Milton Keynes' Schools Forum

MILTON KEYNES’ SCHOOLS FORUM Margaret Powell House, 401 Midsummer Boulevard MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 17 MARCH 2016 AT 3.00 PM PRESENT: Primary School Representatives Christine Ryan – Lavendon School Primary School Governors Francis Grant – Great Linford School Janet Haines – Oldbrook School (alternate for Kirk Hopkins) Paul Hussey – Bradwell Village Primary School (Chair) Jake Yeo – Bushfield School Secondary School Representatives Tracey Jones – Lord Grey School Academy Representatives Neil Barrett – Stephenson Academy Shane Carter – Walton High (alternate for Michelle Currie) Glen Martin – Shenley Brook End Ian Tett – Oakgrove School Academy Governors John Howe – Denbigh School Dave Moulson – Ousedale School Special School Representative Finlay Douglas – White Spire School Primary PRU Governor Jonathan Budd – Primary PRU Nursery School Representative Natalie Fowler – Knowles Nursery School Shared vote Debbie Wells – Moorlands Nursery School Post 16 Sector Lyndsey Styles – Milton Keynes College Church of England Diocese Kieran Salter – Diocesan Authority – St Mary and St Giles C of E Junior School Trade Union Representative Anita Richards – NUT Divisional Secretary SCHOOLS FORUM 17 MARCH 2016 PAGE 1 LA OFFICERS: Michael Bracey – (Corporate Director - People) Natasha Hutchin – (Deputy Finance Manager) Caroline Marriott – (Head of Delivery – SEN and Disabilities) Penni Powers – (Finance Manager - Children and Families) Nicky Rayner – (Service Director – Children and Families) LEAD MEMBER: Councillor Norman Miles OBSERVER: Councillor Andy Dransfield CLERK: Sue Puddifoot – (Governor Support - Children and Families) SF 570 WELCOME AND APOLOGIES Item 1 The Chair welcomed all to the meeting. Apologies in advance had been received by the clerk from: Lizzie Bancroft – Loughton Manor First School Glenn Booth – Rickley Park Lynne Johnson - Pre School Learning Alliance Debbie Main - Northampton Catholic Diocese Michael Manley – St Paul’s Catholic School Antony Moore – Giles Brook School Ian Northover – Heronshaw School It was noted that Glenn Martin would be arriving late and new academy member Ian Tett was welcomed. SF 571 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST Item 2 Johnathan Budd declared that he was also a Headteacher of a Special School and Neil Barrett declared an interest the in High Needs Block funding item, as did Finlay Douglas. SF 572 MINUTES AND MATTERS ARISING Item 3 The minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2016 were agreed as an accurate record. There were no matters arising. SF 573 MEMBERSHIP AND CONSTITUTION (Michael Bracey) Item 4 Michael Bracey drew attention to the proposed amendments to the constitution following comments made regarding challenge and scrutiny at the last meeting. The recommendation included additions to section 1.2 new sections 2.4 to 2.6 and changes to 5.12 and 5.15. There were no objections to the changes, which were agreed. SCHOOLS FORUM 17 MARCH 2016 PAGE 2 Regarding membership, Schools Forum were informed that Warren Harrison had tendered his resignation and a new academy member would be sought. Additionally, Lyndsay Styles had replaced Nick Isles as the representative from MK College and Anita Richards would be added as the Trade Union Representative. Action - SP Following a question from Debbie Wells, it was clarified that Nursery Schools were not included in section 2.4(a) of the constitution because they had no de-delegation items. SF 574 BUDGET MONITORING 2015/16 (Natasha Hutchin) Item 5 The purpose of this report was to advise Schools Forum of the period 11 monitoring position on the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). Natasha Hutchin explained that there had been two financial periods since January 2016 and it was now forecast that there would be a deficit of £340k at the end of the 2015/16 financial year. This was an adverse movement of £500k from the period 9 position reported at the last meeting turning a small surplus into a small deficit. Table 2 detailed the variances to the budget, which included the reduction in income from Early Years take up for two, three and four year old provision. Natasha explained that this was due to the timing of data and would be offset by a reduction in costs in the Early Years budget and the contingency budget in this area would be fully utilised to offset costs. Early Years funding was calculated on a lagged basis and was based on the January 2016 count. It would be recalculated in July 2016 on a cash basis. The expansion of Oxley Park and the opening of Fairfields School was now planned for September 2017. High Needs top-up funding had increased in special and mainstream schools. However, there was an underspend in the central High Needs Independent Special Schools budget. Schools Forum noted the forecast outturn position as at Period 11. SF 575 SPECIAL SCHOOLS FUNDING (Penni Powers) Item 6 The purpose of this item had been to provide Schools Forum with an update on the current situation with regard to commissioned places in special schools, establish the view of Schools Forum members with regard to redirecting