Dengie School Allocation Action Group

05/06/2023

FILLING THE FORM IN WRONG DOES NOT ON ITS OWN PRECLUDE PAYMENT OF TRANSPORT COST BEING THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ECC !
“This is statutory guidance from the Department for Education. This means local authorities are under a duty to have regard to it when carrying out their duties in relation to home to school travel and transport, and sustainable travel.”

The guidance sets out the need for councils to look at the availability of places when considering the nearest suitable school. It explains that this will normally be when places are allocated. It says: “[the] nearest suitable school... is... taken to mean the nearest qualifying school with places available.”
It also says: “At the point when transport eligibility is considered, the prospect of being able to secure a place in an alternative (usually nearer) school must be a real one. For most cases this will be during the normal school admissions round when places are allocated”.
https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/education/school-transport/21-009-402?fbclid=IwAR0fb3mP1ZhDoFvMHbDszNtss0o8oLNJVjPw2cnmVMtEJhdCJrSPnaqEuUk

Essex County Council (21 009 402) Category : Education > School transport Decision : Upheld Decision date : 19 Jul 2022 The complaint The Ombudsman’s role and powers How I considered this complaint What I found Agreed action Final decision The Ombudsman's final decision: Summary: Mr Y complains ab...

24/04/2023

For anyone that has had transport refused by Essex County Council perhaps in the appeal include the following to this address. [email protected].
1. LGO advice is that you first follow the ECC Transport Appeal
Process before they can consider the decision.
2. The fact that you had to put schools in order of distance is not
made clear when you complete the admission documentation
because it is a sub-section not necessarily relevant at that time.
It was your understanding that Transport would be provided
unless you chose a school farther away than the nearest one.
It wasn't until you had been advised of the school allocated that
transport cost became relevant to you !
3. ECC have to demonstrate that a place would have been available
at for example Plume if the you had put it down second
choice.
The authority have to tell you what the criteria the last place
offered was.
You should request this in relation to your application. So ask
what you would have been ranked under ie Plumes admission
criteria, the distance ‘as the crow flies’ from your house to Plume
and the last criteria and distance a place was offered by Plume. !
4. Also list down any other reasons you feel appropriate that may
influence the decision !
5. Make your MP and County Councillor aware so that they are
kept abreast with issues relating to ECC policies !
https://www.lgo.org.uk/.../fac.../education/school-transport

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01/03/2023

Template for writing an appeal against your child's offered secondary school place.

01/03/2023

The Census data for Maldon would suggest the District will not do so well 😞
There are 290 children leaving year 6 Primary Schools in the Dengie area vs 210 places at Ormiston River Acadamy !!!
Including William de Ferrers even the ECC forecast indicates a deficiency of 65 on top of 13 at Plume !!
https://www.maldonandburnhamstandard.co.uk/news/23354433.many-people-offered-top-school-essex/?fbclid=IwAR20b-RYbEb3mU50AJPnZG8ingDO_y_dUocg04Ve1fm5tOqjNdi5v3HxvH8

Essex County Council has informed families of its decisions today

01/03/2023

Please let us know how you get on it could be a difficult placement year within the District 🥹

1 March 2023 National offer day
Essex County Council send offer notifications to Essex
resident applicants
29 March 2023 Deadline for lodging appeals to be heard before
summer holidays
March 2023 – 31 August 2023 Waiting lists maintained by the LA and vacant places allocated
April – July 2023 Appeals held

01/02/2023

So the decision is to be deferred to MDC Corporate Leadership as yet no response from ECC re Education.
Taken from ECC website Census data with how many Primary children on roll and the number of places at ORA required for year 7 entry .
2023/24 290 80 short
2024/25 279 69 short
2025/26 261 51 short
2026/27 283 73 short
2027/28 271 61 short
On top of this aready in the next 5 years there are 482 houses planned to be built in the Priority Admission Area of Ormiston River Acadamy ( MDC data ) ?

Plans have been submitted for development in Burnham.

16/12/2022

Looks like a major setback for the Althorne proposal ...
An extract from the ECC Education response as statutory consultees

If Maldon Council is minded to approve the proposed development, ECC would be forced to approach the DfE to plead special circumstances to address the unplanned housing growth needs and request their support to deliver a new 1fe primary school in this location. In the unlikely scenario that they are able to support this financially, the developer will be required to provide financial contributions (see next paragraph) and 2.1ha of land (which would cover a collocated EYCC facility too). This would be sub prime, and could undermine Latchingdon Primary’s viability and/or cause a significant impact on the local road network in relation to school drop off traffic. It is suggested that this impact would need to be modelled and considered in detail by ECC and Maldon given the local road network and expectations of local communities.

