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Minutes of the Schools’ Forum held at Endeavour House, Ipswich at 9:30 am on Friday 19 October 2012

Present

1. Members with voting rights Governors Alison Bowman, Earl Soham Primary School Allison Coleman, Fairfield Infants School Pat Wilkinson, Wendy Lummis, Bacton Middle School Gordon Jones, Thomas Gainsborough High Pauline Lucas, Hillside School, Sudbury

Head teachers Elaine Hawes, Saxmundham Primary School Colin Tapscott, Gusford Primary School Sarah Rees, Gt Barton Primary School Paul Elstone, St James CEVA Middle School David Hutton, Northgate High School Odran Doran, The Bridge School Dave Siddall, Westbrige PRU

Diocesan Helen Picton, Sir Robert Hitchams CEVAP School, Providers Framlingham Dennis McGarry, St Albans Catholic High School

Early Years Amanda Havers, Tiddlywinks Nursery Providers Pat Chapman, Bacton Under 5s

14-19 Providers Helen Wilson, Thurston Community College (Chair)

Academies Sue Hargadon, Farlingaye High School Lyn Eldrett,

2. Observers and Local Authority (without voting rights)

Sheri Wilks, Children’s Trust Andrew Fell, Suffolk New Academy Cllr Graham Newman, Cabinet Member for Education and Young People Simon White, Interim Director for Children and Young People Sally Rundell, Assistant Director Learning and Improvement Gavin Bultitude, Assistant Director, Strategic Finance Leanne Minnican, Senior Finance Business Partner (CSD) Katherine Bailey, Democratic Services Officer (Clerk)

1 1. Welcome and apologies for absence Apologies for absence were received from Chris Harrison, who was substituted by Elaine Hawes. The Forum heard that Mark Fotheringham had resigned and was substituted by Pat Wilkinson. Pat Wilkinson had been replaced as a high school governor representative by Gordon Jones, Thomas Gainsborough School. 2. Minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2012 and matters arising The minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2012 were approved, and signed by the Chair. 3. Reporting back from working groups and partner organisations Resource Allocation Group (RAG) The Forum heard that the issues that had been considered by the RAG were on the agenda for this meeting. Value for Money (VFM) Group The Forum heard that the VFM Group was considering back office support for schools because the CSD contract would expire in May 2014 and Cabinet had recently agreed to put individual packages out to tender, or bring them back in house. The Group was aware that many schools currently bought into the back office support packages and they would need a guarantee of service continuity. Safeguarding Board and Children’s Trust Members were informed that these groups had not met since the last Forum meeting. 4. Schools Funding Reform – Papers for decision Schools Basic Funding Formula (Paper B) The Forum considered Paper B, which contained, at Annex A, the proposed pro-forma for funding schools in 2013/14. The Forum was reminded that this was based on 10 of the 12 factors set by the DFE (the PFI and London fringe factors were not applicable to Suffolk) and would enable funding transparency between mainstream schools and academies. Funding would be based on a national data set derived from the census data, which meant that incorrect census submissions by an individual school would affect its funding. The MFG (Minimum Funding Guarantee) was set at 1.5% per pupil (but schools were reminded that funding reductions driven by decreases in pupil numbers would not be protected by the MFG) and this protection was offset by a cap on excessive budget gains. The Forum heard that since the last meeting, the Proforma had been amended in three ways: 1. a sixth-form adjustment would cover per-pupil post-16 funding; 2. a pupil mobility adjustment would cover some of the costs of mid-year pupil movements; and

