Schools plans and policies

The policies and plans of our education service describe the activities and workings of the service and compliment our corporate plan and the community strategy.

Below you will find information about our proposals and consultations as well as information about financing and organising our schools.

Follow the link to find our school admissions policies.

For more information about Privacy Notices, visit our general schools information page

Virtual School (external link to Portsmouth Education Partnership)

Under Section 14 of the Education Act 1996, the Council has a statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for resident children and is committed to working with schools, academies and Multi-Academy Trusts for the benefit of children and young people in Portsmouth. This duty requires the Council to forecast future pupil populations so that it can ensure that sufficient places are provided. Through this forecasting work, the Council considers the capacity in Portsmouth schools, and determines whether action needs to be taken to meet anticipated future demand for school places by Portsmouth resident children.

The 2020 School Capacity and Forecasts collection (SCAP), due to start in June 2020, has been cancelled. This decision has been taken as a result of the Government’s efforts to reduce burdens on local authorities during the current pandemic.

At this time, it is vital that local authorities are able to focus on the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19).

In the absence of updated SCAP data, the Council has worked closely with the Department for Education Regional Planning Officer to:

• assess current data
• coordinate future intelligence-gathering exercises

This is to continue to support local place-planning activity.

For mainstream provision, the Department for Education requires local authorities to submit pupil projections annually. This will inform the Government allocation of Basic Need capital funding to Councils.
Basic Need allocations announced in April 2020 were based on SCAP19 data. They funded places required for September 2022. The current intention is to use SCAP19 data to inform the next set of allocations, for places needed for September 2023.

As a result the following suite of four key school organisation documents and their respective appendices will not be updated this year:

1. School Organisation Policy Statement

2. Primary School Place Strategy

Appendix A : Pupil Forecasting Methodology

Appendix B : Map of Portsmouth Primary Schools

Appendix C : Summary of Portsmouth Education Strategy 2017-2020

Appendix D : Pupil Forecasts 2019-2025

Appendix E : Long Term Pupil Forecasts 2019-2035

Appendix F : Proximity of Schools within a 2 mile radius

3. Secondary School Place Strategy

Appendix A : Pupil Forecasting Methodology

Appendix B : Map of Portsmouth Secondary Schools

Appendix C : Secondary School Place Strategy 2018-24

Appendix D : Summary of Portsmouth Education Strategy 2017-2020

Appendix D/E : Pupil Forecasts 2019-2025 for Year R and Year 3 intakes

Appendix F : Long Term Pupil Forecasts – 2019-2035

4. Special Provision and Alternative Provision Place Strategy

Appendix A: Portsmouth Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Strategy

Appendix B: Portsmouth SEND Strategic Review

Appendix C: SEND Forecasting Methodology