Apologies for absence received from Alison Hall, Colin Jackson, Christina Jones, Mustafaa Malik and Ethel Mills.

The Forum is asked to approve as a correct record the minutes of the last meeting held on 9^th November 2023.

The minutes of the meeting held on the 9^th November 2023 were agreed as a correct record.

Paula Nagel, Education Schools and Inclusion

The Forum received a report requesting funding be de-delegated from maintained primary schools to continue to fund the post of the Fair Access Panel (FAP) Education Psychologist (EP).

During the academic year 2022-2023 there were 36 active cases.. In 2021-2022 training was moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and at the request of Head Teacher Cluster Representatives, the training programme has continued to be delivered as this enables school staff to access the training at their convenience. Since 2021 – 2022 a minimum of 419 staff have received training as either an individual, group, or a full school.  

The calculation for de-delegation for the FAP EP has been calculated on the basis that all mainstream primary schools in Gateshead buy into this service including academies. The de-delegation has been calculated at the level of £5.50 per pupil.

Colin Jackson, Education, Schools and Inclusion

The forum received a report to bring to Schools Forum an update on the existing high incidents needs team (HINT) social emotional and mental health (SEMH) service that they currently fund through de-delegation so that they can consider further de-delegation for the 2024/25 financial year.

The High Needs Block has provided funding for the two teacher posts (to maintain consultancy and guidance for all primaries) and the specialist SEMH higher level teaching assistant’s element of the team has been subject to a buy back arrangement. From September 2023 additional funding has been provided from the High Needs Block for teacher to work on transition from Y6 to Y7 and into secondary schools.

Service Summary for 2022/23 there had been 48 primary schools in Gateshead that have accessed the service with appropriate referrals and several other requesting advice. This is a 5-school increase from the year 2021/22, continuing the increase in trend year on year.

It was proposed that dedelegation levels are reduced to £4.00 per pupil and £35.00 per lower prior attainment factor for 2024/05 from £6.00 per pupil and £38 per lower prior attainment factor in 2023/24.

Julie McDowell, Education, Schools and Inclusion

The School Forum was provided with an update on the background and service delivered by Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) Learning Mentos so they can consider de-delegation for the financial year 2024-5.

The core offer to pupils, families and schools is;

-       Self-esteem work to help build confidence and resilience of the pupil.

-       Transition support.

-       Circle time.

-       Introducing visual aids to support routines at home and at school.

-       Reintroduction to school strategies to help pupils overcome fears and anxieties.

-       Thrive intervention.

-       Emotional Literacy intervention to help a pupil express their feelings.

-       Signposting to other organisations that may be helpful to the pupil, family, or school.

During September 2022 till July 2023 there were 55 appropriate referrals made to the Education Inclusion Panel for EBSA Learning Mentor Support 2022-23. This is in addition to the 15 pupil cases carried forward from the end of 2-21-2022 and gave a total of 70 pupils across the year.

From September 2022 till February 2023 the service was staffed by 0.8 member of staff due to the second employee leaving post on the 31st of August 2022. The post remained vacant until the School Forums decision in early 2023 to continue to fund EBSA. A second, fulltime, member f staff was appointed in February 2023 and took up the post in March 2023.

Julie McDowell, Education, Schools and Inclusion

The School Forum was provided with an update on the background and service delivered by EMTAS since January 2023 when it became part of Education Support Service so they can consider de-delegation for the financial year 2024-5.

The Service provided consists of:

·         Higher Level Teaching Assistants (HLTA) (FTE 1.54) one of whom supports educational outcomes for pupils from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities and another who is multi-lingual.

·         2 x Bi-Lingual Specialists (FTE 1.54)

·         Until 31st August 2023 the Service had an Equality and Diversity Officer (FTE 0.2) who supported wider themes including community cohesion and monitoring and responding to hate crimes. The post is currently vacant.

As of May 2023, EMTAS have offered assessment, advice and support to pupils who are asylum seekers from the Embassy Hotel and those arriving through home office refugee programmes. During the time May and July 2023, 15 people were supported.

It had been identified within mainstream maintained primary schools there had been 20% more contact with EAL pupils from EMTAs officers. The service currently supports 11 schools. EAL pupils will use the referral form to request the services. There have been 80 referrals for advice and support up until October 2023.

Two secondary academies and one maintained secondary have maintained and annual SLA with the service and four primary academies have bought into the service level agreement.

Carole Smith, Resources and Digital

A report was presented to the School Forum to provide options to consider for de-delegation for Maternity Credits and Trade Union Facility Time.

Under the current Maternity Credits scheme, schools can claim from week 7 to week 18 for maternity or adoption leave at a specified daily rate depending on the staff role.

A central Trade Union resource benefits all schools as it will negate the need for additional training for staff in every school, ensuring a consistent approach and bring economies of scale savings.

It is proposed for the January submission of the APT the level of de-delegation is maintained for TUFT and maternity credits at the below rates:-

·         Maternity Credits £8.50 per pupil

·         Trade Union Facility Time £4.50 per pupil

Carole Smith, Resources and Digital

The Forum received a report on an application for Growth Funding from Thorp Academy and Brighton Avenue Primary School.

Thorp Academy: Submitted a growth fund application following several consecutive years of being a growing school. The pupil numbers are growing each year and are expected to continue growing maintaining a level of 310 pupils in each year group.

From October 2022 to October 2023 the number of pupils the school has grown by is 34.

The growth funding procedure had been developed to provide additional funding for growing schools. The fund does state it is available for schools that have grown over 40 pupils or 8%, however, due to the size of the school it is only 2.7% but the make up of the groups in the school it will require additional teachers and teaching time.

It has been proposed even though Thorp Academy does not meet the criteria for the growth fund, the significant growth over recent years should be taken into consideration.

Therefore, it is proposed Thorp Academy are awarded of 34 X KS3 AWPU of £4,749 giving a total allocation of £161,466 capped at £111,400.

Brighton Avenue Primary School: Submitted a growth fund application following several consecutive years of being a growing school. From October 2021 until October 2023, it is estimated an additional 44 pupils (26 for Oct’22 and 18 for Oct’23) are now in the school. The school was asked to create an additional class for September 2023, and this will continue for an additional class in September 2024.

It has been proposed Brighton Avenue Primary School be allocated growth funding as the school has been working with the local authority to increase their capacity. The amount of growth funding to be allocated is calculated at 18 pupil’s X primary AWPU of £3,369 with a total of £60,642 capped at £40,000.

Schools Forum debated the merits of each schools application.

Thursday 11^th January 2024 at 2pm via Microsoft Teams

Thursday 11^th January 2024 at 2:00pm via Microsoft Teams.