Agenda item

The Forum considered a report (Agenda Item 12) regarding two year old funding and early years pupil premium funding.

Avril Allenby reported that the council now had 101 providers offering free entitlement spaces for two year olds. She took on board the comments made at the previous Schools Forum meeting regarding Pupil Premium and explained that there was an action plan to publicise the funding and make it easier to apply for. In Early Years, Pupil Premium equated to a relatively small amount of money and was used to enrich the environment rather than provide targeted support.

Regarding two year old places, there were now a high number of applications on the list provided by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) but many children who were on this list and eligible for funding did not then find an appropriate setting. Further work was being undertaken to address this.

Councillor Mollie Lock asked if there were enough places available. Avril Allenby advised that more schools were now ready to offer places to two year olds and more child minders were able to offer places. Provision of places had previously been an issue and now the challenge would be to get the child to the right place for them.

Ian Pearson suggested that the action plan be circulated with the minutes for the meeting.

Keith Watts asked whether there was data to compare the take up between rural and urban areas in the District. Avril Allenby advised this data was available for two year old places but not pupil premium.

Suzanne Taylor commented that there was a two-term lag in receiving the data from the DWP. Avril Allenby advised that the list was being reviewed regularly to ensure there was as high a take up as possible.

Keith Harvey posited that the time spent on these initiatives might outweigh the funding received. Suzanne Taylor advised that one child would receive £189 in Pupil Premium. Avril Allenby advised that for the Pupil Premium providers received 53p from the government and in West Berkshire this was increased to £1 through the early years funding formula.

RESOLVED that the report be noted. The action plan would be circulated to all members with the minutes from the meeting.