Guiding principles to manage the school estate were agreed by the former Executive Committee in October 2012 and the Education and Children’s Sub-Committee in August 2018.
- Every school should be rated as A or B for both condition and suitability to include a number of accessible schools in each geographical area.
- Schools should have an occupancy rate greater than 60% of capacity. To make sure there's fair provision, schools should be operating within an optimal occupancy and efficiency range of 80-100%. Consideration should be given to establishing a minimum number of pupils in any school which is less than 5 miles from another school. This means schools should have a minimum of three classes, recognising that effective learning requires interaction between pupils. This group activity is most effective when children are of a similar age and to enable this, where possible schools should have a minimum roll of 50 pupils.
- A strategy for a sustainable school estate should support the progressive reduction in the overall carbon footprint for the Council.