Education One Strategic Plan 2024 to 2028 - Print version

Introduction

1.1 Statutory context

Coventry City Council (CCC) has a legal duty under Section 14 of the Education Act 1996 to ensure the provision of sufficient school places for children of compulsory school age. These places must be sufficient in character, number and equipment to ensure all pupils have the opportunity for appropriate education: appropriate education means instruction and training that is desirable in view of the pupil’s age, ability, aptitude, and the length of time they are expected to remain at school.

It is CCC’s role to plan, commission, and organise school places in a way that raises standards, manages supply and demand, and creates a diverse infrastructure.

CCC can meet its duty by:

• ensuring sufficient schools and places in a locality
• securing sufficient early years & childcare places
• ensuring sufficient post 16 provision
• providing appropriate education provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities
• promoting high education standards
• ensuring fair access to educational opportunity
• promoting the fulfilment of every child’s education potential and
• promoting diversity in the provision of schools and parental choice

In managing the supply and demand of school places; in order to allow for flexibility in the system to meet parental preference, enable in-year transfers and support families moving to an area to find a place for each of their children at the same school where appropriate, the target for CCC is for the supply of places to exceed demand by at least 2% with as even a spread across the city as possible; the Department for Education (DfE) recommends that local authorities maintain no more than 5% surplus of places within a specified area.

1.2 Coventry’s Education One Strategic Plan

The One Strategic Plan for Education will help schools, parents, council staff, local partners and stakeholders understand how CCC plans to work towards these priorities to ensure that all children and young people thrive in Coventry schools and settings throughout their education, wherever they live.

This document sets out the principles underpinning school place planning; the ways in which additional school places will be delivered; the information used to inform this delivery; and the way work is conducted to deliver high quality, accessible school places for all learners.

1.3 Coordinated Strategic approach

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been established to ensure a strong partnership commitment between CCC and Coventry Secondary Schools in support of the strategic plan for delivering additional school places from 2023 to 2027.

This collaborative approach extends to primary and special schools through a broader partnership strategy to meet growing demand. The partnership represents a clear statement of intent to work collaboratively between CCC, governing bodies, and school leadership teams, to achieve the best possible outcomes for children and young people in Coventry.

It also aims to ensure the sustainability of Coventry schools and enable CCC to fulfil its statutory obligations. The MOU has established a partnership commitment concerning the below principles:

1. CCC and all Coventry schools have a shared interest in ensuring all pupils have access to good quality local provision.
2. School organisation issues rarely affect schools in isolation; therefore, strong Local Authority and school partnerships are important to understanding the impact of school organisation decisions.
3. A partnership approach is therefore required to create the strategic plan based on a set of agreed partnership principles:
   • collective moral purpose & accountability
   • openness & transparency
   • expansion & investment of existing schools where possible and relevant – against agreed criteria – as set out in point 4
   • working with current partners
   • never knowingly undermining another school
4. A basic requirement of this strategy is that it ensures the right number of school places to meet pupil’s needs in the right locations at the time they are needed. Commissioning additional school places at existing schools will therefore be assessed against the following criteria:

• Net Capacity- Education Capital Strategy will wherever possible seek to expand schools in whole forms of entry
• Current performance of school – Local Authority or Ofsted categorisation. Guidance on school organisation is clear that outcomes should lead to school improvement and increased attainment levels
• The location of the school relative to the expected pupil need. It is desirable for schools to be at the heart of the community that they serve to provide easy access to their facilities by children, young people and their families, and the resident community1 [#1]
• Popularity of the school. The Education Capital Strategy will seek to commission additional places, when needed, at schools with high levels of parental preference in the locality by reviewing first choices and those schools that are over subscribed
• Physical ability of the school to expand including any site or potential planning constraints
• Cost of expansion. It will be important to ensure that any proposals represent good value for money and are within available capital funds. All school buildings and estates in the city should be of the highest quality within the resources available
• Diversity of provision. Coventry has a broad variety of provision, with both voluntary-aided, trust schools, in addition to many academies of various types. CCC seeks to maintain or increase levels of diversity and choice for parents wherever possible. In considering school planning, the aim will be to maintain the balance of denominational provision, unless parental preferences via the admissions process provide evidence that change is required
• Special Education Need & Disability (SEND) and/or Inclusion. Wherever possible any school changes should seek to promote greater inclusion for pupils with SEND by providing specialist provision within or linked to mainstream schools. The benefits of this approach are that it maximises the opportunity for children and young people to be included within their local community, minimises journey times to and from school, and makes optimal use of revenue funding available to support
• Governing Body and/or Trustees support. Proposals will normally require careful negotiation with schools and their governors to align aspirations for development. Where proposals are subject to statutory notice processes the Education Capital Strategy will ensure appropriate consultation before any decisions are taken by CCC

