To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Schools’ Forum held on the 24^th January 2019

Item 7.3 was corrected from Mr Woodward to Mr Woodhead.

The remaining minutes of the meeting of the Schools’ Forum held on the 24^th January 2019 were confirmed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

Action 1

Terms of Office

Ms Curtis to produce a briefing paper regarding which academies would have a 3 year term of office and which academies would have a 4 year term of office.

Item on agenda for discussion.

Action completed

Action 2

Ms Curtis, Mr Quinn, Mrs Milner and Mr Smith would meet to discuss how the LA should arrange the Head Teachers’ Conference to specifically discuss High Needs, SEND and Early Years.

Meeting held on the 29^th March 2019.  Minutes of the meeting are included as Appendix 2 of the Recovery Plan: Update

Action completed

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

No declarations of interest were made. 

To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from Members of the Public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 217.

The total time allowed for this item shall be 30 minutes.  Petitions, declarations and questions shall be dealt with in the order in which they are received.  Questions may also be submitted at short notice by giving a written copy to the Committee Administrator 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

The total time allowed for questions at short notice is 15 minutes out of the total time of 30 minutes.  Any petitions, deputations and questions that have been submitted with prior formal notice will take precedence over questions submitted at short notice.  Any questions that are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting and be the subject of a report to the next meeting.

(5 MINUTES for items 1, 2, 3)

No petitions, deputations or questions had been received.

(ITEMS FOR INFORMATION)

Reports from Mr Merry were received. During discussion the following points were noted:

To receive a report from Dawn Greaves, Senior Accountant

i.      Total deficit carried over from 2017/18 was £26k.   Total deficit to be carried over into 2019/20 was £116k.  This equated to a total overspend of 0.4%

ii.    The position regarding the High Needs budget was not improving.  However, a recovery plan was not required at this time but a plan was already being drafted due to funding position not improving.

iii.   Mr Merry reported that the position had improved by £94k since Q3 for 3 main reasons:

1. An underspend of £35k of the high needs incentive fund due to delays in agreeing how this would be utilised
2. Income of £15k from pupil premium funding allocated to pupils in special schools
3. £15k reduction in spend on centrally held demand budgets (Education Otherwise, Special Needs Teaching and Early Years Inclusion) and minor adjustments to high needs packages since Q3.

AGREED: 

a.    The Schools Forum noted the note the outturn position for 2018/19 Dedicated Schools Grant.

Briefing regarding next year’s budget

i.      Biggest pressure was from the high needs block. 

ii.    When the deficit increases to greater than 1%, a recovery plan will then be required but this process has already begun based on current expenditure plans.

iii.   Early Years data was taken from the January 2019 census.  Historically to complete the census data was taken earlier and not actually from January.  For 2019/20 the data actually used was the data supplied in January 2019. 

iv.   The numbers for Early Years tend to increase during the summer months.

AGREED: 

a.    The Schools Forum noted the update on the 2019/20 Dedicated Schools Grant.

To receive a verbal update regarding the Early Years budget including feedback from the Early Years Work Party

(10 MINUTES)

i.          Covered in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 updates.

To receive a verbal update from Dawn Greaves, Senior Accountant on any new financial obligations placed upon schools and early years settings. (ITEM FOR INFORMATION)

(5 MINUTES)

i.      Announcements had been made by the DfE on the two additional funding items for schools.

Teachers Pensions

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-pension-employer-contribution-grant-tpecg/pension-grant-methodology

·         Employer contribution rate of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) would increase from 16.4% to 23.6% from September 2019

·         The grant covers the 7 months of financial year 2019 to 2020 from September 2019

·         The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) would pay the funding for maintained schools to local authorities, who would be required to pay it to individual schools at the rates published.

·         The DfE has calculated the total cost of this increase to schools from September 2019 to March 2020 to be £848 million, and would be making this sum available. Before dividing this funding, the Schools Forum set aside £22 million, in order to provide money for the Supplementary Fund.

·         Schools would be able to apply to the Supplementary Fund if their grant allocation fell short of their actual pension cost increase between September 2019 and March 2020 by more than 0.05% of their overall budget for this period.

·         Further guidance and allocations would be available in the autumn.

Teachers Pay

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-pay-grant-methodology/teachers-pay-grant-methodology 

·         The teachers’ pay grant was worth £187m in 2018 to 2019 and £321m in 2019 to 2020

·         Allocations for financial year 2019 to 2020 would be published in April 2019

·         There would be 2 payments, 1 in spring 2019 and 1 in autumn 2019

To receive a verbal update from Kevin Quinn, Service Manager, Early Help, RCC (ITEM FOR INFORMATION)

(5 MINUTES)

A verbal update was received from Kevin Quinn, Service Manager, Early Intervention, SEND and Inclusion.   During the discussion the following points were noted:

i.      A project for Uppingham Community College to provide places for children with communication problems was now in the more detailed planning and finance stage.  The college would initially provide 10 places for children with communication problems but in the longer term would have capacity for 15 places. 

ii.    A proposal for Rutland County Council to provide £200k as a start-up fund would be put to Cabinet for approval on the 16^th April 2019.  

iii.   The opening was planned for September 2020 but staff would be in place earlier in order to promote the facility. 

