Agenda and minutes

David Blackley (sent representative)

David Holdsworth (sent representative)

Gary Holmes

Dave Hooker

Tracy Rees

Sheena Wheatley (sent representative)

None.

Minutes of the meeting held on 23 February 2017, for confirmation

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 February 2017 were agreed and signed by the Chair.

The work programme was noted.

Update by Lucy Juby, School Organisation

Lucy Juby, Project Manager, School organisation, updated the Forum on the Pupil Growth Contingency Fund (PGCF), highlighting the following:

(a)  the additional academy funding for South Wilford Endowed CE Primary School has been moved to next year’s budget;

(b)  Djanogly Northgate Academy has taken an additional Key Stage 2 class to help with pressure in these year groups;

(c)  the remaining balance of the 17/18 fund is £368,413;

(d)  Trinity School is admitting an extra class from September 2017. The Local Authority have provisionally allocated funds from the 17/18 PGCF for Trinity’s growth in numbers, based on the existing criteria and will review this once the criteria for secondary schools has been determined.

RESOLVED to note the information.

Briefing note

Lucy Juby, Project Manager, School Organisation, informed the Forum of the requirement to review and update the Pupil Growth Contingency criteria to include provision for the funding of secondary school pupil growth. Lucy highlighted the following:

(a)  it is projected that there is a need for the city to provide at least 15 additional forms of entry to meet peak demand by 2022;

(b)  interim measures are being proposed for the 2017/18 and 2018/19 school years, with Trinity School taking extra pupils from September 2017 and a proposal for NUAST to expand its provision, changing its age range to 11-18 from September 2018;

(c)  the percentage of city children who attend schools outside the city boundary is reducing and is projected to reduce further, which will only increase the pressure on places in the city;

(d)  the increase in places will be required city-wide, though need in individual areas will be taken into account;

(e)  despite the projected shortfall of secondary places, the Local Authority has been allocated very little capital funding to deliver expansions. Therefore other options must be explored to deliver the required additional capacity;

(f)  the Local Authority is consulting Schools Forum and Head Teachers on the criteria for the Pupil Growth Contingency fund for secondary schools, which is likely to be similar to that used for primary schools, with lag funding for staffing, utlilties and classroom set up costs over a number of years. Recommendations will be presented in a full report in November.

RESOLVED to note the information in the briefing note, and for Lucy Juby to email the current criteria round to head teachers for comment.

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

Alison Weaver, Inclusive Education Service, introduced the report updating the Forum on the strategic review of high needs provision which will be conducted during the financial year 2017-18, highlighting the following:

(a)  the review will bring together all the different strands of activity, engaging with partners and schools to make sure that provision is sufficient;

(b)  the review will take place from April 2018 and will cover SEND provision for 0/25 year olds. £140,000 is the amount provided to cover the costs of the review.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note the proposal to develop a SEND Strategy 0-25, in line with DfE guidance for funding;

(2)  note that funding will be allocated to increase capacity to ensure high quality and collaborative implementation of the review, facilitate consultation with all partners, children and families, and for collation and analysis of relevant data;

(3)  note that the consultation and review process will ensure robust links to the high needs funding reforms, current activity to implement the SEND reforms, whole life disability review and capital programmes activity.

Report of the Joint Directors of Education

Nick Lee, Head of Access & Learning, introduced the report outlining a proposal for a multi-agency group to form and develop proposals for an early intervention pathway with the aim of identifying, at an early stage, children at risk of future exclusion. Nick highlighted the following:

(a)  the number of permanent exclusions in Nottingham City continues to rise. Issues with capacity and poor outcomes mean that the current system is financially unsustainable;

(b)  the multi-agency group will review early intervention strategies, with an aim to improve these and see which services have the most impact;

(c)  the group will work across all key-stages, and look at transition from primary to secondary school as this is recognised as a significant area;

(d)  schools will be involved with the group allowing them to give their views on services, as well as PRUs and the police service.

Members supported the proposal, and restated that schools must be able to give their views and the group must be representative. Measuring impact will be key as budgets for these services reduce.

RESOLVED to note and support the proposal to develop a multi-agency working group which will produce a fully costed plan for ensuring that an early intervention behaviour pathway is implemented to reduce the number of fixed term and permanent exclusions and reverse the current upward trend. The pathway will cover all key stages in order to ensure a sustainable approach to managing behaviours and/or special educational needs that are currently resulting in exclusion from mainstream schools and academies.

Report of the Head of Commercial Finance

Julia Holmes, Senior Commercial Business Partner, introduced the report asking the Forum to establish the Terms of Reference for a Schools Forum Sub Group (SFSG), to formalise the requirements and membership of this group and a timetable of budget activity for consideration by the Sub Group.

Managers of services will be invited to the meeting in September to explain how funding from Schools Forum’s Central Expenditure funds educational outcomes, and how this can be demonstrated. Members were resolute that this information must be clearly presented to allow them to make informed decisions, and that this has not been clear in the past.

RESOLVED to

(1)  approve the SFSG’s Terms of Reference as set out in Appendix A of the report;

(2)  approve the membership of the SFSG for financial year 2017/18 as detailed in paragraph 2.2 of the report;

(3)  establish at least one further member of Schools Forum from both the primary and secondary sectors for the SFSG;

(4)  note the work programme for 2017/18 in Appendix B of the report, which has required 2 SFSG meetings in accordance with other activities to ensure a robust budget setting process.

Report of the Corporate Director for Children and Adults and the Chief Finance Officer

Julia Holmes, Senior Commercial Business Partner, introduced the report setting out the 2016/17 Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) outturn and the updated reserve balance. The following points were raised during discussion:

(a)  consultation on future funding arrangements from the government are ongoing and the impact of this needs to be considered;

(b)  the reserve can be spent on anything that will improve educational outcomes, in consultation with the Local Authority.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note that the 2016/17 financial outturn position of the DSG was an underspend of £1.464m and the reasons for the material underspend are set out below:

(2)  note that this underspend has been allocated back to the Statutory Schools Reserve (SSR) resulting in a closing balance of £11.516m for 2016/17, as set out below:

(3)  note that the uncommitted balance on the SSR balance is £5.721m.