Contact: George Heller, Deputy County Education Officer 01962 846518

Steve Clow, Head of Architecture 01962 847858

1 Summary

1.1 This report asks Members to consider a set of feasibility studies (attached as the appendix) on a site for the Winchester Early Years Centre prepared by the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services.

1.2 The feasibility studies refer to five County Council-owned sites in Winchester upon which detailed investigations have been made.

1.3 Members are asked to advise the Executive Member - Education on whether the site of Olivers Battery Primary School should be selected as the most appropriate for the development of the Winchester Early Years Centre.

2 Background to the Development of the Early Years Centre

2.1 Hampshire County Council is committed to the development of an Early Years Centre for the Winchester area as part of the learning difficulties reorganisation in Winchester and Eastleigh. A parallel Early Years Centre will be established on the Nightingale Primary School site in Eastleigh.

2.2 As part of the area's special schools reorganisation, two schools for pupils with severe learning difficulties (Greenacres in Winchester and Tankerville in Eastleigh) will close; Shepherds Down School in Compton will be extended and redeveloped to form a 4 to 11 primary school for pupils with complex learning difficulties. At the same time, Lankhills School in Winchester will be rebuilt to become a 11 to 16 secondary school for pupils with complex learning difficulties; there will also be 16 to 19 and residential provision.

2.3 The Winchester Early Years Centre will be formed from the amalgamation of Medecroft Opportunity Centre and the nursery at St Bede (C of E Controlled) Primary School in Winchester.

2.4 Members will be aware that Medecroft is a Beacon School with a national reputation for its outstanding provision for young children with special educational needs. In its Ofsted report the inspectors highlighted the urgent need to secure alternative and more suitable accommodation.

2.5 The Early Years Centre proposal constitutes a much-needed opportunity to provide modern facilities within an inclusive environment. The proposal would mean a very significant improvement of provision for these very young children.

2.6 Members will note from the feasibility studies report (A3) that the core scheme amounting to 820m² provides significantly more accommodation than the current accommodation at Medecroft (341m²) and St Bede nursery (117m²). Furthermore, accommodation in the proposed Early Excellence Centre (1160m²) would be even more substantial in area. In both instances, the quality of the accommodation would be far superior in a new building than is currently available.

3 Winchester Early Years Centre: Management Arrangements

3.1 A temporary governing body has been established to oversee all arrangements to do with the establishment of the Winchester Early Years Centre. Its first task is to make the appointment of a headteacher of Medecroft Opportunity Centre in the light of the current headteacher's retirement at Easter 2002; that person would then automatically become headteacher of the Winchester Early Years Centre when it opens.

3.2 The post was advertised on 7 December 2001 with interviews due to take place before the end of January 2002. Subject to a successful outcome to the interviews, a successor to the Medecroft Opportunity Centre headteacher would be able to take up the post at the beginning of the summer term 2002.

4 Early Excellence Centre Bid

4.1 The Winchester Early Years Centre will cater for 30 mainstream nursery-aged children and 25 children with special educational needs, the latter placed by the SEN service of the Education Department.

4.2 A bid has been made to the DfES (Department for Education and Skills) by the County Council for the Early Years Centre to be designated an Early Excellence Centre. That bid is currently under consideration by HMI (Her Majesty's Inspectorate). A successful outcome to this bid would provide capital funding for accommodation additional to that needed to progress the core scheme to which the County Council is committed. That would include facilities for working with families including parents of children under the age of 2; extended child development facilities and a training suite for early years workers in the area including parents. HMI have advised officers that grant in the range of £250,000 to £750,000 would be available.

4.3 HMI have also advised officers that a decision on the bid will not be made until the appointment of a headteacher has been made and a site for the Centre agreed. Decisions by the DfES on bids will be made in March and June 2002. A decision on the Winchester bid on either of these dates would be essential to being able to progress the scheme within the desired timescale. The urgency, therefore, of agreeing a site for the Early Years Centre is clear.