2 3. an adjustment had been made for spilt site non-SOR schools. Schools could apply for this on a case by case basis and a flat rate of £1000 for primary schools and £5000 for secondary schools would contribute to the cost of pupil transfer between sites only. The Forum heard that Annex B contained information on what school budgets would have been in the current school year had they been calculated from the proforma. These were based on 2012/13 data, and were not forecast budgets for the next financial year. Decision: The Forum agreed, on a vote of 16 for and 0 against, with 1 abstention, to approve the proforma for funding schools in 2013/14, as provided in Annex A of Paper B. Schools funding reform – Early Years block (Paper C) The Forum considered Paper C and was advised that this document had not been amended since the previous meeting. Decision: The Forum unanimously agreed to approve the proforma for funding of the early years block in 2013/14, as provided in Annex A of Paper C. Centrally Retained DSG (Paper D) The Forum considered the de-delegation of the schools block of DSG under Exemptions A, B and C. Members noted that only maintained schools could vote on these issues, voting was by phase, the commitment was for year and the decision was binding on all maintained schools. Decision: Members of the Forum representing maintained schools voted by phase on each of the areas detailed in Paper D, and made the following decisions about de-delegation of funds for the year 2013/14: Votes For Against Abst Exemption A – better VFM through pooling a Mutual support and intervention fund - primary 6 0 0 b Mutual support and intervention fund – secondary 4 0 0 c Contingencies for budget setting errors – primary 6 0 0 d Contingencies for budget setting errors – 4 0 0 secondary e Behaviour Support Service – primary 6 0 0 f Behaviour Support service – secondary 4 0 0 g Ethnic minority and Traveller support – primary 6 0 0 h Ethnic minority and Traveller support – secondary 4 0 0 i Trades Union Cover – primary 6 0 0

3 Votes For Against Abst j Trades Union Cover – secondary 4 0 0 Exemption B – ongoing commitments k Contribution to Combined Budgets –primary 6 0 0 l Contribution to Combined Budgets – secondary 4 0 0 m Contribution to Combined Budgets – Child and 6 0 0 Adolescent Mental Health Services - primary n Contribution to Combined Budgets – Child and 4 0 0 Adolescent Mental Health Services – secondary o Looked After Children’s Educational Support 6 0 0 Service - primary p Looked After Children’s Educational Support 4 0 0 Service – secondary q Contribution to shared overhead costs - primary 6 0 0 r Contribution to shared overhead costs – 4 0 0 secondary s Shared redundancy costs - primary 6 0 0 t Shared redundancy costs – secondary 4 0 0 u Building maintenance – primary 6 0 0 v Building maintenance – secondary 1 2 1 Exemption C – statutory functions w Admissions co-ordination – primary 6 0 0 x Admissions co-ordination – secondary 4 0 0 y Schools Forum costs – primary 6 0 0 z Schools Forum costs – secondary 4 0 0 aa Carbon reduction commitment – primary 6 0 0 bb Carbon reduction commitment – secondary 4 0 0

The Forum adjourned between 10:45 and 11:05 am Andrew Fell left the meeting Constitution of the Schools Forum Members discussed the Forum’s constitution, in particular speaking and voting rights. The Forum noted that the Safeguarding Board and Children’s Trust representatives attended and spoke at the invitation of the Forum, because of the need for strong links between these groups and the Forum. The Value For Money and Resource Allocation Groups were standing committees of the Forum.

4 With regard to voting, Members noted that the Chairman’s casting vote was standard local authority practice and if the Chairman was required to exercise it, he or she would be expected to take a view on the whole issue and vote accordingly. Decision: The Forum unanimously agreed to approve the revised Constitution (Paper E in the agenda documents). It was agreed that this document would be provided to all schools via the Schools Surf website. 5. Schools Funding Reform – Papers for Information and Consultation Funding Schools through School organisation review The Forum considered Paper F and heard that SCC had been in discussion with DFE to agree how schools in SOR could be funded following the reforms. It had been suggested that schools which would be gaining pupils would have two pupil counts (in April and September) and would have two budgets per year to compensate for the increase in pupil numbers. Funding to closing middle schools would gradually be reduced as pupil numbers decreased, but funds would be weighted to enable schools to continue to deliver the curriculum and to maintain standards. Decision: As this paper was for information only, the Forum noted the information provided. High Needs Block The Forum discussed the high needs block. Members were reminded that for children in mainstream and academy settings, the first £10,000 of funding would be contained in the delegated budget and any funding above that would be provided through individual top-ups, which schools would need to apply for, probably on a termly basis. Pupil Referral Units and special schools would be funded through a place and top-up system and an appropriate funding mechanism for Specialist Support Units was currently being considered by Officers. Members were informed that it was proposed that these funding mechanisms would be discussed in a document to be provided to the December meeting. Decision: As this paper was for information only, the Forum noted the information provided. 6. Forward Agenda Decision: The Forum noted the items on the Forward Agenda 7. Any Other Business There was no other business considered. The meeting closed at 11:45 am

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