Agenda and minutes

Schools Forum - Thursday, 9 March 2023 4.30 pm

Venue: Zoom Meeting. View directions

Contact: Derek Morgan  01344 352044

Media

Items
No. Item

276.

Apologies for Absence/Substitute Members

To receive apologies for absence and to note the attendance of any substitute members.

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Trudi Sammons to the meeting as a new member of the Forum. 

277.

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.  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:

The Chair noted that any representatives from Kennel Lane School and Owlsmoor School may need to declare an affected interest for Item 8 (Final proposals for the 2023-24 High Needs Block Budget).

278.

Minutes and Matters Arising pdf icon PDF 160 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of 12 January 2023.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Forum on 12 January 2023 be approved as a correct record.

 

Arising from minute 273, an update on Special Resource Provision (SRP) places at King’s Academy Binfield would be provided under Item 6 (Update on Special Resource Provisions).

279.

Schools Forum - Constitution & Membership pdf icon PDF 76 KB

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

Additional documents:

Minutes:

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

 

The Chair noted that the membership had changed to reflect the increase of academies in the borough.  Paul Clark added that there would only be one governor from maintained schools going forward as the council had difficulty recruiting to those vacancies.  There were two vacancies for the additional academy representatives and one vacancy for the 16-19 Provider representative.  Next steps would be confirmed following endorsement of the Constitution and Membership. 

 

Action: Paul Clark

 

RESOLVED that the Schools Forum Constitution and Membership be endorsed.

280.

Early Years Childcare Sufficiency Assessment 2022 pdf icon PDF 86 KB

To update the Forum on the 2022 Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA), to be submitted to the Executive Member and subsequently published on the Bracknell Forest Council website, as required by the authority’s statutory duty to secure sufficient childcare.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Forum considered a report which updated on the 2022 Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA) which was due to be submitted to the Executive Member and subsequently published on the Bracknell Forest Council website, as required by the authority’s statutory duty to secure sufficient childcare. 

 

Cherry Hall explained that the data was based on summer 2022 attendance and capacity.  However, the picture had significantly changed since the report was completed, potentially losing two settings at the end of the academic year, meaning that around 50-60 part-time places for 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds would be lost.  The council was also working with a further three providers on their business models to support them to make changes to remain sustainable. 

 

It had been a difficult time for the sector with significant issues impacting sustainability including recruitment and retention issues.  Part of the problem had been around funding and the increases had not been enough to meet the outgoings, so providers had not been able to attract high quality staff. 

 

The report still needed to be published as it was accurate at the time it was written.  There had been an increase in the numbers of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and, when the Family Information Service had been doing brokerage for childcare, they have not been able to meet all the requests currently. 

 

Sue Butler was invited to comment as an Early Years provider.  Sue felt that if the current challenging conditions in Early Years were to continue, there would be concerns relating to the sustainability of the private provider.  Sue also commented that there has been a constant turnover of staff and outcomes for children had been impacted.  Cherry added that it was a national issue.  If Bracknell Forest lost lots of private and voluntary settings, it was unclear how it would meet childcare sufficiency needs. 

 

The Forum noted the statutory duty for the LA to secure sufficient childcare and to submit a report to council members on how it was meeting that duty.  The Forum enquired whether the suggestion was that Bracknell was not going to be able to deliver sufficient childcare.  Cherry replied that, when the report was written, the team was confident that there was sufficient childcare, but they were now looking at what needed to happen to maintain sustainability given the recent developments.  There had been an overall decline in child numbers, but more families had been taking up the 30-hour places.  The team had been doing more surveys with providers to understand the pressures. 

 

The Forum asked whether there were any other solutions.  Cherry explained that she had been working with another organisation on the rent that they were charging.  One of the providers wanted to increase their hours and the council were negotiating with the owner of the building for a reduced rate until the provider built up numbers.  Recruitment was the biggest difficulty and there were no quick fixes, but it had been part of the discussions with the Local Government Association  ...  view the full minutes text for item 280.

281.

Update on Special Resource Provisions pdf icon PDF 109 KB

To provide an update on the development and work associated with primary and secondary SRPs (Specialist Resource Provision) within Bracknell Forest and the development and implementation of a banding tool.

Minutes:

The Forum considered a report which updated on the development and work associated with primary and secondary SRPs within Bracknell Forest and the development and implementation of a Banding Tool.

 

Secondary SRP Development

Nathan Jones explained that there would be no capital investment required from SEND capital funds for the SRP at King’s Academy Binfield.  The school had committed to developing 40 places: 14 places in primary and 26 places in secondary.  Only one place had been secured so far but it was expected that all 40 places would be brought online within the next three years, with 10 young people already having been identified as suitable for accessing the secondary places in September 2023.  The school had committed to increase its knowledge base to meet those needs. 

 

New Secondary ASC SRP Provision and Further Secondary Development

Three secondary schools had expressed an interest in hosting SRPs for children with ASC.  Two of those schools would require substantial capital spend and the other would require moderate capital spend.  A more formal procurement process was needed to bring the places to fruition. 

