Cranbury College, Significant Change Proposal for Consultation

Maiden Erlegh Trust proposes making a change to Cranbury College, our Alternative Provision academy based across two sites in Reading (College Road and Cranbury Road). This change is considered by the DfE to be a “significant change” and therefore we are formally consulting with stakeholders and partners.

The Trust is proposing that:

• Pupil place numbers in primary, Key stage 3 and 4 are reduced from 100 to 70 total places. This constitutes a suitable number for the school’s accommodation while allowing the school to fulfill its service level agreement with Local Authority partners.

• To remove the 32 post16 places as there is no demand for this provision.

These proposed changes will require amending the school’s supplementary funding agreement and DfE registration details.

Background and Rationale for the proposed change

Cranbury College is an Alternative Provision Academy (Pupil Referral Unit). The school joined Maiden Erlegh Trust in August 2020. Through Cranbury College, the Trust has entered into a Service Level Agreement with Brighter Futures for Children to provide up to 70 places across primary, Key stage 3 and 4 in order to meet the Local Authority’s statutory duty to provide alternative education provision for Reading resident pupils of compulsory school age who are unable to access or who are at risk of losing a school place as a result of permanent exclusion.

Within the SLA, Cranbury College also meets the education needs of pupils who are too unwell to attend school due to being hospitalised in the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

Beyond this core work, Cranbury offers outreach and behaviour support services to local schools and authorities.

The reason for the proposed change is that whilst the college has sufficient accommodation to meet the requirements of the Service Level Agreement, it does not have the capacity for 100 pupils (or 132 including post 16). The proposed change will align the size of the school with its accommodation and with the requirements of the SLA.

The size of the school also means that it cannot support an efficient curriculum offer for post-16 pupils.  Reading College, the main local FE provider is very effective in its provision for pupils and has historically been so for those who have moved on from Cranbury College at age 16. We, and our local Authority partners, are confident that the 32 post-16 places are not required to meet post-16 place sufficiency requirements in the Borough.  No post-16 places have been taken up in the last two years.

Maiden Erlegh Trust would appreciate your response to this proposal:

• • Do you support the proposed changes to Cranbury College outlined in this consultation?
  • Do you have any comments to make on the proposed changes?

We value your opinion so if you would like to feedback into this consultation, please complete the short survey which can be found: Cranbury College Consultation Survey or by scanning the QR code below.  The consultation will run from 3:00pm Friday 25^th October until 3:00pm Thursday 21^st November 2024.