Agenda item

To give consideration to a letter received from Rowdeford Special School, on behalf of all special schools.

Michael Hudson, Associate Director of Finance at Wiltshire Council, was in attendance to make a short presentation and to notify the Schools Forum of that fact that there would be an increase in process charged to schools.

Mr Hudson noted that the fees for Wiltshire schools had been deemed to be much lower than that of their competitors and he advised that Liz Williams would lead on the issue of Schools Traded Services and would be present at the next Schools Forum meeting.

Special School Funding:

A letter had been received by the Chairman of Schools Forum from the Headteacher at Rowdeford Special School which was discussed during the Forum meeting.

Attention was drawn to the fact that Michelle Donovan and Claire Perry had had a discussion with MPs about SEN funding and that MPs misunderstood why the Schools Forum wished to campaign, since they had received an additional £5.7 million in funding in 2015-16.

It was noted that the additional £5.7 million was used to uplift the AWPU rate. The meeting was informed that all special schools had completed a significant amount of work to address deficits and rollovers and that from this work, progress had been made. It was stressed, however, that the financial outlook was not looking prosperous and that there were financial pressures on everyone.

The meeting was made aware of how a further reduction in the budget for special schools could lead to extremely high class sizes; indeed, it was stressed that special school class sizes were already at very high levels and thus, if further increases in size occurred then these classes would be on the threshold of unsafe. It was then added that if class sizes were deemed as being unsafe, there could be an increase in tribunal cases, which could lead to further special school’s pupils being transferred to maintained or academy schools, or even to out of County placements.

Concern was raised that the budget cuts had meant that children with SEN were not being provided with the services that they needed and that these children’s needs should be met and thus, the Forum should utilise all expertise and help that it had at hand to be able to provide for such children, whilst in a position of financial reduction. It was noted that outreach work for SEN was being decreased and that there was a desire for this to be increased, however, despite the fact that special schools felt that they were in a very challenging situation, discussions were being had with local governors to help to find a solution.

Those present were made aware that the SFWG had come to the agreement that whenever discussions were had over funding, that special schools would always remain on the agenda. However, it was outlined that, in terms of finance for special schools, the forthcoming 2 years did not appear affluent.

It was explained that special schools were paid on a month-by-month basis and that all money had come from the HNB and thus, a problem had been created as the Schools Forum was unable to be strategic with this money.

It was noted that the f40 campaign was analysing the Schools Block and had been pressuring the fairer funding formula for the HNB.

Having been put to the meeting, it was:

Resolved:

That the Schools Forum note and discuss the contents of the letter and to respond to the concerns raised.