The Consultation closed on Thursday 3rd April and its findings were submitted to the Department for Education for consideration.
9th May – We have received notification from the Department for Education that it has approved the significant change business case for a Dysart satellite site on Latchmere School site from September 2025.
Thank you to everyone for taking part in the consultation.
Please find below information about a consultation that Dysart School undertook to formally change the planned pupil numbers stated in the school’s funding agreement that it holds with the Department for Education (DfE).
Dysart School is a highly regarded specialist setting for pupils with a range of severe and complex learning disabilities and is part of Orchard Hill College Academy Trust (OHCAT). All pupils at Dysart School have an Educational Health Care Plan, and the school works closely with Achieving for Children (AfC), the community interest company that provides Children’s Services for Kingston Council to meet the demand for high quality special education needs (SEN) provision.
Over the years, Dysart School has been able to meet the demand of additional children across existing year groups on its current sites. As a result of this incremental increase, Dysart School currently offers places above its current funding agreement of 150 places.
To meet the additional demand for further pupil places, Dysart School, OHCAT and AfC have, in collaboration with Latchmere Academy Trust, identified a proposed new satellite site at Latchmere School, which is adjacent to Apollo 2, one of Dysart School’s current satellite sites and which is three miles from the main school site.
The proposed additional satellite site would be co-located with Latchmere School, which has surplus accommodation, to create additional places for 24 primary aged children. Dysart pupils at this proposed new satellite site would also benefit from the inclusion opportunities by being co-located with Latchmere School and we are very much look forward to our ongoing collaborative working with Latchmere School and their Trust.
The proposal on which we consulted on is to expand Dysart School onto an additional satellite site and to amend the number of planned places in Dysart School’s funding agreement from 150 to 180 from September 2025.
As Dysart School is an academy, the expansion proposal needs to be approved by the Department for Education (DfE), and we therefore sought the views of parents and other interested parties through this consultation in order to inform the DfE’s decision-making process and to change the Funding Agreement to 180 places.
The consultation period on this proposal ran from Thursday 13 March 2025 to Thursday 3 April 2025 and interested parties were invited to take part in the following ways:
Public meetings where you can meet the school leadership team and ask questions, were held at: Dysart School on Tuesday 25th March as follows:
Comments on the Proposal could be submitted in one of the following ways:
Please note the consultation closed on Thursday 3rd April.
If you have any questions please contact the school Dysart School, 190 Ewell Road, Surbiton KT6 6HL
Tel: 020 8412 2600
The new site will be for Primary-aged children. This expansion in numbers will enable Dysart School to offer more places to children in reception and Year 1. It will also enable the school to offer a few additional places in Year 2 & 3.
Dysart School offers a high-quality training programme to new and existing staff to ensure they are able to offer the best possible education to our pupils. We have an established process for onboarding new staff every September and throughout the year.
If we receive approval to go ahead with the proposal from the Department for Education, we will advertise specifically for the new roles based on the Latchmere Academy site. Existing staff will not be expected to transfer but we recognise some staff may wish to transfer to the new site if it may reduce travel time or offer enhanced career opportunities. These discussions will take place in the summer term as part of the school’s standard staffing procedures.
There will be opportunities for children at the Latchmere site to join in with whole school events at the Dysart Surbiton site in the same way children attending the Apollo satellite sites currently do.
There are excellent facilities at the Latchmere Academy including a swimming pool and we are currently in discussion with the school to timetable swimming pool time there and reduce the need to travel to the Dysart Surbiton site. We are also intending to have a sensory integration space on the Latchmere site.
We will use the school vehicles to move children between sites but we anticipate less need to transport pupils on a regular basis due to the facilities available at Latchmere Academy.
We would not move a child to a different site without consulting with the parent/carers first. A move to a different site would only be suggested if we felt it would be of increased benefit for the child. For example, some of our pupils may benefit from increased integration opportunities that may be available on the Latchmere site.
We work closely with AfC Home to School transport to ensure all pupils can continue to attend Dysart School, no matter which site they attend.
We continue to work with AfC and the LA regarding ongoing therapy support for all pupils at Dysart School.
There is very limited space at the Apollo Tolworth site. It is located on a very small footprint of land and there is no space to expand that site.
The consultation is to increase the projected annual numbers from 150 to 180. It is the expectation that SEN schools can go above their PAN by 20% or 20 pupils, whichever is the fewer. This allows for a small number of additional pupils if required.
No, Dysart pupils will have a separate playground and classrooms. However, there may be some opportunities for the Dysart pupils to integrate with pupils from Latchmere Academy during some planned activities or sessions.
Safety and Safeguarding are of utmost importance and both schools will continue to operate under current Safeguarding protocols. Both will have their own entrance and will follow the usual entry procedures. Staff and visitors will need to sign in and access will be restricted as per current arrangements.
Yes, Dysart pupils will enter via a gate that is locked and controlled by the onsite Dysart Administrator. Dysart will have their own Admin, leadership and pupil support team on site.
The roads around Latchmere Academy are designated as school streets and vehicle entry/exit is restricted during school drop off and pick up times. All people visiting the school will need to adhere to the traffic regulations.
Anyone with a Disabled Badge, may apply for an exemption, so they can access the area to drop off a child. Dysart School will continue to support parents to apply for a Disabled Badge.
Yes, it will be the same. It is the same ethos and values with the same leadership, teachers, supporting staff and administrators.
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