Present in Keighley;Gill Batterby (Nessfield), Ian Crosby (Hothfield Junior), Sally Birkbeck (Delius), Graham Hardman (Trinity All Saints), Pat Jones (Keighley St Andrews), Claire Kane (Priestthorpe Primary), Michael Scarborough (Worth Valley), Alison Leach (Cullingworth Primary), Wendy Thompson (East Morton CE Primary), Eileen Gilchrist (Laycock Primary), Susan Nicholson & Mark Britchford (Menston Primary), Robert Walker (Oxenhope Primary), Fay Briggs & Carole Rattenbury (Riddlesden St Mary’s), Michael Lyne (Fed GB of Ingrow & Long Lee), Jacqueline Chang (Victoria Primary), Tom Smith (Haworth Primary), Steve Wilkinson (Aireview)
In Attendance: Clive Lynett (SGS), Julie Ioanna (SGS), Cindy Peek (Director Children’s Services), George McQueen (Assistant Director of Access and Inclusion), Ros Garside (Senior Area Achievement Officer), Tony Sinkinson (Head of School Organisation and Place Planning), Nick Smith (HR), Tracy Isherwood (Clerk)
Apologies for absence; Rachel Curtis (Fagley Primary School), Rev Sarah Jemison (Windhill Primary School), David Kennedy (Frizinghall Primary School), Rodney Lunn (Oakbank School), Richard Moore (Sandal Primary School), John Myles (Copthorne Primary), Parveen Saddiq (All Saints CE Primary School (Horton)).
N.B. the agenda items were taken in a different order at the meeting in Keighley.
Education and Schools update – Cindy Peek & George McQueen
Cindy Peek began the meeting congratulating governors and asking them to recognise how much their schools have improved.
Details of key issues were addressed including;
- The number of students gaining 5A*-C grades at GCSE was in line with the national average and also closed the gap on the year before.
- 52.4% students gained 5 good GCSE’s, Bradford’s best ever figure.
- ¾ of pupils assessed at the end of KS2 reached L4 and above, the district’s best ever result.
- Progress made by primary age pupils in Bradford in English between Y2 and Y6 outstripped the national performance.
- Schools are now recording their best ever attendance levels.
- Record numbers of Young people in Bradford leaving Y11 are staying in education or going into training. Only 141 pupils were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET)
Pupil Premium – Ros Garside
Council priority is to decrease gaps between under-achieving groups and others while raising the standards overall. Ofsted’s expectations are that all pupils are making good progress; that gaps have been identified and are being addressed. Data tools such as Raise Online and more recently the Data Dashboard (icon on right hand side of Raise Online report), help identify gaps by benchmarking.
Other issues discussed were;
- Pupil premium aims to break the link between deprivation and under-achievement
- It is allocated to children who have received FSM at any time in the last 6 years.
- It is allocated to LAC who have been looked after for 6 months or more (and children of service families)
- Whilst not being ring fenced it is expected the money will be spent on eligible children and those with similar disadvantages.
Q. You say this is additional money, is it a new fund we have access to, had Bradford’s budget gone up? In our school it just feels like it has replaced other money.
A. Bradford has benefitted and it is targeted money, £20m has come into Bradford.
Q.There are large number of children entitled but do not claim.
A. The funding is based on entitlement not uptake. Taken from benefit claimants from the Dept. of Work and Pensions. Officers are working on identifying those not claiming.
Q. So the authority knows the families entitled and the school is given money on that basis.
A. Yes. But names not given to school, there is a need to identify those included. They stay on the list for 6 years. Include those claiming or who have claimed in the last 6 years.
Q. Is there a means of following children if they go from school to school so that you can follow if they have had FSM in the past?
A. Children have a UPN number so information should show on that.
Governors were advised to phone Angela Hutton in School finance if they had questions about this.
Q. If they migrate are the funds lost until the next year?
A. Yes, it is an annual adjustment, we know the percentage of FSM in each school as the FSM allowances are done through Revenues and Benefits, if data does not match up they chase it up.
Q. Is it for those with low ARE (Age related expectations)?
A. There is a high correlation between FSM and those who start school below ARE. Impact indicators are around achievement pupil premium is not just about extra tuition, it could be about extra resources or food i.e. Breakfast Club.
- Pupil Premium in Bradford 2013/14, the following shows the range and scale of money
Phase / Minimum / Maximum / Total
Primary / £1914 / £253008 / £14,043,076
Secondary / £71011 / £681936 / £ 6,944,611
Special / £1800 / £156000 / £ 218,700
There is a huge moral responsibility to monitor how pupil premium is spent, these figures do not include the £2m+ paid to schools who have already converted to academies.
Q. It must be possible some schools at the higher end would have trouble spending such a large amount, if it was not spent could this money be carried forwards?
A. Regulations allow it to be carried over though it often is used in additional costs.
Q. Will they receive it until they are age 16/17?
A. Yes, though from the 6th Form it is divided into slightly different pots such as apprenticeships. They may still get FSM but post 16 the Hardship Fund has replaced EMA – this is not included in these figures.
- Case studies: Quality of Provision – there has been a lot of research in this area, the most expensive resource does not always have the biggest impact, pupils need to be in charge of their own learning including clear targets and feedback. One study had involved families in supporting education;
Ross spoke of various initiatives that may be used to support pupils experiencing deprivation:
- Peer mentoring and Peer Tutoring
- Nurture Groups
Q. Are these aimed at Academic or social issues?
A. Both.
Q. What are nurture groups?
A. Personal and social well being groups for very vulnerable children that can be used to remove barriers to learning.
Q. A lot of money could be spent for low impact, if the parents have had a bad school experience themselves; the child could have been receiving quality first teaching.
