Agenda and minutes

To receive.

Apologies had been received from Ian Ellam (High School Heads), Anna Lawton (Special School Heads), Marcus Newby (Primary School Heads) and Paula Wescott (NASUWT).

To receive and note.

The minutes were agreed to be a true record of the meeting. Under item 3.2 it was pointed out that the application for the AP free school goes to the New Schools Network rather than to the DfE. The increase to 45 places is in Key Stage 4. Overall the AP free school will have 65 places.

To discuss.

An analysis from the May 2017 pupil census of the distribution of Reception to Year 11 pupils amongst maintained primary and secondary schools and primary and secondary academies was considered. The proportions of pupil numbers amongst these sectors have not changed significantly enough from last year to merit a shift in representation from the current pattern of five maintained primary reps, two maintained secondary reps and three from mainstream academies.

In addition to the ten Forum members decided by the above process, the other four school representatives to Forum are one each from maintained nursery schools, maintained special schools, special academies and the pupil referral units. A middle schools representative is no longer appropriate as both middle schools now fall under academy representation to the Forum. At the moment there are at least two confirmed vacancies within the maintained primary representation and one vacancy within the mainstream academy sector. This latter vacancy should, for balance, be from a secondary academy. Forum members from the affected constituencies agreed to raise the issue of representation at their constituent group meetings.

The removal of the need for a maintained middle school representative reduces the school membership of the Forum to 14. The schools proportion of Forum membership has to comprise at least two thirds of the total.

Currently, there are six non-school positions established on Kirklees Schools Forum – three from the main teaching unions, one from the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) nursery / childcare sector, a post-16 sector rep and one from the constituency of Kirklees School Governors. There are issues with representation from most of these constituencies at the moment…

Teacher Trades Union representation – the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) formally merged on 1^st September 2017 to create a new entity, the National Education Union (NEU). Existing structures of the NUT and the ATL will continue for the time being with full amalgamation of activity planned for 1^st January 2019. As such, the existing teacher union representation should continue for at least the academic year 2017/18.

PVI Nursery / Childcare sector representation – Sarah Ellis from the Pre-School Learning Alliance has served as the PVI representative on Kirklees Schools Forum for a number of years. The service level agreement between the Alliance and Kirklees Council has now come to an end. The Childcare Sufficiency Team is looking to secure replacement representation from the local childcare constituency. The Forum wishes to record its thanks to Sarah for her service over the years.

Post-16 sector representation – this position is intended to have a focus upon high needs funding support to the post-16 sector. As the organisation in receipt of the largest amount of high needs support funding it would be good to secure a representative from Kirklees College if possible.

School governor representation – this position has now been filled by Paul Davies who is attending his first Forum meeting today.

Matters arising from the 16^th June 2017 meeting:

- Alternative Provision Free School bid

4.1 Alternative Provision Free School Bid update [minute 3.2 of the 16^th June meeting]

It was confirmed to the meeting that the bid documentation for the proposed Alternative Provision Free School has been completed but not yet submitted to the New Schools Network. The next window for submission is expected to fall in January 2018. The process of securing a site for the free school goes on, with three potential sites having been identified.

To discuss.

Following discussions with the Partnership Reference Group, at the recent Learning Summit and with elected members, the Learning Board will be replaced with a new arrangement, the Kirklees Education and Learning Partnership Board. The new Board will hold strategic oversight for the development, leadership and quality assurance of Kirklees’ school and educational improvement strategy. It will also direct, develop and take decisions about Council services used by schools and education. These tasks will be undertaken by two committees – the Education Improvement Committee and the Education Services Committee. Board meetings will be scheduled on a monthly frequency with the exception of the month of August.

It is proposed that the Board will have 13 members…

Secondary head teacher (1)

Primary head teachers (2)

Special School head teacher (1)

Governors / MAT leaders (2)

Learning Settings leader (1)

Teaching School Alliance leader (1)

Representative of the teacher associations (1)

Representative of the non-teacher associations (1)

Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Children (1)

Elected member representation (1)

Service Director for Learning (1)

The Board will be supported by a ‘secretariat’ drawn from relevant senior Council officers. The Education Improvement Committee will comprise three Board members, two senior Kirklees Learning Partners and up to five co-opted head teachers / MAT and Teaching Schools Alliance leaders. The Education Services Committee structure will consist of three Board members, the Head of Commercialisation, the Head of Service Outcomes for Children and up to five co-opted School and MAT business managers.

The need for some sort of business plan to set out each service being offered was raised. Legal and Governance is exploring the potential to provide a new service to help schools comply with the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). This proposal will be a good test for the new Board to shape future engagement and provide direct feedback. The Board will ultimately be the channel for consultation about traded services rather than individual schools meeting with individual services (although such meetings can still take place if schools want that).

There was general welcome for the new approach being taken. It was commented that the Board could be a vehicle to improve engagement with elected members which is perceived to have been lacking in the past. It was asked whether School Community Hubs can somehow be represented on the new Board. The new Core Leadership Team for Children and Young People – Steve Walker, Elaine McShane and Saleem Tariq – is now in place.

