Agenda item

Chair and Vice Chair

John Draper

Headteacher, Swaythling Primary School

Primary School Representatives

Amanda Talbot-Jones

Headteacher, St Deny’s Primary School

Peter Howard

Headteacher, Fairisle Junior School

Primary Governor

Richard Harris

Governor, Moorlands Primary School

Ross Williams

Governor, Mason Moor Primary School

Secondary School Representatives

James Henderson

Woodlands Community College

Special Schools Representatives

Andy Evans

Headteacher, Great Oaks School

Colin Grant

Governor, Cedar School

Luisa Whittick

Headteacher, Compass School

Academy Representatives

James Rouse

Headteacher, St Anne’s Catholic School

Nursery Representatives

Anna Wright

Owner - Paint Pots Nursery

Non School Representatives

Rob Sanders

Diocesan Rep., Diocese of Winchester & Portsmouth

SCC Officers

Derek Wiles

Service Lead - Education

Nick Persson

Finance Business Partner for Education

Clodagh Freeston

Service Manager – Education Strategy, Planning and Improvement

Áine Rand

Meeting Support (minutes)

Kyran Govard

Meeting Support (communications)

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WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS

The Chair welcomed all to the meeting and the following apologies were in the item below:

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APOLOGIES AND CHANGES IN MEMBERSHIP (IF ANY)

Ø  To note apologies and changes in membership

Apologies were noted as follows:

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JD advised the forum that Mark Sheehan (MS) was stepping down due to his retirement. MS asked JD to pass on his goodbyes/resignation and noted ‘it had been a privilege to be part of that group for over 10 years. The forum remains a highly positive collegiate mechanism to ensure that there is fair and sufficient funding for all. Schools Forum has usually managed to find the right compromise to meet the needs of diverse interests in challenging financial times’.

JD acknowledged MS’s service and noted his gratitude for MS’s dedication to the Schools Forum. MS’s memory, subject knowledge and resilience were also acknowledged.

Changes to membership: ACTION

·  Phil Humphry is stepping down as Academies’ Representative, suggested to liaise with Sean Preston on finding a new academies rep.

·  With Mark Sheehan retiring there is a vacancy to fill for a primary representative from the maintained schools this is a matter for PHC to arrange.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING – 24^th June 2020

The minutes were noted as an accurate reflection of the previous meeting. Amendment to the Moorlands Headteacher Caroline Potter name noted.

Action review from the previous meeting

·  DW stated that SCC will look at the size of loans schools can apply for and review the £200K threshold before it is taken to the Schools Forum for approval. Action Reviewed; it will not change for now. The LA have not been approached by any schools to increase the threshold at present. Action Closed.

·  NP to send out the Covid claim forms and supporting information to the schools when it is available. Action Completed.

·  Task and Finish Working groups. (JD chased this during the summer)

o  Amanda Talbot Jones to find a representative from the primary schools- nominations to JD by 10^th July

o  Harry Kutty to find a representative from the secondary schools- nominations to JD by 10^th July

On the Agenda under Item 8

·  JD to forward Anne Wright, Paint Pot’s Nursery email to Schools Forum. Action Completed.

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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

In accordance with the Localism Act 2011, and the Council’s Code of Conduct, Members to disclose any personal or pecuniary interests in any matter included on the agenda for this meeting.

NOTE:  Members are reminded that, where applicable, they must complete the appropriate form recording details of any such interests and hand it to the Meeting Support Officer.

·  Register of Members Interest: Very few of these have been returned. Please complete and return to SchoolsForum.Admin@southampton.gov.uk.

·  Declaration of Acceptance of the Code of Conduct. Many of the completed forms with electronic signatures have been returned. Please return the completed document to the septate email with the Subject ‘given authority’.

ACTION: Return both completed documents; Register of Members Interest and Declaration of Acceptance of the Code of Conduct, to SchoolsForum.Admin@southampton.gov.uk by Friday 2^nd October 2020.

STANDING ITEM: LA UPDATE ON DFE/EFA FUNDING(NP)

·  Paper for Information

NP referred to the paper outlining the update on DFE/EFA funding and finance announcements since the forum met in June 2020 and the provisional national funds announcement for next year.

