Cllr Cooper-Marbiah, Cabinet Member for Education, provided members with an update, highlighting the following:

·         Harris Wimbledon: a number of obstacles that were prohibiting the development have now been cleared allowing for the site for the new school to be cleared.  (The Secretary of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport ruled against listing Merton Hall and the Judicial Review of the planning consent for the hall was therefore withdrawn.);

·         Ofsted inspections: the pre-school at the Abbey Children’s Centre has retained its good judgement.  The implementation of a new inspection process will mean that the ratings of Merton’s schools are unlikely to change for the rest of the year: 100% of secondary schools are rated good or outstanding, 91% of all schools are rated as good or better and 93% of pupils are educated in schools rated good or better; and

·         Progress 8: according to this measure of progress achieved between starting and finishing secondary education across eight subjects, Merton’s schools are rated first in the country.

In response to member questions, the following clarification was provided:

·         The school improvement team provides focused support for those schools not judged to be good or outstanding (Liberty, Merton Abbey, Sacred Heart and Benedict).  It was noted that Liberty has received an interim inspection on which it received a good judgement and it is awaiting a full inspection;

·         It was noted that Benedict is already an academy and that currently there are no plans for any of the other schools that aren’t good or outstanding in Merton to become academies with all on a good trajectory for improvement.  All have support and challenge meetings with the involvement of the chair of school improvement board, frequent reviews and any concerns are raised with the Headteacher and/or governors;

·         Currently, there are no definitive plans for the use of Whatley Ave once Harris Wimbledon moves to its permanent site.  It is possible that there will be some phasing of the school move to the permanent site meaning Whatley Ave might be needed for three rather than two years.  However, it is clear that its further use won’t be determined by the CSF Department.  Rather this will be determined corporately as is the case for all surplus assets; and

·         The CSF Department has considered University Technical Colleges (UTC) in the past.  These are for young people aged 14+ and as with the experience of middle schools, their difficulty comes from pupils and parents being disinclined to move schools at points of their education other than primary and secondary transfer etc.  Taking young people out of secondary schools at this point can also undermine their ability to offer a broad and balanced curriculum.  Therefore, UTCs are not popular with other schools in their locality.  Merton is therefore disinclined to offer a UTC by itself but has discussed the possibility of offering a UTC in partnership with other boroughs.

Cllr Neep, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, was unable to attend the meeting but supplied a written update (which is available with the agenda).

In response to member questions, the following clarification was provided:

·         An offer has been made for the Director of Children, Schools and Families position.  Further information isn’t yet available because this offer is yet to be ratified.  As it is a statutory duty for the Council to have a Director in place, it will be for the Chief Executives to make suitable arrangements for any period between the current Director leaving and the appointee taking up their post.