Orchard Vale Community School: Proposal to extend the age range

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Proposal

The Harbour Schools Partnership is consulting on a proposal to change the age range of Orchard Vale Community School in Barnstaple from 3-11 to 0-11 years of age from September 2025.

Background

Orchard Vale Community School has a Nursery Class for children aged 3-4 years of age. The children in the Nursery Class are on the roll of the school and the school has a legal age range of 3-11 years of age. The school also runs Little Seeds which is a childcare provision for children and babies aged 0-3 years of age. It is proposed to change the age range of the school from 3-11 to 0-11 years of age. This would mean that the Little Seeds provision for 0-3 year olds would become part of the Nursery Class within the school and children attending Little Seeds would be on the admissions register or roll of the school. Rather than operating as two separate settings it will operate as one.

If this proposal is approved, children and families will experience very little change to the service they currently receive. There will be no difference in the practical day to day arrangements for children and families. The Nursery will provide 26 FTE term time only place for 3 to 4 year olds (including rising 3’s). 5 FTE term time only places for 2 year olds and 3 FTE term time only place for children under 2.

It will make a difference to the amount of paperwork that parents need to complete for the funded entitlements. As the funding will all be managed through one system parents will not have to resubmit claims when their child moves from Little Seeds into the Nursery Class.

Parents would still need to make a separate application to Devon County Council for admission into the Reception class.

Benefits of the proposal

There is already good integration between the Little Seeds baby unit and the Nursery Class; both share the outdoor play area, as well as benefiting from using additional school facilities such as the Forest School learning area. However, it will be more efficient to manage and carry out the administrative responsibilities if there is one Nursery provision for 0-4 year olds, rather than a Nursery class for 3- and 4-year olds and a separate service for 0-3 year olds. The early years provisions were set up in this way as schools were previously not able to extend their age range to below 2-years of age. It has only recently become possible to change the age range of a school to below 2-years of age.

A transition point at age 3 into the nursery class will be removed and transition into school and the earlier identification of needs will mean that when the time comes to start in the reception class the move will be seamless. The school will be able to establish the strongest links possible with families from the outset working to support them from a younger age.

Children whose parents meet the free school meal eligibility criteria and attend for the whole day will be entitled to a free school meal. There is no lower age limit. Parents will also be able to purchase a school meal for nursery children.

All 3 and 4-year-olds are eligible for the ‘universal’ early years funded childcare (up to 15 hours per week) from the start of the funding period following their third birthday until they start school (usually at statutory school age – the term following their fifth birthday). 3 or 4-year-olds of eligible working parents can get an additional 570 hours of funded childcare (up to 30 hours per week). A 2-year-old can get funded childcare if the parent/carer lives in England and is entitled to qualifying benefits OR
Working parents may be eligible for 15 hours a week for children from 9 months up until the universal childcare is funded. This will increase to 30 hours from September 2025. For further information and to check eligibility visit the government Childcare Choices website https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Parents who wish to pay for childcare may be able to do this via Tax Free Childcare or via Arbor directly to the school.

Staff

Staffing in all settings will remain the same.

Process and Decision-making

The consultation period will run from 22 April to 13 May 2025. Responses to this consultation will be carefully considered by the School and The Harbour Schools Partnership Trust before any decision is made by the Academy Trust to submit an application to the Department for Education (DfE) to change the age range of the school from 3-11 to 0-11 years of age.

If a decision is made to proceed with the proposal, following consideration of the consultation responses, an application will be made to the Department for Education (DfE) South West Regions Group.

It is the DfE’s South West’s Region Group who will make the final decision on the proposal to change the age range of the school. The DfE will make this decision after considering responses received to the consultation and the application submitted by the Academy Trust. Please note that consultation responses will also therefore be shared with the DfE South West Regions Group.

Capital and planning

Some capital will be required to reconfigure the current nursery space. There may be an opportunity to submit a capital bid to the DfE for a future funding round of the Government’s School Based Nursery Capital grant.

This proposal will not affect the Published Admission Number (PAN) for the school, nor the capacity for school aged children, and will not put pressure on classroom space for school aged children.

Responding to the consultation

This consultation will run from 22 April to 13 May 2025.

The Trust welcome responses on this proposal by the closing date of midnight on 13 May 2025 by:

Emailing: orchardvale@thsp.org.uk

Or by writing to: Orchard Vale Community School, Westacott Road, Barnstaple, Devon. EX32 8QY.

All responses to the consultation will be considered and will be shared with the school’s leadership team, Board of Directors and Trustees. Responses will also be shared with the Department for Education as the decision-maker, but we will not send individual responses to any specific points made.

The Trust Privacy Notice can be found via this weblink: https://ventrus.org.uk/Privacy-Notices/