PAPER C

CHILDREN’S SERVICES SELECT COMMITTEE – 7 DECEMBER 2004

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SCHOOLS FORUM

REPORT OF THE HEAD OF PLANNING AND RESOURCES, CHILDREN’S SERVICES

REASON FOR SELECT COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION

The Select Committee receives an annual report from the Chair of the Schools Forum.

ACTION REQUIRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE

1. To receive the annual report of the Schools Forum.

2. To seek clarification or further detail from the Chair of the Forum.

BACKGROUND

The Schools Forum’s membership includes representatives of: Headteachers and Governors from each sector of education; Diocesan Authorities and stakeholder groups such as Early Years. The Forum considers all financial matters as they affect the Education budget and advises the Council on the priorities for expenditure within the Schools Block. This advice would be offered normally in the context of the overall settlement for education. Members will be aware that the FSS for the Council as a whole has been delayed until 9 December (approx). The Chair of the Forum may feel able to give general guidance to members but the full impact of the EFSS for 2005-6 will not be discussed by the Schools Forum until its re-arranged meeting of 16 December. The work of the Forum for the past year is the subject of the report which can be found at Appendix 1.

APPENDICES ATTACHED

Annual Report of the Schools Forum – Appendix 1.

BACKGROUND PAPERS USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS REPORT

None used in the preparation of this report.

Contact Point : Kim Johnson, Head of Planning and Resources ( 823410

e-mail : Kim. [email protected]

KIM JOHNSON

Head of Planning and Resources, Children’s Services

APPENDIX 1

Isle of Wight Schools Forum

Annual Report 2003/4

Introduction

The Isle of Wight Schools Forum was established by the Isle of Wight Council in January 2003 in line with the duty imposed by the Schools Forums (England) Regulations 2002.

Terms of Reference

The Forum has agreed the following terms of reference:

Mission Statement

The Schools Forum’s primary purpose is to provide advice to the Isle of Wight Council on local decisions concerning the allocation of educational funding and the determination of local financial strategy. It exists to represent the views of schools, not only locally, but to external agencies such as the Learning and Skills Council and to central government.

The Forum interprets and reviews all matters of educational funding and informs schools:

· in an attempt to achieve a consensus view on local budgetary policy and;

· in order to promote educational opportunities and guidance for all pupils.

Composition:

The Forum consists of fifteen members:

• Twelve from schools: four from Primary, three from Middle, three from High and two from Special (Of these, one from each sector is a governor and the rest are headteachers )

• Three non school members: one from the Church of England Diocese, one from the Catholic Diocese and one from the Isle of Wight Local Education Authority (LEA).

In addition, the Isle of Wight Council’s portfolio holder for Education and a number of officers of the LEA attend ex-officio. A full list of members can be found at the end of this report.

The Year’s Progress

During the first eighteen months the Forum has met ten times. The work of the Forum has focussed on three main themes.

· A desire by everybody to understand the often complex issues affecting school funding. To this end, the LEA’s officers have produced a number of most valuable papers which have helped to make the issues much clearer.

· The annual budget setting process. Two initiatives of central government have had particular bearing on this process. The first of these was the insistence that each school should have a guaranteed percentage rise. While this has led to a comparatively trouble free budget round, the irony was noted by the Forum that, in its first year of existence as a statutory advisory body on the allocation formula, the rules allowed no changes to that formula to be made. The granting of additional transitional funding has exercised the Forum considerably. On the one hand, any extra funding which helped to ease the financial hardship of the previous year was most welcome. On the other, it was recognised that the very rigid rules for its distribution, while helping many colleagues out of very difficult situations, could not reward those who had been able to avoid deficits by effective managerial action.

· The start made on reviewing those specialist services provided for schools by the LEA or bought in by them. In particular, the Forum has considered aspects of Special Educational Needs funding, the Schools’ Library Service and the provision of school meals.

The funding of Special Educational Needs has taken up a good deal of the Forum’s time this year and will probably continue to do so into the future. Earlier in the year, the Forum expressed the opinion that the cluster structure was not sufficiently developed to take on the responsibility for allocating low incidence special needs funding. It was left to a future date to consider whether such a move would ever be desirable. During the year great concern was expressed over budgetary effect of the current law on statementing. The most severe consequence of this was the impact on the education budget of mainland placements and tribunal judgements, neither of which took account of the needs of all Island children.

The School Library Service was the subject of a Forum working party during the year. The recent history of the Schools Library Service was examined and put in a national context. There was a high level of satisfaction with the service by those schools, the majority, who used it. There was, however, a significant group who did not use it and if this group was to increase it would quickly impact on the viability of the service. The Forum found that the service was a valuable one but recommended that the review group which has been established meets at least annually to ensure that it continues to be the best possible provider.

The awareness that joint services were vulnerable to schools deciding to withdraw was in the foreground when the Forum decided to examine the School Meals Service. Initial consultation, particularly through Headteacher meetings, revealed a wide range of opinions on the service. Concern was expressed in some quarters regarding the subsidy provided for school meals by the LEA. Eventually the Forum has decided that it would commission an external study with the following brief:

‘The Isle of Wight Council transferred the supply of school catering to Group 90 (now Pabulum) in the 1990’s and they have a contract for the provision of services. The Schools’ Forum are now seeking to review this arrangement to ensure that they are getting ‘best value’ and that the offer being made to pupils, parents and schools fulfils obligations and meets needs.’

Communicating Our Work

The Forum attaches a great deal of importance to encouraging transparency in all aspects of funding allocation. To this end members have encouraged as much communication of our work as is possible. In particular, the minutes have been circulated to all headteachers and to all clerks of governing bodies. In addition, all Forum material has been made available on the Isle of Wight LEA website: www.eduwight.iow.gov.uk

Headteacher representatives of each phase sector have regularly reported back to their respective meetings. Governor representatives were invited to describe the work of the Forum to the Island governors group.

During the year the Chairman has twice been invited to join meetings of the Council’s Education Select Committee. This has proved a most valuable channel of communication which all are confident will lead to greater understanding and effectiveness in the future.

Measures of Success

The ultimate measure of success will be a growing sense of confidence that the resources available to education are fairly and appropriately distributed. In the meantime, the Forum has identified two other measures of its success:

· A growing understanding among all stakeholders in education over how the resources are distributed and the issues which underlie decisions on funding. We are confident that great progress has already been made with this.

· A hope that schools; headteachers, bursars and governors can use the information available to make better and more confident financial decisions.

The Forum is dependent on those stakeholders telling it whether it is, indeed, achieving these objectives and what else it needs to do.

The Future

Forum members are positive that a good start has been made to their work. The next year will mean more to do on the on-going issues of school catering, transitional funding and special needs funding. The review of the Island’s education system is sure to have many implications for the Forum. Likewise the changes brought about by the Workforce Remodelling initiative will mean work for the Forum. The new budget round will as always highlight issues regarding the distribution of funding. Ultimately, members of the Forum will know that their work is of value from the reactions of their colleagues in Island education. It is up to all of us to ensure that the best use is made of this channel of communication. The annual work pattern of the Forum can be found at the end of this report.

Acknowledgements

The Forum is very conscious that its activities have increased the burdens on all those who are involved with it. It is grateful to all who have contributed their energy, time, enthusiasm and knowledge to its activities during the year. The Forum would particularly like to pay tribute to the officers of the LEA who have delivered papers and serviced the committee with such enthusiasm and professionalism. To them must go much of the credit for any successes which the Forum has achieved.

John Lucas, Chair, Isle of Wight Schools’ Forum

25 August 2004

SCHOOLS’ FORUM – MEMBERSHIP

Primary Schools

Tara Dean Governor

Dave Kitching Headteacher

Martin Lee Headteacher

Richard May Headteacher

Middle Schools

Lesley Ann Bryant Headteacher

Chris Gorski Headteacher

Helen Wilks Governor

High Schools

John Bradshaw Headteacher

John Lucas (Chair) Governor

Linda McGowan Headteacher

Special Schools

Mark Bell Headteacher

Alison Child Governor

Catholic Diocese/Schools

Peter Birks

Church of England Diocese/Schools

Penny Codd (Vice Chair)

Early Years

Rose Ward

Isle of Wight Council Education Portfolio Holder

Jill Wareham (ex officio)

Local Education Authority

Rob Faulkner (ex officio)

Janet Giles (ex officio)

Kim Johnson (ex officio)

Andrew King (ex officio)

Secretary to the Schools Forum

Mark Goswell

THE SCHOOLS’ FORUM ANNUAL WORK PATTERN

SEPTEMBER	Carry out review of Contracts, and establish timetable. Receive final report from commissioned work and make recommendations on further consultation.
OCTOBER	Receive and consider preliminary report on national spending targets, and the Government’s autumn statement.
NOVEMBER	Analyse Government budget proposals and recommend preferences for local implementation.
DECEMBER	Consult with schools on the Forum’s implementation proposals. Report to Select Committee on the considered opinions of the Forum regarding subsequent years spending levels.
JANUARY	Schools budget Review budget proposals Challenge alternatives.
FEBRUARY	Local Authority deliberation on total spending proposals.
MARCH	Publication of individual school budgets. Setting up of commissioned work.
APRIL	Ongoing work regarding delegation of services.
MAY	Draft Annual Report Liaise with Select Committee on agenda setting
JUNE	Identification of probable savings for the next financial year
JULY	Interim report on commissioned work.