Provisional NFF Funding announcement for 2021/22

NP brought the forum’s attention to the first table and the DFE notes in the report. He noted that the Early Years funding was not available yet and was determined by a separate NFF.  The schools had a 6.4% increase in budget, with High Needs receiving a 12.4% increase and Central Cervices are down 7.1%, this was an annual reduction on historical commitments with an aim to reduce to 0 over time. The national core school funding was up by 2.2 Billion a 4% increase on last year.

·  This was calculated at £180 pounds per pupil and a pension increase of £265 per pupil. Moving this into the core NFF formula will protect it for future funding allocations and it is easier for the DFE to administer.

·  The IDACI formula has been upgraded to the 2019 data. The minimum per pupil funding levels have been set at £4,180 per pupil.

·  Secondary Key Stage 3 are £5,215 per pupil and Key Stage 4 £5,715 this includes the additional amount for the teachers’ pay and pension increase.

·  High Needs funding for next year has increased nationally by £730M with LA’s nationally seeing increases of between of 8% to 12% that is good news for Southampton as it is at the upper end.

·  The LA will have responsibility for implementing the NFF for next year through the APT with a hard NFF implementation for schools funding formula in 2022/23, meaning that the APT would not be used after next year. This is yet to be confirmed and a consultation will start shortly. The LA are mirroring the NFF formula, as a result, the move to a hard NFF should not create any issues.

·  The NFF funding floor for pupil led funding is set at 2% and free schools meals have been increased by 2%, both increases are in line with inflation. Other key factors are marginally higher at 3%.

·  The LA may continue to set a funding guarantee between +½% and +2%.

·  Next year with the Schools Forum approval the LA will continue to transfer ½% of their schools block funding to other blocks.

·  This may not be available in future years with the hard NFF.

·  If the LA chose to do a ½% transfer there would be a need to remove the teachers’ pay and pension grant and then transfer a ½% of what is left.

·  Disapplication requests for school block transfers with an amount in excess of ½% to be submitted by 20^th November 2020. If the Schools Forum turned down the High Needs proposal from the LA regarding the transfer of funding from schools to High Needs a disapplication could also be submitted direct to DfE.

·  The deadline for the LA to confirm the school budget to mainstream schools is 28^th February 2021.

Teachers’ Pension Employer Contribution Grant (TPECG)

·  The fund covers the increase in the employer contribution rate of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) from 16.4% to 23.6%, from September 2019.

·  TPECG uses a per-pupil formula and will paid as supplementary funding up to March 2021 for mainstream and August 2021 for Academies.

·  In the 2021/22 financial year the TPECG will be rolled out to mainstream funding through the schools and high needs national funding formula. This will continue to be paid for academies at the start of 2021/22 academic year.

·  From next year it will be included as part of the school funding as part of the NFF formulae.

Teacher’s Pay Grant (TPG) 2021/22

This will be treated exactly the same as the latter. In the 2021/22 financial year the TPG and TPECG will be rolled into the mainstream funding through the schools and high needs NFF and no longer paid separately and will continue to be paid for academies at the start of the academic year.

The School Information (England) Regulations 2020 (salaries >£100K)

New schools information regulations take effect from January 2021 requiring maintained schools to publish on their website the number of school employees (if any) who gross an annual salary above £100,000 in £10,000 bands. The LA’s preferred way to display the information is in a table. The Schools must publish a link on the Schools Financial Benchmarking using the unique reference number allocated to the school by the Department of Education. Should clarification be required contact NP.

Additional £1.99M Capital School Condition Allocations for 2020/21

This was announced by the government on 29^th June 2020 nationally £560M was added in condition funding to be made available this year to maintain and improve the school estate. Southampton LA was allocated £1.99M, this is a non-ring fenced grant. The LA have decided to use £1M to reduce the level of council borrowing that is being used to support the schools capital programme. £0.99M is available for school up grades and improvement works. These have not yet been identified.

A table illustrating where the money is being spent is at the end of the paper.

Schools improvement monitoring and brokering grant September 2020 to March 2021

The DFE will allocate £30M grant nationally to cover schools improvement monitoring and brokering from September 2020 to March 2021. Allocations will be published on GOV.UK by the end of September 2020 and paid on 30^th October 2020. The DFE to confirm arrangements after March 2021 in due course. This grant supports the LA to continue to monitor the performance of the maintained schools and to intervene as appropriate.

