Agenda item

Any Other Business (notified at start of meeting)

Minutes:

888.1  School improvement funding

Johnny Kyriacou informed Forum members that the local authority receives a grant of £50k to carry out school improvement duties;  technically this is for the local authority to be able to carry out statutory duties towards supporting maintained schools. The DfE has concluded a consultation, and will be cutting the grant by 50% for next financial year and then 100% the year after. Slough has very few maintained schools so gets the least amount of funding, but this is used to supplement the school improvement offer to all schools, both maintained and academies.

 

The funding will therefore be cut by £25k in April 2022, and disappears the following year. The grant contributes towards the salaries of the school group manager for school effectiveness and the safeguarding officer, who provides a lot of support to schools. DfE’s advice is to ask the maintained schools if they're willing to de-delegate funding to make up the shortfall. The LA regards it as unfair to ask Maintain Schools to plug a £25k gap in funding for a service which is provided for all schools.

 

Maggie Waller commented that this was very clear, that if the service benefits all schools, then any plugging of any gap ought to be at least asked of all schools;  as a maintained school representative she would not support de-delegation from just maintained schools for a service that's for all schools. If the service is valued, it should be supported by all schools.

 

The Chair suggested a discussion between the LA officers and the chairs of the primary and secondary headteachers’ associations; this should consider the options and develop proposals to take to the School Improvement Board and bring back to Forum. This suggestion was accepted by Forum members.