Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received.

The Chairman provided the Forum with an update on the current status of the membership of the Schools’ Forum.  Following the changes to the constitution endorsed at the last meeting and a further resignation there were now 4 vacancies on the Schools’ Forum (1 x Primary Academy Head Teacher, 1 x Primary Academy Governor, 1x Joint Teacher Liaison Committee, 1 x Catholic Church Representative).

A Member questioned whether there should be a Special Academy School Representative on the Forum.  The Chairman noted that this would require a change to the constitution which currently made provision for a Special School Representative.  The Head of ECHS Finance reported that he did not believe that it was necessary to have a academy representative for Special Schools but agreed to review the guidance and report back to the next meeting.

There were no additional declarations of interest.

In relation to the accuracy of Minute 29, two Members stated that they did not recall that the Forum had noted Sam Parrett and Neil Miller were representatives from the same multi academy trust.  The Chairman clarified that this had been mentioned at the very end of the meeting and stressed that no decision had been taken.  Following discussion, the Vice Chairman suggested that as there was not unanimity concerning the discussion at the end of the last meeting the reference should be left in the minutes.  The Chairman confirmed that Sam Parrett remained the 14-19 Partnership Representative and that in terms of more than one representative from the same multi academy trust (MAT) the issue was ensuring that no school or MAT had disproportionate influence.

In relation to Minute 28, the Chairman tabled the email (sent at 09:23 on Wed 25/01/17) that had accompanied the electronic circulation of the minutes from the meeting on 12^th January 2017.  This noted that:

“Following the meeting of the Schools Forum last week there are a number of issues that were raised in the meeting where we would like to add some additional points of clarification.

Schools Forum report number ED 17032  page 13 paragraph 3.16 – due to an administrative error the AWPU values for all schools show a decrease of £58 per pupil. Please note that these figures are incorrect and the correct figures are as follows:

Primary AWPU reduced from £2,938 to £2,930 ( reduction £8)

Secondary  KS3 AWPU reduced from £4,168 to £4,160  (reduction £8)

Secondary KS4 AWPU reduced from £4,559 to £4,550  (reduction £9)

Please be assured that all other figures in the report have been thoroughly re-checked and we can confirm that they are correct.

LA officers have checked and confirmed that email notifications were received to confirm receipt of all previous consultation responses.

As the maintained school members of the Schools Forum did not agree to the proposed de-delegation relating to statutory duties previously funded through the ESG the proposed budget no longer balances with a shortfall of £97,590. As it is not practicable to adjust school’s funding levels at this late stage it is proposed that this funding will be found from within the £3m growth fund.”

Some members reported that they had not seen the email before and the Director of Education asked those Members to check their email inboxes.  The evidence on the email was that the information was sent to all Members and Officers would need to confirm that they had the correct email addresses and that there were no other problems with the delivery of emails to Schools’ Forum Members.

The Head of ECHS Finance reported that on 31^st January 2017, the Education Budget Sub-Committee had noted the comments made by the Schools’ Forum around funding and had agreed the budget with no changes.  The budget had then been ratified by the Executive on 8^th February 2017.

In response to a question from the Vice-Chairman, the Head of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

Report ED17039

The second stage of the DfE consultation on the proposed National Funding Formula for Schools and High Needs was launched on 14 December 2016 with a closing date of 22 March 2017.  LA Officers had attended a number of DfE led presentations and seminars which had helped develop understanding of the proposals which were detailed and complex.

The Head of Schools’ Finance Support introduced the item.  The Forum reviewed the information provided by the DfE and Members noted that individuals schools were able to access detailed school-level illustrations through the COLLECT system.

The Head of Schools’ Finance Support reported that in her opinion most turbulence in Bromley schools would arise from using IDACI bands for the deprivation factor as this was something that had not been used in Bromley before.  Another concern surrounded proposals to fund the growth factor on the basis of historic spend in 2018-19 with the DfE putting forward a proposal to adopt a lagged growth methodology from 2019-20.  The implication of this was that there would be no more bulge class funding for schools.  A further significant issue for the Schools’ Forum to consider was the proposal to include a funding floor in the formula.  Although this would provide much needed protection for primary schools the flip side was that secondary schools would not receive the much needed additional funding that had been anticipated.

The Head of Schools’ Finance Support had produced a funding formula comparison reproducing the elements of the funding formula.  This demonstrated a shift towards funding away from primary schools towards secondary schools.  The proposals appeared to indicate a considerable reduction in primary school funding and a modest increase in secondary school funding in the Borough.  It was noted that a pupil could attract 3 elements of funding: Ever6 FSM, Current FSM plus 1 ADACI element.  The Vice-Chairman noted that the figures reproduced in the comparison were pre funding cap.  The Head of Schools’ Finance Support confirmed that funding cuts would be capped but that this protection was not guaranteed beyond two years.

The Schools’ Forum moved on to considering its response to the consultation.  The Director of Education suggested that where Members had firm thoughts about what should be included in the response they should email these to the Head of ECHS Finance following the meeting.  A Member suggested that at the meeting the Schools’ Forum should seek to reach a consensus on the general principles that should be included in the response to enable LA Officers to expand on these principles in the draft produced following the meeting.

Question 1:In designing our national funding formula, we have taken careful steps to balance the principles of fairness and stability. Do you think we have struck the right balance?

No.  The delivery of a fairer system of school funding has been undermined by an inadequate level of overall funding.  Whilst the mechanics and financial impact of the new funding system are set out in detail, the government does not provide  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

The Early Years representative reported as a result of a number of the recent changes to Early Years provision and the introduction of the 30 hours Initiative, 2 pre-school settings in the Borough would be closing.  As it would likely that this would be a continuing trend this was something the Local Authority may wish to monitor.

All meetings are at Bromley College unless otherwise stated.

29 June 2017

21 September 2017

23 November 2017

11 January 2018

The next meeting was scheduled to take place on 29^th June 2017.