Doncaster Council

Building on your feedback

To ensure we make the most of the once in a lifetime opportunity that BSF presents, we need the support and ideas of the people of Doncaster. We must make sure our future schools meet the needs of all our residents and are schools that every single member of the community are proud to call their own.

BSF public consultation was first launched in early 2008 with the Mayor's White Paper 'Achieving Success', which contained details of the initial options for every secondary school in Doncaster.

Thank you to everyone who shared their feedback with us. Over 1,200 people (including pupils, parents, teachers, staff, unions, young people and governors) commented in a variety of ways, from attending public meetings to filling in our online questionnaire.

All comments were considered and used to shape our Strategy for Change Part 1, which is the first formal part of approving BSF with the government and contains our vision for the future of education in Doncaster.

Please see below for a summary of your responses and details of how the project is currently progressing.

What you said - a summary

There was broad support for the BSF programme the need for a vision to transform learning and improve outcomes for all our young people, and the proposal to place schools at the heart of communities and offer a wide range of facilities for everyone was welcomed.

Many of you wanted to know more about the impact of BSF on the individual school buildings - a plan for this is now being developed in consultation with schools and communities as part of the Strategy for Change Part 2 (SfC2).

Comments were also taken on board about the number of future school places that will be needed, particularly post-16. Further calculations were undertaken and submitted with the Strategy for Change Part 1.

We also addressed the need for more detailed proposals for provision for excluded pupils.

Governance

The initial options presented included a range of school governance types including Academy and Foundation Trust, which were intended as a starting point for discussion. We have listened to all your feedback and a number of schools are now exploring alternative governance types, which will still help us achieve the desired outcome of increasing educational attainment, raising standards and having a rich diversity of secondary schools.

Balby Carr, North Doncaster Technology College (NDTC) and Northcliffe are still considering the option of becoming an Academy, while several existing community schools are considering Foundation Trust status. The table below shows the current options being explored by each school.

Consultation is ongoing about each of the above options and we will continue to work closely with the individual schools. The most important part of this decision will be that whichever option is pursued has the full support of the schools, governors and local community and will result in the best possible education for Doncaster’s young people.