Kensington and Chelsea Council has initiated an independent review of primary school place planning to tackle a persistent surplus of places and the associated financial and operational risks. An external review, commissioned to inform future school organisation and sufficiency planning, is expected to commence shortly.
The review will be conducted by the ISOS Partnership. Initial stakeholder conversations, including with Jagdeep Birdi, Chair of the Schools' Forum, and Sarah Bluett, Chair of the Head's Exec, are scheduled to take place before the summer. The ISOS Partnership will present draft reports and recommendations to the forum for discussion and approval, with two opportunities to review the drafts before the final report is presented for approval in a subsequent meeting.
As part of the review, 'dot maps' will be produced to visually represent learner demographics and areas of need. These maps are anticipated to be useful for decision-making in future school organisation.
The cost of this review, capped at £15,000, will be de-delegated from schools' budgets in the 2027/28 financial year. This decision was agreed by the Schools' Forum during their meeting on Monday, 8 June 2026, as detailed in the Public reports pack. The rationale for this de-delegation is to fund the review, which aims to inform future school organisation and sufficiency planning, identify strategic planning needs, and propose potential cost-saving recommendations. The direct impact for individual schools will be the deduction of this cost from their allocated budgets.