5 Site Selection

5.1 The feasibility studies undertaken by the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services focus upon 5 sites in Winchester:

· Stanmore Primary School

· Westgate Secondary School

· Henry Beaufort Secondary School

· Greenacres Special School

· Olivers Battery Primary School

5.2 The feasibility studies report focuses on how the Early Years Centre proposal would impact on each school site.

5.3 Where there are site constraints specific to a particular school site, these are commented upon in detail. Members will note constraints on all the schools' sites which impact most significantly at Stanmore, Westgate, Henry Beaufort and Greenacres.

5.4 At Stanmore the principal constraints relate to the site which is too small, with no room for future expansion; to inadequate areas for parking and to potential safety hazards in an entrance drive which would have to be shared by vehicles and children attending the primary school.

5.5 At Westgate Secondary School there are also issues to do with site restrictions and parking. Developing the early years project at Henry Beaufort Secondary School would compound the existing parking problems as well as involve significant additional costs in relocating hard play areas and providing a synthetic turf pitch. The school already suffers from a significant shortfall in the area standard for grassed playing fields.

5.6 The Greenacres site is too small to accommodate the Early Years Centre; there would be significant access problems which would affect traffic on the Andover Road. Of all the options available the new build option at Greenacres would be the most expensive allied to the fact that there would be no capital receipt from the sale of land.

5.7 At Olivers Battery the site is at least twice the size recommended by the DfES. It is, therefore, well sized to accommodate the proposed Early Years Centre. Whilst issues to do with traffic congestion, access and the need for the primary school and the proposed Early Years Centre to have staggered timings would need to be resolved, the Olivers Battery site offers the least difficulties of all the options and represents the preferred option. From the feasibility cost exercises undertaken, it is in the lower cost range and would appear to represent best value for money.

6 Consultations

6.1 Consultation meetings have taken place at Stanmore, Westgate, Henry Beaufort and Olivers Battery.

6.2 Governors at Stanmore Primary School argued strongly against the development of the Early Years Centre on their site and these arguments have been accepted. Consultation with the headteacher and chair of governors of Westgate Secondary School elicited very significant concerns about the effect of the development of an Early Years Centre on other developments taking place at Westgate, in particular the badminton facilities and the school's current nursery facility at Rotherly House.

6.3 Discussions have taken place with the headteacher of Henry Beaufort Secondary School where there are a number of significant site issues which militate against the development of this scheme there.

6.4 At an initial confidential briefing of the head and chair of governors of Olivers Battery Primary School last July, very significant concerns were expressed about the development of the Early Years Centre on that site. Officers from the Education and Property, Business and Regulatory Services Departments met the governors on 28 November 2001.

6.5 Following a two hour debate, the governors passed the following resolution:

"The governing body believes that the proposed Early Years Centre development will have a detrimental effect on Olivers Battery Primary School and on the quality of education it provides. Although appreciative of the need for provision of a SEN centre, the governors are convinced that the Olivers Battery site is inappropriate on account of its location and difficulty of access during school hours. Furthermore the governors are very concerned that the wider interests of the community have not been addressed. The governing body unanimously opposes the proposal."

6.6 Details of the consultation with the governors are in appendix 1.

6.7 The Executive Member, Education has indicated his willingness to meet governors who have concerns about the proposed way forward.

7 Capital Funding

7.1 The feasibility studies produced by the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services outline the projected capital costs of the scheme on each site.

7.2 It is proposed to meet the total cost of the core scheme from the sale of land and buildings in the County Council's ownership, since there is currently no provision from within the Capital Programme.

7.3 The sale of the Greenacres School site should generate a substantial contribution to the overall cost of the core scheme.

7.4 The brief for the Early Years Centre has evolved through discussion with the interested parties and represents a maximum preferred solution. As a result, a range of costs for both the preferred scheme (£2.1 - £2.7 million) and a smaller "core" scheme (1.5 - £2.0m) has been identified for all the sites. Since it is proposed to fund the project from available capital receipts allocated only to this scheme, the approach to the future development and scope will need to be tailored to projected funds available. As referred to in para 4.2, the County Education Officer is in consultation with the DfES about potential additional funds which, if successful, would allow enhancements over and above the core scheme towards the establishment of an Early Excellence Centre. These enhancements would be added on the basis of the additional funding available.