DFE Covid-19 School Claims

It was discussed at the last Schools Forum schools ability to submit claims for additional costs directly from the DFE for Covid-19 related costs incurred in three specific areas; free school meals, cleaning and premises. The claim period was until the end of July 2020, the LA paid a total of £71,332 to schools. Some claims are still being assessed and the LA will know the outcome in due course. NP advised schools to contact the DFE directly regarding the progress of their outstanding claims.

No notification has been received yet regarding a claim window for the period after July 2020. Any further guidance received by the LA will forwarded on to the schools.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) Universal catch-up premium £650M

The government has announced funding of £1 Billion to support children and young people to catch up. This is a one-off universal £650M catch-up premium for the 2020 to 2021 academic year to ensure that schools have the support they need to help all pupils make up for lost teaching time due to the closure of schools over the summer term. There is also £350M for a National Tutoring Programme.

Universal Catch Up fund of £650M

This is available to all state funded mainstream, special schools and alternative provision. There was a comprehensive breakdown of eligibility of settings given. The DFE will provide funding for pupils with EHCPs who are educated in independent specialist schools based on the number of such pupils in their area. The funding allocation will be calculated on a per pupil basis, providing the mainstream schools with a total of £80 for each pupil in year’s Reception through to Year 11. Special, AP and hospital schools will be provided with £240 for each place for the 2020/21 academic year.

Examples: A typical primary school with 200 pupils would receive £16K and a typical secondary school with a thousand pupils would receive £80K. The payment is in 3 trances; the first in the autumn term, the second early next year (2021) and the third in September 2021. Payment in 2021 will be based on the October 2020 census data.

The grant will only available for 2020/21 academic year, this will not be added to schools baselines when calculating future years funding allocations.

National Tutoring Programme £350M

The DFE guidance acknowledges that all children have had their education disrupted by Covid-19 and in particular the disadvantaged and vulnerable are most likely affected. The national tutoring programme is to provide additional, targeted support for those children and young people who need the most help. In 2020/21 this will include training and resources for 5 to 16 programmes, 16 to 19 funding for school sixth forms, colleges and other 16 to 19 providers and a Reception year early language programme.

Covid-19 Furlough Payments – SCC Schools

Between March and July the government paid 80% of workers’ wages up to £2,500 per month, this scheme ends on 31^st October 2020. The value of claims approved by Southampton until August 2020 was £63,757.

Capital Programme Update illustrates the amount of capital programme that was funded through the council borrowing for a number of projects many were repair and maintenance projects. The total amount of capital £108M is funded through council borrowing and grants.

High Needs working party is being set up to look at the DSG deficit. The current High Needs forecast is shown on the table in item 12.  The forecast is £9.1M total deficit in 2021/22 and a 12% increase shows a £159K overspend that is much nearer the breakeven point for in year funding and spending. In 2022/23 it starts to move into a surplus with additional funding and the same in 2023/24. This is an assumption, however, the LA are unclear on the level of demand going forward on the High Needs the service.

The working party will be looking at the budget lines, costs, work being done, areas to strategically change and ensuring value for money.

JD thanked NP for a comprehensive explanation of the report.

UPDATE ON SECONDARY SCHOOL PLACE PLANNING (CF)

·  Paper for Information

CF referred to the briefing paper School Place Planning 23^rd September 2020 looking at the numbers of students on roll at the census date against the number retained. The average loss of students from year 6 to 7 averaged at 9.3% between 2010 and 2019.

CF summarised her report and advised that three main factors impact on forecasting;

·  First, is the participation rates; looking at the number of pupils moving from a SCC primary school to a SCC secondary school. Historically, there has been a large degree of variability in the numbers with the lowest participation rate in 2015 to the highest in 2018.

·  Second, is the Hampshire ‘push back’; the number of pupils expecting to go to Hampshire schools although are unsuccessful in securing places and they are pushed back into SCC schools.

·  Third, is parental preference.

In September 2021 without action the deficit of places is 2,510 although 2,751 places were required leaving a shortage of 241 places. The LA consulted with the headteachers and there was a working group at the end of last year where it was agreed to use the existing capacity in the secondary schools. Woodlands Community College and Chamberlayne College for the Arts have smaller year groups at the top end in years 9, 10 and 11 enabling physical capacity within the schools and the strategy was to use the space across the city.

