Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to today’s meeting and introductions were made.

To invite Forum Members to declare any interests they may have on agenda items to be considered at this meeting, to confirm the nature of those interests and whether they intend to leave the meeting for the consideration of the item.

No declarations of interest were made.

Recommendation:-  To receive and approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 26^th April, 2024.

Consideration was given to the minutes from the previous meeting held on 26^th April 2024.

Agreed: That the minutes be approved.

To consider and report on any matters arising from the previous minutes:-

There were no matters arising.

To consider any updates or amendments to the membership of the Schools’ Forum.

Based on the School Sector Breakdown to remove:-

·       Alexandra Dudson, Academy Governor Representative (no longer in post.)

To receive a further update on the Schools’ Forum Review to include a discussion with Forum Members regarding the terms of reference, purpose, and timescales for the review.

Niall Devlin to report.

Recommendation:- To consider and approve the amendments/updates to the membership of the Rotherham Schools Forum.

Consideration was given to the membership and constitution of the Schools’ Forum and the suggested changes put forward for approval.

Niall Devlin, Assistant Director, Education and Inclusion was invited by the Chair to share an update on the progress of the review of the Schools’ Forum and its constitution.   

It was suggested to Forum Members that a small sub-group be established to undertake the review of the constitutional and organisational elements of the Forum, including membership, decision making of core business and voting rights. 

To shape this piece of work volunteers were sought from the Forum to participate in two focused meetings to be scheduled in September and October 2024.  The sub-group would report back its findings and recommendations to the November Schools’ Forum meeting.  

Forum Members welcomed this approach and agreed to give consideration to  their involvement in the sub-group.

Agreed: (1) That Alexandra Dudson, representing Academy Governors be removed from the membership and constitution as they are no longer in post. 

(2) That volunteers be sought to participate in the sub-group meetings in September and October.

(3) That the findings and recommendations of the review be reported back to Schools’ Forum in November 2024.

Louise Keith / Joshua Amahwe to report.

Recommendation:- (1) To note the latest DSG funding for schools for the 2024/25 financial year. 

(2) To note the financial positions of Rotherham’s maintained schools and the

identified financial risks against the schools DSG budgets for the year.

Consideration was given to a report presented by Louise Keith, Principal Finance Officer (Schools Finance) which provided an update on the school’s budget for 2024/25 since the position was last reported to Schools Forum in January 2024 and initial budgets for Rotherham maintained schools were submitted to the local authority in May 2024.

The latest confirmed DSG funding allocation for Rotherham for 2024/25 was £109.3m which included a total of £30.4m in schools block funding.

The total schools block allocation for 2024-25 after deductions for academy recoupment and NNDR was £30.45m.  There was no impact on the schools’ budgets as a result of the funding recoupment for academies. 

The revised High Needs Block allocation for 2024-25 was £46.37m after deductions of £11.5m for recoupment.  These were broken down as follows:-

·       Mainstream Academies - £592k

·       Special Academies - £8.1m

·       Special Free Schools – £1.4m

·       Further Education and Independent Learning Providers – £1.3m  

The £0.5m increase in the Early Years block increase in entitlement for Under 2’s was due to an increase in the estimated numbers from the DfE. 

The Forum was asked to note that the funding transfer of £1.2m was made from the schools’ block to the high needs block in 2024-25 and reflected the confirmed DfE decision on the disapplication request made by the Local Authority. 

It was confirmed that approved detailed 3-year budget plans were submitted to the Local Authority by maintained schools by the agreed deadline.  All but three schools submitted a balanced budget position.  Recovery and action plans have been put in place and two schools were receiving some additional financial support to help them return to a sustainable position within an agreed timeframe. 

It was noted that schools within the Borough had continued to raise sustainability concerns associated with increased cost pressures linked to the cost-of-living crisis this combined with a national fall in pupil numbers was putting primary schools under significant budget pressures. 

Forum Members were advised that there were a number of ways the Local Authority was able to support schools in financial difficulty and were encouraged to engage with Finance colleagues in the Local Authority to access support.

A verbal update was then provided on the free school meals auto enrolment process.  The main aims of the project were to ensure families received what they were entitled to, and schools received the Pupil Premium Grant associated with free school meals.  Each child currently receiving free school meals equated to £1,455 for primary students and £1,035 for secondary students. 

A working group was established comprising of representatives from Revenue and Benefits, Customer Services, Finance, Public Health and Education.  The core of the process involved cross matching revenue and benefits team data with school census data to collate a list of children eligible for free school meals but who are not currently claiming them.   The estimated number of families to be contacted was 500-600 and letters to those families were expected to be issued towards the end of July.  Customer Service staff would receive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Louise Keith / Joshua Amahwe to report.

Recommendation:- (1) To note the updates to the Scheme for Financing

Schools sections highlighted in yellow.

(2) To note the DfE’s latest version, updated 28 March 2024.

