a number of potential partners who are keen to collaborate with us. In order to be able to offer an inclusive curriculum for the 14-19 age range we intend to offer federated provision and delivery in conjunction with a number of educational partners in Suffolk and beyond.

Rural v Urban Schools
We believe that the new school would best serve the needs of our particular rural community and we would suggest that you should consider the needs of all communities, including ours, when planning the provision of schools places (ref. DCSF Guide to Local Authorities: Duty to Respond to Parental Representations about the Provision of Schools, p.4 (18)). This is further supported in the DCSF guidance (p.5 (23)) “Parents in rural and urban areas... have very different expectations of the choice of school available and there are complexities in meaningfully comparing the experience of parents in different areas.”

Local Authority Duties
As you will be aware, Section 13 of the Education Act 1996 establishes the high-level functions of the local authority in securing education for the area, which it should undertake with a view to promoting high standards and (as amended by the Education and Inspections Act 2006) the fulfilment of educational potential for every child and with a view to ensuring fair access to educational opportunity. Our proposal for a new secondary school in Clare will actively support this.

Proposal
It is our intention to submit a full and viable proposal for this new school, which we ask you to consider under your duty to secure diversity in the provision of schools and increase opportunities for parental choice (ref. Education and Inspections Act 2006, section 2 (a) and (b)). We can demonstrate strong parental and wider community support, and have identified a need for the school. To prepare a full proposal, however, we would request that you provide us with an appropriate level of support and guidance as outlined in the section “Consultancy, Support and Guidance” below.

Duty to Respond to Parental Representation
We trust you will respond formally to this parental representation in a proportionate way and within a reasonable timescale, as outlined in section 3 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, and we would certainly expect an initial response within four weeks (ref. DCSF Guide to Local Authorities: Duty to Respond to Parental Representations about the Provision of Schools, p.7 (34)).

Consultancy, Support and Guidance
Furthermore, could you please confirm that you will provide us with dedicated consultancy support to help us develop a concrete proposal (ref. DCSF Guide to Local Authorities: Duty to Respond to Parental Representations about the Provision of Schools, p.1 (4)). As we are submitting a proposal outside a competition, we would expect you to provide expert support and guidance to us as parent promoters to help us formulate our proposals (ref. DCSF Guide to Local Authorities: Duty to Respond to Parental Representations about the Provision of Schools, p.11 (45)).

Cross-Border Movements
Our plans incorporate a certain element of cross-border movement of pupils from the outlying villages in Essex for which Clare is the natural central conurbation. We would ask you to confirm that you will consider this when responding to our proposal and that you will actively explore the possibilities of collaborating with colleagues in Essex (ref. DCSF Guide to Local Authorities: Duty to Respond to Parental Representations about the Provision of Schools, p.2 (9)). We will be approaching Essex County Council with a similar Statement of Intent in due course.

Rural Schools
The Government recognises that local schools are at the heart of many rural communities and that closing a rural school can have effects well beyond the schooling of the children. Clare Middle School (deemed secondary) is classified as a “rural school”. As you will be aware, since 1998 there has been a “presumption against the closure of rural schools”. Advice provided to us by the DCSF suggests that “Clare (Middle) School is a rural school on edubase (but not on the list of designated rural schools as these are just primary). Nonetheless the presumption against closing a rural school still applies” (10/03/08). Our proposal would retain this rural school within the rural context; moreover, we are actively pursuing the possibility of the new school having a “rural dimension” alongside the chosen specialism.

Closure of a Maintained School
It is our understanding that the case for the closure of a school needs to be strong and clearly in the best interests of educational provision in the area. Closure can only be justified when all the parties agree, or when an alternative school can offer superior facilities (based on DCSF guidance, 17/03/08). Our proposal to locate the new school on the Clare Middle School site has strong cross-community support and would actively safeguard this educational resource within the rural context. Indeed, our proposal for the new school includes plans for a range of extended services, for use by children of all ages as well as members of the wider community.

We trust that you will be able to respond to the specific requests above and would ask you to please confirm receipt of this Statement of Intent within 5 working days. We would appreciate an initial response by Monday 21 April 2008, and an indication of who will be our dedicated contact at the Council in this particular case. We look forward to hearing from you and are happy to provide further details on request.

Yours sincerely



Jim Meikle
Chair, C.L.A.R.E
26 Hertford Road, Clare CO10 8QJ

The above statement is endorsed by:


Patrick Daniels
Chair, Clare Parish Council Secretary

John Collecott
Clare Society