(ITEM )

3.2 Agrees the following:

1. the £59,078 aggregate funding allocation to St Michael’s Easthamstead Primary schools as detailed in Annex 7, which exceeds the delegation limits awarded to the Executive Director

2. minor changes to text to improve clarity of policy and the updating of funding rates where relevant (paragraph 6.30).

4 Reasons for recommendations

4.1 To ensure that the Schools Forum supports how centrally managed funds have been allocated to mainstream schools and is aware of the total amount and schools involved.

5 Alternative Options Considered

5.1 These were considered as part of the budget setting process, including not setting aside contingency funds.

6 Supporting Information

Background

6.1 Members of the Forum will be aware that the funding framework for mainstream schools is regulated by the DfE and that this governs the conditions attached to how funds can be allocated to schools. It also sets out the purposes for which funds can be centrally managed by LAs and how in-year allocations can be determined.

6.2 As part of the budget setting process, the Forum agreed that the following six budgets should initially be managed by the LA, for in-year allocation to schools:

1. The Growth Fund: Comprising:

a. significant in-year increases in pupil numbers;

b. schools required to meet the Key Stage 1 Class Size regulations;

c. new and expanding schools.

2. SEN specific contingency;

3. General Schools Contingency: Comprising:

a. Schools in financial difficulty;

b. General Schools Contingency.

6.3 In accordance with the funding framework, items 1 and 2 above are held as centrally managed budgets, available to support both maintained and academy schools.

Item 3 is a de-delegated budget and supports maintained mainstream schools only. De-delegated funding is initially included in individual school budget allocations, but returned from maintained schools for central management, following consultation with schools and agreement of the Schools Forum.

Maintained schools that meet the agreed qualifying criteria then receive in-year funding allocations, whereas academy schools retain their relevant share of the funds to directly manage associated responsibilities.

Where de-delegated budgets in aggregate underspend in a financial year, the relevant amount is returned to mainstream maintained schools as a refund.

6.4 This annual report is presented to confirm individual funding allocations and to provide an opportunity to review the relevant funding policies.

1. Growth Fund allocations - £366,456 total budget (applies equally to maintained mainstream schools and academies that meet qualifying criteria).

a. Significant in-year increases in pupil numbers - £236,456 budget

6.5 To provide in-year financial support to schools experiencing significant increases in statutory aged pupil numbers, LAs are permitted to retain funding in a Growth Fund for allocation once qualifying criteria is met. This reflects the requirement of the DfE to calculate school budgets on actual pupil numbers prior to the start of the financial year which means there is no recognition of in-year increases which in some cases will have a significant impact on costs.

6.6 To provide additional resources to schools facing in-year increases, the Schools Forum has agreed that funding allocations should be made where there is a significant increase in pupils between the census point used for funding school budgets and the actual intake at the start of the next academic year. The relevant thresholds and funding rates are:

· less than 2 FE schools = increase of 10 pupils, at half the core funding rate

· 2 FE schools = increase of 20 pupils, at the core funding rate

· 3 FE and above schools = increase of 25, at the core funding rate

6.7 Admitting additional pupils at these levels is considered the point at which relevant schools would most likely experience significant cost increases. The general expectation is that schools can absorb additional pupils up to these numbers without having to incur any significant cost increases.

6.8 The core funding allocation is based on the cost of employing a Teacher at Main Scale Point 6 for the autumn and spring terms only (£30,018 in 2021-22). This is a short-term funding measure as on-going funding beyond this point would be included in the next year’s budget as relevant pupils would be on the October census used for funding purposes and are therefore taken into account in the next year’s budget calculation. Annex 1 sets out the full policy which is proposed to remain unchanged.

6.9 Furthermore, as academy schools receive academic year budgets the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) provides additional funding for the summer term. This is because the extra pupils are not reflected in their budget until September, rather than April for maintained schools. The council received an additional £21,456 from the ESFA through this route for funding due in the period April – August 2021 in respect of Brakenhale Secondary, which was fully passed on. Total allocations amounted to £81,492 with a resultant under spending of £154,964. Annex 2 sets out individual school calculations and other relevant data.

b. Schools required to meet the Key Stage 1 Class Size regulations - £115,000 budget

6.10 In a similar way to that in which funds can be retained for allocation in year to schools experiencing significant increases in pupil numbers, LAs are also permitted to create a contingency to allocate funds to support schools facing additional costs to ensure Key Stage 1 class size regulations to limit classes to no more than 30 pupils per teacher are not breached. Again, this allows the targeting of funds to schools facing real cost pressures that the Funding Formula is not permitted to deal with.

