Agenda item

Ian Pearson introduced the report (Item 11), which aimed to update Members of the group on the establishment of the iCollege and the current situation and proposals for the future. Ian Pearson clarified that the report considered pupil places and accommodation.

The re-organisation of the service had reduced the number of sites from six down to four, which had reduced costs and the number of places available. There were now 66 places in total.

An issue had arisen which was detailed under sections 4.2 and 4.3 of the report. Ian Pearson explained that when the number of places was reduced to 66 it was anticipated that these places would be filled by children out of mainstream provision and not children with SEND or/and EHC. However, it had become apparent that iCollege was suitable for SEND/EHC children, partially due to a gap in specialist support for these children locally, as a number of settings had closed or failed Ofsted inspections. As a result places at iCollege had filled very quickly. The proposal to remediate the problem was to create six additional places, which would increase the overall number of places at iCollege to 72 and increase access to mainstream pupils.

Ian Pearson reported that the other sections of the report detailed issues with the iCollege sites. One of the iCollege sites was located in temporary buildings (Badgers Hill, Calcot), which were old and no longer fit for purpose and therefore needed to be removed and rebuilt. An options appraisal had been conducted and the conclusion was that the provision should be rebuilt on the existing site. Funding for this was already in the capital budget.

Updates on that proposal had been considered by the Heads’ Funding Group and was for the Schools’ Forum’s for information only as it formed an important part of the High Needs Block. Further information would be brought back to future meetings of the Schools’ Forum in due course.

RESOLVED that the Schools’ Forum noted the report.