1 Education planning areas are used by the LA to assess the supply and demand of school places for local places for local children. Please see attached appendices 1-4 which detail the planning area boundaries and in which planning areas schools are sited. Whilst Education use these areas to plan, there is recognition that the boundaries are not rigid and there is significant movement across these boundaries as parental preference and flexibility changes each year.

Funding

The following section examines the different sources through which funding can be received for provision of additional school places such as grant through the DfE, or by requesting contributions from new housing developments.

Basic Need Grant funding

Capital allocations to meet projected shortfalls in provision are provided by the DfE to all local authorities based on the data provided in the annual School Capacity return (SCAP). The level of funding is determined by the demand for school places in the city.

In Spring 2025 there was a 2-year basic need allocation. This allocation totalled £97,657,978 across the 2-year settlement and was the highest allocation in the Country.

Early Years Capital Funding

CCC received £530,241 Childcare Expansion Capital Grant funding in year 2023 to 2024 from the DFE to support the reforms to childcare including the introduction of 15 and 30 hours of free childcare for children over the age of nine months from April 2024.

CCC has allocated this funding to 9 providers which includes Private Voluntary and Independent (PVI) childcare providers, childminders and schools to develop expanded entitlement and wraparound places. The grant agreements are currently being finalised before the funds are distributed to the providers in line with the recommendations made in the most recent Childcare Sufficiency Assessment.

In addition, in October 2024 the DfE launched the school-based Nursery Capital Grant for 2024 to 2025. This grant allowed state-funded primary-phase schools in England to apply for up to £150,000 in capital funding to create or expand nursery provision. Stoke Primary School has been successful in being allocated this funding.

Special Provision Fund and High Needs Fund (2018 to 2025)

In October 2021 the government announced that it was supporting local authorities with High Needs Capital Funding, as a continuation of Special Provision Fund, to enable Local Authorities to deliver new places and improve existing provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEND).

The financial allocation for 2025 was announced in March 2025 and formed part of the national £740 million of capital investment in 2025 to 2026, to support children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision (AP) as part of the broader capital settlement.

In March 2025 CCC received an allocation of £5,160,168. In total CCC has received £30,517,548 in funding over the past 6 years, including the 2025 to 2026 allocation.

Section 106 (S106) funding / Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding

There is an expectation that when the predicted impact of a new housing development creates a shortfall of places this will be funded through S106 contributions towards the following: providing additional education provision, expansion of existing schools, opening of new schools. The DfE expect the infrastructure required because of housing developments to be mitigated by S106 funding/CIL funding.

The Coventry Local Plan 2011 to 2031 which is estimated to lead to over 13,200 additional children across all age ranges has followed a period of public examination and consultation on proposed modifications. There are also significant numbers of housing developments receiving planning outside the Local Plan process, which have already impacted on local schools. CCC do not request developer contributions on one-bedroom dwellings as they are unlikely to generate school pupils.

Where a housing development yields significant numbers of pupils and justifies new provision it may be necessary to secure land. The land would be used for education purposes to safeguard CCC’s statutory responsibility to provide sufficient school places. Contributions are requested fairly based on their proximity to the development. All education types are considered and some rounding within the pupil yield calculation may see an additional place be requested when rounded up to the nearest whole pupil place2 [#2].

The pupil yield figure is reviewed and updated to reflect the true cost of creating additional school places with consideration to the rising cost of inflation. CCC figures are set as below:

The pupil yield methodology for how these figures have been calculated is included in appendix 23 [#3].

