Agenda and minutes

Gilbert Knight (GK) welcomed new members: Lesley Burgess (replacing Jenny Gridley who is on secondment to the local authority), Andrew McClusky (apologies for this meeting) and his substitute, Rachel Fink (RF) of Hasmonean High School.

Apologies were received at the meeting from Andrew McClusky, Jeanette Adak, Chris Munday, Jude Stone and Nick Adams. Post-meeting apologies were received from Perina Holness and Jo Djora.

Keith Nason (KN) declared his interest in item 8c) De-delegation of Trades Union facilities time.

Members were asked to nominate a Chair and Vice Chair person for the forthcoming academic year. 

Elizabeth Pearson (EP) nominated Gilbert Knight (GK); this was seconded by Nigel Taylor (NT).  As there were no other nominations, GK was elected.  

Tony Vourou (TV) volunteered as Vice-Chair; he was nominated by Keith Nason, seconded by Sally Lajalati (SL).  As there were no other nominations, TV was elected.

Agreed as a true and accurate record.

Ian Harrison (IH) confirmed that letters had been sent to schools with high balances, requesting responses to the authority by half-term.  No responses have been received to date.

EP asked if the DfE had made any announcements regarding extension of the 3&4 year old free entitlement.  IH replied that there have been no announcements.

a)    2015/16 Budget monitoring

b) 2015/16 Schools budget

c) Applications to become a maintained school

            Menorah High School for Girls

d) Consultation responses

e) Schools Forum training on 30th September 2015

Catherine Peters (CP) presented the Quarter 1 budget summary as shown in the agenda.  This is the most recent position that was presented to the council P&R committee on 2^nd September 2015.  There has been a reduction to income received from the EFA mainly due to fewer 2 year olds than expected, as shown in Appendix 2; expenditure in the Schools Budget and High Needs lines has reduced by the same amount.

CP clarified that the projected outturn is currently an underspend of £99,000, made up mainly by an underspend on top-up funding of £490k, and an overspend on growth.

Val White (VW) presented a report on the current status of the application to join the maintained sector made by Menorah High School for Girls (MHS), and sought the views of Schools Forum on the proposal in order to inform the assessment of the school’s case which takes place before the next meeting of Schools Forum.

This has been a complex application and has included carrying out due diligence by legal services.  An external consultant has also been appointed to work with the school regarding the requirements of maintained sector financial management, and also to assess whether the curriculum offer is appropriate and manageable within the formula funding available.

Barnet has also received confirmation from the EFA that the DSG allocation will be increased in line with MHS pupil numbers if and when the transfer takes place. However, with secondary schools per pupil formula funding is slightly higher than the amount received in DSG.

NT asked if the proposed application was good news for Barnet.  VW commented Barnet was proud of the diversity of its educational offer and that the proposal would extend this diversity. Although located in Brent, the overwhelming proportion of pupils are Barnet residents and should the school close, Barnet would have a duty to offer alternative places to children who wanted one.

SL asked about the admissions criteria and process as the school is currently an independent school, VW advised that the school would be required to follow the Admissions Code and would be part of the Barnet co-ordinated admissions service.

KN asked if the school has to pay staff on Inner London pay scales.  CB confirmed that it does, but that does not mean an increase in formula funding – the school must manage staff costs within the formula funding allocation.  RF asked how the school could join the maintained Barnet sector yet offer Inner London salaries.  VW advised that the school will have greater budget pressures, but there will be no additional formula funding for this; hence the appointment of an external consultant to explore the financial standing  of the school.

Seamus McKenna asked if any other schools had approached Barnet to join the maintained sector.  VW confirmed that Noam Primary has expressed an interest, and Menorah High School for Boys has also made  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

a) 2016/17 Schools Budget planning

b) 2016/17 Funding Formula & APT submission

c) 2016/17 Dedelegation by maintained schools

The first draft of the 2016/17 schools budget will form the basis of the Authority Proforma Tool (APT) submission due to the EFA at the end of October.  The first draft presents a balanced budget, but only by drawing on the 2014/15 underspends to cover the additional growth funding and also the (reducing) nursery school subsidy.  The income from the Early Years and High Needs blocks are not confirmed until later in the year.

The draft school budget share expenditure has been based on October census pupil numbers at maintained schools, but academy pupil numbers are not yet known and therefore the budget is still on estimated pupil data at this stage.

Other expenditure has been based on the following assumptions:

• 2 year old funding – best estimate on take-up
• 3/ 4 year old funding – 3% increase in pupil numbers/ funding (based on past pupil number trend)
• HN places – place funding and estimated top-up values on current data
• Kisharon converting from a Special free school to Special maintained status
• Oak Hill campus converting to Special Academy status

Officers will provide a further report in December once all pupil data has been factored into the modelling.  They will also provide a summary of any DfE announcements made as a result of the government Comprehensive Spending Review in November.

As stated above, the current school budget modelling has incorporated up-to-date pupil numbers where known and these will be included in the provisional APT submission made to the EFA in October.  As a result of the Schools Forum recommendation on the formula funding consultation (item 7d) and subject to the agreement of the council’s Director of Children’s Services, Option 3 giving a £10 AWPU increase and setting a 15% cap on gains, will be factored into the APT to be submitted in October.  The final APT will be submitted in January, once the EFA have provided Barnet with a full school level data set, so the schools budget will continue to change.  Updates will be provided at the Schools Forum meetings in December and February.

Decision: Members unanimously agreed to recommend that Option 3 should be factored into the APT model for submission to the EFA by 30^th October.

IH advised members that Schools Forum representatives of maintained schools must vote whether to dedelegate the following budgets for provision of some central services in 2016/17. The table below shows the items currently dedelegated in 2015/16 by sector:

LB asked if Special Schools vote on this and whether they can use Behaviour Support (HIST) services.  IH advised that they can use the services, but that could not be funded through dedelegation.  SL asked what the offer is for Behaviour Support.  IH stated that Level 1  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Schools Forum terms of reference should be reviewed each year, but no change was proposed for 2015/16 since the profile of numbers and types of schools has not changed significantly in the last year. SV asked for clarification of PVI representation. This is shown under ‘stakeholders’

The TOR will be reviewed again in the autumn of 2016.

Members were also asked to encourage other Headteacher and Governor representatives to come forward, as there are currently 4 vacancies on the Schools Forum.

Decision: Members voted unanimously to keep the Terms of Reference unchanged for this academic year.

The draft agenda for the next meeting was agreed, with the additional information that item 6.1 will be the 2015/16 quarter 2 budget monitoring position.

Two members recorded their apologies in advance for the next meeting on 3 December – Lesley Ludlow and Elizabeth Pearson.

SMcK commented that the format of the Schools Forum papers was much improved and easier for members to access now they are published on the Barnet committee website.

GK thanked members for their attendance and contribution.

Meeting closed at 5.30pm

Dates of future meetings:

3 December 2015, 4pm.      Training Room 3, BEST hub, Colindale

11 February 2016, 4pm.      Training Room 3, BEST hub, Colindale

12 May 2016, 4pm.              Training Room 3, BEST hub, Colindale

7 July 2016, 4pm.                 Training Room 3, BEST hub, Colindale