Agenda item

(Charlotte Wilson and Lindsay Wood left the meeting)

Melanie Ellis introduced the report (Agenda Item 8) that informed the Schools’ Forum of payments recommended to be made to schools from the Growth Fund budget in 2022/23.

Following the receipt of the October 2022 census information all schools were invited to make an application if they had felt that their school met the criteria of the Growth Fund. Four schools had applied and two had met the criteria. There were two payments recommended: one to The Calcots (£38.8k) and one to Trinity School (£125k) covering the period August 2022 to September 2023.

Detail about each of the applications was included within the report. The Calcots application had been based on infant class size regulations and Trinity had been required to accommodate a bulge year and help meet basic need in the area.

Michelle Sancho, Interim Head of Education Services, had confirmed that she was satisfied that both applications met the relevant criteria. The recommendation was that the Schools’ Forum approve both payments.
Richard Hand noted that four schools had applied for Growth Funding and he queried the reasons why two of the schools had not met the criteria. Melanie Ellis stated that she did not have this information to hand however, would report back at the next meeting.

It was proposed and seconded that the two Growth Fund payments to The Calcots and Trinity School should be approved. The Chair invited School Members to vote on the proposal and at the vote the motion was approved.

RESOLVED that:

• Melanie Ellis would report back to the next Schools’ Forum on why two of the four schools that had submitted an application from growth funding had not met the criteria.
• The Schools’ Forum approved the two Growth Fund payment to The Calcots and Trinity School in line with the recommendation in 2.1 of the report.