Agenda item

Pat Fielding, Director of Education, introduced the report consulting the Forum on the detailed proposals to move to a new model for Alternative Provision for the 2016/17 financial year, involving the devolution of high needs funding to maintained schools and academies under a Service Level Agreement (SLA) in order to support early intervention and make provision for pupils with challenging behaviour in schools. Pat highlighted the following:

(a)  Secondary schools will be required to meet the ongoing costs of provision for all pupils including those that they permanently exclude. The funding will be adjusted to reflect a charge for any pupils permanently excluded after April 2016, initially at £15,000 per pupil;

(b)  some primary schools will be piloting clusters in their area to test and evaluate a collaborative approach to alternative provision. Participating clusters will also receive devolved funding and be responsible for meeting all costs associated with pupils they permanently exclude;

(c)  the cost of devolving these funds will be £5.56m over 5 years, including £500,000 to cover potential risks. If nothing was done and the current alternative provision model were to continue it would cost a predicted £14m, therefore making this option unviable financially. Devolving funds directly to schools also pre-empts the direction of alternative provision nationally, as individual schools will be accountable for all permanently excluded pupils from 2017;

(d)  school heads have been consulted over the last year on the proposals, and most secondary schools have agreed in principle. Benefits include supporting early intervention, collaboration between schools and between primary and secondary schools and improved outcomes for pupils;

(e)  the future of Denewood and Unity Pupil Referral Units is unclear once the current pupils have left. They could continue as free schools but individual schools will be responsible for commissioning alternative provision;

The following comments were made during the conversation which followed:

(f)  many pupils who are permanently excluded from secondary schools were ill-prepared in their transition from primary school, so positive collaborative working between primary and secondary schools is imperative to prevent this. Some academy trusts such as the Greenwood Academy Trust have separate blocks to aid transition. One of the proposed primary clusters will be in Clifton, and it hopes to collaborate with the secondary school there;

(g)  colleges are working with local schools and have secured money to fund coaches and identify secondary pupils at risk that they can work with;

(h)  pupils currently on roll at Denewood and Unity still need to be funded until they finish. The initial devolved funding will be reduced to reflect these costs;

(i)  the funding for the new model will be presented to Executive Board in May 2016 for agreement. Once this has been agreed, the proposals can go ahead and be implemented before September;

(j)  primary heads are unaware of the range of alternative provision available in Nottingham and elsewhere. A directory of this provision would be helpful to allow them to make informed decisions.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note the proposal to devolve funds to individual secondary schools for the 2016/17 financial year in accordance with the formula specified in the report, under a Service Level Agreement (SLA);

(2)  note the proposal that under the SLA the charge for pupils that are permanently excluded be set at £15,000 per annum (pro-rata) for 2016/17;

(3)  note the proposal to pilot the devolution of funds to 1 or 2 clusters of primary schools as of September 2016;

(4)  note that the implementation of this model will require an estimated £5.565m from the Statutory School Reserve over the next 5 years. Of this £0.825m is already ring fenced for this area of activity within the Reserve. £0.500m of this requirement is ear-marker to cover any potential risks.