Dear Stakeholders

As many of you will know, this time last year, we consulted on reducing our Pupil Admission Number from 60 to 30, meaning that we would be able to structure the school with one single-aged class from Reception upwards. Surrey County Council objected to this proposed reduction and our case was subsequently submitted to the Office of the Schools’ Adjudicator, who supported Surrey’s objection, meaning that we were not permitted to reduce the number of children we admitted. 

Despite this, we have only needed to provide 29 places in our current Reception class, so the pattern continues of our school being in the position of possibly having to admit a number in the low 30s, which is not financially sustainable. The law requires that classes must not exceed 30 in number, so a second teacher would have to be employed without the per capita funding for it. Ideally, children would be admitted in neat multiples of 30, so that the staffing costs are funded, but this is not our reality.

We have just received Surrey’s updated pupil forecasts for 2025 to 2033. These show a different picture from the forecasts shared in January 2024 and now suggest that there will be a surplus of Reception and Year 3 places in the coming years.  For this reason, the Governors have decided to consult again on a PAN reduction to 30.  Please see the attached letter for details and for how you can share your views on this proposal.

Kind regards

Mrs Chiverton and the Governors of St Jude’s C of E Schools Federation.