Agenda item

Eastwood Village Primary School - 'start up' diseconomies funding allocation in first year of operation.

 

·       Eastwood Village Primary School;

·       Formula for future school start-ups. 

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report presented by Dean Fenton, Service Lead for School Organisation, Planning, Admissions and Appeals, that outlined a proposed allocation to Eastwood Village Primary School.  The Rotherham Schools’ Forum had initially considered the issue at the previous meeting when the 2016/2017 Pupil Growth contribution from the Schools’ Block had been agreed (Minute number 20, 15th January, 2016).

 

The report outlined the Department for Education’s definition of ‘diseconomies’ funding: -

 

          Diseconomies relate to the need to incur some fixed management and      premises costs as new schools build up their numbers.  This funding    must be made available to new academies on the same basis as        maintained schools, including those funded on estimates – this can be       paid to new schools that have opened and have not yet reached their      full number of year groups. 

 

The Local Authority had estimated that the School would admit 100 pupils during their first academic year (2015/2016).   In the first year they were structured as a one-form entry from Foundation Stage Two to Year Four.  This meant that the School potentially had 150 places that could be filled if sufficient applications were received.  The Local Authority was responsible for any diseconomies funding during a school’s first year of operation. 

 

The Rotherham Schools’ Forum were informed of the scrutiny that had been undertaken on the start-up costs provided by the new School’s management.  Looking at the lines of expenditure, Officers had suggested a total contribution of £315,500.  The scrutiny had been from a finance/administrative basis by Local Authority Officers and from an educational perspective from the members of the RSF Finance Sub-Committee. 

 

The Rotherham Schools’ Forum agreed that £315,500 funding from the Pupil Growth Element of the Schools’ Block should be made to Eastwood Village Primary School for their diseconomies funding during their first year of operation. 

 

Based on the scrutiny work, a formula was suggested for future school start-ups.  The formula recognised that different areas of the Borough had different demographic needs.  It had sliding levels of contributions relating to factors such as deprivation, pupil mobility and transience to be applied depending on the area of the Borough the new school was in. 

 

Discussion followed on how the formula would be applied to the intended new school builds in Rotherham: -   

 

·       Role of Section 106 contributions in domestic developments and how purchase ‘trigger points’ needed to be met before any payment/s were released to the Local Authority;

·       The Local Authority had scheduled a detailed lead-in process for the development of the new primary school at Waverley, beginning in the Summer, 2016. 

 

The formula was accepted by the Rotherham Schools’ Forum.  David Naisbitt thanked the Officers for their work with Eastwood Village Primary School and in creating the formula for future school developments. 

 

Resolved: - (1)  That a contribution of £315,500 be made to Eastwood Village Primary School from the Pupil Growth element of the Schools’ Block for Eastwood Village’s 2015/2016 diseconomies funding requirements.

 

(2)  That the formula model used to establish Eastwood Village’s diseconomies funding needs be adopted as the model that will be used for future new build schools. 

Supporting documents: