Appendix 1 – Options Appraisal - Future of the City of Perth Early Childhood Centre
Perth and Kinross Council · 29 January 2025
Back to Learning and Families Committee — 29 January 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Education & Children’ Improving Lives Together Ambition Compassion Integrity Ed Future of the City of Perth Early Childhood Centre Options Appraisal Report Education & Learning Appendix 1
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1. Introduction The Corporate Asset Management Framework (Report No. 24/18 refers) sets out the Council’s approach to asset management and investment, and introduced the concept of the Asset Challenge as a key element of its methodology. This requires any decision on the use, maintenance and investment in any asset to be evidence based and in alignment with the Council’s corporate priorities and service delivery requirements, while recognising community need, climate change considerations and the overarching question of affordability. It is important, in light of the significant investment and cost associated with the school estate, that it is managed in an efficient and effective manner, and that the priorities which are addressed meet the wider strategic objectives of the Council and the needs of our communities. 2. Background The original standalone City of Perth Early Childhood Centre (CoPECC) in the ELC community of North Perth at McCallum Court was opened in 2002. It was registered with the Care Inspectorate to provide care to a maximum of 100 children, aged between 2 years old and those not yet attending primary school. As well as ELC, the service provided family support and learning opportunities and was included within Perth and Kinross Council’s (PKC) planning for delivering the 1140 hours expansion to ELC to all eligible children. It became one of five Early Childhood Centres in Perth and Kinross offering year-round flexible childcare options to families. The building was affected by floods in 2002 and 2010 for which insurance claims were made. In August 2020, due to extensive rainfall during thunderstorms, many areas across Perth and Kinross, including Perth City, were flooded, damaging over 225 buildings. CoPECC was one of these buildings and the centre was closed to families as a result and another insurance claim was made. Due to the extent of the flood damage closing the building, the centre was temporarily decanted to Perth Grammar School Community Wing where families were able to continue to access their children’s ELC places. The site of the original CoPECC at McCallum Court flooded severely several times at substantial cost to insurers and PKC. Following the last flood in August 2020, the site has subsequently been deemed as uninsurable, and as such, PKC will not be able to develop this site with any permanent structure. In October 2021, due to significant vandalism in the building, it was agreed that the building would be demolished as soon as possible. As a result, CoPECC can no longer be located on this site. By April 2022, an interim arrangement was made by combining the current nursery at Goodlyburn Primary School with CoPECC to become Goodlyburn and CoPECC which was located within Goodlyburn Primary School and managed by the CoPECC Centre Leader. This service continues to deliver a full year 50-week Early Learning & Childcare (ELC) service to 74 children at any one time, including 2-year-olds, providing continuity of service for families in the community of North Perth and enabling all eligible children to access high quality ELC. All children who would have
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attended CoPECC on the original site can now access their funded ELC either at the new site or at an alternative provision of their choice in the community. Section 8 of this document provides further information on ELC availability and accessibility in the North Perth ELC Community. 3. Current Position This report is the options appraisal for the future of City of Perth Early Childhood Centre (CoPECC) since the original site can no longer be used. This will be submitted to Lifelong Learning Committee of the Council which will determine whether any statutory consultation will proceed. After the damage caused by flooding in August 2020, all eligible children in the North Perth ELC Community have been able to access their full 1140-hour ELC entitlement in other settings. CoPECC is successfully delivering ELC from its current interim site at Goodlyburn Primary School, and all families residing in the North Perth ELC Community can access their funded ELC place within the current capacity. A two further PKC Early Childhood Centres, 5 PKC nursery settings, 5 funded provider nursery settings and 6 childminders within the community offer families funded places for ELC. Letham ECC was built as a new extension to Letham Primary School as part of the ELC expansion, and Riverside ECC is part of the newly built Riverside Primary School opened in June 2023. 