 

Development of a secondary cognition and learning SRP had been identified as a way to support effective transition from the Owlsmoor primary SRP.  This would also require a significant level of capital and revenue funding. 

 

The LA was developing a capital strategy group to have oversight on capital spending and the SEND Team had put forward a plan to the group detailing all the activity that would be involved in bringing SRP places online.  The team was confident that places would be made available by 2024. 

 

The Forum thanked Nathan and the team for all the work done so far.  The Forum offered to do whatever it could to help speed the process.  Cheryl Eyre advised that a Capital Board was being set up within the People directorate and she would welcome having members of the Forum and other stakeholders on the Board.  The Board would be working to develop the SRP plan, and this would provide an opportunity for the Forum to challenge from within, but they would still report to the Forum. 

 

The Forum noted that there was already one Year 7 pupil in a primary school unit and two further Year 6 pupils who did not yet have a secondary school to go to.  Therefore, it was imperative for the SRP project to move at pace. 

 

The Forum asked how much funding was available for SEND capital projects.  Cheryl replied that there was approximately £4.8m available in total for SEND capital builds.  There was a complex sign-off process to access those funds.  The Forum noted that this was a significant amount of money that could make a real difference to SEND students in the borough. 

 

Primary SRP Update

The Speech, Language & Communication Needs (SLCN) unit at Meadowvale had been running at 20% occupancy and the school had served notice of closure.  Nathan had been working closely with the Headteacher and the SEND Team to plan the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 281.

282.

Delivering Better Value Project Update pdf icon PDF 63 KB

To brief the Forum on the agreed areas of work as detailed in the Delivering Better Value submission to the DfE.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Forum considered a report which briefed on the agreed areas of work as detailed in the Delivering Better Value submission to the DfE.

 

Cheryl Eyre explained that the council’s bid to the DfE was successful and had been awarded £1m to be allocated across three projects: establishment of a new transitions support team, ASD training for teachers, and Kennel Lane outreach support to improve provision for SEND children in mainstream settings.  Certain parts of each workstream had already started and regular updates would be provided to the Forum. 

 

The Forum thanked officers who were involved in the bid and establishing the programme. 

 

RESOLVED to NOTE the contents of the report.

283.

Final proposals for the 2023-24 High Needs Block Budget pdf icon PDF 386 KB

To seek comments on the detailed budget proposals for the High Needs Block element of the Schools Budget.  In line with the statutory funding framework, there are also a small number of decisions for the Forum to take.

Minutes:

The Forum considered a report which sought comments on the detailed budget proposals for the High Needs Block (HNB) element of the Schools Budget that were being presented now by the Council.  In line with the statutory funding framework, there were also a small number of decisions for the Forum to take.

 

Grant Strudley raised questions around the current assumptions being made.  For example, the Teaching Assistant hours did not reflect the actual cost to the school and the number of weeks that Teaching Assistants were actually paid for.  Cheryl added that she had received Grant’s email, and this was being followed up and had been noted. 

 

The Chair noted that the PRU was running a deficit and asked whether that was reflected in the budget and if there had been an adequate settlement.  Paul Clark replied that he was aware of the deficit, and it had been built into the 2022-23 forecasts.  Discussions with the College Hall management committee were currently underway to determine any long term impact that may need to be considered for next year, but this remained work in progress.  The Forum asked whether part of the £4.8m funding could be used for College Hall.  Paul Clark explained that was capital funding so could only be used for capital related expenditure and not for day-to-day costs.  Cheryl added that the site needed to be reviewed and there may be capital spend required which would need to be considered at the capital board.

 

RESOLVED

1.     whilst NOTING concern around the level of deficit which was due to fall on the LA in the future and the associated risks when the deficit was owned by the LA, to AGREE that the Executive Member:

i.        sets the total HNB Dedicated Schools Grant retained budget at £23.740m

ii.       releases £0.175m of funds from the SEN Resource Development Reserve to finance ongoing diseconomy costs at the new Special Resource Provisions; and

iii.      confirms the changes set out in the supporting information (summarised in Table 1 and Annex 2 of the report) and relevant budgets are updated accordingly; and

2.     that the Forum was of the view that appropriate arrangements were NOT yet in place for:

i.        the education of pupils with SEN (paragraph 6.17 of the report) although positive steps for the future were being taken and improvements were being seen; and

ii.       the use of pupil referral units (paragraph 6.17 of the report). In respect of arrangements for the education of children otherwise than at school, some parts of the service were operating effectively but others were not yet there.  It was agreed for Stuart and Paul to discuss this outside the meeting (Action: Paul Clark and Stuart Matthews); and

3.     to NOTE the updated forecast financial position of the HNB Budget at Table 1 of the report, which showed a forecast £7.365m overspending in 2023-24 and a £43.396m cumulative deficit on the High Needs Block as at the end of March 2026.

284.

Dates of Future Meetings

The next meeting of the Forum will be held at 4.30pm on Thursday 22 June 2023.

Minutes:

The next meeting of the Forum would be held at 4.30pm on Thursday 22 June 2023.