Archived decisions

Hampshire County Council comments on representations received regarding the proposal to discontinue Pinewood Infant School, and to establish resourced provision for children with speech, language and communication needs at Southwood Infant School

Walking routes.

There are a number of alternative walking routes available to parents to the proposed redesignated catchment school - Manor Infant School (see appendix 2). Appendix 2 consists of a map as well as a report of an inspection of some of those routes carried out by the County Council's Passenger Transport Operations Manager. Whilst the journey for parents and children may be longer than the current journey, such distances are not dissimilar to those experienced by many infant aged children across the county. With regard to the safety of the routes inspected, the Passenger Transport Operations Manager concludes that they are comparable to many other routes which children and parents presently walk to schools in other urban areas across the county.

Traffic congestion

A number of respondents have concluded that the closure of Pinewood Infant School will result in traffic congestion in the area as more parents elect to use cars to transport children to alternative schools. Walking distances and routes from Pinewood Infant School to Manor Infant School are deemed to be reasonable and safe. Manor Infant School has produced a school travel plan and will no doubt want to augment this if its catchment area is to expand, with the intention of negating potential increase of car use for school journeys.

Logistics of dropping/collecting children

It is right that parents should raise concerns about the practical issues they might encounter when faced with dropping off and collecting children from differently located schools and pre-school provision. If Pinewood Infant School is to close in two years time the Local Education Authority will want to work with headteachers, governing bodies and pre-school providers in devising strategies to minimise such issues. As a starting point the LEA will wish to consider the present start and finish times of the educational settings with a view to arriving at appropriately staggered start and finish times. Consideration will also be given to the present arrangement of breakfast and after school clubs.

Pinewood Infant School is in relative close proximity to its linked junior school at Guillemont. The other two feeder infant schools to Guillemont Junior School - Southwood Infant and Parsonage Farm Infant Schools are 1.6 miles and 0.7 miles distant from Guillemont Junior School. Journeys from both these schools necessitate the crossing of the M3 motorway with the journey from Southwood Infant School to Guillemont Junior School also involving the negotiation of a railway line.

Pre-school/community provision

It is the intention of the County Council that the Pinewood Family Group pre-school should continue to operate within its current premises. Support and advice regarding the management arrangements will be offered from the County Council's Early Education and Childcare Unit. At present the premises occupied by the pre-school also accommodate reception age children. In the event of Pinewood Infant School's closure there will be space for additional provision, for example the mother and toddler group. Many pre-schools in the county operate successfully from non school sites. Manor Infant School will be keen to develop links with the Pinewood Family Group pre-school, in keeping with those already forged with other feeder pre-schools, thereby ensuring continuity of educational provision for children throughout the foundation stage, and facilitating a smooth transition from pre to infant school.

During the consultation meetings the Leader of Rushmoor Borough Council raised the possibility of the borough council being able to offer financial support for additional community provision on the Pinewood Infant School site. Respondents refer to the need for a senior citizens meeting facility; health facilities and youth provision. As well as retaining facilities for early years provision on the existing site the County Council would want to explore the opportunities, in partnership with Rushmoor Borough Council and appropriate agencies, for further development of community provision on the Pinewood Infant School site.

Guillemont Junior School

Pinewood Infant School's present catchment area will remain linked to Guillemont Junior School. As such Guillemont will continue to be linked with Southwood Infant School and Parsonage Farm Infant School, and a new link with Manor Infant School will be established. It may be that the attendance of their child at Manor Infant School would result in some parents expressing a preference for a junior school other than their designated catchment school. Whilst this could impact on pupil numbers at Guillemont Junior, the school would continue to be a viable junior school serving the Pinewood Park community.

Forecast pupil numbers/housing developments

Forecast pupil numbers for schools take into account all new housing for which planning has been approved, and are based upon "Small Area Population Forecasts" which predict the number of four year olds in an area. Regular meetings take place between Hampshire County Council officers and planning officers at Rushmoor Borough Council to ensure up to date information. The last such meeting took place on 4 August 2004 and confirmed the accuracy of the forecast pupil numbers set out in Table 3 of the paper to the County Council's Education Policy Review Committee on 11 May 2004.

Future use of the Pinewood Infant School site in the event of the school's closure has yet to be determined. As mentioned above it is the County Council's intention that the pre-school would continue to operate in its present premises, and that opportunities are explored, in partnership with Rushmoor Borough Council and other agencies, to develop community provision on the site. In the event of any of the site being declared redundant and subsequent development of the site, there would be sufficient capacity within designated schools to accommodate any additional children which may result.

Resourced Provision for Children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN)

The County Council has considered very carefully the impact which the relocation of the SLCN provision will have on children and staff. It is proposed that this north west Farnborough area provision will move to Southwood Infant School for a variety of reasons. On a purely pragmatic basis Southwood Infant School has the capacity to accommodate this provision given its present and forecast numbers on roll. However, more importantly, the school, like Pinewood Infant School, is a feeder school to Guillemont Junior School which houses SLCN provision for junior aged children. As such there are already established links between the two schools which will serve to facilitate the ease of transition from infant to junior school for children with SLCN, including the maintenance of established peer groups. Most importantly of all is Southwood Infant School's willingness and commitment to embrace this specialist provision, and it is interesting to note that one of the respondents (see letter 42, second bullet point) refers to the similarity in Southwood Infant and Pinewood Infant School's ethos.

The County Council acknowledges the high quality provision which Pinewood Infant School presently offers to children with SLCN. This is in no small part due to the expertise and dedication of specialist and whole school staff, coupled with the highly inclusive environment within which the school operates. The proposed transfer would not occur until September 2006, prior to which capital investment would be made at Southwood Infant School to provide the appropriate environment to facilitate the learning and teaching of children with speech, language and communication needs (see section 8b of the prescribed information relating to Southwood Infant School). Training would be put in place to ensure that staff were in a good position to meet the needs of children with SLCN. It is also possible that the specialist staff from Pinewood Infant School could be employed by Southwood Infant School.

Quality of education at the proposed transfer schools

Section 8 of the prescribed information pertaining to the closure of Pinewood Infant School, and appendix 2 of the County Council's report to its Education Policy Review Committee of 11 May 2004, contain details regarding the quality of education at Manor and Southwood Infant schools.