TERMS OF REFERENCE
THE SCHOOLS FORUM
Representatives from schools, academies and free schools make up
the Schools Forum. There is also some
representation from non-school organisations, such as nursery and
16-19 education providers.
The Forum
acts as a consultative body on some issues and a decision making
body on others.
The Forum
acts in a consultative role for:
changes
to the local funding formula (the local authority
makes the final decision)
proposed
changes to the operation of the minimum funding
guarantee
changes
to or new contracts affecting schools (school meals,
for example)
arrangements
for pupils with special educational needs, in pupil
referral units, and in early years provision
The Forum
decides:
how much funding may be retained by the local authority within the
dedicated schools grant (for example, providing an admissions
service, or providing additional funding for growing
schools)
any proposed carry forward of deficits on central spend from one
year to the next
proposals
to de-delegate funding from maintained primary and
secondary schools (for example, for staff supply cover, insurance,
behaviour support)
changes
to the scheme of financial management
PRINCIPLES
Whilst
members are representatives of their specific sectors or phase,
they will be expected to seek feedback
from the schools they represent.
Schools
Forum members should consider the needs of the whole educational community, rather than using their
position on the Schools Forum to advance their own sectional or
specific interests.
Schools staff and governors should make sure that the
representatives they choose are competent to act as their
advocates.
They should also ensure that they are aware of
Schools Forum business and make their views known about decisions
affecting schools’ finance.
Local authorities must publish all Schools Forum
papers in advance of each meeting.
Any recommendations should be clear and local
authority responsible officers should attend meetings to provide
further information and advice.
All Schools Forum meetings must be open to the
public. Observers do not have an automatic right to speak at
meetings, but the chair may allow contributions where
appropriate.
CONSTITUTION
The title
of the Forum shall be the ‘Schools Forum for Tameside’
herein after referred to as ‘The Schools
Forum’.
Introduction
The
Schools Forum has been established in
accordance with the provisions of the Schools Forums (England)
Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2261). The
following document lays out a revised constitution and terms of
reference of The Schools Forum, building upon the original
documentation drawn up in June 2003.
The Schools Forum is a separate statutory
body and, as such, is not a committee of the local
authority.
The School and Early Years Finance (England)
Regulations 2021 amended The Schools Forums (England) (Coronavirus)
(Amendment) Regulations 2020 to make permanent provisions to enable
Schools Forum meetings to be held remotely. This includes (but is
not limited to) telephone conferencing, video conferencing, live
webcast, and live interactive streaming. Where a Schools’
Forum decides to hold a public meeting by remote means only, the
Forum should provide support or make alternative arrangements so
that any interested parties who do not have telephone or online
access can attend virtual meetings.
Functions of the Forum
To make decisions in relation
to:
de-delegation
from mainstream maintained schools budgets (separate
approval will be required by the primary and secondary phase
members of schools forum), for prescribed services to be provided
centrally
to create a fund for significant pupil growth in
order to support the local authority’s duty for place
planning (basic need), including pre-opening and diseconomy of
scale costs, and agree the criteria for maintained schools and
academies to access this fund
to create a fund for falling rolls for good or
outstanding schools if the schools’ surplus capacity is
likely to be needed within the next three years to meet rising
pupil numbers and agree the criteria for maintained schools and
academies to access this fund
agreeing
other centrally retained budgets, including for
local authority statutory responsibilities (where these relate to
maintained schools only, voting is by the primary, secondary,
special and PRU members of schools forum)
funding
for central early years expenditure, which may
include funding for checking eligibility of pupils for an early
years place, the early years pupil premium and/or free school
meals
authorising
a reduction in the schools budget in order to fund a
deficit arising in central expenditure, or from de-delegated
services, which is to be carried forward from a previous funding
period in the 2019 to 2020 funding year. The Schools Block is ring-fenced. Local authorities require Schools Forum approval
in order to
move up to 0.5% from the Schools Block to other
blocks
in each of these cases, the local authority can appeal to the
Secretary of State if the Schools Forum rejects its
proposal.
The Local Authority must consult the Schools Forum
in relation to:
amendments to
the school funding formula, for which the voting is restricted by
the exclusion of non-schools members, except for PVI
representatives
arrangements for the education of pupils with special educational
needs in particular the places to be commissioned by the local
authority and schools, and the arrangements for paying top-up
funding
arrangements for the use of pupil referral units and the education
of children otherwise than at school, in particular the places to
be commissioned by the local authority and schools, and the
arrangements for paying top-up funding
arrangements for early years provision
administrative arrangements for the allocation of central government
grants paid to schools via the local authority
Membership and Attendance
The Schools Forum will be made
up of schools, academies and free schools members and
non-school members as listed below.
Non-schools members will make up no more than a third of a Schools
Forum's total membership
Schools Members
Members should be headteachers, governors or bursars
(they may be represented by other senior members of staff within their
school). Governors can include interim
executive members of an interim executive board. Membership will be determined in accordance with
regulation.
Non-Schools members
A
representative of providers of 16-19 education must be elected from those providers.
Early years’ providers from the private,
voluntary and independent (PVI) sector.
Other attendees who are permitted to contribute to a Schools Forum
meeting:
the
Director of Children’s Services at
the authority or their representative;
the
Chief Finance Officer at the authority or
their representative;
any
elected member of the authority who has
primary responsibility for Children’s Services or education
in the authority;
any
elected member of the authority who has
primary responsibility for the resources of the
authority;
any
person who is invited by the Forum to
attend in order to provide financial or technical advice to the
Forum;
an
observer appointed by the Secretary of
State; and
any person presenting a paper or other
item to the Forum that is on the meeting’s agenda, but that
person’s right to speak shall be limited to matters related
to the item that the person is presenting.
Meetings will be open to the public, although there
is no automatic opportunity for members of the public to
speak. Public involvement can come
through Forum invitation only. Where the Forum discusses matters of
a confidential nature e.g. contracts where there is a commercial
interest, then this should be considered
private and confidential and members of the public
excluded. In all cases the principles of the Local Government (Access
to Information) Act apply.
Meetings and Proceedings of the Schools
Forum
The local authority shall act as clerk to The Schools
Forum and ensure that all of the procedural aspects of Forum
performance are complied
with.
The Schools Forum shall meet at least four times per
year.
The Forum shall be quorate if at least 40% of the
voting membership is available at the meeting.
A Chair and Vice Chair shall be elected annually from
those members present at the first meeting of the academic
year; the term of office being one
year. Any elected member or officer of
the authority cannot stand as Chair.
A member of Schools Forum may nominate an alternate
to attend a meeting if he or she is unable to do so, but the
alternate must also fulfil the same criteria as the member; they
must be from the same category of school within the local
authority. The appointed member, prior
to the meeting, shall notify the name of the substitute member to
the officer acting as clerk to the Forum.
Any member who fails to attend four consecutive
meetings of Schools Forum, even where a substitute attended on his
or her behalf, may have their membership terminated.
A draft agenda shall be agreed for the 12 month period. The
Chair of Forum must decide upon the agenda for the meeting
following consultation with members of the Forum. The final agenda and written papers are to
be circulated 5 working days before the
start of the meeting. Verbal or tabled reports will only be accepted in extenuating
circumstances.
Charging of expenses
All expenses of the Forum shall
be met by the Authority, and charged to the schools budget.
Expenses can be claimed in line with the
forum expenses procedure.
Future Amendments to the Terms of
Reference
Membership and terms of reference
will be reviewed by the Local Authority at the start of each
academic year.