7.5 No allowance has been made for future tender price inflation in the costs given and this will need to be reviewed at the stage when the project is added to the Education Capital Programme.

8 The Way Forward

8.1 Members will appreciate the urgency of a preferred option being made as soon as possible and certainly by the end of January 2002.

8.2 It is inevitable that developing an Early Years Centre on any site in Winchester will involve significant constraints and, in many ways, the most practicable option may need to be considered as the way forward.

8.3 The site at Olivers Battery Primary School whilst acknowledging its constraints does offer a number of advantages:

· The site was originally intended to take a second (infant school) building

· The site is significantly in excess of the Primary School's requirements

· The site is of sufficient size to take the new Early Years Centre and allow for future growth

Recommendation

To advise the Executive Member, Education:

Whether the preferred option of the Olivers Battery Primary School site should in principle be selected for the proposed Early Years Centre development.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

N.B. the list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

Documents:

1. County Council Early Excellence Centre bid

2. County Council Early Years Development and Childcare Plan 2000/2001

3. Medecroft's Ofsted report

4. DfES letter confirming Medecroft as Beacon School

Appendix 1

Consultation Meeting with the Governors of Olivers Battery Primary School on 28 November 2001

14 governors were present.

Officers from the Education Department and from the Property, Business and Regulatory Services Department (architects) made a presentation to the governing body, focusing upon the County Council's commitment to the development of an Early Years Centre for Winchester, the bid to the DfES for the centre to be designated an Early Excellence Centre, and on a feasibility study which had been undertaken into the potential development of the centre on the Olivers Battery site.

Governors expressed a range of concerns about this potential development which can be grouped under the following headings:

Timing

Governors had been given insufficient time to reach conclusions. There were questions as to when the feasibility studies had begun to be undertaken and when the County Council's vision for this centre had originally been conceived.

Traffic/Access

Governors highlighted what they saw as major implications for traffic management in the area. The surrounding area was already subject to significant traffic bottlenecks. Development of the centre as an all day facility to include drop in and training would generate even more traffic, exacerbating an already difficult situation. Local people would object; the site was too small and children's education would be disrupted.

Pre-School

Development of the centre would have an adverse effect on the pre-school at Olivers Battery. There was concern as to where the mainstream nursery children in the proposed centre would come from. This should be seen in the context of the nursery roll at St Bede Primary School having fallen this term. The new centre would not complement the school's pre-school provision; on the contrary it would detract from it.

Other Sites

Governors suggested that other sites be investigated, for example on Bereweeke Road, Western Primary School and Chilbolton Avenue. There were a number of questions as to why the centre could not be developed on the Greenacres site.

A suggestion was made that the new centre be built as part of the Barton Farm development.

Co-location of School and Early Years Centre

Officers had explained the need for there to be staggered timings for the two establishments so that traffic and access issues could be sensibly managed. Governors expressed concern at the possible implications for their school.

Olivers Battery Site

There was concern that development of the centre would result in significant loss of playing area for the pupils and in a reduction in opportunities for physical education. If new housing were to be developed on land near to the school, the school would have to be extended and the development of the centre would make this problematic.

Educational Standards

Governors saw no benefit to the school from the proposed development. On the contrary, they felt that standards would fall. The school would be "altered"; the centre would have a negative impact and would constitute a "spanner in the works". The school might find it difficult to recruit staff. In summary the centre would cause antagonism and resentment.

Value for Money

Governors did not consider that this constituted a sensible expenditure of over £2 million on a site acknowledged not to be ideal.

Consultations

There were questions about decision-making processes and whether the local parish council would be consulted.

Resolution of the Governing Body

Following a two hour debate, the governors passed the following resolution:

"The governing body believes that the proposed Early Years Centre development will have a detrimental effect on Olivers Battery Primary School and on the quality of education it provides. Although appreciative of the need for provision of a SEN centre, the governors are convinced that the Olivers Battery site is inappropriate on account of its location and difficulty of access during school hours. Furthermore the governors are very concerned that the wider interests of the community have not been addressed. The governing body unanimously opposes the proposal."