additional funding into the High Needs block and set out plans to redistribute top-up funding between the special schools. However, Penni Powers explained that the recently published High Needs Funding Reform consultation proposed that funding could not be moved between blocks. SCHOOLS FORUM 17 MARCH 2016 PAGE 3 The report included a background to the funding of special schools and how it had been re-allocated. In 2013/14 funding was changed to place plus top-up funding, however this was still based on historical allocations. Currently, for each special school there were four different top up rates based on assessed needs of the pupils. Attention was drawn to the table in section 4.2 of the report showing the number of places funded in each school at key dates and showed quite significant variations. Banding was detailed in section 4.6. A more simple and transparent funding model had been developed to assess the amount of funding that each special school required to meet the needs of its pupils relative to the other special schools. Discussions had been held with each school to understand their costs. A formal consultation would be carried out next term and it was intended that the redistribution of funding would be fed into the new model for implementation from September 2016. Where funding would be reducing, this would be restricted to the minimum funding guarantee. Some reservations were commented on by Forum members whose schools would be directly affected by the review. However, these had already been highlighted in the discussions with Caroline Marriott’s team and finance. Schools Forum noted the report. SF 576 UPDATE FROM SUB-GROUPS OF THE SCHOOLS FORUM Item 7 The minutes of the meetings of the sub-groups were noted: Schools Reference Group – 1 March 2016 Early Years Reference Group – 25 February 2016 High Needs Reference Group – 23 February 2016 It was noted that there was still a vacancy for a primary member on the Schools Reference Group. Following an enquiry, the reasons for the Early Years Pupil Premium take up not being as high as expected were explained as being due to the applications being rejected. Forms had been simplified and were being completed and submitted, however high numbers were not eligible under the criteria. It was noted that these criteria were different from those used for Pupil Premium (FSM) and it was a different system. The next meetings of the groups would be held as follows: High Needs Reference Group – Tuesday 24 May 2016 at 1.00pm Early Years Reference Group – Thursday 9 June 2016 at 1.30pm Schools Reference Group – Tuesday 14 June 2016 at 1.00pm SCHOOLS FORUM 17 MARCH 2016 PAGE 4 The next meetings of the Business Management Group were scheduled as post meeting Wednesday 23 March 2016 at 4.15pm (NB this meeting has since been cancelled) and the next pre meeting will be on Wednesday 8 June 2016 at 4.00pm. SF 577 FORWARD PLANNING Item 8 Issues to be considered by the Schools Forum for the coming year are detailed below: 30 June 2016 − Election of Chair and Vice Chair − Provisional Outturn DSG − LA Maintained School Balances as at 31/3/2016 − Section 251 Budget Statement − Schools Budget Setting − Schools in Financial Difficulty Contingency − Monitor use of Pupil Growth Fund 13 October 2016 − De-delegation − Financial outlook/Budget setting 2017/18 − Budget Monitoring 1 December 2016 − Budget Monitoring − Financial outlook/Budget setting 2017/18 − Annual Report on Early Years provision − Annual Report on Alternative Provision − Annual Report on High Needs provision 12 January 2017 - Budget Monitoring - Final DSG Settlement for 2017/18 - Schools Budget 2017/18 - Agree final primary and secondary unit rates 2017/18 SF 578 ANY OTHER BUSINESS Item 9 The Chair pointed out that colleagues would be aware of the opportunity to express their views in the consultations on the National Funding Formula and High Needs Funding Reform, the closing date for both being 17 April 2016. Handouts of the questions in both consultations were distributed and Penni Powers outlined the main points: SCHOOLS FORUM 17 MARCH 2016 PAGE 5 The consultations were in two parts with the second part due later in the year looking at the detail Consultations were expected for Early Years and Alternative Provision The Schools Block would be ring fenced and be in four building blocks: o Per-pupil costs o Additional needs factors o School costs including growth o Geographic costs Pupil premium allocations were outside the process Role of Schools Forum would be reviewed, but would remain unchanged during the transition period KS3 and KS4 financed at different rates Mobility factor to be removed Using EAL3 rather than EAL2 Allowing LA’s losing funding to use a more negative MFG High Needs – Local Authorities to retain responsibility but the funding to be allocated to LAs based on proxy indicators, which include: o Population factor o Health and disability o Low prior attainment o Deprivation o Existing spend Schools Forum discussed some aspects of the consultation and acknowledged the basic principles, although these lacked detail at this stage.

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