September 2021: There are an additional 255 places available across six different schools.  Figure 4 of the paper highlights the schools accommodating the additional places; Cantell School, Chamberlayne College for the Arts, Woodlands Community College, Oasis Academy Mayfield, Redbridge Community School and Oasis Academy Lordshill.

September 2022: The LA are in a more favourable position than in previous years with the addition of the secondary through school capacity at St Mark’s CE Primary School providing an additional 180 places. Cantell School increased their PAN and are taking 250 pupils and for one year in every five St Anne’s Catholic School have capacity to take an additional class.

The LA will continue to ensure that forecasting is correct although there are variables and factors that need to be considered. Moving forward the LA will track the unknown; whether parents will select the new build at St Mark’s School or schools with an academic track record.

It was acknowledged that although the Covid-19 lockdown had an impact on the development at St Mark’s CE Primary School, it did not have a massive impact as there was a very healthy contingency built into the development and they are still on track to complete on time ready for an intake of pupils in 2022. Although another Covid-19 lockdown might have a negative impact on the development. 

CF confirmed that the new school in Hedge End had also been factored into the Hampshire ‘push back’ forecasting model.

JD asked the LA if the move to home educate would impact on the forecasting figures.  DW advised that there was a small spike in home education, its sustainability is unclear and some parents are nervous regarding the security in schools. The schools have been working on convincing parents that it is secure and safe for their children to return to school. An increase in EHCPs has been noted although this may not have a major effect moving forward.

The LA were asked about the impact on timetabling specialist facilities such as laboratories with the big expansions at Chamberlayne College for the Arts and Woodlands Community College. CF advised that the LA have worked extensively with the headteachers at the schools and they have capacity to successfully timetable an additional 90 students in those year groups. JH confirmed that Woodlands Community College has capacity as stated.

When asked about the location of the children, CF noted the children will be pushed from the city centre out to Chamberlayne College for the Arts and Woodlands Community College. It is assumed that the 60 pupils in Year 6 at St Mark’s Primary will move into Year 7 when it becomes an all-through school.  A concern was raised regarding pupils with a distance to travel across the city to access a school. CF noted that the LA have discussed with other LAs the filling of places at all-through schools and there are many variables involved such as parental preference.

Regarding the financial impact on the PFI contract with the expansion at Cantell School and Woodlands Community College JH advised that there are minimal financial implications (e.g. opening mothballed rooms).

JD thanked CF for a very comprehensive paper.

REVIEW OF TERMS OF REFERENCE  (DW)

·  Paper for Information

DW noted that the Constitution document was shared with the forum in advance of the meeting and invited feedback from the forum. JD advised that there had been a comprehensive review of the Terms of Reference a couple of years ago. The Schools Forum Constitution Terms of Reference were accepted with no changes made.

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HIGH NEEDS DEFICIT WORKING PARTY (CF) 

·  Information and discussion

Task and finish working group (as decided at the previous meeting)

·  Maria Smyth

·  Sean Preston

·  Tammy Marks

·  Nick Persson

·  ACTION: Amanda Talbot Jones to find a representative from the primary schools- nominations to JD

·  ACTION: Harry Kutty to find a representative from the secondary schools- nominations to JD

The Forum to decide on the following for the working party

·  the remit and the membership

·  the objectives

·  the lead of the working party

·  the timescales

JD chased the primary and secondary school representatives during the summer break.

NP, TM and Pippa Cook from the LA have a meeting scheduled with Robert Henderson the new Children Services lead on 29.9.20.

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AOB 

Dates for academic year 2020 / 21

o  Wednesday 25^th November 2020

o  Wednesday 20^th January 2021

o  Wednesday 24^th March 2021

o  Wednesday 23^rd June 2021

CLOSING REMARKS AND DATE OF NEXT MEETING   

JD thanked the Schools Forum participants for their attendance during these strange times. He noted that it was a productive meeting regarding school finances. JD also thanked the LA for the quality of papers submitted for information and discussion and their presentations.

Day and Date:  Wednesday 25^th November 2020

Time:  3:30pm to check connectivity before going live for a

  4:00pm meeting start

Venue:  Microsoft Teams meeting and live streamed