Apologies were received from Frances Ward, Primary Governor

The Chair asked the School Forum to consider item 4 Increased delegation of Dedicated School Grant in 2013/14 before changes to membership

Mr John Cornish National Union of Teachers Representative in attendance

School Forum to decide on de-delegation and central expenditure

Optional de-delegation for maintained schools

B5. Staff costs – Teacher Unions Facilities

The Chair asked the School Forum to consider whether to support the funding of Trade Union Facilities time for maintained primary, secondary and special schools from centrally managed funds (approximately £24k spilt across schools based on pupil numbers).

Mr John Cornish, National Union of Teachers representative outlined the current arrangements which allows trade union representatives who understand the local context to deal with issues arising within schools, without necessarily being a member of staff of that particular school.  It also allows experienced trade unions reps to seek to resolve problems at an early stage, informally.

The School Forum considered the proposals made and debated the options of the statutory employers’ obligations for schools if funds were not centrally managed.

D3 Capital Expenditure funded from Revenue £9k

The School Forum noted the advantages of capital initiatives across Children’s Services (schools) capital programme.

The Chair outlined which members of the School Forum could vote on this issue on behalf of maintained schools

School Forum agreed unanimously, on behalf of maintained school, for the financial year 2013/14 that the following funding is managed centrally to provide services –

a)    Trade Union Facilities time

b)    Capital Expenditure from Revenue

Action

i)             B7 Behaviour support services to be discussed on agenda at next meeting in February

The Chair outlined the need to establish the new membership of the School Forum  according to section 47A of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (as amended by the Education Act 2002) at School Forums (England) Regulations 2012  which states that: -

..........School members must be headteachers (or deputy headteacher or bursar elected on behalf of a headteacher) or governors.  They must represent nursery, primary and secondary schools and the relative number presenting each should take account of the relative number of pupils in those sectors.  At least one schools member must represent special schools; Pupil Referral Unit must have one representative.  Maintained school and academies should broadly reflect the pupil numbers in maintained schools .....

The membership of the Torbay Schools Forum will comprise of 10 school members and 2 non-school members, as set out below

*at least one primary school members will also be a representative of a nursery school

Non-school members: Representative of the Early Years sector and a representative from the 14-10 Partnership

Action

i)             Chair of TASH to forward to two names (1 Headteacher representative from an Academy plus 1 representative from the 14-19 partnership) to Clerk (Colin Kirkman)

ii)                  Gene Willder (Chair of Torbay Governors Association)  to inform Clerk of 1 secondary governor representative and 1 representative from a primary governor

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 11^th October 2012

The Minutes of the meeting of the Schools’ Forum held on 11^th October were checked for accuracy and an amendment made to item 6. Addition to table:  Key Stage 1 Class Size Primary  N.  Amended  minutes to be signed by Chairman. 

Actions:

Item 4 i) Summary of consultation responses report pending (Matt Redwood)

Item 5 iii) Special School and PRU funding: further clarification requested on projection of places and the monitoring of places – recommendations and solutions back to School Forum meeting in February 2013

Forecast outturn of 2012/13 Dedicated Schools Grant

School Forum to note

School Forum to be consulted on possible changes to Section 3.1.5 of the Torbay Scheme for Financing Primary and Secondary schools

Rob Parr, Principal Accountant, briefed the School Forum on the forecasted under spends monitored through the SBR1 returns. 

The School Forum noted the findings and conclusions.

The Head of School Commissioning asked the School Forum consider removing the 3.1.5. managing surplus balances section of  the Torbay Scheme for Financing Primary and Secondary schools as there was no longer a legal requirement to have it and Torbay had never used this facility.

The School Forum agreed the change to the Scheme.

School Forum to note

The School Forum noted the significant budget pressures, namely:-

·         the projected overspend in education other than at school (EOTAS)

·         SEN overspend

·         Rising high cost pupils

The School Forum debated the possibilities of early intervention for high cost pupils as well as equipping schools to deal with pupils with complex needs.  Suzie Franklin, Head of Schools, welcomed the opportunity, through the behaviour partnership, for exploring alternative provisions locally for high cost placements.

Action

i)             Children’s Services Finance team to report back to the February School Forum on the numbers of independent SEN placements and costs.  (Rob Parr)

School Forum to discuss and agree amendments to the terms of reference.       

The School Forum noted the changes to the Terms of Reference in the Standing Orders.  Members noted:-

No diocese representative

Quorum (40% of members present) 6

Expenses - eligibility to re-claim travel and other expenses

The Chair thanked Maurice Codd, Danien Rees and Sue Foot for their support and contribution to the Forum over the years.  Restructuring of the Forum does not require them to attend future meetings

Thursday 7 February 2013

Thursday 21 March 2013

The Forum agreed the following future meeting dates:

7^th February 2013

21^st March 2013