Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from; Matt Younger, Ethel Mills, Sarah Diggle, Jim Thomson, Martin Flowers, Chris Richardson, Elaine Pickering and Alan Symons.

The Forum is asked to approve as a correct record the minutes of the last meeting held on 13 October 2016.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 October 2016 were agreed as a correct record.

Jeanne Pratt – Education Gateshead, Carole Smith – Corporate Resources

The Forum received a report on the continuing increase in permanent exclusions. It was noted that currently when a pupil is permanently excluded funding is clawed back from the excluding school. However, this still leaves a short fall of approximately £15,000 per pupil that it costs to meet the educational need of the permanently excluded pupil.

It was reported that the PRU is funded from the High Needs Block for 48 FTE permanently excluded pupils, however this number has continually been exceeded since 2014/15.  It was therefore proposed that if there is funding available once the mainstream schools funding has been calculated that any unallocated funding  estimated at £150,000, be transferred to the High Needs Block to support the increased number of secondary permanent exclusions.  The point was made that at present this is a estimated  sum which may exist once the mainstream school budgets have been calculated .

It was questioned why there has been an increase in the number of permanent exclusions.  It was confirmed that work is ongoing to look at the position of statistical neighbours and what provision they have, work is also underway with Headteachers to identify any patterns. It was also clarified that nationally permanent exclusions are rising, although Gateshead is higher than the national average.

It was noted that since September there has been 21 permanent exclusions, nine are pending permanent exclusion and there an additional seven potential exclusions.

It was acknowledged that this is a complex issue with no simple answer, it was also recognised that the small percentage of successful reintegration back into mainstream school suggests that permanent exclusions have been appropriate. The point was made that there are very few permanent exclusions that progress to Independent Review Panels which shows that they are undertaken in an appropriate manner.

It was suggested that work needs to be carried out to see if there are any commonalities in primary school behaviour which could help identify pupils earlier who are going down a similar route. It was confirmed that analysis work is underway on a number of pupils excluded last year around what services were involved and what interventions were in place to see whether there are any gaps, however this has not shown any conclusive patterns as yet.  It was acknowledged that there is a lot of disparity in terms of early identification and support at primary schools and there are links to permanent exclusions through geographical elements, social deprivation and Pupil Premium.  It was recognised that there is a definite need to understand better the increase in permanent exclusions as well as good practice, however there is a need now to deal with the number of pupils who are expensive to educate.

The point was made that all schools are suffering from tighter budgets and last year there was an underspend in the High Needs. It was confirmed that currently the position is that there is an overspend in the High Needs Block.

The Forum was advised that there has been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Carole Smith, Corporate Resources

The Forum received a report on the work of the Mainstream Schools sub group on the draft Authority Proforma Tool (APT).

It was reported that the sub group looked at a number of areas;

·         Estimated funding

·         IDACI bandings and funding

·         Deprivation funding comparisons

·         Key Stage 3 values

·         Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Rates estimated costs

In terms of estimated funding it is anticipated that there will be additional pupils in mainstream schools because of demographic and new housing builds. Therefore there is a possibility of an additional £1.5million, after allocations for the additional children  this could leave £150,000 available to reallocate to the High Needs Block for permanently excluded pupil support.

It was questioned whether there is double funding through the deprivation factor and Pupil Premium. It was confirmed that this is two separate grants, the deprivation factor is mandatory and the Pupil Premium is outside the remit of the DSG and the Schools Forum. In addition, the use of the 11% deprivation funding does not need to be explained whereas Pupil Premium is linked to the child and schools must prove how it has been used to support those pupils.

It was noted that if there is a change in the formula the APT will be brought back to January’s meeting and an email exchange to all schools on 19 January as the APT needs to be submitted on 20 January 2017.

RESOLVED    -           (i)         That the Schools Forum noted the estimated additional

Schools Block DSG of £1.5M.

                                    (ii)        That the Schools Forum approved the following:-

·         Proposed changes to the IDACI funding rates (which may need further adjustment when the APT and funding are received)

·         Approximately 11% of funding to be targeted at Deprivation

·         The increases to PFI and Rates costs

·         The draft APT

Steve Williamson – Headteacher Behaviour Support Service

The Schools Forum received an update report on the work of the Mental and Emotional Health Support Worker which was funded by the Forum.

It was noted that the Support Worker has been very successful in getting pupils away from home tuition and into the Centre.  The Forum was thanked for the funding.

RESOLVED    -           That the Schools Forum noted the reported and agreed that a

further progress report will be brought back to Forum later in the academic year.

Jeanne Pratt – Education Gateshead

A report was presented to the Schools Forum around the de-delegation of primary funding to support the Primary Behaviour Support Team and the educational psychologist to work to the Fair Access process.

It was reported that current referrals have increased, therefore work to raise the profile of the Primary Behaviour Support Team has been successful.

It was acknowledged that staff accessing the training have benefited from the money that has been de-delegated.

RESOLVED    -           That the Forum agreed to the de-delegation of funds to

continue with the Primary Fair Access Educational Psychologist and the Primary Behaviour Support Team.

Ann Muxworthy – Education Gateshead

RESOLVED    -           That this item be deferred until January’s meeting.

Carole Smith, Corporate Resources

The Forum received a report on the de-delegation of Trade Union Facility Time and Maternity Credits.

It was emphasised that if funding was not bought back there would be a significant impact on schools because Trade Union representatives would be out of school for nine days per year for training.

It was clarified that as there were no mainstream secondary representatives in attendance the Forum would only consider the primary maintained sector and the secondary sector would consider it at the next meeting.

RESOLVED    -           That the de-delegation was agreed for the primary sector

The Secondary sector views would be sought and brought back to January’s Schools Forum.

*Peter Largue declared a pecuniary interest and left the room during discussion of this item.

Carole Smith, Corporate Resources

The Forum received an update report on the work of the Early Years National Funding Formula sub group. At its meeting on 7 November the sub group agreed the draft terms of reference to ensure an understanding of what the group is there to do. During the meeting the sub group agreed to;

·         Create a draft funding model using 95% of the base rate funding

·         The formula to have a single base rate for all settings which will allocate 90% of the funding available to settings

·         The remaining 10% funding to be allocated to deprivation and distribute via the Acorn score of each setting

At its meeting on 28 November the group requested further modelling;

·         90% allocated via basic entitlement and 10% deprivation

·         95% allocated via basic entitlement and 5% deprivation

·         Capping gains to create an inclusion fund

It was noted that under September’s operational guidance additional factors can be included, for example; English as an additional language and quality.

RESOLVED    -           That the Schools Forum approved the draft Terms of

Reference and the progress that the Group has made.

Carole Smith, Corporate Resources

A report was presented on the transfer of the retained duties element of the Education Services Grant (ESG) into the DSG from April 2017.  It was noted that under regulations the Schools Forum needs to approve the funds being held centrally.

It was confirmed that the retained duties funding relates to; school admissions, asset management, education welfare and statutory and regulatory duties. It was noted that local authorities also have duties to maintained schools only which will no longer be funded through the ESG from September 2017.

RESOLVED    -           That the Schools Forum approved the central retention of

funding allocated for retained duties.

Thursday 12 January 2017 at 10.00am

The date and time of the next meeting is Thursday 12 January 2017 at 10.00am