Other funding sources

• Centrally funded new schools via the Government’s Free School programme
• Capital Receipts – the sale of former education settings deemed surplus to requirements can be ring fenced to education in exceptional circumstances
• Capital contributions from individual school budgets and/or bids by Academies for ‘Capital Infrastructure Funding’ (CIF)
• Capital funding allocations for ‘Voluntary Aided’ schools (LCVAP funding)

2 The methodology for the pupil yield calculation is included in appendix 3 [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/education-capital-strategy-1/education-one-strategic-plan-2024-2028/9].

3 These figures have been rounded to 2 decimal places. Rounding is to 2 decimal places and across multiple formula, so this in turn can add an additional pupil once these roundings are factored into the nearest whole pupil place.

Providing school places

There are 2 consistent methods for providing additional school places, through either expansions of existing schools or the delivery of new schools.

3.1 School expansions

Where a predicted shortfall of places has been identified the most common solution is to expand an existing school. Education Capital Strategy will consult with all schools and decide upon the most cost-effective way forward (after considering expansion opportunities available within various school sites and costs).

3.2 New schools

The need for new schools often arises when there are no opportunities to expand existing local schools, or where new housing developments are expected to bring large numbers of new families to an area, or where no existing provision can accommodate additional pupils within the city.

Education will determine suitable sites based on location of need, i.e. where pupil numbers are growing rapidly, and the size of the land to ensure it is of sufficient size to accommodate the proposed number of new pupils. The size of the land is to be compliant with the Building Bulletin 103 (BB103) and Building Bulletin 104 (BB104) guidelines4 [#4] for new schools.

There is a presumption in law that when the need to establish a new school arises these schools will be Free Schools. The role of the local authority is to identify a site for the school and to seek applications to run the new school from potential sponsors. CCC intends to work collaboratively with the DfE, and office of the Regional Schools Commissioner, and other external providers as new school(s) are required.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is proposing to change this, removing the presumption that new schools will be opened as academies and instead allowing proposals for all types of new schools, including allowing local authorities to propose their own new school.

4. BB103 provides area guidelines for mainstream schools in the UK, covering buildings and sites for all age ranges from 3 to 19. BB104 provides area guidelines for school buildings and sites, particularly for special schools and alternative provision.

Coventry context

Coventry is the ninth largest city in England and the 12th largest in the United Kingdom, with a population of 360,700 as of the mid-year population estimates, making it the second largest Local Authority in the West Midlands.

According to the 2023 mid-year population estimates, just over one-fifth (22.3%) of the city’s population are children and young people aged under 18, 63.6% are of working-age (18 to 64), and the remaining 14.1% are aged 65 and over.

The breakdown of education provision within Coventry includes:

• 459 Early Years settings
• 85 Primary schools
• 1 all-through school
• 21 Secondary schools
• 8 Special schools
• 1 Pupil Referral Unit
• 2 Post-16 Colleges

4.1 Population context

The graph above shows the birth rate across Coventry, with 2021 to 2024 showcasing a gradual increase of the birth rate increasing slightly each year in comparison to the previous decline between 2010 and 2020. Given the transient nature of the city's population and the social mobility of its residents, updates to birth and GP registration data will occur quarterly through the NHS Foundation Trust.

The latest data gives us some key headlines:

• the birth cohort peaked for entry into Reception in September 2016
• the current Year 4 cohort (the cohort born between September 2015 and August 2016) is currently the largest cohort in Coventry Primary Schools and is set to transition to secondary school in September 2027. This will significantly affect the availability of places across the city. To address this challenge, strategic planning is underway
• the increase in ‘in-year’ applications (pupils applying for all other year groups or for newly arrived pupils to the city) over the last 3 years has caused many schools to reach full capacity. Some schools have been required to go over PAN to accommodate more students who require a place
• although this growth has had a larger impact in the primary sector it will impact on Secondary Schools when the pupils transfer to Year 7 education

Over the past 3 academic years, CCC has experienced significant increase in the number of pupils applying for a school place ‘in-year’. One of the key drivers being in-year migration from new arrivals to Coventry (from either overseas or other parts of the country).

The tables below shows this change beginning in 2020 to 2021 academic year:

The impact of in-year has significantly reduced the number of school places available in Coventry schools. This reduction in available places indicates that schools are reaching or exceeding their capacity to accommodate students, leading to potential challenges in meeting the educational needs of the local population.

