Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED to appoint Sian Hampton as Chair of the Schools Forum for the 2016/17 academic year

RESOLVED to appoint Judith Kemplay as Vice Chair of the Schools Forum for the 2016/17 academic year

Bev Angell

Caroline Caille

Janet Molyneux

None.

Minutes of the last meeting held on 16 June 2016 (for confirmation)

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2016 were agreed and signed by the Chair.

The work programme was noted.

Report of the Interim Director of HR and Transformation and the Strategic Director of Finance

Della Sewell, Employee Relations Manager, introduced the report, outlining the proposed funding arrangements for Trade Union facility time for senior trade union representatives from schools to attend negotiation and consultation meetings and to represent their members in schools in 2017/18. Della highlighted the following:

(a)  the arrangement to de-delegate funding has been in place for a number of years and so is a long-standing arrangement which results in an efficiency and benefit for schools;

(b)  the de-delegation fund senior Trade Union representatives from the main unions that represent teachers and support staff in schools to undertake collective bargaining, negotiation and engagement on terms and conditions of service and HR policies;

(c)  academies can also contribute to the Local Authority’s arrangements for trade union consultation.

RESOLVED

(1)  for mainstream primary schools to approve the de-delegation of funding for senior trade union representatives at a rate of £1.52 per pupil and a lump sum of £1590.00 per school;

(2)  for maintained mainstream secondary schools to approve the de-delegation of funding for senior trade union representatives at a rate of £1.52 per pupil and a lump sum of £1590.00 per school.

Report of the Corporate Director for Children and Adults and the Directors of Education

Kimberly Butler, Behaviour Support Team Leader, introduced the report highlighting the following:

(a)  de-delegation of funding will ensure the viability of the Behaviour Support Team (BST) for a further year, in order to support their core support to schools and children;

(b)  the core service includes work with children and young people who have a primary need of Social, Emotional and Mental Health and are presenting significant needs, as well as attendance and contribution to meetings and reviews around these children;

(c)  in the last year the service supported around 80 children, and is currently supporting 10 children in maintained mainstream schools;

The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:

(d)  the BST provides further services as a traded service which schools pay for individually on varying packages. All academies in the city except for 2 buy in the services of the team.

RESOLVED

(1)  for maintained mainstream primary schools to approve the de-delegation of funding for statutory services provided by the Behaviour Support Team in 2017/18 at a rate of £5 per pupil eligible for free school meals and a lump sum of £0.003m per school;

(2)  for maintained mainstream secondary schools to not approve the de-delegation of funding for statutory services provided by the Behaviour Support Team in 2017/18 at a rate of £55 per pupil eligible for free school meals and a lump sum of £0.003m per school.

Report of the Directors of Education and the Corporate Director for Children and Adults

Jane Daffé, Senior Achievement consultant, introduced the report, highlighting the following:

(a)  due to continuing success of the IDEAL Service as a traded service locally and nationally, the cost per pupil for de-delegation has reduced to £44.56 in 2017/18;

(b)  the core offer for all schools is a named consultant for advice and support, free access to the EAL network meetings, NQT training and 1 day of consultant support in school which the school can use as it sees fit;

(c)  positive work that the service has led on includes the Syrian Resettlement Programme, strategic work on the Roma and Asylum Seeker/Refugee communities and Year 11 provision and educational support.

RESOLVED

(1)  for maintained mainstream primary schools to approve the de-delegation of funding for EMA at a rate of £44.56 per EAL pupil for 2017/18 to ensure that the IDEAL team has sufficient time to create programmes and products for a more fully traded service to be established. The total estimated funding requested to be de-delegated for maintained mainstream primary schools is £0.109m (based on the autumn 2015 census);

(2)  for maintained mainstream secondary schools to approve the de-delegation of funding for EMA at a rate of £44.56 per EAL pupil for 2017/18 to ensure that the IDEAL team has sufficient time to create programmes and products for a more fully traded service to be established. The total estimated funding requested to be de-delegated for maintained mainstream secondary schools is £0.003m (based on the autumn 2015 census).

Report of the Corporate Director for Children and Adults

David Thompson, Schools Health and Safety Manager, introduced the report updating the Forum on the statutory and legislative health and safety responsibilities of the Local Authority in relation to maintenance and testing of maintained school properties. David highlighted the following:

(a)  de-delegation of funding for health and safety inspections will enable the council to deliver its statutory obligations regarding the health and safety of maintained, mainstream school sites;

(b)  individual schools will not have to source contracts themselves for inspections. Any required works which are identified through inspections will need to be paid from by schools themselves;

The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:

(c)  there has been a historical underspend on this service, and unused money is held in a reserve. This is held for a 5 year cycle and if there is a surplus at the end then the funding will be available for maintained mainstream schools to muse elsewhere;

(d)  academies do not have the opportunity to buy into this service and organise their own inspections themselves.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note the statutory and legislative health and safety responsibilities of the Local Authority in relation to building maintenance of maintained primary and secondary schools and the type of costs that the requested funding will be used to fund, as detailed in paragraph 1.2 of the report;

(2)  for maintained mainstream primary schools to approve the de-delegation of health and safety building inspection funding in 2017/18 based on a rate of £13.92 per pupil. The total estimated funding requested to be de-delegated for maintained mainstream primary schools is £0.172m;

(3)  for maintained mainstream secondary schools to approve the de-delegation of health and safety building inspection funding in 2017/18 based on a rate of £13.92 per pupil. The total estimated funding requested to be de-delegated for maintained mainstream secondary schools is £0.018m.