(3) To agree for the Updated Scheme for Financing Schools to be

disseminated to schools.

Consideration was given to the report presented by Louise Keith, Principal Finance Officer (Schools Finance), which built upon previous reports setting out the main amendments to the Scheme for Financing Schools to bring in line with the DfE’s latest version, updated as of 28^th March, 2024.

Agreed:-  (1)  That the report be received and the updates to the Scheme for Financing Schools sections highlighted in yellow be noted.

(2)  That  the DfE’s latest version, updated 28^th March 2024 be noted.

(3)  That the Updated Scheme for Financing Schools be disseminated to schools.

Mark Cummins to report.

Recommendation:- To receive the update and note the contents.

Consideration was given to a verbal update presented by Mark Cummins, SEND Transformation Project Lead which provided a further update in respect of the SEND Sufficiency Programme.

It was noted that the first phase of resource provision implementation referenced under Minute Number 59 of the previous Forum meeting remained on track and places were due to be available from September 2024.  

A further element of the SEND Sufficiency Phase 4 programme was the implementation of the School’s Accessibility Funding to support schools to create additional places to meet a wider level of SEND need.

Seven projects had now been approved from the accessibility capital funding small grants programme and nine other school applications had been assessed and working through due diligence.  Application themes were varied and covered the development of vocational curriculum, nurture spaces, sensory areas and several other innovative projects were coming forward. 

The outcomes and impacts of Phase 4 would continue to be monitored and mapped against the Safety Valve agreement.

Discussion ensued on the significant number of pupils that did not currently have access to an appropriate setting.  Provision and outreach services would continue to be developed which would hopefully reduce or stabilise the number of pupils not currently accessing provision.    It was also noted that SEND Sufficiency Phase 5 projects would form part of a feasibility study to identify appropriate options for specialist provision.  On completion of the feasibility study a further report would be presented to Cabinet seeking approval to implement Phase 5.  

Forum Members were invited to put forward suggestions on what other areas of SEND sufficiency reporting they would welcome at future meetings.  The Forum agreed the provision of benchmarking data that provided detail of local comparative statistics against the national SEND position would be useful for setting the context to what Rotherham schools were dealing with in relation to SEND.   

Agreed: That the update be received and noted.

Kirsty Woodhead to report.

Recommendation:- To receive an update and note the contents.

Consideration was given to the report presented by Kirsty Woodhead, Service Manager, Early Help and Family Engagement which provided an update in respect of attendance data and the Working Together to Improve School Attendance 2024 guidance expectations. 

In 2022 the DfE published a Working Together to Improve School Attendance guidance to help schools, academy trusts, governing bodies and local authorities to maintain high levels of school attendance through the introduction of a core set of expectations. 

A further update to the guidance was published in February 2024 which was due to become statutory from 19^th August 2024.  There was new guidance in several areas together with further clarification on issues raised via consultation.  There was also new guidance on the National Framework for Penalty Notices to support consistency in practice and compliance with changes in law around registers and codes. 

The School Attendance Matters Pathway and Strategic Plan were due to be updated along with the Code of Conduct to ensure compliance with the new statutory expectations.  This work was expected to be completed by August 2024 and formally launched in September 2024.

An Attendance Delivery Group was due to be established in September 2024 to enable effective multi agency delivery of the strategic plan.  Representatives to join this group were welcomed.

Due to a change of circumstances the Associate Head Teacher identified to work with the Local Authority to focus on attendance and share good practice was not now able to proceed and arrangements for this role would be revisited.

Forum Members heard that Rotherham was in a positive position to be able to embed the revised statutory guidance as it already aligned well to existing pathways and approaches used in Rotherham educational settings.

Agreed: That the report be received, and the contents noted.

Recommendation:-  To consider the attached Forward Plan of agenda items and receive any updates. 

The Chair invited Forum Members to review the Forward Plan of agenda items and share any other items for inclusion.

The following proposed agenda items were discussed and dates for future reporting were noted by the Clerk for inclusion on the Forward Plan.

·       Vice and Vice Chair Arrangements – September meeting

·       SEND Sufficiency – Data comparison to national – September meeting

·       Annual Exclusions Data – September meeting

·       Feedback on Schools Forum Review – November meeting.

It was agreed the Clerk would check with the Head of Finance if any finance items were expected to be presented to the September meeting and update the plan accordingly. 

Agreed: That the updates be received and noted.

Action: Clerk

Recommendation:-  To receive any other items of urgent business.

There were no other urgent business items to consider.

Recommendation:- To consider and agree the date and time of the next meeting of the Rotherham Schools’ Forum on 13^th September 2024 at 8.30 a.m. at Rockingham Professional Development Centre.

Agreed: That the next meeting of the Schools’ Forum takes place on Friday 13^th September, 2024 at 8.30am at Rockingham Professional Development Centre.