Q. What about peer grouping, should different abilities be spread around the classroom?
A. Grouping shouldn’t always be fixed, a good way to enforce knowledge is to explain it to someone else, peers can teach others thus consolidating the mentor’s training/knowledge.
Closing the gap – logon to BradfordSchool’s Online, on the left hand side of the screen click on ‘Equality, Diversity and Achievement’, click on ‘Closing the gap’ then scroll down to see KS2 data and case studies.
A.For me closing the gap is an ethical imperative as is NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training), now it has been bought into by others the situation is improving.
Q. Are there any implications regarding capping housing benefits or bedroom tax, is it going to make people have to move house.
A. We are doing a lot of work on bedroom tax, we are calculating its impact but estimating approximately 3000 families in the district will have to move. There should be a stipulation that foster carers shouldn’t have to move and also the age of the child should be considered; some parents insist they will stay and pay the difference; governors could use pupil premium funds to get children back to their school.
- What should be in place in all schools
- Pupil Premium (PP) – its uses in Bradford – the earlier that gaps are identified and addressed, the better.
- Ofsted’s view – the PP review needs to ensure impact
- What do successful schools have?
- The governor’s role
Q. You need to know how many children are in each category, and an overview of the school’s position.
A. Yes, that will be added to the slide.
Ross reminded governors not to confuse PP with low ability – a Gifted and Talented Programme maybe needed to ensure that FSM pupils achieve appropriately.
Ross explained that the new Data Dashboard also contains information re the schools use of PP and it would be useful for each school to have a PP policy.
Q.What kind of policy?
A. A statement that describes what it is and how the school intends to direct its spending, the objectives and the ways that the school will measure the impact of the initiatives.
Ross directed governors to google the Farfield Primary School Website to view the policy that they had in place as an example f good practice.
School Places – Tony Sinkinson
This update is to alert governors to changing situations of numbers and how you could respond; most of the information is related to the Primary sector. The rising population is moving through the school system; these figures are passed on from the Health Authority and over the last few years, the population rise has levelled out.
Q. Considering there is not Health Authority now, where are you going to get the information?
A. A large amount of it will come from the GP’s.
A range of graphs project how the cohorts will pass through school and the impact the rising numbers will have. Secondary cohorts are smaller at the moment but appear to be growing; families are settling for longer; pressure can be caused in some areas of the district;
Q. Does it include Academies and Free schools?
A. Yes, the numbers within schools increase upon conversion.
Q. the numbers and spaces available are not in the right places. Is there anything schools can do to avoid such a large number of appeals that some schools are experiencing and reduce the class size again.
A.Once a pupil is allowed in on appeal they are an excepted pupil and remain in addition to numbers through the key stages. At the moment Bradford is experiencing 15 applications per year group per week.
It is a significant challenge, in 5 years time there will be 5,000 extra children to place in Secondary School; this alongside additional housing that is planned in the district is causing the forecast to grow.
Previously it had been some pupils in and some out – but not anymore.
Q. Do you consider these figures and housing forecasts, with employment focus?
A. We need to employ support, transport etc
Q. A number of schools are expanding already, have the Secondary schools with new builds included space to take in some of the slack?
A. From being planned carefully some of the surplus slack can be reduced, a few years ago surplus places were discouraged as they were costly
Q. If the situation switches again and we have all these places, should we look at what else educational buildings could be used for?
A. We will be keeping an eye on birth rates, many believe Bradford will keep growing.
There is also a growth in the population ‘in year’, a large number of children born in other countries are looking for places. If a child leaves one school to go to another, an amount of time must be waited to be sure where they have moved to; only then can their name be transferred from the school they were in – this can result in empty but ‘locked in’ places.
Q. Can we speed up or improve this process?
A. We need confirmation of where they have transferred to for safeguarding reasons.
Funding is driven by the October census, any movement after this will not be amended until the following year, however the School Forum could create a mechanism for funding for these children – some schools will only take children once funds are received.
Q. Is there money to extend the school buildings?
A. Yes, funds would be provided through Basic Needs funding. At the moment it is a small number of schools taking pressure off the district.
Q. If a school is ideally placed and say they will not make an effort to take more children, can the council make them?
A. Where academies are concerned the LA has no jurisdiction unless governors support it, it is unlikely to succeed. We are about supporting districts and being fair.
Q. Is it 30 pupils or none that schools are being asked to consider taking?
A. No , it could be 30, 15 or sometimes 8.
Teacher’s Pay and Conditions – Nick Smith, HR consultant
This session will identify and discuss those changes to the STPCD (School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document). Details of key issues were addressed including:
- Changes within the 2012 STPCD
Q. Would discretionary payments affect a pension?
A. I’m not sure but it probably will affect them.
- Key areas of the report
Q. I presume you cannot reduce pay within school?
A. Yes you can if roles change, the majority of Free schools use this model also.
Governors need to be more involved in standards, Pay is linked to performance not just length of service. If the Pay Policy is not followed there may be an issue with equal pay issues.
- Further recommendations….
- No obligation when recruiting to match a teacher’s existing salary on either main or upper pay scales.
- The requirement for 2 consecutive successful appraisals for progression purposes on the upper pay scale to be discontinued.
- Next steps?
Q. Can you move staff down a grade?
A. Yes, it would be done at the end of the Appraisal Cycle review.
Q. When is this coming in?
A. September 2013
Q. How can school put things in place in time?
A.HR advisors will have to be ready for the changes.
HR can visit governing body’s in the summer term to explain what needs to be done.
Q. What are the unions saying about this?
A. They have been consulted.
Q. Is there an obligation to match school to school.
A. No, the pay level is not attached to the person.
Cindy Peek thanked governors for attending. 8:00pm meeting ends
Signed as a true record:
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