In responding to the Maldon District Local Development Plan Review – Issues and Options consultation (January 2022) Essex County Council did not support any of the seven `Growth Options’ and instead consider the preferred strategy will be a `hybrid’ arising from those options. It was too early for ECC to provide detailed comments on the impacts, opportunities, and requirements for the full range of ECC infrastructure and services, because the ‘Growth Options’ did not provide any details on overall scale; the location of growth by Town/Village or specific site allocations. Consequently, no individual or cumulative assessments of growth on ECC services could be undertaken to identify infrastructure requirements, any mitigation and how they will be funded and when they will need to be delivered.
Consequently, no individual or cumulative assessments of growth on ECC services could be undertaken to identify infrastructure requirements, any mitigation and how they will be funded and when they will need to be delivered. The Issues and Options consultation is the starting point in the in review process, and ECC will be working with MDC to refine the infrastructure and service
requirements as the growth options are refined using the ECC Developers’ Guide to Infrastructure Contributions (2020), where appropriate. Consequently, ECC would prefer to consider growth at Althorne, and any other development at this scale (including
neighbouring authorities), within the context of the Local Plan Preferred Strategy in order that the cumulative impact of growth and infrastructure requirements regarding our statutory roles and responsibilities can be appropriately assessed.

https://cdp.maldon.gov.uk/civica/Resource/Civica/Handler.ashx/Doc/pagestream?cd=inline&pdf=true&docno=2041158

14/12/2022

A really good report by ECC Officers in the People and Families Policy and Scrutiny Committee Wednesday, 14 December 2022
with regard to provision of Early years especially the growing demand for Special Education Needs.
It appears that there is a growing trend with regards to pay in these sectors 🙁
The sector are telling us that the government funding levels being paid are not covering the cost of them providing the funded place. The funded entitlement hourly rates were increased from 1 April 2022 by the biggest increase seen for many years, but the early years sector is telling us that, whilst the increases were welcome, it only helped to narrow the financial deficits and did not close the gap.
On top of this, the recruitment and retention of qualified early years practitioners is continuing to be an issue, with staff often exiting the early years sector into unskilled roles, such as
factories and supermarkets where the pay is higher or into roles that have less responsibility.
The sector is telling us that job vacancies are often not attracting a single application. This in turn is leading to either a reduction in available places for children or in some cases settings to take the decision to close

03/12/2022

From a Five Year Housing Land Supply perspective this is beneficial.
However because of the position taken by Corporate Leadership in MDC it was not expected.
This being the case it was not expected by ECC with regard to provision of school places as they are advised what to expect by MDC.
This will now require urgent attention by ECC as it will generate additional unexpected demand for school places within the next 5 years.
If we consider another phase of between 300-350 is expected but not forecast in reporting ... the number could rise to 172 extra places required at Plume in the next 5 years 😒
https://maldon.nub.news/news/local-news/heybridge-homes-plan-once-branded-terrible-gets-approval-by-councillors-161569?fbclid=IwAR1ESDiBiBZ6Dgpdx6K_MKeQymVqR47QP_Y1Ia9WaiE7UZb83HqqKOIFrp0

Plans for hundreds of homes previously branded as “terrible” by councillors have now been approved after developers cut the height of a block of flats.

23/10/2022

Lots of talk about Housebuilding and Local Development Plans

National Planning Policy Framework ( the planning bible ) paragraph 95 states the following
It is important that a sufficient choice of school places is available to meet the needs of existing and new communities. Local planning authorities should take a proactive, positive and collaborative approach to meeting this requirement, and to development that will widen choice in education.

May we have your thoughts please to collate together for decision makers ?

23/10/2022

Free school transport may be the responsibility of ECC to provide even if you are within the statutory distances of 2 miles for Primary or 3 miles for Secondary school.
The distance measurement should be safe walking route ... not
driving or as the crow flies !!
ECC policy cannot overide this ... If you believe this is the case you should ask ECC to do an assessment and for it to be provided to you ! [email protected]

Government guidance :
Children of compulsory school age qualify for free school transport if they go to their nearest suitable school and any of the following apply:
there’s no safe walking route between their home and school

https://www.gov.uk/free-school-transport