Children’s Services, Education and Skills Scrutiny Boardeservices.solihull.gov.uk/mgInternet/documents/s35376/Childrens... · 2016 • Government will make it simpler for parents

Children’s Services, Education

and Skills Scrutiny Board

25 May 2016

National Funding Reforms

• Schools National Funding Formula

• High Needs Funding Formula

Based on 7 Principles

• A funding system that supports opportunity

• A funding system that is fair

• A funding system that is efficient

• A funding system that gets funding straight to

schools

• A funding system that is transparent

• A funding system that is simple

• A funding system that is predictable

Headlines on NFF• By the end of 2020, every school in England will be an

academy or free school – or be in the process of

becoming one by 2022. This is likely to be done

through Multi Academy Trusts

• National Funding Formula (NFF) from April 2017 - with

two years of transition

• It will be based on the following factors:

�Per-pupil element

�Additional Needs

�School costs elements

�Geographic costs

Headlines on NFF cont""

• It will be a ‘hard’ formula - the Government will fund every school

directly and LAs will have no role in this

• The Government propose 4 Dedicated Schools Grant funding

Blocks:

� Schools – funding for schools calculated by the National Funding

Formula

� High Needs – SEND, Alternative Provision and Pupil Support

Services

� Early Years Block

� Central Services Block – DSG central functions and statutory

duties formerly funded by Education Services Grant (ESG)

Headlines on NFF cont""

• We will continue to undertake a range of service and

statutory functions, e.g. Admissions, asset management,

SEND, etc

• No role for LA’s in respect of school improvement - from

September 2017 the government will remove all of this

funding from LA’s (which comes via ESG)

• LA will not be able to charge any non-statutory functions

or services to the Dedicated Schools Grant, nor will we

be able to top-slice school budgets

Headlines on NFF cont"""

• Solihull will lose £1.8m of ESG from September

2017. This funds both children’s and corporate

services

• Also at risk - up to £2.25m of centrally funded

items from the DSG from April 2017, depending

on what exceptions the DFE formally approve

• DFE data capturing exercise to ascertain levels

and types of spend on central services

High Level Concerns • DfE have provided no evidence that a NFF

based on 14 factors can adequately recognise

the context of schools in particular areas

• Proposals are being introduced in a very tight

timeframe. Until stage 2 consultation is received,

it is not possible to judge whether the proposals

reflect the stated principles

• The inability to move funds between the high

needs block and schools block may impede

inclusive practice

The White Paper – Achieving

Excellence for All

Key Messages

• Launched in March 2016

• Sets out plans for the next five years

• Is based on five guiding principles:

�Children and young people first

�High expectations for every child

�Outcomes not methods

�Supported autonomy

�Responsive to need and performance

Every school to become an academy• Every school to become an academy by 2022

• Schools expected to form or join MATs and a MAT

Support Fund will be established to enable groups of

schools to join together

• New powers to direct schools to become academies in

LA areas which are underperforming or have not started

the process of conversion

• Land held by the authority in respect of community

schools will transfer to Secretary of State who will then

grant a lease to Academy Trusts

But"..The government has u- turned on the compulsory

academisation of all schools, but the DFE

• will continue to require underperforming schools to

convert to academy status,

• will support schools rated as ‘good’ by Ofsted to

convert

• trigger conversion of all schools in areas where a

“critical mass” have already become academies

• force conversion where councils “consistently fail to

meet a minimum performance threshold across its

schools”

Free Schools and UTCs

• 500 Free Schools and UTCs will be

opened by 2020

• New measures that will enable Secretary

of State to require the use of local

authority land for new Free Schools

Parents and Pupils

• Government plans to launch new portal for parents in

2017 to help them navigate school system

• New performance tables website launched in March

2016

• Government will make it simpler for parents to escalate

complaints to the DfE

• Parents may be able to petition RSC for their child’s

school to move to a different MAT where there is

underperformance

Local Authorities

In the short term LAs will have responsibility

for:

� Employment of staff in community schools

� Ownership and asset management of school

buildings

� Responsibilities relating to Governance

� School organisation

� Curriculum of maintained schools

Local Authorities cont""

In future, LA education duties will focus on:

�Ensuring every child has a school place

�Ensuring the needs of vulnerable pupils are met

�Acting as champions for all parents and families

N.B. Review of local authorities’ functions and

responsibilities including the roles of Director of

Children’s Services and Lead Member for Children

Ensuring the needs of vulnerable learners

are met

• Identifying, assessing and making provision for

children with SEND or with Looked After status

• Promoting school attendance

• Tackling persistent absences

• Lead on safeguarding responsibilities for all

children excluded or otherwise unable to attend

mainstream schools eg educated at home

Pupil Premium

• Pupil Premium will continue to be paid alongside the

national funding formula for schools and on top of the

funding for disadvantaged children and disadvantaged

areas

• Looked after children / those who have been adopted

from care or left care under special guardianship, will

continue to receive pupil premium plus funding

• Funding to be managed by Virtual School Head

• Schools and VSH to adopt evidence based strategies

drawing on EEF

Ensuring every child has a school place

• Ensuring sufficient school, special school and AP places

to meet local demand

• Working with schools and parents in developing local

transport policies

• Local Authorities to co-ordinate in-year admissions and

the independent admission appeals function

• Taking the lead in crisis management and emergency

planning

Acting as champions for parents and

families

• Listening to and promoting the needs of parents, children

and the local community

• Supporting parents to navigate the admissions system,

SEND arrangements and engaging them in designing

SEND policies

• Championing high standards locally for all pupils

• Encouraging high performers to establish new school

places

• Calling for action from the RSC to tackle

underperformance

And"""

• Oversight of testing arrangements

• Tackling any safety, welfare or extremism

concerns

• Encouraging top performing MATs to set

up new schools

Governance

• Academy Trusts will no longer be required to reserve

places for elected parents on Governing Bodies

• Government will establish a database of everyone

involved in governance and “unsuitable individuals” will

be barred from being Governors

• A new competency framework defining core skills and

knowledge needed for governance will be developed

• Governing Bodies will be expected to fill skills gaps

through training and recruitment

A Self Improving System

• From September 2017, school improvement funding will

be routed through Teaching Schools (300 more) and

NLEs (another 800)

• Innovation fund for RSCs to commission support for

failing and coasting schools

• Engagement of MATs, sponsors, academies diocese

and wider schools sector to ensure legal framework for

academies is fit for purpose

• Secretary of State will be responsible for running an

academy if a Trust stops operating it at short notice

Alternative Provision

• Role of mainstream schools in supporting AP providers

to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum and high

quality teaching by sharing subject specialists and

facilities

• Schools responsible for budgets from which AP is

funded

• Schools responsible for commissioning high quality

provision and accountable for education outcomes of

excluded and other pupils on AP programmes

• LAs will ensure sufficiency of AP including new,

innovative provision through Free Schools

Teaching and Curriculum

• QTS to be replaced with stronger, more challenging

accreditation

• Reform of the National College for Teaching and

Leadership

• Establishment of College for Teaching run by teachers

• Knowledge-based curriculum. National Curriculum will

be a benchmark

• Development of Action Plan for improving PSHE

Inspection

• Government will work with Ofsted to ensure the

Inspection regime is fair, increasingly proportionate and

focused on underperformance

• Introduction of an “improvement period” of 30 months to

allow leaders to put in train sustainable improvement

Accountability

• New accountability measures for MATS with separate

performance tables

• Performance data at individual school level

• Publication of improved and accessible information to

inform school choice and help parents, governing boards

and other users of data to hold schools to account

• RSCs will commission support and intervention for

underperforming schools

• A clearer process for how the local community can raise

concerns and engage with RSCs

Strong Financial Health and Efficiency

Government will support schools by:

• Defining a series of financial health check offers for

schools and suppliers who can provide them

• Publishing a school procurement strategy

• Developing a package of support on workforce

efficiency, including training for governing boards and

training for school leaders on curriculum based financial

planning

Making best use of resources and the

school estate

• LAs will continue to manage capital allocations until

schools become academies

• Larger MATs will have autonomy over capital funding

• Smaller MATS will bid to the EFA for condition

improvement funding

• More special school places to match local need

• At least £200m to support expansion of provision,

develop new schools and create specialist provision

DfE Education Strategy Overview 2015-20

Reform 16-19 skills:

� With BIS, deliver 3m high quality apprenticeship starts

� Create high quality technical and professional routes to

employment which are accessible for all

� Reform the provider base to ensure every area is

effectively served by a resilient and responsive system of

schools, FE and Sixth Form Colleges

Develop Early Years Strategy

• Extend free childcare to 30 hours for working parents of

3 and 4 year olds

• Ensure the market provides sufficient places for all

parents to access the childcare offers to which they are

entitled

• Design reforms that increase the quality of early years

education and childcare, focusing on developing the

workforce

Managing the Outworkings of

this Policy

A Considered Organised

Approach

• Establishment of a Project Group

• Appointment of Programme Lead

• Project scope

• Project team

• Key milestones

• Individual workstreams

Further consultation

• Funding Reforms phase 2 and School

Forum response

• Policies emerging from White Paper

• Consultation on Academy conversions,

MATs, sponsors

• Traded services

Questions and Comments