To address this issue Education is actively ensuring adequate school places provision across the city by implementing temporary and permanent classes to create additional learning spaces without overburdening schools or compromising the quality of education.

Early Years

The Early Years sector in Coventry is committed to its own robust assessment of local needs through a dedicated Early Years Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA). This work underpins the Coventry Integrated Early Years Strategy, which outlines a citywide focus on improving outcomes for children aged 0 to 5.

The Strategy not only supports the development of educational, health, and wellbeing outcomes but also aligns with national priorities such as the Start for Life programme and the expansion of early education entitlements.

You can find more information in the full Early Years Strategy [https://edemocracy.coventry.gov.uk/documents/s61101/Early%20Years%20Strategy.pdf].

Primary education

Demographic changes have altered the sufficiency position for both early years and Reception school places in recent years. Historically, circa 95% of pupils born within the city would go on to attend a Coventry primary school, with the remainder choosing to attending other Local Authority Schools, Private Education, or moving out of the Coventry local authority during pre-school age.

However, in recent years an increasing number of pre-school children have attended a Coventry school. September 2023 being the first year in a 20-year tracking where the number of children attending a primary school was larger than the relevant birth cohort from 4 years previously.

This trend is still being observed and increasing in the September 2024 reception entry. The main reason for this variation being the size of the reception cohort being larger due to in-year migration from families with pre-school children.

As highlighted earlier, an increase has also been observed across all other year groups due to in-year migration. This has affected the availability of places in all planning areas. To mitigate against this CCC has adopted the following strategy:

• working in partnership with schools to introduce bulge (temporary) classes. Temporary expansions are for a single year (e.g. Year 2 increase, and that increase then moves through the school until that cohort reaches Year 6)
• used the Fair Access Protocol to offer a school place in specific circumstances (e.g. distance, siblings)

This strategy has allowed CCC to accommodate its growing school population by ensuring the availability of adequate school places.

Historically, there have been 3 phases of primary works undertaken on school sites. Phase 1 commenced in 2008, with a series of expansions that introduced 37.3 FE permanent capacity, creating an additional 8,840 Primary school places for children.

Phase 2 started in 2017, strategically addressing the declining birth rate within certain areas of the city most impacted by the birth rate changes. This reduction prompted a re-evaluation of PAN in primary schools, with certain schools witnessing a decrease in pupil numbers, leading to adjustments in PAN.

This phase lasted until 2022 when the changing demographics led to an increased demand for school places because of increases due to migration by families with school-aged children. Consequently, Education have responded by introducing phase 3, spanning from 2023 to 2026, aimed at expanding places in select primary schools; in partnership with the school headteachers.

To date, this expansion has resulted in the creation of bulge classes at 8 primary schools. The need for further expansion continues, as primary schools continue to deal with the rising demand – which is particularly acute in Year 2 and 4. Future projects will prioritize expanding capacity to meet the growing demand in the wake of demographic shifts and increased migration as and when the additional places are needed.

Secondary education

Since September 2018, additional capacity has been added in Secondary schools to provide for the larger birth cohorts identified through the pupil forecasts through phases. As agreed at Coventry Education Partnership meetings, the plan has been to deliver and adopt a model of both permanent and temporary expansions to ensure sufficiency of places, viability for schools, and cost efficiency.

Due to the increase of in-year migration the number of pupils attending Coventry primary schools has grown, which is impacting on secondary sufficiency when the relevant cohort moves to year 7. As a result of this primary cohorts are larger than previously forecast, meaning more year 6 pupils have been applying for year 7 school places.

To respond to this, CCC has adopted the following strategy:

• working in partnership with schools to either re-utilise former bulge (temporary) classes as part of the One Strategic Plan 2018 to 2024 or introduce new bulge (temporary) classes
• the challenges of creating in-year bulge classes within secondary schools, and the difficulties this has created for timetabling and recruitment, has highlighted the need to ensure that available spaces are created as part of the co-ordinated scheme. This is a more manageable approach to support schools logistically and would deliver sufficient places to manage both co-ordination and several years’ worth of in-year applications

Phase 1

This period spanning 2018 to 2021 created 544 additional Year 7 places through a combination of temporary and permanent expansions across existing secondary schools in Coventry.

