Agenda item
Growth Fund Update
- Meeting of Schools Forum, Wednesday, 14th July, 2021 10.00 am (Item 58.)
- View the background to item 58.
To receive and consider the Growth Fund Update report.
Minutes:
Piers Brunning, Senior Specialist (People and Place) Strategy and Commissioning presented the Growth Fund Update report.
Some of the points made during his presentation are listed below:
· The purpose of the Growth Fund was to fund the growth in demand for school places in the Borough. There was continuing growth in Key Stage 2 due to families moving into the area and localised issues in Key Stage 1 which were linked to the strategic development of certain locations in the borough;
· There was pressure for places in Years 7 and 8. There was a complication in that there were more places in September at the start of the new school year than on national offer day. It was believed that this was as a result of families sending their children to independent schools and no longer requiring a school place;
· Another complication in planning was the element of ‘unknowability’, for example, the recent arrival of families from Hong Kong had not been considered when planning for school places and was causing challenges for school admissions;
· The funding for 2021/22 relied on carry forward from last year. Once the figures were finalised for the primary schools commitments, this would be reported to Schools Forum;
· In order to meet the demand for places in Year 7 for September 2021 a number of schools had agreed to increase their capacity this year;
· Payments were going through to support a number of projects, as listed in the report;
· There may be a small surplus, after allowing for the carry forward by the end of the year.
During the discussion of the item the following comments were made:
· Ben Godber stated that schools had been approached in March and asked to take on additional children, with funding to support them. He asked why the report did not list all the schools that had agreed to take on additional children;
· Piers Brunning stated that some schools had been asked to increase their admissions number with the expectation that their numbers would drop back to the original admission number by the start of the school year. Other schools were expected to sustain the additional numbers into the new academic year, and only those schools would be given the additional funding. If it transpires that schools are not dropping back to their original numbers and are having to incur additional costs, a conversation about funding will take place with those schools;
· Members asked for a greater level of detail and transparency in the reporting of school admissions;
· In response to a question, Piers Brunning stated that the opening or not opening of Matthews Green School was a decision for the Director of Children’s Services in conjunction with the Lead Member for Children’s Services. He was unable to guarantee when the school would open;
· Corrina Gillard expressed concern that there were 71 empty spaces in local primary schools, causing significant budgeting difficulties for those schools. She was concerned that the opening of another primary school would exacerbate those difficulties;
· Sal Thirlway stated that neighbouring schools would be engaged and informed about the potential decision to open a new school;
· Corrina Gillard asked that not only the neighbouring schools be engaged, but that other schools be informed too, as parents were prepared to travel across the borough to take their children to their preferred school;
· Shirley Austin stated that it was important to be very clear about numbers when planning for future places, because of the significant impact on existing schools;
· Councillor Howe stated that current capacity at schools and the financial impact of opening more schools in the borough was going to be considered;
· The Chairman stated that a few years ago it had been agreed that the Growth Fund would only be used to increase the number of school places. The option of supporting a decrease in numbers had not been used. Given the impact that new schools were having on existing schools, he wondered if the funding of decreasing numbers should be considered;
· Carol Simpson was of the opinion that this could considered for schools with falling numbers on a temporary basis;
· Piers Brunning stated that preliminary conversations had already taken place about temporary arrangements for falling roll;
· Katherine Vernon stated that the National Funding Formula Task and Finish Group was due to discuss the funding of temporary fall in roll. It was agreed that the discussions and recommendations would be reported to Schools Forum;
· The Chairman asked for an explanation about the discrepancy of the reported £800k Growth Fund reported in October 2020 and the figure of £1.2 million now being reported;
· Piers Brunning offered to provide a variance analysis to Schools Forum. Sal Thirlway agreed to expedite this work and circulate the information as soon as possible.
RESOLVED That:
1) The Growth Fund update report be noted; and
2) A variance report would be produced and circulated to Schools Forum as soon as possible.
Supporting documents: