Minutes of Meeting Held on Monday 5 March 2018

Schools Forum

Minutes of Meeting held on Monday 5 March 2018

9.30am – 12 noon, Room F10, Town Hall

Members Present:Jaqi Stevenson,Theresa Staunton,

Gordon Smith, Martin Giles,

Linda O’Callaghan,Dave Harvey,

Vivienne Esparon, Cllr Joy Prince,

Mark Humphreys, Mary Pike,

Cllr Maria Gatland, Roger Capham,

Jaqi Stevenson,Orlagh Guarnori,

Diane Agyepong,Alison Farmer,

Nicholas Dry,Patrick Shields,

Observer Present:John FennellDenise Bushay

Melanie ArscottDavid Butler

Shelley Davies

Apologies:Esther BrooksJosephine Lyseight

Dan BowdenDave Winters

Gill MantonCllr Shafi Khan

Doug Robinson

Chair:Jolyon Roberts

Vice chair:

Clerk:Bev High/Geraldine Truss

Declaration of Interest
There were none.
1. / Minutes and Actions from last meeting (15 January 2018)
Minutes
The Chair asked if a list could be provided showing him the voting rights including the numbers for each category as this would be very helpful to ensure they had enough members in each category who can vote.
The Chair is to sign off the Minutes subject to amendments agreed at Post-meet.
Matters arising:
Page 3, Item 3 - Actionon DSG on today’s agenda
Page 4, Item 3 - Jolyon Roberts has had all budget allocations and they are now in the public domain.
Page 5, Item 4, para 3–Martin Giles…..funding for last 9 years and not 6 years.
Page 6 – Item 4 - Actioncompleted by Cllr Gatlandwho will chase up as no response received so far
Page 6 - Item 5,para 3 – “…maximum of 57 hours…” should read 570 hours.
Early years draft budget currently with the ChiefExecutive
Page 8:
ACTION: The voting rights including the numbers for each category / Cllr Gatland
Clerk
2. / Dedicated Schools Grants (DSG) Schools Block Apt -Formula 2018/19
Orlagh Guarnori presented this paper.
The Schools Forum is asked to:-
Note the DSG Schools Block APT averages for 2018-19 year.
March 2016, the DfE announced their Fair Funding proposals following 2 consultations which set out the allocations going forward.
Table 1: DSG Allocations shows movement in 17/18 and 18/19.
Table 2: DSG 2018/19 Schools Block allocations per pupilsets out where Croydon is in terms of other London boroughs. Croydon is ranked 24 out of 32 Boroughs, which is exactly where it was previously placed. The top 3 boroughs remain the same.
Previously Croydon’s funding rate for schools was set as one per pupil, the NFF have now split the funding and introduced one rate for primary and one for secondary pupils
Table 3: Illustrates the lowest funded London authorities.
Table 4: Show average rate per Croydon school type.
Table 5: Sets lowest and highest per pupil – average
Table 6: Shows MFG at -1.5% positive sign that Croydon is moving in the right direction.
Mary Pike highlighted that 60% did not see an increase although 40% did see an increase. Out of the 60% who did not see an increase 70% of that was due to a decrease in pupil numbers. She feels that primary schools have lost out in NFF. If they work out an average rate then primary schools are losing out and the rate and the numbers issues needs to separated out. It was acknowledged 4 small schools have lost small amounts.
ACTION: Orlagh Guarnori to update on what % of schools did not see an increase
In terms of schools where pupil numbers are increasing - the October census figures are used to drive the funding. The growth fund for expanding schools is separate from pupil rate. Mary Pike would like to know how last year’s funding was calculated.
Jaqi Stevenson asked “What was the impact on primary schools whose pupil numbers have remained stable?”
The Chair said 4 schools have gone back approximately15k each. However, under the previous formula they would have lost 65k.
Jaqi Stevenson said the difference between the highest and lowest primary pupil rate is substantial. See table 5. The rate for maintained primary schools is £3,650 – £5,781.
Questions raised by the meeting:-

