To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Schools’ Forum held on 26^th November 2015

The minutes of the meeting of the Schools’ Forum held on the 26^th November 2015, copies of which had been previously circulated, were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

No declarations of interest were made.

No petitions, deputations or questions were received from members of the public.

Verbal report from the Clerk regarding the updated Schools’ Forum webpage

Miss Narey informed attendees that the duplicate Schools’ Forum webpage on the Rutland County Council website had been removed.  A new updated Rutland Schools’ Forum webpage had been created on the Council’s website with links to published agendas and minutes.

http://www.rutland.gov.uk/education_and_learning/schools_forum.aspx

Verbal report from Mark Fowler and Dawn Greaves following the invitation for schools to bid for additional funding from last year’s DSG underspend.

(Copy of letter attached)

Mr Fowler briefed attendees on the letter that was sent in December 2015 to all schools, academies and free schools regarding additional funding. 

During discussion the following points were noted:

a)    Applications were collated by the Clerk, Miss Narey and sent to Ms Greaves for processing.

b)    The Cottesmore Formula had been used to calculate the allocated funding.

c)    A total of 7 schools (6 primary and 1 secondary) would receive funding totalling £175,000.

d)    Some schools had received two lots of funding – Local Authority and Military of Defence (MOD).  The 2016/17 funding formula had therefore been converted to a percentage per school so that each school would receive some additional funding.

e)    The identified additional funding would be issued to schools at the end of February 2016.

f)     Mr Fowler reported that data regarding MOD children within schools was difficult to obtain.

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Mr Cox joined the meeting at 4.25 p.m.

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AGREED:

1.    That Mr Fowler and Mr Williams would produce a simple form for schools to complete regarding the number of MOD children within each school.

ACTION: Mr Fowler & Mr Williams

2.    The Forum APPROVED the change in the calculation and the release of funding to schools at the end of February 2016.

3.    That the calculations made by Ms Greaves would be published with the minutes of the meeting.

ACTION: Ms Greaves & Miss Narey

4.    That the ‘core principles’ of the Schools’ Forum particularly the funding formula would be discussed at the next meeting.

AGENDA

5.    That in future if there is an underspend it would be allocated to schools using the agreed funding formula and not be retained centrally.

To receive a report from Mark Fowler

Mr Fowler presented the consultative paper (Agenda Item 4) to the attendees. 

During discussion the following points were noted:

a)    The Local Authority had a statutory responsibility to provide and monitor school improvement services within schools.

b)    As from 1^st April 2016, charges would be made by the Local Authority for certain additional services. 

c)    It would be the school’s decision as to which, if any, additional services were required and who the provider of these additional services would be. 

d)    The Local Authority had a statutory responsibility to support vulnerable schools and schools causing concern.  This service would be provided free of charge to maintained schools but not to Academies, free schools or independent schools.

e)    The additional services provided by the Local Authority were not funded by the School Improvement Funding.

AGREED:

1.    That Item 7 (page 8) – Rutland Special Funding Arrangements – should be removed from the Services and Charges Consultative Paper.

ACTION: Mr Fowler

2.    That previous Forum minutes should be checked as to what the Rutland Schools’ Forum had approved regarding the Rutland Special Funding Arrangements.

ACTION: Mr Fowler

a)    Schools’ Forum

(i)    Miss Narey informed attendees that the Schools’ Forum was a public meeting and, as stated in its constitution, had chosen to apply the Access to Information Procedure Rules as set out in the Council’s Constitution. 

(ii)  Agendas and reports would be published 5 working days before the meeting and the DRAFT minutes would be published 5 working days after the meeting.

(iii) The DRAFT minutes would be checked by the Chair and Local Authority Officers for accuracy before being published. 

(iv) Any amendments to the minutes would be discussed at the next Schools’ Forum meeting before being approved by the Chair, as per the Schools’ Forum Constitution.

Thursday, 9^th June 2016 at 4.00 p.m. in the Council Chamber

Proposed Agenda Items:

The next meeting would be held on Thursday, 9^th June 2016 at 4.00 p.m. in the Council Chamber

AGREED:

Agenda items for the next meeting should include:

1.    Schools’ Forum ‘Core Principles’ - funding formula