6.11 The Forum has agreed that where the aggregate number of Key Stage 1 pupils does not equate to a multiple of 30, additional resources will be added at the amount required to cover the cost of appointing a Teacher on Main Scale Point 6 for the relevant period, after taking account of the funding delivered through the Funding Formula. Top up funding is provided on a “missing pupil” basis and is calculated at the amount required to meet teacher costs only. Based on the 2021-22 values in the Funding Formula, 13 pupils at the national Minimum Per Pupil Funding Level that a school must receive delivers sufficient resources to employ a teacher. Therefore, the maximum top-up funding a school can receive that has one pupil on roll above a multiple of 30 is for 12 ‘missing’ pupils.

6.12 Based on actual changes in pupil numbers for the 2021 summer and autumn terms, and the spring term 2022, 7 schools were entitled to additional funding, which aggregates to £101,365 resulting in an under spending of £13,635. Annex 4 sets out individual school allocations and other relevant data.

6.13 To avoid double funding, if the same pupils result in schools receiving funding through the significant in-year increase in pupil numbers category then any Key Stage 1 specific funding is disallowed. The relevant qualifying criteria are set out in Annex 3 which is proposed to be updated to clarify that pupils registered on roll as a Special Resource Provision are excluded from the calculation.

New and expanding schools - £15,000 budget.

6.14 With the Kings Group (KGA) Academy Binfield open to secondary aged pupils from September 2018 and primary aged pupils from September 2019 and KGA Oakwood Primary also open from September 2019, allocations are due from the funding policy for Start-up and diseconomy funding for new and expanding schools.

6.15 In respect of diseconomy funding – intended to support general running costs when schools have significantly fewer pupils than their capacity - this was allocated through the BF Funding Formula for Schools, which in accordance with DfE requirements, required notional pupil numbers to be added to the allocation process to deliver the increased funding determined through the policy.

6.16 For post-opening costs – intended to provide a lump sum amount to equip each new class that is to open with day-to-day resources – both the Binfield and Oakwood Primary schools opened a new class at September 2021, and therefore each received £7,500.

Total payments for new and expanding schools were therefore on budget at £15,000.

6.17 As the policy for start-up and diseconomy funding for new and expanding schools is well established, receiving a refresh in December 2019, no further changes are proposed at this time.

2. SEN specific contingency - £41,260 budget (applies equally to maintained mainstream schools and academies that meet qualifying criteria. This is the only budget in this report that is funded from the High Needs Block).

6.18 The DfE encourages LAs to allocate additional resources to schools that admit a disproportionate number of pupils with SEN with a clear expectation that this will affect only a minority of schools. The rational of the contingency is that the normal operation of the simplified Funding Formula does not adequately resource schools for all costs when there is a large concentration of high needs pupils and inclusion of pupils into mainstream schools rather than specialist providers should be encouraged.

6.19 There is no prescribed methodology on how such a fund should work and the scheme agreed by the Forum following consultation schools requires schools to meet both of the following criteria:

1. Where the proportion of pupils on roll classified as high need exceeds 4% of total pupil numbers in a primary school and 2% in a secondary school, and

2. Where the proportion that top up funding paid to support High Needs pupils compared to the total budget allocated via the BF Funding Formula exceeds 2% in a primary school and 1% in a secondary school.

No changes to the policy text are being proposed by the council.

6.20 This resulted in one secondary school receiving an additional funding allocation in the sum of £31,900, resulting in an underspending of £9,360. Annex 5 sets out the calculation of individual school data and eligibility to funding.

3. Schools Contingency: (this is a de-delegated budget and applies only to maintained schools when eligibility criteria met)

Schools in Financial Difficulty - £194,670 budget

6.21 School Funding Regulations allow for additional funds outside the normal operation of the Funding Formula to be provided to schools considered to be in financial difficulty. In agreement with the Schools Forum, this de-delegated budget has been returned to the Council for central management. The agreed criteria to be used to allocate this funding is if, in the opinion of the relevant Director for schools and Director responsible for Finance, a school:

1. was unable to set a balanced budget and were in need of a loan arrangement at the start of the relevant financial year, and/or

2. was likely to fall into one of the categories of causing concern, including requires improvement and special measures without additional financial support.

3. was a 1 form of entry school judged good or better that has more than 5% empty places

6.22 Where schools enter an Ofsted category of concern this includes those schools judged to be inadequate or requiring improvement the LA holds a declaration of concern meeting (DoC) and establishes a Rapid Response Board (RRB) for the first 12 weeks. Where effective action is being taken this is then monitored through a Standards Monitoring Board (SMB) on a termly basis. Where required there is an independent chair and senior officers of the LA as members. The headteacher and Chair of Governors of the school are invited to attend the SMB to report on progress. A support plan outlines the actions to be taken by the school and the LA in order to effect rapid improvement.

6.23 In order to allow funds to be allocated within an appropriate time scale, the Forum has agreed to delegate a set of powers to the Director responsible for schools to allocate funds up to but not exceeding £0.15m in any financial year, dependent on the Ofsted category of the school, or where there is considered a risk of being placed in a category.

6.24 The level of allocation of funds would be:

1. schools judged to have serious weaknesses (up to £20k per year)

2. schools deemed to be in need of special measures (up to £50k per year)

3. schools at risk of either judged to have serious weaknesses or entering special measures (up to £30k per year)

4. 1 form of entry schools judged good or better that have more than 5% empty places (up to £20k per year per school and £40k in total)

6.25 Allocations will only be agreed where the relevant school has demonstrated insufficient funds exist within the budget to fund the required actions or activities. The full policy text is set out in Annex 6 which is proposed to remain unchanged.

6.26 Funding allocations for the year amounted to £185,179 which represented an under spending of £9,491. This under spending was returned to maintained schools as part of the agreed financial year end process to repay any aggregate unspent de-delegation funding to maintained schools.

Further details of the allocations to schools in financial difficulty are shown in Annex 7.

General Schools Contingency - £8,800 budget

6.27 Where a primary school faces exceptional, unexpected costs in-year that were not known when the budget was set and it would be unreasonable to expect the school to meet the costs, bids for additional funding can be sought. The Forum has previously agreed that claims are considered on a case by case basis by the Heads of Service covering Finance, Human Resources and Property before formal consideration by the Forum.

6.28 One claim was made in 21021-22. Fox Hill Primary School was subject to a discrimination claim relating to making reasonable adjustments for a pupil’s special educational needs. The case was eventually settled out of court without financial compensation. Defending the claim incurred legal expenses of £12,655. The officers reviewing the case agreed that the claim met the eligibility criteria and supported a funding allocation equivalent to total costs less a £5,000 contribution from the School. Therefore £7,655 spend was incurred, resulting in an underspending of £1,145.

6.29 The full criteria for making allocations from the General School Contingency is set out at Annex 8 which is proposed to remain unchanged.

Qualifying criteria used to make funding allocations

6.30 To ensure that a consistent and transparent approach is adopted to the allocation of contingency funding to schools, the Forum has agreed a set of eligibility criteria to be applied, and these are attached as annexes to the report. Relevant policies are included in annexes 1, 3, 6 and 8 and paragraph 6.19. No substantial changes are recommended to the existing policies. The Forum is however recommended to agree that the clarification change on the Key Stage 1 funding policy highlighted in yellow is approved, and that updating of funding rates where relevant to the actual costs (or best estimate) for the relevant period are made when relevant information becomes available.

Conclusion

6.31 The funds approved by the Forum to be held by the LA allow for appropriate in-year targeting of resources that is not possible through the simplified Funding Formula for Schools. Current arrangements are considered appropriate and ensure that financial support is provided when needed and that clear and consistent criteria is applied in the allocation of resources.

7 Advice received from statutory and other officers

Borough Solicitor

7.1 The relevant legal issues are addressed within the main body of the report.

Director of Resources: Finance

7.2 The financial implications arising from this report are set out in the supporting information. The allocations meet the requirements of the appropriate funding regulations, the agreed policies and have been taken into account in the financial monitoring arrangements for the Schools Budget.

Equalities Impact Assessment

7.3 None identified.

Strategic Risk Management Issues

7.4 None identified.

Climate Change Implications

7.4 The recommendations from this report will not have any impact on emissions of carbon dioxide as they relate to funding allocations that occurred last year.

8 CONSULTATION

8.1 None.

Background Papers

None

Contact for further information

Paul Clark, Finance Business Partner – People Directorate (01344 354054)

paul.clark@bracknell-forest.gov.uk

Doc. Ref

https://bfcouncil.sharepoint.com/sites/fina/bpm/FIBPSCB-FIN9.6/Schools Forum/(111) 230622/2021-22 Funding Allocations from the Schools Contingency.docx

Annex 1

Criteria for in-year budget allocations to schools experiencing

significant growth in pupil numbers

This element of the Growth Fund is ring fenced so that it is only used for the purpose of supporting growth in pre-16 pupil numbers to meet basic need[1]. The fund will be for the benefit of both maintained and Academy schools. For Academy Schools, the funding is for an academic year.

The Growth Fund shall include funding for an allocation to those schools that experience exceptional increases in pupil numbers between the October census used for funding original budgets and actual pupil numbers on roll on the following October census

To assist schools in meeting the additional costs arising in such circumstances, an in-year budget addition will be made where the whole school number on roll from Reception up to Year 11 increases up to the point that significant additional costs are expected to be incurred.

The relevant thresholds for additional funding are:

- less than 2 FE schools = 10

- 2 FE schools = 20

- 3 FE and above schools = 25

With the exception of less than 2 FE schools, the amount of additional funding is calculated from the cost of appointing a teacher on Main Scale Point 6 – salary and employer on-costs - for the period September to March.

Less than 2 FE schools will be funded at half the value of other schools sizes, to reflect the lower additional costs expected to be incurred i.e. it is not expected that such schools would ever need to open a new class and recruit a new teacher.

To calculate whether a school is eligible, the following checks will be carried out:

· For the year of entry, the calculation of additional pupils will be capped at the lower of the actual number admitted or the Published Admission Number (PAN), other than where the need to exceed PAN is agreed in advance with the LA.

· Pupil admissions from parental appeals, LAC pupils and pupils with an EHCP are included in the number on roll when checking that a school has not exceeded its PAN in year of entry; these admissions are generally known by May preceding the start of the academic year.

· Schools can request that the Assistant Director: Education and Learning of Education considers additional funding in exceptional circumstances. These will be considered on an individual case basis.

· An appeal to a decision of the Assistant Director: Education and Learning can be made to the Executive Director: People, whose decision will be final.

For schools that qualify for this factor the calculation is unchanged from the current methodology that compares the total NOR for statutory aged pupils on roll for the October census in the current financial year with that of the October Census number on roll in the previous financial year.

Where a school does admit pupils above PAN without agreement of the LA, the calculation for a significant growth in pupil numbers will exclude pupils in the year of entry.

There are 2 exceptions to the general policy.

This relates to schools that agree with the LA to open a ‘surge’ class – i.e. one additional class to accommodate up to 30 additional pupils – where additional funding will be allocated irrespective of the actual number of pupils admitted, if the pupils in the ‘surge’ class are admitted after the census used for funding purposes. The funding allocation will be calculated in the same way as for general in-year growth, applied from the beginning of the term that the ‘surge’ class is open, [i.e. rather than against the number of months the ‘surge’ class is open].

Where a ‘surge’ class opens after the census point used for calculating the school’s budget for the next financial year, a further funding top-up will be made to cover the full year cost of a teacher on Main Scale Point 6 and a Learning Support Assistant on Bracknell Forest pay point 12 for the relevant financial year. This funding will be made available for one year only at the commencement of the relevant financial year.

This relates to those schools that expand by a whole form of entry. As the current calculation is based on the form of entry at admission, it assumes those schools expanded by a whole form of entry are immediately admitting to all year groups at the increased capacity, when in reality, the increased capacity starts in the entry year, and takes 7 years (5 for a secondary school) to work through the school until admission to full capacity is possible. In order to make a fair calculation of the threshold to be used to calculate in-year growth allowances in these circumstances, the threshold to be used to calculate a growth allowance is calculated on the number of classes available at the census point used to calculate the original budget.

For example, a primary school moving from a 2 form to 3 form entry school has 3 classes in reception in the first year after expansion, and 2 classes in other year groups. The funding threshold for a 2-form entry school is 20 with 25 used for 3 form entry schools. In the first year following expansion, eligibility to growth allocations would be calculated on reception classes at the 25-number threshold, with all other classes at a threshold of 20. For the second year, Reception and Year 1 would be calculated on a 25 threshold, all other year groups on 20 and so on. A full illustration of the calculation is set out below and shows how the funding threshold rises gradually, in line with the phased increase in pupil numbers, starting at 21, and rising to 25 after 7 years.