Phase 2

This phase (2022 to 2024) focused on addressing the projected shortfall of school places through the creation of additional temporary places and bulge classes. This was done to ensure sufficient surplus places across the city. For 2024, plans were adjusted (from 6FE to 10FE) in response to a rise in in-year applications. During this period, 810 additional places were created across 11 secondary schools in Coventry.

Phase 3

Due to the unforeseen increase of in-year applications phase 3 was developed to cover the years 2024 to 2027 ensuring sufficient secondary school places. Due to the more transient nature of phase 3 this will continue to be reviewed annually in line with the updated pupil forecasts, and the expansion plan will be altered accordingly:

• in total 5 permanent additional classes and 2 temporary additional classes were added for 2025 with a total of 193 Year 7 places added
• in September 2026, 2 additional Year 7 classes will be needed in addition to the above
• in September 2027, 5 additional Year 7 classes will be needed in addition to the above

It is anticipated that the 2 additional classes for 2026 can be met within the existing estate, but as most secondary schools in the city have expanded to their capacity, work has been undertaken to identify a site for a new secondary school for opening by September 2027, subject to planning and funding considerations.

Since 18 out of 22 secondary schools in the city have already expanded and there are limited possibilities to expand further, work has been undertaken to identify a site for a new secondary school. It is planned to bring this school into operation from September 2027 subject to planning and funding considerations.

Special Educational Needs Provision

The Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND) School Place Planning Strategy for CCC sets the baseline for specialist provision across the city and summarises a range of factors that are driving the need for change over the short to medium term. This strategy gives more in-depth information regarding the current and future SEND pupil population and outlines the options available to add or make changes to specialist provision for Coventry pupils.

The aim of this strategy is to help CCC, schools, parents and the wider community understand the need for specialist provision planning and to establish future demand. It will provide a basis against which future specialist provision will be planned.

Most children with an identified special educational need, have their needs met within their local mainstream school through the provision ordinarily available within a school’s delegated budget. Children receiving ‘SEN Support’ are placed on the school’s SEN register and their progress is monitored through a ‘plan, do, review’ process as set out in statutory guidance: SEND Code of Practice January 2015.

Support arrangements commonly include access to external specialists, including CCC’s specialist support teaching service and Education Psychology.

An increasing percentage of children with ‘severe and complex’ special educational needs are referred to the LA for a statutory education, health and care assessment. The outcome of that assessment may lead to an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP). An EHCP identifies a child’s learning difficulties, sets out the support the child needs and determines the school the child should attend to have their needs met. LAs have a statutory duty to arrange the provision that is specified and quantified within the plan, including the delivery of a suitable school placement.

The graph above indicates that the cumulative increase in EHCPs (Educational, Health and Care Plans) has grown significantly faster than the school-age population since 2016. EHCPs have risen sharply approaching a circa.130% increase by 2025 compared with a school-age population increase of under 10%.

This is creating a growing demand for specialist education places. If the rate of growth continues it is forecast for CCC to maintain over 5000 EHCP plans by 2029. This is in line with national demand increase, and in response to this challenge the previous Government published The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan in 2023.

The Secretary of State for Education set out the need for reform in October 2024 recognising that it will take time but there will need to be a greater focus on mainstream provision.

As a result, the demand for specialist placements has increased exceeding forecasts based on birth rates. Through the SEND Transformation Strategy there is work underway to respond to this, which includes:

• Development of a workforce strategy to increase the skills, confidence and capacity of mainstream schools to meet an increasing level of additional needs
• a programme to establish Enhanced Resource Provisions (ERPs) initially across Coventry’s primary schools estate
• in-year commissioning expansion of current Coventry special schools to a level of maximum capacity
• the Woodlands development programme to re-site Woodfield Special School (an all-age special school for children experiencing significant social, emotional and mental health challenges) will deliver up to 100 additional placements
• the potential expansion through capital investment of the current broad spectrum special school estate to create additional secondary capacity
• utilisation of the independent non-maintained sector as an interim solution to secure CCC’s statutory duty

Growth in Coventry specialist school placements

Alongside the development of supporting inclusion in mainstream schools, CCC has also expanded its specialist settings. Currently approximately 40% of children with an EHC Plan are placed in mainstream schools, 35% in special schools, 12% in FE and 13% have other arrangements.

