Annual Report

Annual Report to Members December 2021

Stephenson (MK) Trust developments

We have driven the development of the Primary Inclusion Partnership which is now established and running along similar lines to the secondary model. There were no permanent exclusions in the primary sector in 2020-1 or 2019-20, in 2018-19 there were 8 permanent exclusions in the primary sector. For information, the secondary sector again had no permanent exclusions last academic year.

The Milton Keynes Primary PRU (MKPPRU), which is commissioned for 18 places but is currently supporting 27 pupils, has moved closer to the Trust through an Associate Academy arrangement which runs until September 2022. We are developing MKPPRU into 40 place provision at no additional cost to the Local Authority as part of an integrated plan for alternative provision across both primary and secondary phases. This development has been brokered with the full support of the Local Authority which has instituted a School Performance Board to help support the drive for improvement. The documentation which supports this arrangement has been lodged with the Regional Schools Commissioner. The Management Committee of MKPPRU will decide next June whether or not to go for full Academy status as part of Stephenson (MK) Trust. If they decide to support this development then this would necessitate a consultation which will be completed by January 2023 at the latest, most likely at some time late in the autumn term. If the development is not supported, then the arrangement would cease with immediate effect. This would cause some difficulty given that from January 2022 MKPPRU will occupy part of the Bridge Academy site at Manor Road but more fundamentally is currently supported by a range of Trust staff including myself, a Head of Centre, two teachers, therapeutic and support staff; much of which is at no cost to MKPPRU. It is hard to see how the proposed growth from 18 to 40 places could be maintained if the development was not to go ahead.

Estate Management

The Trust successful in being awarded three CIF bids in the 2020-1 round, one for Stephenson Academy for heating works including new boilers and two for Bridge Academy, one for upgrading the hot and cold water system at Manor Road. The other, far more substantial, was also linked to Manor Road, totaling £1.13m to refurbish the building that used to house the Youth Offending Team and which is now being used by Bridge Academy Key Stage 3 provision. The bid also included funds to refurbish and remodel the old Red Cross building which will house the MKPPRU from January 2022 highlighted above. Bridge West moved to the Manor Road site in September, having been temporarily housed at the post 16 site at Coffee Hall since Easter. We gave the site formerly occupied by Bridge West at Hertford Place back to the Local Authority and this is now being used by other SEND Special provision, The Walnuts School. A very positive feature of these changes is the focus on two sites rather than four which means we are able to concentrate staffing resources more effectively this being crucially important given the high percentage that staffing costs represent in education.

Other building works completed over the last year include the upgrade of all kitchens at the three Trust sites so that pupils in Bridge Academy and MKPPRU can now enjoy a hot meal every day – these are provided free of charge to all pupils. The main delivery kitchen based at Stephenson Academy has been totally upgraded and we have also included chill facilities to support overnight storage and subsequent transportation to two satellite kitchens where we have installed re-heat facilities alongside other kitchen functions. There has been one major issue with the upgrade to all kitchens and that has been the need to upgrade incoming power supplies to support this development.

At Stephenson Academy we have recently completed a new two classroom teaching block that came on stream as of 29 November and which will help further develop our SEMH Special capacity. In line with the current ‘green’ agenda we were mindful that this building be as environmentally friendly as possible. It is very heartening to report that the building has been judged to be carbon negative in terms of its energy efficiency through extensive use of insulation but probably more importantly use of solar panels to provide electricity and the use of an air source heat pump to power the underfloor heating.

For the 2021-2 CIF round, which closes on 16 December, we will again submit two bids per Academy, the maximum possible. There will be one each for roofing works, at Stephenson Academy and Bridge Academy Manor Road (it is highly likely that one of our 2022-3 CIF bids will be for roofing works at Bridge Academy Coffee Hall). The other two projects are linked to building two new sport facilities, one at Bridge Academy Coffee Hall the other at Stephenson Academy. Planning permission was sought for both of the developments and has been awarded a Bridge Central under permitted development rules and we await a decision at Stephenson which has been delayed significantly but is now promised for early December.

Stephenson Academy

We are currently reviewing the age range at Stephenson as the Academy is listed for post 16 students but that facility has moved over to Bridge Academy. We are negotiation with the Local Authority as to whether Stephenson support primary aged pupils so any proposed change, which will be made this academic year will be to move the age range to 11-16 years or if agreed with the LA, 9-16 years.  Student numbers at Stephenson have remained stable around the mid-80s across the year, if the age range goes to 9-16 further building work will be needed and the commissioned number would rise to a maximum of 110, large for SEMH Special but very similar in size and age range to our nearest local comparator Oakbank in Leighton Buzzard. Whichever age range change is pursued this be classed as a Significant Change and involve the Regional School Commissioner and DfE. There will have to be a consultation process that we will have to begin early in 2022 if we are to have changes in place for September 2022.

In terms of reporting to Governors at the end of the 2020-1 academic year the Head of School at Stephenson Academy highlighted the following:

1. The impact of COVID was managed by the academy and we remained open throughout the year.
2. Attendance and Exclusions were positive in this context, attendance 83.8%, exclusion rate 0.93%, if we compare to 2018-9 the figures were 83.9% and 1.9% respectively.
3. 94% of year 11 achieved at least one English qualification, 94% of year 11 achieved at least one math qualification, 100% achieved at least one qualification and 75% achieved at least five 9 - 1 or equivalent (*non DfE recognised) qualifications
4. Safeguarding concerns increased over the year with more families open to CFP/CSC, for example in the summer term the numbers of students open to CSC rose from 18 in autumn and spring to 23 by the summer term, almost one quarter of the whole school population. Only one student from the y11 leavers was at risk of being NEET, the remainder had confirmed destinations.
5. Curriculum development work was progressing well with the support of the SIP

 
Bridge Academy

Referred numbers were historically low in 2021 because of a lack of referrals linked to Covid. This can be seen below in the size of the Y11 cohort and was replicated across the Academy.  A Head of School was appointed in October 2021, this model mirroring Stephenson. There were a number of SLT resignations last year but all senior leaders have been replaced. Recruitment, particularly of support staff, is an issue as we know it is more generally across Milton Keynes.

In terms of reporting academic outcomes, in the summer of 2021, the Head of School reported:

 
Attendance particularly in Key Stage 4 remains an issue and is again a focus for the coming year though, as in all previous year’s, attendance across the 11-16 year groups, does exceed attendance in mainstream at the point of referral 

 
Levels of exclusion in Key Stage 3 are a cause for concern as can be seen below. This was largely attributable to a very significant turnover of staff across the spring and summer terms coupled with the commencement of significant building works in the summer term at the Manor Road site which will not complete until the end of December 2021.

In terms of safeguarding concerns, the significant rise in MASH referrals is striking as is the number of students with a CAF in place. 

 Finally, looking at NEET data in July it was reported that in Key Stage 4 78% of all year 11 students at Bridge Central had an intended destination of EET whilst 85% of Post 16 students had an intended destination of EET.