• Please separate out the rate and pupil;
• Small schools have been protected due to work done;
• APT tool is applied to using October 2017 census figures to drive this;
• Growth allocation / funding is separate and is not part of individual schools budget;
• Last year’s rate funded per pupil is based on OPE rate and minimum;
• Primary/secondary schools are heading towards the average amount;

Dave Harvey said the actual proportion of GDP spent on education is down to 1960’s levels. HM treasury gives actual figures for 2019/20which indicate that there is less money.
David Butler said we have more pupil numbers this year in comparison to last year. Requests for Primary places are growing though in different parts of the borough where there is an abundance of availability. Secondary places requests will increase by 7% in September. Reception applications are not declining but are increasing in different parts of the borough.3 year forecast for primary – not good news.
The Chair highlighted that schools are having difficulties regarding the support staff Local Government pay awards this year. He also said all schools should have had their figures and if schools need further assistance please contact him or Orlagh Guarnori. / OG
3: / School Admissions Satisfaction Survey – Outcomes Report
Denise Bushay presented this paper
The Schools Forum is asked to note the:-
1.Findings from the School Admission survey
2.Improvement in overall performance of the Admission Team when compared with the previous survey that was conducted in 2016.
Denise Bushay asked Croydon schools 3 main questions:-

1. Overall satisfaction

2.How well are the school admission team dealing with queries
3.How timely are the school admissions team in responding to your queries?
The response rates from schools was 73 out of 110 schools across the borough. Suggestions were given by some schools on how processes could be improved. The CSV format system was explored with a view to incorporating it so it can be read directly into Simms. Although some schools do not use Simms.
Training sessions could becarried out by members of the Admissions Team.
The Chair asked on completion of the survey would there be an action plan to show improvements?
Melanie Arscott said that the School Admissions Team were changing the process for allocation of school places. This process starts in July for the allocation of schools.
The Action Plan is to be worked up on basis of survey.
4: / Capital Spend
Denise Bushay presented this paper
The Schools Forum is asked to:-

