As a strategic commissioner, the London Borough of Newham has a statutory responsibility to plan and secure education provision by monitoring the supply and demand for school places to ensure there is sufficient capacity to meet demand and growth in the system.
School Place Planning is the council’s service area that ensures that Newham meets this function. The service ensures that Newham meets its statutory responsibility for long-term planning & sufficiency of Primary & secondary, and SEN school places in the borough and that these are appropriate for the ages of the children that need them.
The service:
- Plans & provides advice on education provision, including the review of mainstream and specialist school places.
- Produces the ‘Places for All Strategy’ in Newham which outlines our proposal to ensure sufficient and deliver school places in Newham.
- Provides annual forecasts of pupil numbers.
- Liaises with Education Asset management to plan and deliver major projects- Schools expansion programme and new schools.
- Works with the planning department regarding proposed new housing developments and supports negotiations with developers in line with the adopted developer contribution guidelines to contribute towards meeting the cost of providing additional school places or securing sites for new school provision.
- Supports schools to make organisational changes including temporary reduction or permanent increases to their capacity.
- Develops new schools; through managing the school competition arrangements, including liaising with Free Schools and Academies sponsors.
- Liaises with the Diocesan authorities’ academies/trusts, DfE, GLA, ESFA, London Council and other relevant bodies to support the development of place plans and deliver agreed places.
Within this page you will find information on the latest Places for All Strategy and the Childcare Sufficiency Report.
Places for All
The council has published an updated Places for All strategy (PDF) which is an important framework for effective planning of education provision available to meet the needs of Newham’s population.
The plan sets out how we will carry out our statutory duty to ensure sufficiency of mainstream and specialist school places based on most recent data, taking into consideration the decline in birth rate and future demand due to housing development.
It also provides key stakeholders including schools with trends and data to inform their future decision-making on school organisation.
Childcare Sufficiency Report
The Childcare Act 2006 placed duties on all local authorities to secure sufficient childcare, so far as is reasonably practicable, for working parents or parents who are studying or training for employment, for children aged 0‐14 (or up to 18 for disabled children).
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