Approved by the Schools Forum on 15 July 2021

No changes are being proposed by the council.

Annex 2

2021-22 Funding allocations for significant in-year growth in pupil numbers

	Threshold 10 for schools with less than 2 Forms of entry
	Threshold 20 for schools with 2 Forms of entry
	Threshold 25 for schools with 3 and more Forms of entry
School	No. of Forms of entry - rounded	Total places available	NOR Oct 2020	NOR Oct 2021	Change in NOR	Revised threshold	Amount
Ascot Heath Primary	2	420	379	394	15	20	£0
Binfield CE Aided Primary	2	420	409	414	5	20	£0
Birch Hill Primary	2	420	396	376	-20	20	£0
College Town Primary	3	630	475	455	-20	24	£0
Cranbourne Primary	1	210	201	203	2	10	£0
Crown Wood Primary	3	630	526	530	4	25	£0
Crowthorne CE Primary	1	210	210	210	0	10	£0
Fox Hill Primary	1	210	204	206	2	10	£0
Great Hollands Primary (1)	2	360	318	283	-35	23	£0
Harmans Water Primary	3 to 2	480	487	446	-41	25	£0
Holly Spring Primary	3	630	571	578	7	25	£0
Jennetts Park Primary	2	420	393	381	-12	20	£0
Kings Academy Primary (2)	1	210	59	90	31	10	£0
Meadow Vale Primary	3	630	579	594	15	25	£0
New Scotland Hill Primary	1	210	191	189	-2	10	£0
Kings Academy Oakwood(2)	1	210	99	138	39	10	£0
Owlsmoor Primary	3	630	545	521	-24	25	£0
The Pines Primary and Nursery (1)	2 to 1	360	317	309	-8	19	£0
Sandy Lane Primary	3	630	476	438	-38	25	£0
St Joseph's Catholic Primary	1	210	211	212	1	10	£0
St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Pry	1	210	199	207	8	10	£0
St Michael's Easthampstead CE	1	245	235	238	3	10	£0
St Michael's CE Aided Pry (Sand't)	1	210	203	193	-10	10	£0
Uplands Primary	1	210	212	210	-2	10	£0
Warfield CE Primary	1	210	412	408	-4	20	£0
Whitegrove Primary	2	420	419	414	-5	20	£0
Wildmoor Heath	1	210	209	202	-7	10	£0
Wildridings Primary	2	420	400	395	-5	20	£0
Winkfield St Mary's CE Primary	1	210	195	188	-7	10	£0
Wooden Hill Primary & Nursery	2	350	336	360	24	10	£30,018
The Brakenhale (3)	7	1,050	1,063	1,054	-9	25	£21,456
Easthampstead Park	8	1,200	782	814	32	25	£30,018
Edgbarrow	8	1,200	1,109	1,112	3	25	£0
Garth Hill College	9	1,350	1,262	1,246	-16	25	£0
Kings Academy Secondary (2)	7	1,050	448	656	208	25	£30,018
Ranelagh CE	5	750	853	860	7	25	£0
Sandhurst	7	1,050	1,023	1,010	-13	25	£0
Total Primary	53	10,825	9,866	9,782	-84	496	£30,018
Total Secondary	51	7,650	6,540	6,752	212	175	£51,474
Total All Schools	104	14,365	12,898	12,824	-74	536	£81,492
(1) schools being expanded/contracting have variable funding thresholds relative to the number of new classes.
(2) new schools are separately funded for pupil growth and the totals exclude any amounts.
(3) outstanding academic year funding allocation, applicable to academies only due to their different funding period to maintained schools and financed by ESFA

Annex 3

Criteria for in-year budget allocations to schools to meet unavoidable costs arising from the Key Stage 1 class size regulations that limit classes to no more than 30 pupils per teacher

The Growth Fund shall include funding for an allocation to those schools that experience unavoidable costs arising from the Key Stage 1 class size regulations that are not resourced through the Funding Formula.