4. Legislation Councils, as Education Authorities, have a statutory duty in terms of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 to make adequate and efficient provision of school education across their entire area for the current school population and future pattern of demand. Councils also have a statutory responsibility in terms of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 to achieve best value. The Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 requires local authorities to apply robust consultation procedures to all proposals for school closures (including nurseries). PKC is committed to providing stakeholders with reassurance that the consultation and decision-making process and procedures are fairly, fully and rigorously carried out. The Education (Scotland) Act 2016 amends the Standards in Scotland’s Schools Act 2000 by adding in new duties to address inequality of outcome. These duties apply in different ways to both Scottish Ministers and education authorities. Where the education authority is making or implementing strategic decisions about education, it is required to have due regard to the need to carry out its functions in a way which is designed to reduce inequalities of outcome. This is particularly directed in the Act towards children who experience those inequalities through socio-economic disadvantage. The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 requires local authorities to provide all children of pre-school age access to 600 hours of ELC. Secondary legislation was passed in 2019 amending the 2014 Act, so that from 1 August 2020, the amount of funded ELC eligible children are entitled to increased to 1,140 hours a
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year. The local government settlement provides funding for local authorities to deliver funded ELC to all eligible children. Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the funded ELC entitlement is available for all eligible children in their area. 5. Community Engagement (if any) It is proposed that a statutory consultation exercise takes place on a proposal to permanently close CoPECC at the site at McCallum Court and continue delivery of an ECC from Goodlyburn Primary School. Children will instead continue to access their ELC funded entitlement at this ECC or in the other available options in the community according to the preferences of parents/carers. 6. Location Since April 2022, Goodlyburn and City of Perth Early Childhood Centre has been located within Goodlyburn Primary School in the area of North Perth. This location is 0.8 miles distance from the original site at McCallum Court. The primary school (p1-p7) has a capacity of 300, with a current roll as of September 2024 of 221 children. The school shares a site with Perth College UHI and is one of two schools within Perth and Kinross offering Gaelic Medium Education. The catchment of Goodlyburn PS includes the Fairfield community area, in which CoPECC was originally located, providing well-established links between the old and new sites. The school is situated within a residential area, but is well located for access to the conveniences of the city centre including Perth Royal Infirmary and Letham Hub. Socio Economic Factors CoPECC has historically served the communities of Tulloch, Goodlyburn and Balhousie, within the North Perth ELC Community. The wards of Perth City Centre and Perth City North are those estimated to have the highest levels of child poverty within Perth and Kinross (Briefing_Note_Poverty_Estimates_Perth_and_Kinross_2022_-_June_2023.pdf) CoPECC was originally the only ECC which served that community and provided an enhanced ELC offer before implementation of the 1140 Expansion to ELC in 2020. Following implementation of the expansion, two further ECCs serve the North Perth Community, and a further large nursery offering extended models of attendance is located at St John’s Academy as part of the North Inch Community Campus. All these settings have strong links with health and social care professionals and offer family learning opportunities and support. Resources such as full-time nursery teachers and full-time Early Years Family Learning Practitioners have been allocated in recognition of the community context and to support positive outcomes. 7. Development / Housebuilding
