Consultation
We are seeking views on a proposal to change our school nursery from a nursery class to a Governor-led community provision under Section 27 community facility powers. We are one of several schools in Solihull proposing to make this change.
Why Change?
The proposed change at our School is related to changes at national level, with many families now entitled to 30 hours per week of funded early education, instead of the 15 hours per week they were previously entitled to and the introduction of funded places for eligible 2 year-olds.
This proposal recognises that many working parents require early years places to be delivered in a much more flexible manner than the traditional nursery class can provide, alongside creating a more financially viable delivery model that can adapt to meet differing demands in an efficient way.
There will be no material change to the school’s operation – both school and nursery will continue to be governed by the same board and led by the same head teacher and staff. There will be no changes to the accommodation, and early years children will continue to attend their sessions where they do now. However, this change will mean that the governing body can make their early years offer more flexible in future years, ensuring that it continues to meet the needs of parents and provides a sustainable and affordable early years offer at our school through the flexibility of the levels of qualifications for some staffing.
However, quality will always be at the heart of our early education offer and our nursery will continue to be subject to Ofsted inspection in the same way as it is now.
What change is proposed?
In order to do this, we will need to change the age range of our school from 2 to 11 to 4 to 11 therefore removing the nursery provision at the school and replacing it with a governor led community nursery provision. As a community school the decision on whether to approve an age range change sits with the Council and will reflect a common structure of nursery provision used by schools nationally.
Any proposed changes to the age range of a community school must be carried out in accordance with the Statutory Guidance issued by the Department for Education and requires governing bodies and councils to work together to carry out a period of consultation on the proposal with parents, any affected educational institutions in the area and other interested parties.
All views submitted as part of this consultation process will be considered by the Governing Body of our school and the Council before a final decision is made.
How do I make my views known?
Please tell us what you think about this proposal, ask any questions or raise any concerns. You can do this by emailing office@monkspath.solihull.sch.uk by Friday 21st November.