Numbers in reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will be collected termly from the relevant school census to determine the total number of pupils in each school affected by the relevant Regulations. Where the aggregate number of pupils does not equate to a multiple of 30, additional resources will be added at the amount required to cover the cost of appointing a teacher on Main scale Point 6 – salary and employer on-costs - for the relevant period, after taking account of the minimum funding delivered through the Funding Formula. The minimum amount of per pupil funding delivered through the BF Funding Formula is based on the Minimum Per Pupil Funding amount (MPPFL) as determined by the Department for Education. The MPPFL calculation includes all funding delegated to schools through the BF Funding Formula with the exception of business rates. Funding will be added on a “missing pupil” basis.

The allocated funding may need to be scaled if demand significantly exceeds the budget allocation, with final decisions to be determined each year by the Schools Forum.

An illustration of the funding calculation is as follows which would need to be updated each year to reflect budget decisions and the cost of employing a teacher (all units of resource are based on values at the start of 2021-22 financial year.):

The per pupil funding rate is assumed to be the Minimum per pupil funding rate for 2021-22 this is £4,180 (A)
The cost of a teacher on Main scale Point 6 – salary and employer on-costs - is £51,500 (B)
To have sufficient income from the Funding Formula to employ a teacher, a school needs £51,500 (B) / £4,180 (A) = 13 pupils (C)
The Funding Formula therefore provides sufficient funding to appoint a teacher provided there are 13 pupils. The maximum top-up funding a school can receive is for 12 ‘missing’ pupils (C).
Therefore where the actual number on roll exceeds a multiple of 30 compared to the number on roll funded in the original budget the school would be entitled to top-up funding if this is below 13.
Funding will be added, pro rata per term, for each missing pupil

The attached Annex sets out funding top-up rates, based on the cost of employing a teacher at £51,500 and the BF Funding Formula delivers sufficient funding to appoint a teacher provided there are 13 or more pupils above the 30 multiples. These factors and amounts are subject to annual re-calculation.

Children admitted in-year as an “excepted pupil” in accordance with The School Admissions (Infant Class Sizes) (England) Regulations 2012, or other relevant legislative requirement will not be included in the calculation for top up funding as they will not impact on the need to recruit a teacher. The exclusion will apply for the full period the child is on roll at the school to the end of Key Stage 1.

“Excepted pupils” currently include those that are admitted to the school outside a normal admission round:

as a result of the local authority specifying the school in the child’s statemented;

· are looked after;

· were in error initially refused admission;

· are from a service family.

“Excepted pupils” on the roll of a school at the October census will generate per pupil funding for a school in the next budget. These funds will be taken into account in any top up funding calculations.

Separate calculations will be made each term, based on data obtained from the relevant census.

Exceptions:

There are two exceptions to the general rule set out above:

In order to avoid double funding, a school will not be eligible for Key Stage 1 class size funding in the autumn and spring terms where the school has qualified of an in-year growth allowance for these pupils.
When a school is funded on the basis of estimated actual costs, which is ordinarily a new school or one that opens additional forms of entry during a financial year, it will not be entitled to any top up funding from the Key Stage 1 class size contingency, provided funds for the additional costs that will arise are allocated from an alternative source.

Pupils on roll at a Special Resource Provision are excluded from the calculation.

Approved by the Schools Forum on 15 July 2021.

Change now being proposed by the council is shaded yellow and is for clarification purposes only.

