Allerton grange governing body response to consultation v3

Allerton Grange School Talbot Avenue Leeds LS17 6SF Headteacher: Mr M Roper Tel: 0113 393 0304 Email: agadmin@allertongrange.com www.allertongrange.com Allerton Grange School @Allerton_Grange

25th November 2017

Dear Councillor Mulherin Consultation Response from the Governing Body of Allerton Grange School This letter is in response to the proposed merger of Moor Allerton Hall Primary School and Allerton Grange School and the subsequent expansion of the primary provision of the new through school to four form entry.

As a governing body we are in favour of the proposal. However, we have a number of points which, we feel, need to be considered as part of the consultation process, in order to ensure that a good, long term, positive solution is reached.

1. Timescales We believe that the suggested timescale for implementation of this proposal, i.e. by September 2018, is not achievable. We strongly believe that this project can only be a success if the implementation is done with due care and concern, placing the culture and ethos of the new school at the heart of all decision-making.

We believe that September 2019 would be a more realistic implementation date. This is partly to allow more time to deal with any planning and construction issues that will inevitably arise after the consultation but, primarily, to ensure that the correct groundwork required to reconstitute the governing body and fully engage the Moor Allerton Hall stakeholders with us can be done. This is essential to ensure that this is truly a joint venture between the two schools and not something forced upon the governing body or parents and children of Moor Allerton Hall school.

We, like Leeds City Council, want to ensure that the excellent progress being made at Allerton Grange, since Mike Roper's arrival, continues. The Senior Leadership Team want to ensure that, in a joint approach with the Moor Allerton Hall team, the standards, quality and ethos can be instilled and embedded into the newlydeveloped Through School, as that is what will allow it to be a long term positive solution.

We would, therefore, request that consideration is given to moving the full implementation date back to September 2019.

2. Primary Provision in the existing CLC building.

In our view, the CLC building must be remodelled in some way to ensure that it contains full provision for whichever section of the primary phase is eventually housed there. This must include dining facilities and space where all the children on site can gather for events such as assemblies and indoor PE. We cannot support any proposal which contains an assumption that dining or other essential facilities used on a daily basis will be provided within the secondary school building.

There must be adequate outdoor space provided around the CLC building but we do not foresee this as an issue. However, we do want to be assured that any of the current facilities that are impacted (such as our tennis courts) will be replicated in another suitable area of our grounds.

We are also in favour of a link (such as a covered walkway) being provided between the two primary sites.

We believe that this will be required to facilitate the movement of children and staff between the two sites, when required. This will also enable parents with children at both primary sites to transition between those sites to drop off and collect their children.

3. Issues with increased traffic volume There will, undoubtedly, be an increased volume of traffic if the primary phase is extended to four forms of entry. We believe it is essential that some measures are implemented to ensure the safety of all children, parents, staff and other members of the public in the surrounding area.

We envisage that this will include, but not be limited to, such measures as the provision of light controlled pedestrian crossings on Lidgett Lane; investigation into enhancing current drop off points; investigation into remodelling some of the current road junctions to improve traffic flow; investigation into adding laybys at the bus stops on Lidgett lane to aid traffic flow.

We would also support the provision of a school bus (if this is possible) to counter act traffic and we would like to see investment to promote other methods of travelling to school safely, such as a cycle track or enhanced crossings further away from the schools if required.

We would also like to see whether additional pedestrian entrances into the primary site can be safely provided, possibly from the footpath across Allerton Grange Fields, to alleviate congestion at existing entrances.

4. Impact on school improvement As a governing body, we feel that the input required from the leadership of both schools to this merger and expansion could be detrimental to the ongoing improvement work which is key in both schools.

We have faith in our school leadership team, but recognise that additional work will be the inevitable short term consequence of this merger. We believe that this can be mitigated by allowing a longer lead in time.

What we would suggest in this instance is to agree, in principle, to the merger and expansion but set the start date to be September 2019 at the earliest, and support the provision of a second bulge cohort at Moor

Allerton Hall which will eventually become one of the forms of the new through school. We believe that this would be in the best interests of both schools and would also allow more time for essential planning and preparation.

5. Sixth Form Over the last year we have been investigating whether the existing CLC building could be made available to the school to enhance our sixth form provision. This is something that we still wish to follow up and we would need some consideration given to ways of enhancing our sixth form provision without the use of that facility.

Yours sincerely

Allerton Grange School Board of Governors