NCC Net Capacity Review 2026 - forthcoming school visits
Introducing the Net Capacity (NetCap) review
The Local Authority is commencing a review of school Net Capacity (NetCap) across the county as part of the annual School Capacity (SCAP) survey. This will involve a programme of visits to schools countywide to ensure we have accurate data on the size and use of all buildings across the school estate.
These surveys will align with the similar but separate DfE programme that was announced in 2023 (see here: 2023 DfE NetCap Survey MI). We also intend to update NCC's database of school site plans as part of this review.
'When, how & why?' we are conducting this review
Like the DfE, we shall be visiting schools to measure rooms and record their usage. We aim to commence visits in March and shall start contacting schools over the coming weeks to arrange visits. We will be working through the estate in a planned way to ensure all schools receive a visit, as such it may be some time before your specific school is contacted. The visits will be planned and aligned alongside DfE survey assessments which are currently underway.
After visiting a school we shall calculate the number of pupils it can accommodate by using the DfE's Net Capacity Assessment tool, which provides a single consistent method for calculating NetCap based on the number, size and type of teaching spaces in your school. We will also generate an updated school site plan using this information. This data helps us to meet our sufficiency duty, plan effectively for admissions and improve our oversight of the school estate. The NetCap review will therefore be essential for ensuring your current and future students can access high quality education within their communities. It will also help us to understand how space is being used, and how it could be used in light of the changing demographic trend occurring across Norfolk.
Continuously supporting each other through the NetCap review
We will continually review and reflect on the NetCap assessment process as it develops. We are currently assessing how we might adjust our approach to better support continued dialogue with you, while also ensuring revised modifications to buildings are captured appropriately. We are aware that there are many demands on your time and that of your staff, and so we will only seek further information from you if we genuinely believe it will speed up the NetCap process for all concerned. We will also do our utmost to ensure that information requests are made in a way that does not place an undue burden on your school staff.
We would like this to be an open and communicative process between NCC and all Norfolk schools. We have aimed to anticipate some questions you may have, and prepared an attached Norfolk County Council NetCap Review Q&A document (PDF, 75 KB) which we hope answers some of these queries. If after reading this you have further questions please do direct them to [email protected] where a member of our team will do their best to answer them.
We look forward to working with you throughout this process, and moving towards our shared goal of ensuring there is sufficient capacity in Norfolk for all children to easily access a high-quality education in their local school.