Over the last 8 years a programme of capital works to expand special school provision, has increased commissioned numbers in Coventry Special Schools by 55% (see table below). The number of pupils in special schools has grown steadily over the years, and additional capital projects are underway to accommodate the rise in children with EHCPs for the 2025 to 2026 academic year.

Total growth from 2017 to 2024: 487

Future need

Primary

Given the rising demand for EHCPs, the number of pupils in primary mainstream with additional needs has also increased. To meet the needs of these pupils, it is proposed to Page 18 of 22 create resourced provision units on mainstream school sites making use of existing education assets.

The following schools currently have ERPs:

CCC has developed a model of provision based on best practice and experience, both internally within CCC and that learnt from other local authorities. This best practice states that resource provisions can accommodate up to 10 learners in primary on a mainstream school site (either maintained or academy).

However, this is a variable depending on the type of provision being provided. It is anticipated that 3 primary resource provisions per year will be required over the planned period assuming a population of 10 pupils per provision. Work is underway to identify areas of the city where education provision will be released and can be utilised for this purpose.

Further expansion of special schools across the estate is increasingly challenging due to the landlocked nature of many school sites, which limits the available space for new buildings or extensions. Despite these constraints, efforts are being made to meet the growing demand for special educational needs (SEN) provision. An expansion project is currently underway at Castle Wood Special School, which will create an additional 16 places for students.

This project reflects the commitment to increasing capacity where feasible.

Secondary

Woodfield Special School (all-through school) is in the process of relocation and expansion at the former Woodlands site. This will create up to an additional 100 SEMH places across both primary and secondary phases. These additional places will be phased in from September 2026.

There are also projects being undertaken at Sherbourne Fields Special School to accommodate their secondary cohort moving through from primary phase, and Baginton Fields Academy expansion will provide up to an addition 74 additional places across the secondary phase of education for a wide range of pupils with an EHCP.

Due to the rising demand for specialist school placements, it is likely that further expansion within existing Coventry Special Schools will be required. Consultation has been undertaken with Special School Headteachers to explore options to deliver extensions to their existing accommodation.

SEND Post-16

As a result of growth in population, the number of pupils accessing post 16 provision in special schools has increased. As part of secondary mainstream expansion, partnerships with colleges and employment pathways including supported internships have been developed and considered for an extended SEND Post-16 provision.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Further information available on Primary Planning Areas [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/file/31710/primary_planning_areas].

Appendix 2

Further information available on Secondary Planning Areas [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/file/31711/secondary_planning_areas].

Appendix 3 - Education Pupil Yield Methodology

CCC requests developer contributions through Section 106 agreements to support educational infrastructure impacted by new housing developments. These contributions are determined by two main factors: the DfE’s cost per pupil multiplier for Coventry and the pupil yield anticipated from the development.

Contributions are sought for Early Years, Primary, Secondary, Sixth Form and SEND; ensuring they are aligned with government policies and local authority practices. The way in which Education selects schools to secure contributions towards expanding school places, as part of the Section 106 process, is determined by the following criteria:

• good value for money
• ensure contributions requested align with CCC’s One Strategic Plan and its ongoing programmes
• select schools close to the development where possible, but must also factor in localised areas of pressure City wide
• all schools are selected equally and fairly

Cost Multiplier

There is no nationwide funding formula for Early Years provision, however there is guidance based on the amount of floor space that an Early Years child will need based on age of the child. Providers must meet the following indoor space requirements:

• children under 2 years: 3.5 m2 per child
• 2-year olds: 2.5 m2 per child
• children aged 3 to 5 years: 2.3 m2 per child

The variation in Early Years provision between AM and PM sessions, and the high turnover of providers, mean that this can often be a variable that changes monthly. For this reason, the same cost multiplier as primary aged pupils are used.

The DfE provide an annual update to this figure and for 2025 to 2026 this figure is £19,288.30. The Secondary calculation has been updated by the DfE to a figure of £24,783.22. These new figures have been confirmed by the DfE and are expected to rise in the future in line with inflation.

Therefore, the cost per pupil multiplier will be updated as and when the DfE provide the new allocation allowance for Coventry. The DfE do not provide costs per pupil place for Sixth form pupils. Therefore, the methodology for this, takes the Secondary calculation and adds the additional floor space required for a sixth form pupil.

