Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

The Forum noted the attendance of the following Substitute Member:

Debbie Smith as an Academy School Representative.

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.  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.

The Chair declared an affected interest regarding Item 5 (2022-23 Proposals for the High Needs Block Budget) in relation to College Hall. 

Jenny Baker also declared an affected interest regarding Item 5 in relation to Kennel Lane School.

The Chair highlighted that, whilst Item 5 related to all schools, only College Hall and Kennel Lane School were named so it was not necessary for other members of the Forum to declare interests at this point but were free to declare interests if they became evident during any discussions.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Forum on 13 January 2022 be approved as a correct record.

Arising from minute 218, Paul Clark advised that all new documents published relating to the Local Plan would reflect the new data.  The Chair highlighted that the strategic document was due to be presented to the Forum at this meeting and queried why it was not on the agenda.  Chris Hilliard replied that there had been delays to that report, partly due to reflecting on feedback from primary headteachers.  The report was due to be taken to the Executive in April 2022 and would be presented to the Forum in June 2022.

Action: Cheryl Eyre

The Chair asked whether there would be consultation with headteachers on the Forum before the report is taken to the Executive.  Chris Hilliard replied that he would reflect on that and discuss with Councillor Barnard the way forward as he needed to ensure due process was followed.  Chris Hilliard requested that the School Places Plan and Capacity Strategy be added as an agenda Item for the meeting of the Forum in June 2022. 

Action: Derek Morgan

The Chair expressed his disappointment that the Forum would not receive an update on the strategy for managing the High Needs Block (HNB) Budget and support provided to pupils at this meeting; whilst some detail would be shared under Item 5, the Chair felt this was not enough and that there would therefore be six months between detailed updates.  The Forum asked whether the delay to the meeting in June would impact any decisions made by the Forum.  Paul Clark replied that the financial plans were in the process of being finalised based on current information and assumptions but if something emerges that needed amending then there are procedures to reconsider those points during the year.  For council budgets, such as the capital programme, these have been approved by the Council and were not expected to change. 

In respect of the School Places Plan and Capacity Strategy, the Forum noted that the headteachers had co-produced letters in their locality clusters and asked when there would be a response.  Chris Hilliard replied that communication was sent out to headteachers on 18 February 2022, but he would be happy to resend. 

Arising from minute 219, the Chair highlighted the discussion during the last meeting regarding early years sufficiency and the concern raised by Sue Butler that private and voluntary sector (PVI) providers were not getting additional funding in the same way as schools.  The Chair requested an update from Councillor Barnard as to any follow-up action he has taken.  Councillor Barnard confirmed he wrote to the MPs for Bracknell and for Windsor and has also made joint representation to the Department for Education (DfE) requesting the reasons for the discrepancy and asking what the DfE thinks the impact would be on the PVI sector.  Councillor Barnard had yet to receive a reply. 

Arising from minute 221, Keith Grainger confirmed that progress  ...  view the full minutes text for item 225.

To seek endorsement to minor changes to the Schools Forum’s Constitution and Membership.

The Forum considered a report which sought endorsement to minor changes to the Schools Forum’s Constitution and

Membership.  The changes reflected an increase in academisation and the need for proportionate representation within the membership.

The Chair queried whether the vacancies for the academy and secondary governor representatives were the same vacancy or separate.  Derek Morgan confirmed that they were different vacancies.  Paul Clark added that the regulations were different for maintained and academy schools; maintained school representation had to be split between phases but academy representation did not have to be split. 

The Chair noted that paragraph 5.5 of the report stated that “The election process will be conducted during the spring term” and asked whether this was still on track.  Derek Morgan confirmed that it was and explained that the process usually starts in April/May and elections would be completed by the end of June meaning that elected members would be in place by August.  The Chair noted that it should in fact read that “The election process will be conducted during the summer term” – this was agreed.

RESOLVED to ENDORSE the revised Schools Forum Constitution and Membership.

To seek comments on the detailed budget proposals for the High Needs Block element of the Schools Budget before the Executive Member makes the formal decision on the relevant matters.

The Chair requested an additional item to be heard in relation to the Joint Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND) inspection as this would provide context around the 2022-23 proposals for the High Needs Block (HNB) budget. 

Grainne Siggins, Executive Director of the People Directorate, presented to the Forum the five priority areas identified by the SEND Improvement Partnership Board:

1.        Effective leadership, governance, and accountability of SEND, including allocation and use of high needs funding;

2.        Ensuring SEND and vulnerable children and young people have access to a flexible range of ‘fit for purpose’ outcome focused provision and support to reduce fixed term exclusions;

3.        Build upon existing engagement to further strengthen and improve co-production with children and young people and their parents and carers;

4.        Children and young people to have successful transitions, and access robust Preparation for Adulthood pathways, independent living, and employment; and

5.        Strengthening focus on early identification of children / young people at risk of presenting social, emotional, and mental health needs thereby reducing the need for crisis provision.

Grainne also presented the inspection results, focusing on the areas identified as requiring development, requiring improvement, and areas identified as being of significant weakness.  It was noted that there were also areas identified as strengths.  Grainne expressed that she was happy to be invited to future meetings to go through the detail of the plan and update on progress. 

The Forum appreciated the briefing but felt that it would have been useful to receive the presentation before the meeting to allow time for reflection.  The Forum felt that the lack of information received to date made it difficult to make a view as to whether there were appropriate arrangements in place for the education of pupils with SEN.  However, from the information presented regarding the SEND inspection, it seemed that the arrangements were not appropriate.  Grainne Siggins responded that there were significant areas of improvement which the department had articulated in its self-inspection shared with the inspectors, and there was nothing from the inspectors to say that the plan was focusing on the wrong things. 

The Forum felt that the briefing was useful in categorising the priority areas.  The plans demonstrated a sense of urgency but there appeared to be no clear strategy as to how improvements would be brought about.  The Forum needed to see what the actions would be.  Grainne Siggins replied that the strategy would be refreshed in the plan and would include detailed action plans.  The department was committed to co-producing that strategy.  The written statement of action would be made available ahead of the meeting of the Forum in June 2022 following being presented to the Executive on 24 May. 

Action: Grainne Siggins

The Forum asked whether it was planned to co-produce the written statement of action.  Grainne Siggins replied that working groups have been involved in forming the content and the challenge would be for members of the working groups to feedback and engage with their colleagues.  The department would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 227.

The next meeting of the Forum will be held at 4.30pm on Thursday 23 June 2022.

An extra meeting of the Forum would be held at 4.30pm on Tuesday 29 March 2022.

The next scheduled meeting of the Forum would be held at 4.30pm on Thursday 23 June 2022.