It was requested that information about the new Board and Committee structures and the new ways of working be circulated to all schools and academies as soon as practicably possible. The communication needs to be circulated more widely than just a post on One Hub.

To discuss.

Mandy Cameron, Deputy Assistant Director: Learning & Skills – vulnerable individuals and groups, had provided a short briefing paper about the High Needs Strategic Review.

All local authorities are required to undertake a high quality collaborative review of their high needs provision. Information gathered during the review will lead to development of a strategic plan which will identify gaps in current provision and indicate how potential future funding could best be used to improve the sustainable specialist provision offer in Kirklees. The review will entail collaborative work with neighbouring authorities and consultation with all relevant stakeholders to co-produce the strategic plan which must be published by the end of March 2018.

The review will prioritise the following areas…

·         The range of SEN data available to identify trends and future demographic changes

·         The effectiveness of the current pattern of specialist provision in meeting needs

·         The effectiveness of current provision in preparing children and young people for life beyond school

·         How other agencies in specialist provision are / can contribute to its overall quality

·         The range of SEND (Special Education Needs and/or Disability) that would be generally met by mainstream providers, by specialist providers and met by highly specialised providers.

The strategic plan must show how we will ensure that our SEND provision is suitable to meet changing needs and how we will address any gaps in provision identified by the review. It will outline how we will allocate resources to deliver this provision and ensure sustainability within future high needs grant funding allocations.

There will be a series of briefing sessions and consultations between now and the end of term. Updates for schools and settings will be delivered through various meetings and networks. Information for parents / carers and the public will be promoted through the Council’s communication channels and specific events.

Forum noted the developments and looks forward to seeing how the High Needs strategy develops.

- Prognosis for the DSG blocks

- NFF for Schools – adjusted factor values post-consultation

- Scoping the decisions to be taken for 2018-19 and beyond

Contact Officer: David Gearing

7.1 Prognosis for the Dedicated Schools Grant funding blocks

The Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has recently provided updated National Funding Formula (NFF) illustrations for schools, academies and local authorities. The Schools NFF factor values are now fixed (see 5.2 below) but the illustrative figures for funding years 2018-19 and 2019-20 are still largely based on October 2016 census data. We won’t find out our actual Schools Block allocation until mid-December. The table below summarises the illustrated draft outcomes for the new NFF-driven funding blocks.

The outcome for the Schools Funding Block has significantly improved from the position illustrated during the Stage 2 consultation in March. Back then the majority of our schools were looking at reductions of 1.5% per pupil in each of the next two funding years. Now all schools and academies, under the reworked NFF calculation, see at least a 0.5% increase in per pupil funding. This translates overall to a 0.59% rise in Schools Block funding for Kirklees in 2018-19 and a 1.07% rise (in comparison to 2017-18) in 2019-20.

Kirklees’ NFF-determined High Needs block funding would increase by over £7m if fully-implemented. This identified level of under-funding is consistent with the pressures we are currently experiencing within our High Needs account (see 4.1 above). The issue for Kirklees is that the annual gain in High Needs funding is limited to just a 3% rise per annum with only the first two years guaranteed within the current spending round.

The new Central Schools Services funding block allocates funds directly to local authorities for the first time from 2018-19. This replaces the system of agreeing central budget retention with Forum on an annual basis. Based on October 2016 pupil numbers Kirklees stands to lose around £230k (about 9.7%) in comparison to 2017-18 once the CSSB is fully implemented (although a rising pupil population will mitigate this position to a degree).

7.2 Schools NFF – adjusted factor values post-consultation

A table was circulated which compared the local 2017-18 formula factors to those illustrated under stage 2 of the NFF consultation in March 2017 and also the final confirmed NFF factors and their values. The changes that have been made following the consultation are…

Base Entitlement (age-weighted pupil unit) – a common theme amongst many consultation responses was the need to increase the amount provided by the base entitlement. The final AWPU values in the national formula each show a modest increase of between 1% and 2% compared to the consultation values. It was noted that all three NFF AWPU values are still lower than Kirklees’ current local values.

Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) – a minor change to the Band C values for both sectors to ensure a continuing step between each IDACI band (the EFA had consulted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To consider.

A question was asked by a member of the public about whether the Forum would be reviewing the amount of money distributed via the formula’s PFI funding factor. It was explained that the vast majority of the funding allocated to PFI schools and academies in the PPP1 contract was provided by the Council outside of any commitment of DSG Schools Block monies. The only funding formula commitment by way of a PFI factor is some support funding for the additional costs of schools operating swimming schools. A discussion followed about the high cost of variation fees within the contract and the difference in premises spending between schools covered by the PPP contract and those outside it. It was suggested that it might be a good idea to re-establish regular joint meetings between relevant LA officers and PPP school members given the turnover of school personnel that has taken place since those meetings were last held.

Friday 1^st December 2017, 10:00am

Friday 1^st December 2017                          Venue: Tolson Museum at 10:00am