Agenda and minutes

BRENT SCHOOLS FORUM

Minutes of the Schools Forum held on

Wednesday 7^th December 2016 at The Village School

Attended by Members of the Forum:

Governors:                           Martin Beard (MB)

                                  Helga Gladbaum (HG)

Mike Heiser (MH) - Chair

Jo Jhally (JJ)

Sue Knowler (SK)

Titilola McDowell (TM)

Narinder Nathan (NN)

Umesh Raichada (UR)

Head Teachers:                  Rose Ashton (RA)

Lesley Benson (LB)

Martine Clark (MC)

Kay Charles (KC)

Rabbi Yitzchak Freeman (YF)

Rachel Kitley (RK)

Gerard McKenna (GM)

Desi Lodge Patch (DLP)

Andy Prindiville (AP)

PRU:                                     

PVI Sector:                           Paul Russell (PR)

Trade Unions:                     Lesley Gouldbourne (LG)

14-19 Partnership:

Lead Member (C&YP):     

Officers:                                Gail Tolley (GT)

Brian Grady (BG)

Andrew Ward (AW)

John Holden (JH)

Devbai Patel (DP)

Sandra Bingham (SB)

John Galligan (JG)

Sue Gates (SG)

Shirley Parks (SP)

Others:                                  Sotira Michael – Observer

ITEM     DISCUSSION

i.                 Introductions

The Forum commenced at 6.10pm.

Everyone introduced themselves.

ii.               Apologies

Herman Martyn

Troy Sharpe

Cllr Wilhelmina Mitchell Murray

iii.          Absence

Melissa Loosemore

Danny Coyle

iv           Membership

DP reported that three vacancies remain.  These are for a EY PVI representative, a Nursery School Governor, and a 14-19 Partnership.  Officers are continuing to seek nominations to fill the vacancies.

1                Declarations of Interests

1.1         None

2                Minutes of the meeting held on 21^st September 2016 and Matters Arising

2.1            ‘Gerard’ was incorrectly spelt under Apologies.

2.2            Paragraph 6.7 – ‘Brent’ was incorrectly spelt.

2.3            The above corrections were noted and the minutes were approved as an accurate record.

3.0            Action Log and Matters Arising

3.1            Paragraph 8.4 – GM asked if an explanation could be provided on the IDACI changes.  AW said this was covered in the agenda item 12 and could be dealt then. 

4.0            Update on High Needs Funding of the DSG

The report was for information

4.1            SB presented this report. She reported that both the National Fairer Funding and High Needs Block funding consultations are due imminently.  There will be detailed work on the High Needs consultation carried out by the established High Needs Task and Finish Group in the New Year.   There has been significant growth in the number of children with High Needs, this has meant that 754 of the planned 756 places are currently occupied.  Alongside this the current number of children with statements of SEN or EHCPs is likely to outstrip the existing forecast growth trajectory to 2020.  Because of this it is becoming necessary to send children out of borough. 

4.2            However, Brent’s policy to make places available locally continues to be pursued.   A new Free Special School is due to open in Brent once a suitable site is confirmed by the EFA, but in the meantime there are pressures and continue to be so going forward.  She referred to Appendix 1 based on current year’s allocations.  This will change once the consultation comes out. 

4.3            KC asked what the LA is doing with regard to the following:

o   Unpicking and clarifying post 16 funding and associated provision.

o   Managing the number of placements in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.