Annex 4

2021-22 Funding allocations to support schools needing to meet the

Key Stage 1 Class Size Funding regulations

School	KS1 pupils as at October 2020	KS1 Allocation summer term	KS1 Allocation autumn term	KS1 Allocation spring term	Full year allocation
Ascot Heath Primary	148	£20,900	£16,720	£12,540	£50,160
Binfield CE Primary	170	£0	£0	£0	£0
Birch Hill Primary	178	£0	£0	£0	£0
College Town Primary	196	£0	£0	£0	£0
Cranbourne Primary	85	£0	£0	£0	£0
Crown Wood Primary	221	£1,742	£1,393	£1,045	£4,180
Crowthorne CE Primary	90	£0	£0	£0	£0
Fox Hill Primary	87	£0	£0	£0	£0
Great Hollands Primary	123	£15,675	£0	£0	£15,675
Harmans Water Primary	180	£0	£0	£0	£0
Holly Spring Primary	249	£5,225	£0	£0	£5,225
Jennetts Park CE Primary	161	£1,742	£0	£0	£1,742
Meadow Vale Primary	227	£0	£0	£0	£0
New Scotland Hill Primary	76	£0	£0	£0	£0
Owlsmoor Primary	235	£0	£0	£0	£0
Pines (The)	130	£3,483	£0	£0	£3,483
Sandy Lane Primary	154	£0	£0	£0	£0
St. Joseph's Catholic Primary	90	£0	£0	£0	£0
St. Margaret Clitherow Catholic Pry	87	£0	£0	£0	£0
St. Michael's E'stead CE Aided Pry	84	£0	£0	£0	£0
St. Michael's CE Primary, Sandhurst	103	£0	£0	£0	£0
Uplands Primary	90	£0	£0	£0	£0
Warfield CE Primary	179	£0	£0	£0	£0
Whitegrove Primary	180	£0	£0	£0	£0
Wildmoor Heath	75	£0	£0	£0	£0
Wildridings Primary School	168	£0	£0	£0	£0
Winkfield St. Mary's CE Primary	83	£0	£0	£0	£0
Wooden Hill Primary & Nursery (1)	146	£20,900	£0	£0	£20,900
TOTAL Primary	3,995	£69,667	£18,113	£13,585	£101,365

(1) This school qualified for a growth allocation in the autumn and spring term so KS 1 top-up
is not allocated as well.

Annex 6

Criteria for the allocation of additional funds to support schools

facing financial difficulties

Outline of the scheme

School Funding Regulations allow for additional funds outside the normal operation of the Funding Formula to be provided to schools considered to be in financial difficulty. In agreement with the Schools Forum, de-delegated funding has been set aside in the School’s Budget for this purpose. The criteria to be used to allocate this funding has also previously been agreed, and a school would qualify for additional financial support if, in the opinion of the Council’s Director responsible for schools and the Council’s Director responsible for finance, they:

1. were unable to set a balanced budget and were in need of a licensed deficit arrangement at the start of the relevant financial year, and/or

2. were in or likely to fall into one of the Ofsted categories of causing concern, including serious weaknesses or special measures.

3. Were a 1 form of entry school judged good or better that have more than 5% empty places

Where additional funding is agreed, it is on condition that the senior managers and relevant governors of each school attend regular monitoring meetings with officers of the Council, provide such financial and other information that is requested, and do not make any significant deviations in spending, either in magnitude or by type without the approval of the Council’s Director responsible for schools.

Before any proposed allocation of such funds is passed on to relevant schools, they are reported to and agreed by the Schools Forum. However, this can cause uncertainty and result in a delay in releasing resources to meet an immediate need.

Powers delegated to the Director responsible for schools

In order to allow funds to be allocated within an appropriate time scale it is recommended that a set of principles be agreed by the School Forum which allows the Council’s Director responsible for schools discretion to allocate funds up to but not exceeding a set level dependent on the Ofsted category of the school. Any such allocations would subsequently be reported to the Schools Forum.

The level of allocation of funds would be:

schools judged to have serious weaknesses (up to £20k per year)
schools deemed to be in need of special measures (up to £50k per year)
schools at risk of either judged to have serious weaknesses or entering special measures (up to £30k per year)
1 form of entry schools judged good or better that have more than 5% empty places (up to £20k per year per school and £40k in total)

With a maximum value of aggregate allocations of £150k in any one financial year without the express approval of the Schools Forum.

Allocations will only be agreed where the relevant school has demonstrated insufficient funds exist within the budget to fund the required actions or activities.

Arrangements to support and monitor schools also includes:

1. a Declaration of Concern (DoC) where a school is at risk of being judged as Requiring Improvement or inadequate at its next inspection.

2. following Where effective action is being taken this is then monitored through a Standards Monitoring Board (SMB) on a termly basis this a Rapid Response Board is established for the first 12 weeks.. Where required there is an independent chair.

3. the SMB reviews evidence provided by school leaders and LA staff after 12 weeks and a decision made as to whether leadership are taking effective action following the DoC.

4. an SMB is also established where schools enter an Ofsted category of concern (judged to have serious weaknesses or placed into Special Measures)

5. the processes are clearly shared within the Learning and Improvement Strategy / Annex A School Improvement

Where the school is unable to fund these actions from its own delegated budget the SMB can request that additional resources be sought. Any such requests are approved by the Council’s Director responsible for schools. Funds would be allocated to the school from those held for schools in financial difficulty Where schools enter an Ofsted category of concern (judged to have se

Approved by the Schools Forum on 15 July 2021.

