To consider any questions submitted by Members.  (The deadline for questions is 4.30 pm on the Monday the week before the meeting – please contact Democratic Services by e-mailing democraticservices@swale.gov.uk or call 01795 417330).

The Mayor advised that one question had been submitted by Members.

Question 1 – Councillor Mike Whiting

During the debate on "Secondary School Places on the Isle of Sheppey" at the Full Council meeting held on 30 July, I raised the need for this council to engage with Kent County Council (KCC) as a matter of urgency to discuss KCC's Education Commissioning Plan. That Plan is currently being revised and due for publication in the autumn.

Left unchanged, the Plan will forecast a surplus of secondary school places on the Isle of Sheppey, with no plans to create more spaces. For this year's year-7 intake, the Plan showed a surplus of 39 places. We all know how wrong this forecast was. On secondary school offer day in the Spring, 60 Sheppey children were refused a place at the two local schools on the Island because they were full, with many being offered Abbey School in Faversham, over 25 miles away.

That same Plan (see pages 98 to 100) is currently showing a surplus of 34 places for next September (2026), and an average of 43 spare places for each year thereafter until 2035, despite 650 new homes currently under construction in Minster, a further 650 having just received planning permission east of Scocles Road, and approximately 1,000 more earmarked for Sheppey in the emerging Local Plan, with the majority of those in Queenborough.

What steps has the Leader taken to meet with KCC to ensure the forecasts in the 2026/2036 revision of the Education Commissioning Plan are more accurate, and that the revised Plan contains strategies and proposals to address any shortfall to ensure every Island family who wants a place at one of the two secondary schools for their children next September and beyond will get one?

Response – Leader

Officers and I met with the then conservative KCC Cabinet Member for Education and the Assistant Director for Education in December 2024, to discuss the Schools Commissioning Plan, during which it became clear that there were changes in approach to the provision of non-selective secondary places impacting on the Sittingbourne and Sheppey planning areas, about which Swale Borough Council had not been previously made aware. 

As we all know, the history of poor provision on the Island has meant that large numbers of students from the Island have historically sought school places in Sittingbourne.  This has meant that there are important inter-relationships in how provision on both Sheppey and in Sittingbourne is planned and delivered.  The changes and approach that were set out to us at the meeting raised serious questions for both Sittingbourne and Sheppey, which I set out in a letter in January 2025.  Having received no response, and in light of the issues some island students were experiencing in terms of the location of school placements, I followed this up with a second letter to KCC in the spring seeking both answers and a meeting.  Again, no response has been received.

I will continue to pursue this important topic with our County partners. Perhaps the new County Cabinet member for Integrated Children’s Services could assist with securing a response from her Cabinet colleague. I am sure they are in regular contact given the complementarity of their remits.

Supplementary Question

I thank the Leader for his response and for the efforts he has made so far.  Will he continue with those efforts to see a copy of the plan and ensure that Swale’s officers are involved in the rewriting and updating of the plan before it is published?

Response

Yes, I have met with officers to discuss that, and rest assured I will not take my foot off the gas, you have my assurance.