The additional floor space required for a sixth form pupil over a secondary age pupil is a recognised DfE statistic. The basis behind these floor space calculations is the extra equipment and supervision that sixth form pupils require over secondary age pupils. The DfE state the additional floor space required be larger than that for Secondary and working this out as a percentage sixth form pupils require 30% more space than Secondary.

Therefore, 30% has been added to the cost multiplier for Secondary to give a total for a single sixth form of £32,217.90 For SEN, as there is no DfE multiplier, Coventry uses the benchmarking mechanism undertaken by the DfE in 2023, which recommends that ‘Special schools require more space per pupil than mainstream schools, and this should be reflected in the assumed costs of provision.

Education Capital Strategy recommend that developer contributions for special or alternative school places are set at 4 times the cost of mainstream places, consistent with the space standards in Building Bulletin 104. You can also refer to the National School Delivery Cost Benchmarking report for the costs of delivering SEN school places.’ The DfE recommend for £96,806 average cost per pupil place for SEN, Coventry’s cost per pupil multiplier has been updated to match this figure.

Pupil Yield Early Years

The early years entitlements are:

• the 15 hours entitlement for eligible working parents of children from 9 months to 2 years old (new entitlement from 1 September 2024)
• the 15 hours entitlement for eligible working parents of 2-year-old children (new entitlement from 1 April 2024)
• the 15 hours entitlement for disadvantaged 2-year-olds
• the universal 15 hours entitlement for all 3 and 4-year-olds
• the additional 15 hours entitlement for eligible working parents of 3 and 4-year-olds

The entitlement hours are up to 15 hours of childcare a week over 38 weeks of the year (equivalent to a maximum of 570 hours a year), or, for 3 and 4-year-olds, up to 30 hours of childcare a week over 38 weeks of the year for qualifying children of working parents (equivalent to a maximum 1,140 hours a year).

From September 2025, eligible working parents of children aged 9 months and above will be able to access 30 hours (over 38 weeks a year) from the term following their child turning 9 months to when they start school.

Due to the extended entitlements the Early Years contribution request is calculated from asking for 2 years’ worth 15 hours with the take up rate of funded 2 years and 3.3 years of 30 hours being added into this. This will be co-ordinated each year with Early Years colleagues to consider the take up rates.

Primary and Secondary

Coventry has become more attractive for people to raise families in, resulting in a younger population within the city. This trend is expected to continue in the new housing that is being put into the city. In essence more people within Coventry are having more children.

The formula for this is by examining the total number of eligible homes within Coventry and the current Number on Roll in Schools, split between Primary and Secondary. This gives the pupil yield for how many school age children the current housing stock within Coventry provides. The pupil yield from a single eligible dwelling for primary is 0.38 and for secondary 0.32 pupils per eligible household.

Sixth Form

The formula for this is calculated from the proportion of children staying on in sixth form or in education between Years 12 and 13. However it is still an inconsistent indicator, therefore the percentage applied to the children staying on rate will be based on the stay on rate of children the September before the application was received.

For the most recent year, the drop off between year 12 and year 13 was 8.9% of the cohort, therefore, to incorporate this into the pupil yield only 1.9 year groups are requested. This has resulted in a drop in the sixth form contribution asked for.

Primary SEND

To calculate the primary SEND contribution, CCC use the school census published three times annually. This lists the student details for the current mainstream and BSSS cohort and the number of children within this cohort with an EHCP or SEN statement. By understanding the total number of EHCPs and SEN statements within the current primary cohort, it is possible to calculate the current % of the cohort with additional needs arising from new housing.

By dividing the figures of total cohort by number of EHCPs a total of 4.18% is received. This factor will be applied to the pupil yield calculation for primary. This figure will be updated annually as the number of EHCPs is rising in excess of proportionality of the general increase in population.

Secondary SEND

The Secondary SEND pupil yield is calculated using the same method of calculating the current number of secondary age pupils with an EHCP or Statement and dividing by the total amount of children in Secondary education. The current amount of EHCPs within Secondary school is 4.74%. This figure will be updated annually as the number of EHC plans is rising more than proportionality of the general increase in population.