Agenda item

6.1          Sarah introduced the paper which is a document issued by DfE. She advised that the paper has been included for information for members to look at as the content was relevant to East Sussex.

6.2          Andrew Ferguson advised the members that the document showed a Trust saving £800k but that it was disappointing that the major source of savings were not identified.

6.3          Phil Clarke advised the members that he found the report to be poor and all agreed. He said that funding cuts were causing the problems and that the report gave no actual benefit.

6.4          Lizzie Field felt that the title of the document was incorrect and that options were not fully explored. Hugh asked the members that if they had any other models or proposals to bring them back to the Forum. Jane Johnson advised that everyone should give other schools ideas and to get feedback on how they are managing. One idea that Jane has is that TA’s are training for higher qualifications. This would mean that if there was a teacher off the TA could carry on with teaching the planned lesson. This helps with the budget as supply teachers didn’t need to be brought in.

Action: Primary Head Teachers and Bursar to liaise re any models or proposals. ESCC Officers to continue to facilitate sharing of good practice.

6.5          Mandy Watson advised that the Diocese had put out a paper on supporting small schools.

6.6          Jane advised that the report stated that there may be circumstances where small schools closure may be considered in order to strategically support all schools in an area.

6.7          Fiona suggested that more information could be captured at Head Teacher meetings. Everyone should use these meetings to collect good ideas and to share good practice.

6.8          Lizzie felt that the report was very one sided and that it suggested that MATs was the only way, but that this is not true.

6.9          Monica Whitehead felt that the report was 10 years out of date.

Action: Draft letter from Schools’ Forum (to be raised by Andrew Ferguson) to be sent to DfE to show their disagreement with the report.

6.10        There was a general discussion on how to share good practice between Primary and Secondary schools as practice could be shared across phases.

6.11        Debbie Gilbert raised a question as to whether the LA analysed and compared practices in educationally successful schools with good financial management in order that good practice could be shared and role modelled. Sarah went on to advise that in general East Sussex schools were managing finances well and there was lots of evidence of good practice, schools were planning well and making decisions in a timely way in response to the challenging financial circumstances and this was supported by various departments in ESCC. She said that HR / School Improvement / Finance came together as a group regularly to discuss schools at risk in order that any difficulties in specific schools could be put in full context and appropriate support provided with good practice from other schools shared. Fiona and Sarah both acknowledged Debbie’s point that focusing in on successful schools in order to share good practice as well as troubleshooting when there were issues would be beneficial.