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Recent housebuilding has taken place at Huntingtower, located off the A95, approximately 1.4 miles from Goodlyburn Primary School. The site offers a range of 3, 4, and 5 bedroom homes and is located within the school catchment area of Ruthvenfield Primary School. Ruthvenfield PS continues to have enough capacity to mitigate any increase in demand caused by this housebuilding project. Future projections for Goodlyburn Primary School intake also remain steady indicating that the housebuilding at Huntingtower will have little impact on uptake: Current Roll – 2024/25 2025/26 2026/27 2028/29 219 222 219 210 Continued development and housebuilding at Bertha Park is ongoing. This new housing development will eventually include 3000 new homes with 25% offered as affordable housing. Bertha Park High School opened in 2019 and has mitigated the increase in demand for secondary spaces. Future plans for a new primary school and ELC setting located at Bertha Park have been approved by the Learning & Families Committee as part of the School Estate Transformation programme to mitigate the projected increase in demand for places (Report No. 22/265) and no impact on Goodlyburn PS or on the ELC estate was noted under these analyses. 8. The School within the Community Early Childhood Centre’s (ECC) have been established in areas of deprivation & provide extended support for more vulnerable families. They offer an extended model of provision from 0800-1800 hrs over 50 weeks. They also contribute to the delivery of parenting interventions and family learning. ECC’s work with local partners and provide opportunities for workforce development and providing a model of high quality ELC. Following the ELC expansion, there are two other EECs serving the North Perth ELC Community: Letham and Riverside. Like Goodlyburn & CoPECC, these centres deliver ELC 50 weeks a year and are supported by full-time nursery teachers, Early Years Family Learning Practitioners (EYFLPs) and link to Health Visitors and Social Workers. All ECCs also offer Strong Start places for two-year-olds, and Letham has recently undergone a service redesign whereby it now offers wrap around care (WAC) for children aged three and older before and after school and throughout all school holidays providing further flexibility for working families. CoPECC is successfully delivering ELC from its current site at Goodlyburn Primary School, and all families residing in the North Perth ELC Community can access their funded ELC place within the current capacity at the range of ELC settings offering funded places. There is additional flexibility to expand the capacity within North Perth by offering additional ELC places at Letham ECC should demand increase. The continued delivery of an enhanced offer of an ECC to serve the North Perth community which has the highest levels of deprivation across Perth and Kinross is
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now well-established at the Goodlyburn PS site. The three ECCs in North Perth – Goodlyburn & CoPECC, Letham ECC and Riverside ECC – provide critical services and support to the children and families of North Perth and are located in response to the recognised level of deprivation within this community. Other large nurseries in the community include Tulloch PS Nursery and St John’s Academy Nursery and are supported by nursery teachers and EYFLPs and link to Health Visiting and Social Work teams. These nurseries also offer Strong Start places. At its current site at Goodlyburn PS, Goodlyburn & CoPECC currently operates from three different playrooms and also accesses a family room, quiet space and office. A large outdoor area underwent investment as part of the 1140 ELC Expansion and the children also access a purpose-built outdoor classroom. The majority of children attending CoPECC at its previous site at McCallum Court resided in the Goodlyburn, Tulloch & Balhousie catchments. Since the site closed due to the flood damage, a new ECC has opened at Riverside Primary School. Along with large nurseries at St John’s RC Academy and Tulloch Primary School, as well as a number of Private/Voluntary/Not for Profit ELC settings and childminders, all children in these communities have access to funded ELC places. At the current site at Goodlyburn Primary School, Goodlyburn & CoPECC continues to deliver high quality ELC primarily to children residing in the surrounding areas of Tulloch, Letham and Goodlyburn. A small number of parents and carers residing in communities out with the local area, such as Scone and Crieff, are choosing to access funded ELC for their children at Goodlyburn & CoPECC possibly due to the setting’s proximity to their place of work in the city, or their study at Perth College UHI. The current service delivers ELC to 74 children at any one time, including 2-year- olds. Please note that due to the variety of attendance patterns that can be accessed, there can be more than 74 children on the register at any one time. The following table demonstrates uptake over the previous two years: Session Number of Children Spaces Remaining 2024/25 71 8 2023/24 69 10 In local authority settings serving the North Perth ELC Community uptake is as follows: Setting Care Inspectorate Registered Capacity Total Number of Children accessing ELC session 2023/2024 Total Number of Children accessing ELC session 2024/2025 Spaces Remaining session 2024/2025
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Goodlyburn and CoPECC 74 69 71 8 Letham ECC 116 81 87 15 Riverside ECC 82 71 90 6 St John’s Nursery 85 91 88 11 St Ninian’s Nursery 24 16 24 1 Tulloch Nursery 66 59 67 3 Our Lady’s Nursery 30 30 29 5 Methven Nursery 40 43 47 0 Total 517 460 503 49 The different attendance models of ELC provide further flexibility and accessibility to a larger number of children than implied by the Care Inspectorate Registered Capacity. In addition to the above, there are four further funded provider nurseries and five childminder settings delivering funded places in the North Perth Community. These settings work in partnership with the council to deliver high-quality funded ELC. The data in the table accounts for all applications received for session 2024/25 for intakes at August, January and April and includes those children who have deferred entry to primary one and are accessing an additional year of ELC and two year olds accessing Strong Start places. 9. Building Information / suitability In July 2010 the original CoPECC building suffered major flooding. Insurance settlement for the building refurbishment along with the costs for the displacement of the pupils during the rebuild and contents was £735k and was on a like for like basis. PKC installed flood preventative measures in the building to minimising risk of future flooding as part of reinstatement works. No further measures were possible at that time as all options had been implemented, yet some risk remained. The estimated building damage from the flooding in August 2020 was estimated at approx. £575k. No building work was undertaken and there was further damp and
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deterioration which was not covered by insurance. In addition, the insurance excess would have increased to around £1m for future claims due to the ongoing likelihood of repeated damage, leaving it, in effect, uninsurable. Property Services and the flooding team within the Council advised that there were no definitive control measures that could be put in place to avoid this risk. As a result of the continued risk and costs, the building was demolished. 10. Financial Information The cost of a new building or extension would be significant. As the site where the ECC was previously located has been deemed unusable, the purchasing of new land would also be required. 11. Options for Consideration The following options are considered for the future of City of Perth Early Childhood Centre: • Option One - Initiate the statutory consultation process to form the basis of moving towards formal closure of CoPECC and the continuation on a permanent basis of the ECC service currently provided within Goodlyburn Primary School. • Option Two - Consider building a new standalone building to house CoPECC or build an extension to the current Goodlyburn PS building to support delivery of the ECC. • Option Three – The ECC is fully closed and the site at Goodlyburn PS reverts back to a nursery setting offering standard 45-week attendance models. The two other ECCs in the North Perth ELC Community would continue delivery of an enhanced service. 11.1 Assessment of Option One The ECC can continue to exist within its current location within Goodlyburn Primary school and the North Perth ELC community, minimising any risk of reduced access to high-quality ELC delivery to families and the community. Current staff positions will remain, minimising risk to jobs and there will be the continued delivery of a third ECC within North Perth, one of the most deprived communities in the authority. All costs incurred from moving the Centre to its current site at Goodlyburn PS have already been consumed within previous ELC budgets so cost-savings can be made and no additional costs incurred. Although the relocation of CoPECC to Goodlyburn PS was originally planned to be temporary until a permanent solution was found, the changes have been positive and less disruptive than anticipated. ELC delivery remains high-quality and all children within North Perth have been able to access their full 1140 funded entitlement since the closure of the original CoPECC building in 2022. Sections 7 and 8 of this report indicate that there is not any anticipated increase in demand for ELC places based on current data, and that there is some flexibility to increase places at Letham ECC if required.
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As Goodlyburn & CoPECC is open 50 weeks per year, there is the opportunity for additional sessions of ELC to be offered to those children and families in the community who would benefit most from continued engagement and access to high- quality learning opportunities as part of PKC’s Support for Children and Families Process. The Centre Leader monitors children and families who require additional support and engagement within the setting and offers ELC sessions throughout the school holidays. Goodlyburn & CoPECC also accepts holiday referrals for children attending ELC settings in the North Perth area who close during school holidays, to promote engagement, reduce risk, and allow for continued access to high-quality learning opportunities for families in the community who will benefit most from the offer. 11.2 Assessment of Option Two CoPECC can continue to exist and support the North Perth Community within a fit for purpose building or extension to Goodlyburn PS. This would provide children with high-quality spaces designed for modern ELC delivery. If a standalone option is progressed, the setting at Goodlyburn PS would revert back to a nursery. However, this option will be considered to go against Asset Challenge methodology with evidence provided above showing that a new building or extension is excessive to the needs of the service. Goodlyburn & CoPECC provides the full operational delivery of an ECC within its current site, providing this essential service within the North Perth ELC Community. Should plans for building of a standalone building or extension take place, it would likely be at least 2026 before building works would be ready to commence. Estimated costs, including an estimate of inflation to that period, are £5,635,468 for the standalone option and £5,444,920 for the extension. The standalone is estimated to be 650m2 and the extension 622m2; however, plans for these options were never finalised and further changes could see the costs increase further. 11.3 Assessment of Option Three The ECC is permanently closed to allow the site at Goodlyburn PS to revert to a nursery setting offering 45-week attendance models. Continued delivery of funded ELC sessions on site and within the community will minimise risk to families and community and two further ECCs at Letham PS and Riverside PS will also continue to deliver the enhanced services attributed to these services within the North Perth ELC Community. However, this option will lead to a reduction in the provision of an ECC within the North Perth community and across Perth and Kinross ELC. Goodlyburn & CoPECC currently serves one of the communities in Perth and Kinross which is most likely to benefit from the enhanced services offered by an ECC. A reduction to a 45-week nursery model will also provide fewer childcare options to families in the community. There is a potential risk to jobs should the reversion to a nursery lead to a change to management structure, ELC spaces offered, and number of weeks the service is open annually.
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12. Analysis of Preferred Option Option One is the preferred option. The merger between CoPECC and Goodlyburn has been successful, and the service is well-led by the Centre Leader. The site provides a variety of spaces to support delivery and its proximity to Perth College UHI and the city centre supports parents and carers opportunities to access employment and higher education. Maintaining a third ECC within North Perth allows PKC’s Education and Learning Service to maintain its vision of providing the best start to all children, promoting inclusion within disenfranchised communities, and providing the right support at the right time to get it right for every child and family. As an ECC, the site delivers year-round childcare options providing flexibility for parents and carers and also maximising ELC capacity, allowing PKC to fulfil its statutory duty to provide access to 1140 hours of funded ELC to all eligible children. Closure of the original CoPECC building at McCallum Court has not impacted upon the ability of children in North Perth to access their funded ELC places since 2022. The delivery of an enhanced ECC model has been retained within the North Perth Community. There is capacity to absorb some further increases in demand within North Perth ELC settings. The Nursery at Perth College UHI permanently closed in June 2024 and the children affected were offered alternative ELC provision within the local authority, further demonstrating the stability of the current context. The merger with Goodlyburn Nursery is currently temporary; however, delivery of the ECC service at Goodlyburn PS provides a large well-maintained outdoor space at its current site and has easy access to further green spaces within the College grounds. The Centre Leader has led ongoing development of the children’s experiences and spaces in the setting, both indoors and outdoors, and the environment was graded as Good by the Care Inspectorate during inspection in February 2024. Investment in the outdoor space, including the building of an outdoor classroom has taken place to support children’s access to high-quality experiences and spaces. Should this option be approved, the title of the ECC will also be put to consultation to formalise the merger and provide finality. 13. Community Impact Risk to the community is low and no impact is envisioned. Goodlyburn Primary School is located 0.8 miles from the original COPECC site and serves mostly the same communities. The North Perth ELC Community will continue to be served by three ECC services, as well as the myriad of other ELC choice. This range of options and targeting of ECC services serves the North Perth community well and allows allocation of resources within one of Perth and Kinross’ most deprived communities. 14. Impact on Travel Arrangements There are a range of funded provider ELC and childminder settings across the North Perth ELC community which enable parents and carers to access the setting of their choice. Unlike schools, ELC settings do not have catchment areas. The Statutory
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ELC Consultation 2023/24 found that respondents with a child accessing ELC listed “accessing the ELC setting closest to their home” as the most important factor when making their choice (81%). Therefore, travel arrangements are unlikely to be impacted as Goodlyburn & CoPECC continues to be situated close by on the Goodlyburn site, serving the same local communities. As ELC settings do not have catchments areas like schools do, other ELC options which may be situated closer to a parent’s home address are open to families and allow them choice. As the ECC continues to operate within North Perth, an area discussed earlier as one experiencing deprivation, there is no socio-economic impact identified as the service still exists and is available within the community. 15. Educational Benefits Statement The CoPECC merger with Goodlyburn Primary School nursery has supported the delivery of continued high-quality provision within the North Perth community. In February 2024, the setting underwent inspection by the Care Inspectorate and achieved gradings of ‘Very Good’ under Quality Indicators 1.1 & 1.3, 3.1 and 4.3 and ‘Good’ under Quality Indicator 2.2. The full Care Inspectorate inspection report for the Goodlyburn and City of Perth Early Childhood Centre is available on their website. Children’s wellbeing continues to be a priority within the setting as highlighted within the inspection report: “Children were nurtured as they experienced caring, responsive, and compassionate interactions which supported their wellbeing. Children's wellbeing was effectively supported through personal planning which was reviewed regularly with families and children. Staff knew children well and were aware of their individual needs. When required, staff worked closely with other professionals. They were skilled at recognising where children may benefit from additional interventions. This was managed sensitively to ensure children received the support that was right for them in a timely manner. This ensured children were supported to achieve their full potential (p.4).” This is an educational benefit to the children attending the ECC as their individual needs are met responsively and their wellbeing is prioritised. When children feel safe, secure and nurtured, they are more likely to engage in learning experiences and have a good basis for continued development. Goodlyburn & CoPECC was also recognised for the support given to families tailored to the needs and context of the local community: “A key strength of the setting was the proactive and positive relationships developed with families and other professionals to ensure each child's needs were fully met. Partnership working was highly effective, as staff recognised the importance of engaging with children and their families at the earliest possible stage. Ongoing opportunities such as Peep learning together sessions provided rich, meaningful experiences for families to engage in. This contributed to supporting the holistic needs of each child and their family to improve their wellbeing (p.4).” Strong partnerships with parents and carers in the early years build a robust foundation for parental engagement and involvement throughout the rest of a child’s educational journey throughout school, providing well- founded educational benefits.
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Children’s continued learning and development was also highlighted as high-quality practice: “Staff had high aspirations to enable children to be successful. Children's voice was valued, and they were empowered to lead their own play and learning. As a result, children were confident, happy and motivated to learn. Effective questioning provided opportunities to widen children's thinking skills and consolidated their learning through play experiences. This supported children to achieve their potential” (p.4). It is one of the key priorities for PKC’s Education and Learning service that all children are provided with the best start. When children are provided with high- quality ELC opportunities, they are able to progress well towards meeting their developmental milestones and towards the Curriculum for Excellence benchmarks. The educational benefit of the ECC provision is allowing children to learn and progress at an early age supporting prolonged engagement and attainment as they move into school. The learning that children currently experience at the Goodlyburn site is enhanced by weekly visits to Westbank ELC outdoor learning site. This project works to provide better outcomes for nursery aged children living in the most deprived areas of Perth and Kinross by combating limited access to the outdoors, an inequity of particular note in a local authority with such contrasting geographical locations impacting children’s access to learning in the outdoors. Limited access to learning outdoors is identified as a contributing factor leading to the opening of the attainment gap whilst access to high quality outdoor learning is research backed to serve as a tool to close this gap. The impact on children at Goodlyburn & CoPECC from accessing Westbank include making more outdoor play choices and engaging in a greater range of physical activity both at the project site and in the context of their own environment at the setting. In addition, there has been increased capacity in identified children to regulate their emotions on site thus enhancing opportunities for play and learning, and increased engagement from families since the launch of the project with family members invited to remain on site to play alongside their child. Realising the Ambition, Scotland’s National Framework for the Early Years, attests that the Golden Thread of ELC provision in Scotland is Quality. Research has shown that children from disadvantaged backgrounds, can benefit from improved educational and wellbeing outcomes by accessing world class early years education. The key element of providing high quality ELC, is a workforce that is professional, knowledgeable and skilled to deliver rich daily experiences and interactions. The staff team at Goodlyburn & CoPECC is made up of a number of Early Years Practitioners each assigned a group of key children with which to build positive relationships and plan for high quality learning experiences based on the child’s needs, interests and stage of development. The practitioners are led by a well- experienced management team comprised of the Centre Leader, a Principal ECP and two Senior ECPs. The learning and teaching are enhanced through a full-time nursery teacher leading a learn through play pedagogy. In addition, the setting has 1.5 FTE Pupil Support Assistants to provide additionality to support all children to reach their potential and 1.5 FTE Early Years Family Learning Practitioners who
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deliver family learning opportunities on-site and provide individual family support as needed. Within the site at Goodlyburn PS, the spaces now used for the delivery of ELC include the former nursery space, an unutilised classroom, and the Nurture base which was moved to a new location within the school. Some offices and other storage spaces were also given to the Centre staff within the building, allowing operations to proceed without a huge impact to the children or staff. The benefit to the school staff and children has enhanced by close partnership working with the primary one teacher to support successful ELC to school transitions. The school roll has remained consistent and not impacted by the increase of ELC spaces, and the additional provision in the school such as the Nurture approach and the Gaelic Medium Education offer are still available and accessible within this location, providing educational benefits to the children who access and benefit from these at all stages. There has been no impact on other users of the school premises that has been made apparent throughout the time Goodlyburn & CoPECC has been operational on the Goodlyburn site. The creation of a wraparound care service at Letham ECC since January 2024 has provided a new holiday childcare service within the North Perth Community which families attending Goodlyburn PS can access. This benefits parents who work or study, or provide options to those who would like to. This aligns with the Scottish Government’s key strategy to reduce child poverty by helping families at risk of poverty into work (Child poverty - Poverty and social justice - gov.scot). Reducing child poverty is also envisioned to provide educational benefits including narrowing of the attainment gap. As stated above, current birth rate patterns do not indicate that the continued delivery of an ECC from Goodlyburn PS will impact future pupils. 16. Financial Impact All costs incurred to support the move from the previous CoPECC building at MacCallum Court to relocation within Goodlyburn Primary School have already been consumed within previous ELC budgets, so no financial impact is envisioned. 17. Environmental Impact No environmental impact is envisioned. 18. Proposed Timeline The proposed timeline for Option One is as follows: Event Completed By Committee Approval January 2025 Formal Consultation May 2025 Consultation Evaluation June 2025 Consultation Report Published July 2025 Committee Decision on Future of CoPECC October 2025
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Implementation of Decision January 2026 19. Conclusion Since the original CoPECC building was damaged by flooding in 2020 and deemed uninsurable due to ongoing high-risk factors, the service has successfully transitioned to deliver high-quality ELC as part of a temporary merger with Goodlyburn Primary School Nursery Class. The continuation of the service within Goodlyburn Primary School and other ELC settings in the North Perth ELC Community provide all families access to funded ELC places and associated support and services. Current local and national financial context requires any decision on the use, maintenance and investment in any asset to be evidence based and in alignment with the Council’s corporate priorities and service delivery requirements. As a result, it is recommended that a statutory consultation exercise takes place on a proposal to permanently close CoPECC at the site at McCallum Court and continue delivery of an ECC from Goodlyburn Primary School to formalise and make permanent the current operation.