Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Elaine Pickering, Ethel Mills and Denise Henry.

The Forum is asked to approve as a correct record the minutes of the last meeting held on 17 March 2016

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2016 were agreed as a correct record subject to it being noted that Andy Ramanandi is representing Primary Headteachers and not the Diocese.

Alan Foster, Corporate Resources

The Forum received the draft response to the High Needs Funding Consultation.  The closing date for responses is Sunday and all schools were emailed on 23 March for comments on the response before finalisation.  The Forum was advised that a separate submission can be made by the Schools Forum.

Since the response was drafted an officer meeting was held which resulted in some answers changing once their impact was better known.

Each question was looked at by the Forum and responses agreed, with the following comments being noted to be included in the Forum’s response;

Q1 – Forum agreed with the response and noted that, in terms of paragraph three of the response, this needs to be reviewed when further information is known.

Q3 – Forum agreed the high needs formula should be based on actual assessed need, however it was noted that it is on an individual basis as to whether proxy or assessed measures are best.  This will not be clear until further information is known at the next phase.  The Forum agreed that a comment be made under this question about autism and hearing impairment as deprivation measures.

Q10 – Forum agreed that its response should include a comment that there are differences in the phases and that one size does not fit all because of how ARMS function differently.

Carole Smith, Corporate Resources

The Forum received the draft response to the National Funding Formula Consultation and the group made comments on the answers, which would be used as the Forum’s formal response to the consultation.

Each question was looked at by the Forum and responses agreed as follows;

Q1 – The Forum did not agree with the proposed principles for the funding system.  It was noted that the system may be efficient but not necessarily effective nor fit for purpose or fair.

Q2 – The Forum did not agree with the proposal to move to a school-level national funding formula.  It was noted that if this was done at a national level there would be no feel for schools in Gateshead.  The Forum felt that one size does not fit all.

Q3 – The Forum felt that the funding for each pupil should be different for all key stages and that primary should not be one block.  Therefore it was agreed that the response should say ‘yes’ with the comment that primary should be split into key stages one and two.

Q4a – The Forum agreed that a deprivation factor should be included.

Q4b – The Forum supported all three measures for the deprivation factor, but weighted to more FSM numbers.

Q5 – The Forum agreed that low prior attainment factor should be included and noted that a comment be included around the possibility of including a high attainment factor for gifted and talented pupils.

Q6a – The Forum agreed a factor for English as an additional language should be included.

Q6b – The Forum agreed that EAL3 be used as it takes EAL pupils three years to take part in the curriculum.

Q7 – The Forum agreed that a lump sum factor should be included as this is important for small schools to remain viable.

Q8 – The Forum agreed that a sparsity factor should be included as this can affect schools in rural communities.

Q9 – The Forum agreed that a business rates factor should be included, but not on a historic cost basis as rates can vary year on year and will increase in future years.

Q10 – The Forum agreed that split sites factor should be included.

Q11 – The Forum agreed that a private finance initiative factor should be included but not on historic cost basis.

Q12 – The Forum agreed that an exceptional premises circumstances factor should be included criteria should be developed to be applied on a national basis.

Q13 – The Forum did not agree that funding for rates, PFI, exceptional circumstances and growth funding in 2017-18 and 2018-19 should be allocated based on historic basis.

Q14 – The Forum agreed a growth factor should be included but not on a historic basis.

Q15 – The Forum did not agree that funding for growth be allocated based on historic spend as past growth is no indication of current growth.

Q16a – The Forum did not agree that an area cost adjustment should be included.

Q16b  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Carole Smith, Corporate Resources

The Forum received a summary of the Education White Paper – Educational Excellence Everywhere.  It was noted that there is a significant reduction in autonomy.

Carole Smith, Corporate Resources

The Forum received a report following a request from Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School to extend its surplus balance licence.  The licence was for refurbishment of toilets, however the work was not finished in time as could only be carried out over the holidays.

Forum was advised that the closing date for this consultation is 6 June, this is before the next meeting so it was agreed that a response would be emailed round for consideration.

Thursday 9^th June, 10.00am

The date and time of the next meeting is Thursday 9 June at 10.00am.