Agenda and draft minutes

Gilbert Knight welcomed Ian Stewart who was attending as a substitute for Andrew McClusky.

Apologies were received from Andrew McClusky and Carol Beckman.

Post-meeting apologies were received from Jack Newton and Robin Archibald.

None.

Agreed as a true and accurate record of the last meeting.

None.

VW introduced the paper on school places and growth funding. The report summarises expenditure in 15/16 and 16/17 and projects growth costs going forward. This includes bulge classes planned from September 2016.

In relation to the current provision of places for September 2016, VW explained that at the time of the meeting, it was anticipated that sufficient places would be available in 2016, with Ashmole Academy’s new free school opening and bulge classes being offered at a number of schools. Late applications will continue to be received and if necessary, additional bulge classes would be arranged. She updated the meeting on the plans for the opening of the new Ark Pioneer school at the Underhill Stadium site in 2018 and a new 3 form entry school being planned at the Peel Centre. Feasibility studies were being carried out to progress potential expansions at St Agnes and Childs Hill.

EP queried how many Barnet parents had been offered places out of borough and stated she had been approached by upset parents. VW confirmed that some had received offers from Enfield, adding that local authorities work together to ensure all children are offered a place, working across borough boundaries.

JD asked what the spread of Fair Access places was between schools. VW said records were kept on this and informed decision making.

VW said that although there had been some spare capacity in secondary schools in the last few years, it is decreasing year-on-year. VW referred to Table 1 that shows the forecast for the number of new secondary school places required and said that Barnet are planning to meet the lower forecast. The aim is to have at least an extra 20 forms of entry by 2020/21. She added that an annual update to the GLA projections for future secondary demand arrived in the council on the day of the meeting and so had not yet been analysed.

VW explained that the buildings of new free schools are funded by the central government. The alternative route would be for Barnet to offer land and school proposers can compete to open a school there and in these circumstances Barnet would fund the construction.

VW said that SMSJ is expanding to provide an additional 2 forms of secondary entry; St James is also expanding as part of a project for Blessed Dominic to move onto St James’ site. A number of other secondary schools had recently contacted the council to explore the potential of expanding, driven by budgetary pressure. However, Barnet would not be commissioning any more expansions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7a – National Funding Formula Consultation

IH said this item was closely linked with the White Paper proposals regarding academies and written before the announcement was made that all schools would no longer be forced to convert.

IH referred members to the Appendix which showed Barnet’s submission in response to Stage 1 of the NFF consultation for both mainstream and High Needs. This stage is based mainly around principles, methodology and the use of objective factors of need. As it is the early stages of the consultation, there are no figures yet. The DfE plans to have the NFF in place by 2019-20 but will allow time for schools to ease into it.

Stage 2 of the consultation will provide more detail and should give an indication of the impact on funding levels to Barnet LA and Barnet schools. The release of Stage 2 of the consultation is expected before the end of the summer term as schools will need to respond to the consultation in early autumn. The first Schools Forum date next term has been moved to 29^th September 2016 to enable early discussions on this.

IH said there would be big winners and losers but that Barnet is not likely to be the hardest hit borough. He said there will be some form of Minimum Funding Guarantee but the level hasn’t been announced. Local authorities will be given some discretion to allow schools to lose faster but they may be reluctant to use these powers. LAs will no longer have control over the proportion of funding spent on each of the school funding blocks. He stated that the consultation document indicated growth funding will be based on actual need, not historic spend.

IH said that another consultation document was recently issued by the DfE and circulated to private providers by the Early Years team. The Early Years team were leading the response, seeking views from providers. SV commented that most providers were not aware the consultation had been released. PH asked if the document had been made available to schools. IH said schools could find a link to the consultation document in the School Circular.

EP noted it was important to remember the free entitlement was about early education and not just childcare, with various members of the Schools Forum expressing their agreement.

IH talked about the proposal that funding for school improvement would end in April 2017 and also discussed the issue regarding the proposal for free entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds to rise from 15 to 30 hours. Although the rate of funding is increasing, most providers in the Early Years sectors say that it is still not viable.

PH said that increasing to a 30 hour offer in many settings halves the places available and removes the capacity for flexibility and, for Private Voluntary and Independent (PVI) providers, additional chargeable provision (which subsidises 15 hours). She added that there was already a waiting list at some nurseries and, because of siblings,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

1.       Welcome to new members                            

2.       Apologies for absences                                 

3.       Declarations of interest                                                         

4.       Minutes of the last meeting

5.       Items for information

·         2015/16 Budget Monitoring – Final Outturn                    

·         2016/17 Budget 

6.       Items for decision/ discussion

·         National Funding Formula consultation 

7.       Draft agenda for next meeting – 29^th September 2016

8.       Any other business

1.    Welcome to new members

2.    Apologies for absence

3.    Declarations of interest

4.    Minutes of previous meeting

5.    Matters arising

6.    Items for information

·         2015/16 Budget Monitoring – Final Outturn

·         2016/17 Budget

7.    Items for decision/ discussion

·         National Funding Formula consultation – Stage 2

8.    Draft agenda for next meeting – 29^th September 2016

9.    Any other business

GK closed the meeting by saying that these were interesting times with many unknowns and thanked everyone for attending.

Meeting closed at 5.00pm

Dates of future meetings:

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

29^th September 2016           BEST hub, Colindale

8^th December 2016              BEST hub, Colindale