1. Note the capital spend and associated funding for the next 3 academic years for Croydon Maintained schools.

The LA commissioned a fire safety review of all Croydon community schools, working closely with the Homes and Schools Improvement Team in the LA.
£3m. In total, £2m allocated for this year 2018/19 and £1m in 2019/20.
Proportion of budget retained for annual maintenance/emergency work.
The Chair questioned how soon the fire safety allocation gets to be spent. David Butler said it is being used already, as a contractor has been sourced.
37maintained schools qualify for a fire programme.
Bensham Manor has been used as a pilot and has been costed at approximately £105K.
David Butler said there has been no funding from central government. The LA is not conducting fire safety reviews in Academies as itis the Academies responsibility to apply for funding for fire safety remedial work. Following surveys within a 2 year time frame all council maintained schools will be meet the required fire safety specification.
David Butler said as part of the LA’s duty of care for the children in the borough the LA will share lessons learned.
David Butler said fire safety work was already programmed into school capital safety. He said the reasons for this survey was to ensure everything was as safe as possible. A potential issue that was identified is the reliance on schools to inform us.
Page 5 is a summary of capital programme budget
Appendix 1: this table illustrated the project.
Alison Farmer this report is a reflection of placing local children in local schools rather than independent schools which will reduce costs to the LA over a period of time.
Line 2: Chestnut Park Academy: The total £876,211, this year the cost will be £826K 2017/18 and for 2018/19 is will be £50k. The school was funded from a loan that the LA took out with the European Central Bank.
Line 4: Harris Academy, Purley Way.
David Butler. said some of these figures are legacy.
What is being picked up is the tail end of loan from the European Central Bank, which has been split over several financial years.
Line 13: Smitham – 1 form entry – costs high.
Line 15: The Robert Fitzroy should not be in the table.
Line 24: commitment to an additional 90 places: The Chair raised the question about the amount being spent per pupil place at St Nicholas.
Alison Farmer said the existing school was not fit for purpose and the site was unsatisfactory. This work will resolve the issues with current school adding an additional 90 places with 224 overall bringing St Nicholas up to 4 form entry.
Redgates school had a bulge class last year. There is a need for more places at Redgates although a new SEN school will open in 2020.
Line 31 Beckmead have provided 69 additional places.
Bramley Bank and Springboard accommodation still to be found.
Invest to Safe project is being incorporated into the capital spend for SEN this will go into Post 16+.
Line 34 post 16 SEN lack of places. 2.9mill capital spend for SEN
Line 37: (Fire Safety Works) this money is for the project not for a specific school.
Dave Harveyhighlighted lines in yellow (free schools)–none have got capital budget – 6th form entry has no budget.
What was the planning process in deciding the location for those free schools?
David Butler - the funding agreement for Coombe Wood school, a co-education free school. The head has said this will be a non-selective school.
This year we have seen a 7%rise in Year 7. The majority of secondary places are full. The secondary schools currently not at full capacity is a combination of previous reputations and the geographical location of the school which limits the number of pupils who apply.
The Forum continued to exam the table on Pg 5, it was noted that although a new free school (Harris Thornton Heath) was shown there is currently no location for this.
Cllr Gatland said Coombe Wood school is in her ward,
This will be a popular school but other schools have expressed concerns. This school is not a Grammar school. At the local planning meetingconcern was raised about numbers and provisions. Cllr Gatland said there was huge interest in this school.
David Butler said the new Coombe Wood school had 500 applications.
The Chair said that the benefit cap has enabled the school numbers to be more stable, as the mobile families who have previously moved are now been housed out of borough.
The Chair said the Council should work to repurpos existing schools rather than new build as it will be more cost effective. Commenting on per place amount.
5: / Virtual School Update – termly report Autumn Term
September – December 2017
Shelley Davies presented this paper on behalf of Gill Manton
The data in the report has been collated by Croydon Virtual School but not verified by the Department for Education.
Slight reduction in number of pupils in comparison with 2017. Although there were more pupils in Year 11 than other years2.9% of this cohort are predicted to get a good pass at GCSE. Plans to appoint an officer on a secondment to work with this cohort of students to support more of them in obtaining higher levels.
Croydon are working on closing the gaps with other LAs.
Page 3 PEP - information is still low in terms of PEPs being completed. Of those completed the quality has improved withplans to develop this further. A PEP champion is to be appointed to ensure that they are completed in a timely manner, it needs to be targeted and appropriate.
The Chair asked if this was an action from Ofsted.
Shelley Davies said that this was an action from Ofsted who had highlighted that PEPs have to be developed. Arrangements are being made to visit another LA who have a history of excellent PEP processing to inform us about best practice.
With PEPs several different parties are involved and it is difficult to knit all the services together. All parties have to work together. The PEP is linked to the Pupil Premium fund monies.
Shelley Davies said no PEP is approved unless the children’s voice is heard.
David Butler Informed the meeting that the Virtual School would arrange for the pupil premium funding to be spent.
The LA is held accountable on where they spend the money.
The Chair said if payment was linked to complete PEPS then the figure may increase.
Shelley Davies advised that a number of letters have been sent to schools advising of need to complete PEPS.
6. / Schools Forum Members travelling expenses
The Chair advised there is only one expense claim at present. There are budgets for Schools Forum expenses. He asked all to keep receipts and if using an oyster card if possible to print off expenditure.
7. / Update from Schools Forum Work Groups (for information)
a)Early Years – no update
b)High Needs – minutes being completed
c)Schools Block – no update
8. / Any Other Business
Nursery funding allocation is set to be brought to the June Schools Forum. The Chair said he will pick this up with the primary heads. Mick Sheridan is attending the Primary Head teachers meeting in March.
Next meeting dated 18 June 2018
Monday 18 June 2018 – 09.30 – 12.00 hours

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