Agenda and minutes

81.          Hugh welcomed all and thanked everyone for their attendance. A special welcome to Alison Jeffrey to her first East Sussex Schools’ Forum as Director of Children’s Services.

It was confirmed the meeting was quorate, recognising the apologies below.

1.2         Apologies received from:

·         Kate Owbridge (Ashdown Primary)

·         Susan Thompson (Ditchling Primary)

·         Monica Whitehead (Claverham Community College)

·         Geoffrey Lucas (Etchingham CE Primary School)

9.1       The minutes for the meeting held were approved as a true record and will be signed by the Chair and scanned to Lesley Leppard.

10.1     The Forum discussed the action points arising from the last meeting;

i.              How the Forum blends in with the Primary and Secondary Boards and how to     strategically join them all together

ii.             How to encourage others to join the forum

iii.            Succession plan for Chair and Vice Chair

10.2     RESOLVED; An election for Chair and Vice Chair will be held at the November meeting in preparation for January 2022 meeting.

11.1     There were no declaration of interests.

12.1     The Forum discussed and noted the DfE’s consultation on the sparsity funding factor. 

12.2     It was asked if schools are sharing ‘the pot’ more ways or is this new money. In response Members were informed that with the new level of funding the DfE calculate what individual schools would get without getting penalised 

13.1     Forum members were advised which budgets were de-delegated by schools in 2021/22 and to seek approval on de-delegated budgets for 2022/23

13.2     The Primary and Secondary maintained representatives were asked to vote on which services should be provided centrally for 2022/23 – votes below;

*G Lucas was unable to attend the meeting and requested his vote was carried out by proxy by J Johnson.

13.3     Members discussed the budgets and asked for more detail regarding the contingency fund and behaviour hubs/ESBAS         

13.4     ACTION: The Chair asked if Ed could produce a report for the November meeting regarding the contingency fund outlining two main points

·         Looking back at how the money is spent over the last 5 years

·         The consideration of how that amount is calculated

14.1     The Forum discussed the comparison with the East Sussex County Council Schools’ insurance programme against the Risk Protection Agreement offer.

14.2     It was recommended that maintained schools’ members note the insurance charge for 2021/2022 and the insurance programme for 2022/23

15.1     The Forum were asked to note the Schools’ Forum meeting dates for the financial year 2022/23

15.2     Currently Confirmed dates for 2022/23.

• Friday 13 May 2022
• Friday 01 July 2022
• Friday 16 September 2022
• Friday 18 November 2022
• Friday 13 January 2023

15.3     All meetings will run from 08.30 to 10.30 am and held either remotely, or at Wellshurst Golf and Country Club.