Agenda and minutes
Venue: Function Room,Fifth Floor, Easthampstead House, Bracknell
Contact: Emma Young 01344 352308
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Election of Chairman Minutes: Since the July meeting of the Schools Forum no one had expressed any further interest in being the Forums Chairman for the 2017/18 year. During the summer period Officers had had a chance to reflect on this issue and proposed that an Independent Member of the Forum be sought to fill the Chairman’s role. As an Independent Member this person would not have to declare an interest nor would they be restricted by voting constraints. It was stressed that a Chairman was vital to the Forum working effectively moving forward.
It was proposed that profiles of suitable Independent Member candidates would be brought to the Forum at its October meeting for review and then the successful candidate would be elected as Chairman at the December meeting.
Debbie Smith volunteered to fill the role of Chairman for this meeting and would do so for the Forum meeting on 19 October 2017.
Councillor Dr Gareth Barnard, Executive Member for Children, Young People & Learning commented that the issues facing the Forum over the coming years were extremely complex and it was important to have a strong and impartial Chairman in place to lead the Forum through these issues.
Councillor Dr Gareth Barnard also commented that the structure of the Forum meetings going forward could include a workshop section to work through the complex issues, which was a similar format to the Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board.
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Appointment of Vice Chairman Minutes: It was agreed that the nomination of Vice Chairman would be taken forward to the December meeting of the forum.
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Declarations of Interest Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary or affected interests in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.
Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.
Any Member with an affected Interest in a matter must disclose the interest to the meeting and must not participate in discussion of the matter or vote on the matter unless granted a dispensation by the Monitoring officer or by the Governance and Audit Committee. There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an affected interest, but the Monitoring Officer should be notified of the interest, if not previously notified of it, within 28 days of the meeting. Minutes: No declarations of interest were received. |
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Minutes and Matters Arising PDF 253 KB To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of 13 July 2017 Minutes: RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 13 July 2017 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record Arising from the minutes: · It was confirmed that an update on progress against the review of the High Needs Block action plan would be given during the October meeting. · Item 8 which referred to new loan arrangements should have referred to Ascot Heath Infant School, not Ascot Heath Junior School.
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Update on School and Education Funding PDF 261 KB To receive an update on the school and education funding. Minutes: Paul Clark gave an update on the School and Education funding reforms following announcements made in July and September 2017 and a recap of changes announced earlier. However, key financial information remains outstanding with the Department for Education (DfE) indicating an end of September release, so further updates are expected to be provided in the October meeting.
The key points raised were:
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The Schools Budget - 2017-2018 Budget Monitoring and other Financial Matters PDF 273 KB To receive an update on 2017-2018 budget monitoring and other financial matters. Minutes: The Forum received the annual report on the 2017-2018 forecast budget monitoring position for the schools budget and to explore the key issues and management actions being taken.
The key points raised were:
The Forum NOTED:
1. the budget variances being forecast on the Schools Budget totalling an aggregate net forecast under spending of £0.006m, (paragraph 6.8);
2. that the accumulated year end balance for the Schools Budget General Reserve was forecast to be £0.666m, £0.006m above the minimum prudential level required to be maintained to safely manage in-year budget risks (paragraph 6.8 (ix));
3. progress to date on the Education Capital Programme, as summarised at Annex 2.
that further work was planned in respect of the school loan scheme and funding arrangements in place for Early Years providers
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Schools Forum Membership Review PDF 116 KB To receive an update on the Schools Forum Membership. Additional documents: Minutes: The Forum received a report inviting it to endorse an amendment to the Forum’s composition which was intended to bring it in to line with the Schools Forum (England) Regulations 2012 to correctly reflect the proportion of pupils in schools maintained by the Local Authority and those in academies.
Officers had undertaken a review of the Bracknell Forest pupil numbers to assess whether the Forum’s membership was proportionate across all the groups.
Due to the increasing number of academy conversions within Bracknell Forest it had been proposed that an additional Academy Governor Representative should be added to the Membership.
There were a number of vacant Primary School Governor vacancies on the Forum. As no interest had been received in May 2017’s election period, the Council was seeking to appoint to fill these vacancies directly for 2017/18, with elections held again in May 2018.
In addition to the two recommendations within the report a tabled verbal recommendation was added at the meeting as Members had agreed at the start of the meeting to appoint an Independent Member as Chairman. To accommodate this new role in the Forum Membership, it was proposed that the Diocese membership be reduced from two members to one member, as historically they hadn’t taken up these vacancies, with the additional place being allocated to the Independent Member.
If the Diocese wished to provide both a Roman Catholic and Church of England representative in the future it was proposed that they could alternate their representative each year.
Jane Coley would try to seek two Academy Governors to fill the current vacancies on the Forum before the October meeting. It was mentioned than John Throssall who was previously a Forum Member may be interested in returning as an Academy Governor Representative.
RESOLVED that:
1. the composition of the Bracknell Forest Schools Forum as set out in Appendix A be approved. 2. that the proprietor bodies of academies be asked to confirm their nominees for the academy vacancy on the Forum. 3. that the Diocese membership be reduced from two members to one member and the vacancy being amended to accommodate a new role on the Forum for an Independent Member as Chairman.
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Schools Forum Workshops To explore the possibility of holding workshops within Schools Forum. Minutes: The Forum discussed whether a new approach to meetings should be adopted whereby a more informal setting and meeting style, such as a workshop would allow for a more productive meeting with greater understanding and involvement for members. The following points were raised:
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Dates of Future Meetings The dates of future meetings are: 19 October 2017 7 December 2017 18 January 2018 22 March 2018 19 April 2018 Minutes: The date of the next Forum was scheduled for the 19 October 2017.
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