Presentation by Penny Marshall, Schools Energy Officer

Penny Marshall, School Energy Officer, gave a presentation on the outcomes of the Schools Collaboration on Resource Efficiency (SCoRE) project, highlighting the following:

(a)  the overall objective of the SCoRE Programme was to cut energy consumption and emissions from schools, also achieving:

·  financial savings;

·  lower carbon emissions;

·  a curriculum linked programme;

·  a bespoke service, training and advice for schools;

·  a programme which supports eco-schools;

·  access to SALIX funding to improve energy efficiency;

(b)  after establishing baseline data, surveys would be conducted at schools and a report produced. The report would outline recommendations with a step by step approach. It would attempt to affect behavioural change among both staff and children through training, lessons and assemblies;

(c)  SCoRE has won a National Green Apple Award received at Westminster in 2011 and was voted finalist in the local 2015 Nottingham Evening Post awards;

(d)  the school surveys identified £100,000 savings per annum from potential lighting upgrades, 12 boilers for replacement and £580,000 in cumulative savings for similar interventions over the school estate. Technical changes included replacement lighting, boiling and heating system upgrades, IT and server efficiency implementation, insulation, and timer switches;

(e)  the SCoRE Programme resulted in £36,218 energy cost savings per annum and 197 tonnes of CO2 savings pro rata (since 2012). 9,000 pupils and 2,200 members of school staff were engaged by the programme;

(f)  even though the SCoRE programme has finished, the Schools Energy Team are still available to offer advice to schools on energy efficiency and cost savings.

RESOLVED to thank Penny for the presentation.

Report of the Directors of Education

This item was postponed to the next meeting of the Schools Forum

Report of the Directors of Education and the Corporate Director for Children and Adults

Jonny Kirk, Service Manager, Access to Learning, introduced the report outlining the proposed additional budget requirements of the pupil growth contingency for 2016/17, highlighting the following:

(a)  there is a requirement to provide additional school places in Key Stage 2 classes in most areas of the city, due to movement of families into the city and a rise in the birth rate;

(b)  families that are arriving in Nottingham often have more than one child, and so these additional places will help to keep families together by being able to offer more siblings a place together;

(c)  approximately 5-6 additional classes will be required to meet the current need. Discussions with individual schools and academies as to where these will be have not yet taken place;

The following answers were given in response to questions from the Forum:

(d)  this funding is for primary schools only, but there are ongoing discussions around future expansion needs at secondary schools. Work is taking place with a Place Planning company which should provide robust data and a long term view;

(e)  there are place pressures across the city, but particularly in inner city areas where people tend to live when they first arrive in the city such as Forest Fields and Sneinton;

(f)  there are around 5-6000 in-year applications received each year in Nottingham, both from people moving around the city and moving into the city. The School Admissions Team uses various means to engage with parents, from visiting homes to one-to-one support at Loxley House in a variety of languages;

(g)  additional needs for Special Schools and PRUs is also in consideration, with recent discussions around the specialist school estate and demands of the increasing population.

RESOLVED to approve the allocation of an additional £0.300m to support pupil growth in 2016/17 from the Statutory School Reserve

Presentation by Kathryn Stevenson and Janine Walker

Kathryn Stevenson, Senior Commercial Business Partner, and Janine Walker, Service Manager, Special Educational Needs, gave a presentation on proposals for high needs places for the 2017/18 academic year, highlighting the following:

(a)  there is a requirement for the Local Authority (LA) to consult with the Schools Forum over proposals but not to gain agreement. The LA must submit place change notifications relating to academies and FE colleges to the Education Funding Agency (EFA) by 25 November 2016;

(b)  the purpose of notifying the EFA is so that they can directly fund these settings via a reduction in the LA’s High Needs block allocation;

(c)  there is likely to be an increase in High Needs funding nationally from December 2016, but it is still unknown that Nottingham will benefit from this;

(d)  LAs also have the opportunity to request additional funding for growth in hospital education provision in the 2017/18 financial year, where there is evidence that this is linked to an increase in medical provision;

(e)  the LA identifies where a place number change may be required by examining current pupil numbers and leavers, anticipated new admissions and limits to physical capacity. This is not an exact science ad it is difficult to predict how many new pupils with Special Educational Needs may move into the city;

(f)  the key proposed changes are identified below:

(g)  the full year impact of the extra places and associated top-up funding is estimated at £214,000. Most of the additional places will be needed by April. Any uplift to High Needs funding will be initially used for this;

(h)  failure to provide enough High Needs places within the city risks pupils having to be placed in more costly out of city provision.

RESOLVED to note the information

To consider excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining item in accordance with section 104a(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining item in accordance with Section 110A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report of the Directors of Education and the Corporate Director for Children and Adults

Jonny Kirk, Head of Access to Learning, introduced the report.

RESOLVED to approve the recommendations in the report.