Minutes of a meeting of held at 5.30 pm on Wednesday 17 June 2015 at Hackney Technology and Learning Centre, Reading Lane, London E8 1GQ
Present -
Members:

David Lowry (governor) and Kt Khan (headteacher substitute) – special
schools;

Orlene Badu (headteacher), Lisa Neidich (governor) and Asarena Simon
(headteacher)
– primary schools;

Jane Gray (headteacher) and Simon Biggs (governor)
– secondary schools

Lisa Clarke – nursery schools

Sheila Scales (governor) – academies

Cathy Murphy – early years providers

Sandra Hall – staff
Observer:
Local authority:
Councillor Anntoinette Bramble (Lead Member, Children & Families)
Anne Canning (Education Director & Head of Hackney Learning Trust),
Ophelia Carter (Head of Schools Finance), Helen McNulty (head of Additional
Needs), Jackie Moylan (Assistant Director of Finance, CYPS), Frank
O’Donoghue (Head of Business Services) and Mark Brownlow (Clerk to the
Forum)
Jane Gray (Chair) in the chair
1. Introductions, apologies and announcements
The Chair welcomed Anne Canning, the recently-appointed Education Director and Head of
Hackney Learning Trust, and Simon Biggs, who was attending his first meeting as secondary governor representative
Consent was granted for the absence of the following members, all of whom had submitted apologies: Ian Ashman (1619 providers’ representative), Richard Brown (PRU representative), Simon de Deney (primary governor), Kevin McDonnell (special head-teacher) and Janice Thomas (primary headteacher).
It was noted that Kt Khan (substitute member) was attending in Kevin McDonnell’s place.
The Chair announced that this was the last meeting of the Schools Forum she would be attending and that she would be retiri ng as Head of Our Lady’s Convent High School at
Christmas.
2. Declarations of interest
There were no declarations of interest.
3. Minutes of the meeting of the Schools Forum held on 18 March 2015
3.1 Approval of minutes
Agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 18 March 2015 be approved as a correct record.
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3.2 Matters arising: checklist of action arising from the meeting on 18 March 2015
The checklist was noted.
4. Membership update
The updated membership list was noted together with the following points:

Louis Coiffait (a former primary governor representative) had resigned recently as a result of his no longer being a governor;

the process of recruitment was under way to the places which would fall vacant on
31 August 2015, as listed on page 2 of the paper;

representation of Academies on schools forums was now deemed to include Free
Schools.
5. Schools ’ surplus balances 2014/15
The Forum considered a report on the level of financial reserves held by schools as at 31
March 2015. It was observed that the overall level of reserves had fallen only slightly from the level held a year earlier – from £22.1m to £21.9m (or 1%) – as compared with a fall of 11% in the preceding 12-month period but that this modest overall reduction hid a significant shift away from revenue reserves towards capital reserves, the latter being more likely to be spent in the short term and not liable to clawback.
Members also noted that a handful of schools were potentially at risk of triggering the clawback mechanism, by virtue of having reserves in excess of 15% of their income over three consecutive years, and that officers were in discussion with these schools regarding their spending plans. In addition, surplus spend plans had been sought from 41 Hackney schools whose surpluses at the end of 2014/15 had exceeded the standard threshold of 5%
(secondary schools) or 8% (other categories).
Agreed that the report be noted.
6. Schools’ Contingency and Growth Fund: out-turn 2014/15
The report before the Forum provided a summary of expenditure from the Schools
Contingency Budget and the Growth Fund during 2014/15. It was noted that the former – comprising general contingency allocations to assist schools in unforeseen circumstances as well as support for schools under the ‘schools requiring additional support’ (SRAS) process – had shown a small overspend of £4,187, at £842,364, and that this shortfall would be met from central funds. By contrast, the Growth Fund (totalling £1,188,543) had been underspent by £154,785 as a result of delays which had arisen in providing two of the planned additional classes . This latter figure had subsequently been reduced to £89,451 after part of the surplus had been used in-year to assist three schools whose business rates had been re-evaluated.
The remaining balance had been carried forward into 2016/17 and would be used in part to fund unplanned growth in primary schools.
Members were assured that the performance of schools within the SRAS process was closely monitored, so as to ensure that funds were being used to good effect, and also that schools which had revenue surpluses did not receive financial support through SRAS.
Agreed that the report be noted.
7. High Needs Block funding arrangements 2016-17: progress
It was noted from the report that the Forum’s High Needs Sub-Group had met for the first time on 9 June to consider a discussion paper on High Needs funding, drafted by officers, and that a number of alterations to the report had been suggested; once these revisions had been
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8.
9. made, the paper would be circulated to all stakeholders as the basis for consultation on the various options available.
Members noted the timetable of events – including two further meetings of the sub-group – leading to the planned introduction of the new funding model from 1 April 2016 inwards.
Cathy Murphy reported on a recent consultative meeting between HLT officers and early years providers from the PVI (private, voluntary and independent) sector. The latter had referred to the fact that, where settings were willing - and had the necessary skills - to take on children with special needs, they faced acute financial problems in doing so due to the extra costs involved and owing to the fact that many of the children had yet to go through the
EHCP* process and were not yet, therefore, the subject of additional funding; often when such funding did materialise, it came too late to be of significant benefit to the early years setting. Consequently, officers had been asked to explore the feasibility of introducing some form of backdated funding for settings. *Education, Health & Care Plan
Members noted that nursery schools faced similar problems, especially in relation to twoyear-olds.
It was observed that another issue for PVI settings was the difficulty they experienced in retaining staff with the necessary skills.
Reference was made to the high on-costs facing Hackney schools, particularly pension contributions, relative to those in other boroughs, and to the desirability of making allowance for these in some way within the funding model.
Agreed that the report be noted.
(Note: Membership of the High Needs Sub-Group comprises
Clarke,
Peter Hughes, Kt Khan, David Lowry, Kevin McDonnell, Cathy Murphy and Lisa Neidich, together with relevant officers.)
Meetings in 2015/16
The programme of meetings for the academic year 2015/16 was noted as follows (all
Wednesdays, 5.30-7.00pm, at 1 Reading Lane):

21 October 2015

2 December 2015

27 January 2016

16 March 2016

15 June 2016
Any other business: vote of thanks to Jane Gray
As this was the last meeting Jane Gray would be attending, members expressed appreciation of her excellent chairing skills and her hard work on behalf of the Forum. They thanked her also for her huge contribution to Hackney education in general.
The meeting ended at 6.10 pm.
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