Outdoor Learning Service Review Consultation

Overview

The current review on the future of the Outdoor Learning Service may affect schools, pupils, disabled children and their families.  We invite you to read the accompanying information about the service, (Consultation Support Document) and complete the following form in order to help us understand the impact of the options.  Your responses will be used to inform the cabinet report.

The consultation is open for 7 weeks. The closing date for consultation is 19 January 2014.

The results of the consultation will be published here after this date.

Further consultation will also be undertaken as part of the full process.  This will ensure that the views and impacts on disabled children and their families is fully understood.

The Cabinet decision is likely to be in March 2014, and will be published on Birmingham City Council’s webpages.

If you would like help in completing this or would like to receive a paper version please contact Nimmi Patel, by telephoning 0121 303 9866, or emailing nimmi.patel@birmingham.gov.uk.

Why your views matter

Outdoor learning is a broad term that includes: outdoor play in the early years; school grounds projects; environmental education; recreational and adventure activities; personal and social development programmes; expeditions, team and leadership education.

Some outdoor learning provision is delivered by schools themselves and sometimes schools book services provided by others.  The budget for this activity has been devolved to schools as part of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).

Birmingham City Council is one of a number of providers and delivers outdoor provision through the following five residential centres and six city based day centres.  The Council competes against other providers in the market and is not a preferred supplier to schools.

Need for Change

There are a number of factors prompting the need for change:

• The service is used less and less, and numbers of pupils attending Birmingham City Council's centres has fallen significantly, as schools select other providers in preference to Birmingham City Council’s service.
• The service has been running at a deficit for a number of years.  In 2012/13 income levels were £1.2m below the amount required to run the services. This liability is predicated to grow as utilisation continues to fall.
• The last survey on the condition of the buildings showed the total estimate for repairs required is £4.1m. 
• The City Council needs to save a further £340m by 2016/17 and needs to look at all areas of discretionary spend. This service is not a statutory requirement.
• Continuing to be a provider in the future will mean cuts in other services.
• Children’s Services need to bolster resources in order to keep vulnerable children safe and will need to make some difficult decisions in order to do this