To receive a report from Saverio Della Rocca, Strategic Director – Resources, RCC (ITEM FOR DISCUSSION)

(20 MINUTES)

A report was received from Saverio Della Rocca, Strategic Director for Resources and Kevin Quinn, Service Manager, Early Intervention, SEND and Inclusion and presented by Andrew Merry.  During the discussion the following points were noted:

i.      The DfE template for the recovery plan has been received.  The completed template will be submitted to Schools’ Forum for discussion and approval. 

ii.    A very productive meeting was held with School Heads on the 29^th March 2019, the summary of which was:

• That, in principle, children with SEND should be supported as far as is possible and appropriate within the least restrictive education environment.
• That the current funding and support interventions for children with SEND in Rutland were not appropriately distributed.
• That additional support and funding was needed earlier in the education system with investment in different types of support within and across mainstream schools.
• That the existing financial framework for schools and the use of ‘top ups’ for children with EHCPs within mainstream school does not best serve schools in  helping meet need and as such require review.
• To plan a number of intervention models to be presented to schools (as per recovery plan actions) which could be costed in order to demonstrate the potential impact on the high needs budget if implemented.
• To progress the nurture pilot proposal as outlined, with a view to presenting a business case for school approval.
• To undertake a financial review which includes exploring set funding models for schools to work together in order to maximise value for money of specialist interventions, this could potentially cross phases to support transition between settings.
• To research and cost a small pilot project providing specialist education support across a school partnership.
• To complete the review of DSPs and recommissioning of this provision.

iii.   Kevin and Andrew worked closely at a 5 year budget projection which confirms the anticipated future pressure and which can be used to model potential solutions through investment i.e. the impact a new approach could have on future expenditure within high needs.

iv.   Looking at employing a specialist teacher consultant (as yet to be identified) to work with schools and the Local Authority regarding inclusion in schools and the types of support and provision schools require.  Timescales need to be finalised. Active SENCO group already established amongst schools and could feed in to the specialist teacher.  It was agreed that further details with timescales where possible should be distributed to all head teachers.

ACTION: Andrew Merry, Kevin Quinn, Gill Curtis

v.    Andrew reported that the Uppingham Community College Project would not result in using the full capital budget.  

AGREED

a.    The Schools’ Forum noted the requirements of the Recovery Plan (1.6)

b.    The Schools’ Forum noted that a draft Recovery Plan would need to be discussed in June and may need to be formally submitted to the DfE (1.12)

c.    The Schools’ Forum noted the outcome of various meeting in 1.20 above and the full meeting record in Appendix 2.

d.    The Schools’ Forum approved  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To receive a verbal update on pupil place planning assessment returns from Gill Curtis, Head of Lifelong Learning. (ITEM FOR INFORMATION0

(5 MINUTES)

A verbal update on pupil place planning assessment returns was received from Gill Curtis, Head of Service, Learning and Skills.  During the discussion the following points were noted:

i.      A meeting was planned with the DfE representative for pupil place planning in order to support Rutland with ensuring pupil place predictions accurately reflect current trends.  This would be followed by a meeting with secondary school head teachers to review current admission arrangements and consider alternative options to better reflect the current position.  A meeting with primary school head teachers would be done at a later date during the admissions cycle.

ii.    A revised strategic plan would be drafted to reflect this year’s SCAP outcomes, with alternative scenarios to reflect the potential impact of proposed housing developments in and around Rutland. 

iii.   It was noted that primary schools tend to get increased in-year admissions during years 3 and 4.  A number of these were cross-border input i.e. moving children in primary years in order to get places in secondary schools.

iv.   The impact of MOD deployment was difficult to predict accurately as more serving families would be living in the community rather than within the military base

To receive a verbal update from Gill Curtis, Head of Service – Learning and Skills (ITEM FOR INFORMATION)

(5 MINUTES)

A verbal update was received from Gill Curtis, Head of Service, Learning and Skills.  During the discussion the following points were noted:

i.      The Constitution (approved November 20115 and updated February 2019) states that ‘Members of the Forum will serve for three years from the date of their full election to the Forum’ so no change to the Constitution was currently required.

ii.    No response to the Academies governor representative had been received in the recent election so leaving the Schools Forum with no governor representative.  The Constitution states that ‘There must be at least one representative of head teachers and one representative of governors among the schools members’ therefore the election process will be repeated at the start of the summer term.

iii.   It was requested that school members promote the vacancy within their own schools. 

iv.   It was agreed to review the Constitution and Rules of Conduct at the next meeting.

AGENDA

(5 MINUTES FOR FINAL AGENDA ITEMS)

Andrew Merry informed attendees that Dawn Greaves, Finance Manager, RCC would be leaving the local authority in May 2019 and that he would be covering for the interim period until a replacement was found.  The Chair and the forum formally expressed great thanks to Dawn for all her hard work, expertise and support to the Schools Forum and the local authority.

It was agreed that the Review of the Constitution and Rules of Conduct should be added to the Forward Plan for June.

·         Thursday, 13th June 2019, 4.00 – 5.00 p.m., Council Chamber

·         Thursday, 10th October 2019, 4.00 – 5.00 p.m., Council Chamber

The meeting dates for 2019 were confirmed as follows:

·         Thursday, 13th June 2019, 4.00 – 5.00 p.m., Council Chamber

·         Thursday, 10th October 2019, 4.00 – 5.00 p.m., Council Chamber