Agenda item

Nicola Ponton introduced the report (Agenda Item 8), which aimed to confirm the funding method proposed for iCollege in March 2023 taking in to account the increased demand for iCollege since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nicola Ponton reported that a decision was required on two items. The first item was seeking guaranteed upfront funding for iCollege as currently there was a lag each term, which made managing the budget particularly difficult. Jacquie Davies reported that this would bring iCollege in line with how mainstream schools were funded and prevent the roller coaster effect and anxiety amongst governors when it looked like iCollege was going into deficit when it was not. Jacquie Davies reported that the area had been spoken about the previous year however, had not come to fruition. 

Nicola Ponton explained that the second area where a decision was required was for increased provision at the PRU for pupils in Key Stage Three. There had been a lot of work undertaken by secondary heads to lead on the area. It was proposed that the places be increased at the Pod Plus (for EHCP students) by six places to allow for year nine students. It was proposed that there be an additional 12 places at integration to enable year seven and eight learners to follow a bespoke intervention programme to enable them to reintegrate back into mainstream school and hopefully address some of the difficulties they had been facing with the emotional dysregulation. 

Reverend Mark Bennet reported that in his role as Governor at Kennet School he had become aware of how positive some of the iCollege interventions were but also how challenging it was for schools to access places. It was good to see that more places were planned, however, considering the increased needs pupils were currently presenting with, Reverend Bennet queried if it was a sufficient number of places. Nicola Ponton reported that the increase was likely related to Covid and from young people recovering from the experience of being at home. The additional 12 places proposed was roughly in line with the extra demand being seen for iCollege. Nicola Ponton added that it was still unknown exactly how young people were recovering but based on the information available it seemed the most reasonable proposal. It was also important not to commit too much high needs funding if it was not needed.

Catie Colston referred to section 2.1 of the report, which confirmed the upfront method of funding and asked if her understanding was right that the method of funding would stay the same but the timing would change. Nicola Ponton confirmed this was correct. Catie Colston further queried if, as a result of the change of timing, there would be any negative impact on other local authority services or schools that the Forum needed to be aware of. Nicola Ponton confirmed it was simply a change to timings to ensure iCollege was provided with funding in the same way as mainstream schools.

Keith Harvey commented that it was highly unlikely that there would be lower numbers of pupils needing increased support anytime soon. He felt that the number of children going through to primary school with significant difficulties was increasing in younger age groups and therefore it was likely there would be much higher need for a longer period of time as a result of Covid.

Gemma Piper felt that numbers needed to be captured earlier on, down to year four, to help identify where the priority cases were. There was data available, particularly in primary schools, regarding potential numbers and this would help to map for the future. It was felt numbers would not reduce for some time yet.

Maria Morgan agreed with Keith Harvey’s comments and that increased levels of need were being seen at a much younger age. Until all the services that were in place prior to the pandemic were back in place, this increase would be difficult to manage.

Jacquie Davies reported that they already had an understanding of the primary level data because they knew about the current year sixes that would be moving through to secondary school. The Outreach Team was also already working with a number of pupils in years four and five. Jacquie Davies reported she did not have the data to hand but the resources were in place to capture the data.

Jacquie Davies reported that the increase in capacity at Key Stage Three would provide flexibility to be able to do more outreach work.  

Keith Harvey proposed that the two recommendations set out in section two of the report were approved and this was seconded by Catie Colston. The Chair invited the Forum to vote on the proposal and at the vote the motion was approved.

RESOLVED that:

• The Schools’ Forum approved the recommendation for a method of ‘up-front’ funding for iCollege.
• The Schools’ Forum approved the recommendation for additional places at iCollege as set out in the report.