Consultation

Consultation to lower the age range of Egerton Primary School

 

Introduction

 

The Trustees of the Learning Partnership and the Governing Body of Egerton Primary School are consulting on a proposal to lower the age range of Egerton Primary School, from 4 to 11 years old, to 2 to 11 years old, in order to provide pre-school provision within the school from April 2024.

 

This document outlines the consultation process and timescales for lowering the school’s age range in order to welcome a pre-school provision and invites you to submit your views.

 

Background

 

Egerton Primary School is a one-form entry primary school in Cheshire East. It was rated ‘Good’ by OFSTED in its last inspection in January 2023. Egerton Pre School is also rated as “Good” by Ofsted- February 2019.

 

Egerton Pre-School Management Committee have been operating a successful pre-school on the school site for thirty years. Egerton Pre-School is run by a charity and is currently completely independent of Egerton Primary School. Egerton Pre-School wish to merge with the school. Egerton-Pre School’s Trustees and Egerton Primary School’s trustees and governors have come to a consensus that it would be beneficial to the children to develop an early year’s unit within the primary School. To do this Egerton Primary School must consult to lower their age range from 4-11 to 2-11 years.

 

The Proposal

 

The Trustees and School’s Governing Body are proposing to lower the age range of Egerton Primary School to enable the school to provide early years’ entitlement places for 2, 3 and 4 year olds. This new pre-school provision will be led and managed by the school and the governing body. The management of the school are confident that, it has sufficient capacity and resources to develop an early year’s provision. The pre-school will be operated from the existing building that is currently used by Egerton Pre-School on the primary school’s land.

 

The children in the pre-school will become pupils of the school and continue to be taught by suitably qualified staff who will deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

 

This proposal would deliver the capacity for 30 pre-school children in each sitting, in its first year.

 

Why are we proposing to change the age range of Egerton Primary School?

 

At the moment, children joining the school in Reception are coming from a range of nursery and pre-school settings. This means children are arriving with a wide variation of development and school readiness levels. By having our own pre-school, we will be able to ensure consistently high standards of early year’s provision for our pre-school children, which will help to enable a smooth transition for the many children from our pre-school, who may then go on to join our Reception class.

 

Additionally, the expansion of early education and childcare for working parents of two year olds, commencing in April 2024, is likely to increase the demand on places from working families within the Knutsford area. Therefore, it is necessary for Egerton Primary School to lower its age range to meet the current and future demand for early education and childcare in the local area.

 

Educational Benefits

 

We are confident the transition into Reception for children from our pre-school provision would be a much smoother process, which will aid in their progress from their Reception year and onwards.

 

Quality of EYFS at Egerton Primary School

 

Ofsted judged the Quality of Early Years Provision to be Good in their 2023 inspection. We have the strength in leadership and teaching to ensure our pre-school would meet the same high standards.

 

Our Vision

 

By lowering the school age to incorporate a pre-school provision we will achieve our aim to give children of all abilities every opportunity to develop their academic, social, emotional, spiritual and physical aspects of learning. We will combine our outdoor resources, strong community links and rich and broad curriculum to develop confident, motivated and responsible children who will be prepared for secondary school and make a positive contribution to society and their local community.

 

The Trustees and the School’s Governing Body believe the creation of the pre-school provision will:

  • Ensure quality education across the Early Years Framework - communication and language, physical development, personal, social and emotional development, literacy, mathematics, understanding the world, and expressive arts and design
  • Improve children’s life chances by:
    • Providing fluidity and flexibility across our early year’s classes to ensure progression in line with the developmental age of each child
    • Ensuring early help and outreach to vulnerable families and children
    • Identifying special educational needs and disabilities, and social, emotional and mental health needs of children, to ensure early interventions are put in place
    • Closing the gap in attainment of children eligible for the Pupil Premium and their peers
  • Optimise the use of our facilities and capitalise on our expertise and knowledge of education and early year’s foundation stage provision, and through the provision of a qualified teacher in early years.
  • Provide continuity of education from 2 to 11 years and wrap around care for local working parents.
  • Align with Cheshire East Council’s strategy and Ofsted’s preference for school-attached early year’s education.
  • The pre-school provision will initially be located in the existing purpose-built building with a large outdoor play area, providing capacity for 30 pre-school places in each sitting, in the first instance with the school’s Early Years Lead and alongside the pre-school lead overseeing the provision of the pre-school and Reception classes.
  • The pre-school will have its own admissions policy. Children attending the pre-school will not be guaranteed a place in Reception at the school and will need to apply using the usual admissions process.

 

 

Consultation process:

 

Activity

Date

Consultation launch

5.12.23

Consultation closes

16.1.24

Response to consultation published

TBC

Application submitted to the Department for Education’s Regional Director submitted

TBC

Approval from the Department for Education’s Regional Director

TBC

 

How can you respond to the consultation?

 

You can respond to the consultation via the online form by following the link below:

https://forms.office.com/e/8SrzPBgKfM

 

You can also respond to the consultation via email to:

 

admin2@egerton.cheshire.sch.uk

 

Please use the words ‘consultation’ in the subject line.

 

or via letter to:

 

Egerton Primary School, Bexton Road, Knutsford, Cheshire, WA16 0EE

 

Clearly marking the envelope ‘Consultation’