Minutes:
A paper on the independent review of the cost of provision in schools and academies was circulated. Carrying out a review had been proposed at the January Task and Finish Group and endorsed by Cabinet. The aim, as outlined in the paper, is to understand the costs of provision across a range of types and size of school and academy in Slough.
Maggie Waller and John Constable met with Ruth Bagley and Coral Miller on Monday, 23rd March. There had been work done to identify potential appropriate providers for such a piece of research e.g. the London School of Economics, an education consultancy and Henley Business College. Nandita also suggested Birkbeck College Research as a possible provider. In addition, the DfE is carrying out a large piece of work to look at costs and efficiencies in schools and Maggie Waller has been in touch to suggest that Slough would be a good place to carry out field work.
The timescale for the review would be the end of April to tender and the work to be carried out in June - July. It was noted that the aim is to have the work complete for the autumn to enable Schools Forum and the LA to be best placed to respond to any future DfE consultations on a national funding formula.
This research will be funded from the Schools Forum budget and it is estimated that the cost should not be more than £15,000.
Maggie Waller explained that the work would be jointly commissioned. However, Ruth Bagley had suggested that this could be done through LA procurement. Nandita Sirker said that she will have a conversation with the Procurement Department. It was noted that, if there was any potential delay in procurement, Schools Forum could procure through one of its members as has been done previously.
Maggie Waller asked the Forum to consider the paper, which would be circulated electronically following the meeting, and to discuss with colleagues and get back to her by 17th April with any comments. Nicky Willis and Jo Rockall agreed to circulate to the two Headteacher phase groups.
Maggie Waller referred to a recent debate by the Association of School and College Leaders (ACSL) at its March conference on the gap in schools’ funding between the best and worst-funded schools.
Information can be found here:
Maggie Waller also referred to the recent publication by the DfE of an analysis of LAs’ schools block funding formulae 2015 - 2016. This is useful information allowing members to see how Slough compares to others and how the local formula is made up. This information can be found here: