Agenda item

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport seeking approval for a limit on pupil intakes to certain secondary and primary schools.  The report advised that it was necessary to limit pupil numbers through roll capping to certain secondary schools which could otherwise exceed capacity, while taking into account the rights of the Education Authority to reserve a number of places for incoming families to the area and to refuse placing requests for children who lived outwith the area zoned to a particular school if the school was full to capacity.  The report sought approval to limit the S1 intake in session 2010/2011 for Aberdeen Grammar School, Cults Academy, Harlaw Academy and Oldmachar Academy.

It was noted that previously only a small number of primary schools had previously required to be roll capped, however due to the increasing demand for places in certain schools, the Council’s decision to reduce class sizes to a maximum of 18 pupils in all primary 1 classes in schools within areas of deprivation would need to be determined by the ability of each school to accommodate the increase in classes.  It was proposed to retain a maximum of 25 pupils for all other Primary 1 classes.  The report advised that this could mean that some schools would have to reserve places for pupils who might move in zone during the school year.  The report then listed the 10 primary schools which could potentially be affected in this manner:-

Manor Park School

Bramble Brae School

Riverbank School

Tullos School

Kittybrewster School

Seaton School

Walker Road School

Woodside School

Heathryburn School and

St Peter's RC School

The decision to cap a primary school would be based on the number of primary classes a school could accommodate, rather than the number of pupils, and would be related to the optimum class configuration which had to be adopted by schools.

The report advised that it could be necessary to employ staff on a fixed term basis until pupil figures were confirmed at the start of the new school session.  This would ensure that the numbers of excess staff could be kept to a minimum.

The report recommended:-

(a)       that the Committee agree the following limits upon the S1 intakes of the following secondary schools:

Aberdeen Grammar School            210

Cults Academy                                  180

Harlaw Academy                               180

Oldmachar Academy                        180;

(b)       that the Committee agree that it might be necessary to cap a number of primary schools to accommodate any class size reductions in Primary 1- 3 to conform to class size regulations and local policy, noting that the schools in question could only be identified once class configurations had been established;

(c)        that the Committee agree the reservation of spaces in the above-named secondary schools and identified primary schools as appropriate, within the powers given to Local Authorities by the Standards in Scotland’s Schools Etc. Act 2000; and

(d)       that the Committee require the Schools and Children’s Service Managers to closely monitor the number of pupils transferring to the identified capped schools in August, 2010, relative to the roll limits being recommended.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to instruct officers to circulate roll forecasts for St Machar Academy to all Committee members; and

(ii)        to approve the recommendations contained in the report.