Apologies were received from Maurice Codd, Rob Parr, James Evens and Frances Ward. Tony Jordan attended representing the Secondary sector.  The Chair welcomed Daneian Rees as an Observer, Dan Hallam as 14-19 Partnership representative and Adam Morris as Primary representative.  

The minutes of the School Forum of 5^th December 2013 were agreed to be a true record and actions noted.

Item 3: The Chair continues to update all schools regarding dissemination of information which includes the Studio School.

Item 4 (i) CAMHS task group is being set up consisting of representatives from across all schools working on the service level agreement (Suzie Franklin)

Item 8 (i) Induction pack pending distribution following agreement of Torbay School Forum Standing Orders (Susan Moses)

Item 9: Future meeting dates have been added to School Forum agenda (Susan Moses)

Head of School Commissioning asked School Forum for their views on the safeguarding proposal and the treatment of the remaining DSG underspend.

Papers were received relating to the potential in-year allocation to schools of projected DSG underspend in 13/14 based on pupil number for delegating either the £400k or £250k. 

School Forum continued their discussions, from the last meeting, on the possible options for the £400k to include support for a safeguarding role to schools.

They considered and debated the:

·         development of a joint funded education safeguarding service that includes an educational safeguarding officer and a schools social worker. 

·         Funding this arrangement for 3 years would require to de delegate £150k of the £400k carry forward

·         Delegation of remaining £250k

School Forum were of the opinion that any decisions were hampered by not all the information being available regarding the Safeguarding Officer employment situation with the LA. It was recognised that having the safeguarding role employed by the LA was critical in the delivery of support to schools.  It was noted that a working party had been formed and had already met to discuss the safeguarding proposals (membership consists of Jane English, Mike Lock, Elaine Gill, Richard Williams and Roger Hughes

The Chair asked School Forum to vote to:

(i)            agree to allocate the £250k to all schools pro rata based on pupil numbers and to set aside the £150k to develop the proposal for an educating safeguarding service role which would be monitored by the Working Party. 

(ii)          The option to dedicate the £150k back to all schools if the safeguarding proposal did not proceed

Members voted on to endorse and agree the proposals with 7 members in favour, 0 against and 2 abstaining.

Action

i)             Head of Schools to seek clarity from the Director of Children’s Services on current situation of Safeguarding Officer post (Suzie Franklin)

ii)            The Chair to be sent an electronic copy of the potential in-year allocation to schools of project DSG underspend in 13/14 based on pupil number for the £250k (Lisa Finn)

iii)           Chair to inform the outcome of the £400k DSG underspend allocation to TAPS and TASH (Roger Hughes)

Head of School Commission asked School Forum to give their views on any areas of growth for the Director of Children’s Services noting in particular pressures within the 2014/15 DSG.

School Forum considered and debated the main pressures relating to the 2014/15 DSG, which included

·         SEN statementing

·         Formula allocation ‘growth’

·         General per pupil entitlement uplift

·         Targeted increases for any other formula factors i.e. FSM

School Forum recognised the pressures and were asked to vote to the removal of the Formula ‘growth’ which had taken place in 2012/13 to enable allocation to be within the overall DSG resources. .

School Forum agreed and endorsed the removal of the Formula ‘growth’ scale back as their main priority for any headroom funding in 2014/15 (voting: 7 in favour, 2 abstained)

Lisa Finn, Accountant, circulated a paper outlining the provisional dedicated schools grant 2014/15 which is based on old data.  School Forum noted that the process had become complicated and unclear and recognised the changes in the data relating to number of pupils, Schools Block DSG and High Needs Block.

Head of School Commissioning asked School Forum’s recommendations requested by the Director of Children’s Services to the proposals for the Special Schools Funding Formula.

School Forum considered the issues relating to the Special Schools Funding Formula particularly noting the importance of continuity of funding in special schools to enable staffing structures to be maintained for particular pupil groups needs.

School Forum endorsed and agreed to the changes to the Special Schools Funding Formula to allow special schools to receive funding based on the agreed per pupil values.

School Forum agreed that the Chair and Head of School Commissioning would update and revise the current Torbay Schools’ Forum Standing Orders (2007) and bring back to the next meeting.

Executive Head of Schools Suzie Franklin highlighted to School Forum the recent Ofsted judgement for Wakefield LA which stated:

·         areas for improvement:- The School Forum should develop clearer processes for monitoring and evaluating the impact of funded programmes

School Forum questioned whether this was consistent with expectations and powers placed upon the Forum by legislation.  Forum requested further detail on the Wakefield inspection.

Actions

i)             Revised Torbay Schools’ Forum Standing Orders to be brought back to next meeting (Roger Hughes)

ii)            Wakefield LA to be contacted to find out more details in relation to the role of their School Forum (Suzie Franklin)

School Forum discussed the Secondary Academy Governor representation.  3 nominations have been received.  It was proposed and agreed that each Secondary Academy would be contacted to nominate one of the three nominees who they would like to be their representative.  In the event of a tie the Chair would have the casting vote.

Action

i)             Secondary Academy Schools to be contacted to nominate one of the three nominees who they would like to be their Secondary Academy Governor (Sue Moses)

The Chair thanked Matt Redwood for his long contribution to School Forum and wished him a long and healthy retirement.