Agenda item

The subject of School Improvement Provision was raised at the last Schools Forum meeting.  Robin Crofts, from Cambridge Education, produced a paper surrounding School Improvement Funding – the DSG funding retained by the Local Authority.  Time has been spent reviewing and looking at ways of focusing on activities and funding.  Last year there was an under spend so a more realistic budget has been set for the coming year.  The revised funding for this year is £932,905 which is a reduction of £310k.  The Local Authority will put up a proposal to the Schools Forum of how this money should be utilised and a decision needs to be taken by Schools Forum. Maggie Waller thanked Robin Crofts for producing the detailed report. He will report back on 2015/16 spend and outcomes. It was noted that some work will be commissioned and this could be allocated to the Slough Learning Partnership (SLP) and other providers.

Navroop Mehat asked if the reduced total funding allowed for supporting schools in category and in need of support and Robin Crofts said that it did with a particular process in place to access this funding which includes detailed evaluation of its usage.

It was noted that recruitment for schools is a growing national issue.  Robin Crofts suggested meeting with schools and taking a focussed, collective approach. He reported that there is also an Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee meeting with elected members in July about the challenges around recruitment.

Recruitment is one priority but other priorities also need to be considered.  This item is on the Slough Schools Education Forum (SSEF) meeting on Friday, 8^th May 2015.  John Constable in conjunction with head teacher colleagues will consider a proposal and Finbar McGaughey and Robin Crofts offered support if required.

Krutika Pau asked about the school governance aspect in Robin Crofts’ paper.  Robin Crofts has gone through the national statutory requirements and the local contractual requirements between the Local Authority and Cambridge Education and looked at what needs to be put in place to enhance the current offer. Supplementary local provision with be delivered over and above the current support available that many schools get from the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) and elsewhere. Local support is available in conjunction with Slough Learning Partnership.

Beverley Pennekett will discuss School Meals Funding with Maggie Waller outside of this meeting.

The next step is for Schools Forum, at the July meeting, to decide which priorities it would like to fund from the proposals put forward by the Local Authority for the use of the £310k relinquished by Cambridge Education. A paper will be brought to the Forum outlining all the priorities identified.

It was agreed that priorities for spend need to be put forward in business cases. It was agreed that phase groups would look at this and contact John Constable as Vice Chair with any proposals.