No changes are being proposed by the council.

Annex 7

2021-22 funding allocations to schools in financial difficulties

Allocations agreed under the Director’s delegated powers

Taking account of proposals from the Standards Monitoring Board (SMB) meetings at relevant schools and 1 FE primary schools with over 5% empty places, funding allocations totalling £0.128m were agreed during the year as follows:

1. £59,078 to St Michael’s Easthampstead. There were 3 separate funding requests indicatively approved (subject to Schools forum endorsement):

External provision of a programme of support which enables the governing board to function efficiently and effectively, developing the systems and processes which allow governors to monitor school performance and hold school leaders to account and facilitating the development and progression of the governing board so that it becomes an autonomous, confident and self-sufficient body. Cost £5,253.
General support package to tackle weaknesses reported to the SMB relating to; Safeguarding software for accurate data recording and retrieval; Edukey software to facilitate a linked-up approach to supporting children with SEN, together with socialist support from Kennel Lane Special School; and improved phonics scheme. Total cost £5,825.
The school required additional financial support to offset the unanticipated excess leadership costs resulting from for the long-term absence of the substantive headteacher. The placement of an Executive Headteacher and acting Deputy Headteacher has been essential in stabilising the school and addressing the areas of concern identified by the local authority. Cost £48,000.

As the allocations to St Michael’s Easthampstead exceed the delegation limits approved to the Executive Director, the Schools Forum are requested to endorse the overall allocation of £59,078..

2. £9,500 to Ascot Heath Primary School. In order to bring about the improvements in teaching and learning that are needed, an external consultant was engaged at the school. This additional support also assisted leadership capacity during maternity leave absences of both the Deputy Headteacher and KS2 leader.

3. £3,720 to New Scotland Hill Primary. For engagement of an external consultant to support 2 Early Careers Teachers to achieve teaching standard that is securely ‘Good’. Furthermore, this will be used to increase capacity of middle leadership to offer mentoring in school and release teachers to undertake observations.

4. £1,200 to Easthampstead Park. To provide a comprehensive piece of work to be carried out over 3 days looking at current practice in the Mathematics Department and identifying opportunities to increase pupil progress.

5. £16,500 to the Pines Primary. £12,000 to develop teaching and learning to ensure there is consistently high-quality teaching and learning across the school and ensuring teaching of phonics and early reading is excellent and consistent with the DfE reading framework and Ofsted, this will facilitate the purchase of one of the DfE validated schemes. £4,500 to provide external support to a new team in Early Years Foundation Stage including a new leader and a new nursery teacher.

6. £3,880 to Cranbourne Primary. To support retention of a Family Support Adviser pending re-structure in 2021-22 academic year.

7. £16,158 to Winkfield St Marys for as a 1 FE with low pupil numbers. There were 195 on roll at October 2020 which results in 7% of empty places.

8. £18,143 to New Scotland Hill Primary School as a 1 FE with low pupil numbers. There were 191 on roll at October 2020 which results in 9% of empty places. Funding would have been £29,084 without the policy funding cap.

Arrangements to support and monitor schools also includes a Declaration of Concern (DoC). A DoC is called where a school is at risk of being judged as Requiring Improvement or inadequate at its next inspection. Following this a Rapid Response Board is established for the first 12 weeks. Where effective action is being taken this is then monitored through a Standards Monitoring Board (SMB) on a termly basis. Where required there is an independent chair. The SMB reviews evidence provided by school leaders and LA staff after 12 weeks and a decision made as to whether leadership are taking effective action following the DoC. The processes are clearly shared within the Learning and Improvement Strategy / Annex A School Improvement.

LA expenditure

In addition to these school allocations, the Forum has also agreed that up to £60,000 of School Adviser and other professional staff support time, such as HR and Finance can be funded from this budget to support the SMBs and other additional arrangements provided directly by the council.

Note: a £3,000 provision for expected prior year expenditure has also been recorded in the 2021-22 accounts.

[1] The DfE define basic need as the statutory duty on local authorities to make sure there are enough school places for children in their local area. This requirement does not extend to individual planning or school designated areas within an authority.

To: Schools Forum

2021-22 Funding Allocations to mainstream schools from

Budgets Centrally Managed by the Council