What this consultation is about
Context
St Oswald’s Infant School, Ashbourne, will become a full primary school by September 2017 with an age range of five to 11 years. The current provision enables children to attend an EYFS setting for four to five year olds and then a Key Stage 1 setting. St Oswald’s Ladybirds Pre-school is situated on the school site and offers sectional places to children before they begin school.
Proposal
We propose to extend the age range of St Oswald’s CE Infant School from five to 11 years to three to 11 years.
We propose to work in partnership with the current Private, Voluntary and Independent (PVI) provider on our site to deliver a flexible approach to nursery entitlement in Ashbourne.
We propose that working with St Oswald’s Ladybirds Pre-school between us we are able to offer the entitled 30 hours of funding.
We propose that we can accommodate 26 three or four year olds within the setting.
Staff
We propose to recruit one qualified teacher and ensure there is one trained teaching assistant thus meeting the correct ratios of 1:13.
Following consultation there will be clear and detailed discussion with HR consultants and school support finance officers as the school extends its age range.
Funding
We receive funding from the Government, in the form of Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), for all children who have reached the age of three by the 31 December prior to the January School Census. These children are currently eligible for a maximum of 15 hours of free early year’s provision. In addition, there is DSG funding for children aged two who may also qualify for up to 15 hours of free childcare if they meet one or both of the Government’s specific two-year old criteria.
The school will receive its funding for eligible children under Derbyshire’s Early Years Single Funding Formula (EYSFF), a common formula which funds all of the free entitlement for children in nursery units within a mainstream school, nursery schools and private, voluntary and independent settings. Funding will be based on a count of actual weekly hours attended by qualifying children as at the three School Census points (January, May and October).
Following the consultation further discussions will be held regarding finance.
The consultation document is available on request from the school's clerk to the governors.