Category: Governance

The Department for Education (DfE) has launched a consultation on changes to the way the government funds free childcare and early years education for 3 and 4 year olds.

The new funding formula will replace the current system, which is based on how much a council has historically spent rather than how much it actually costs to meet the local need.

The proposals include:

• Introducing a new early years national funding formula for 3 and 4 year olds;
• Changing the way local authorities fund the early years providers in their area;
• Making sure that children with special educational needs or disabilities attract the extra funding they need.

The new formula is based on 3 factors:

1. A ‘universal base rate’ of funding for each child, so that every local area is funded fairly for the core costs of delivering childcare;
2. An ‘additional needs factor’, so that funding takes into account the extra costs of supporting children with additional needs to achieve good learning and development outcomes;
3. The cost of providing childcare in different parts of the country;

The consultation which closes on 22 September 2016 can be found on the DfE website (external link).

Ofsted has discontinued the School Data Dashboards. These have been produced for the last three years with the aim of giving each school’s governors key information on the standards achieved in the school.

At the time of their launch in February 2013, Sir Michael Wilshaw said that there were now “no excuses” for governors not to know their schools well enough.

Ofsted will cease publishing then altogether in September, but they have already begun to be phased out as Ofsted has not populated them with the 2015 SATs and GCSE results.
 

While the dashboards are no longer to be provided, there is a new DfE tool to assist comparisons within a school and beyond,  Compare School and College Performance, an open-access online tool.

If you enter the name of a school you are given headline performance information on its most recent Key Stage 2 SATs results if it is a primary school and the Key Stage 4 exams if it is a secondary. Information on the trend over three years is also given, together with key data on finance and the numbers of staff. The site offers a list of similar schools from across the country so that you can select any of these to see how its outcomes compare with that of your own school.

The chart is currently in beta form, and the DfE is seeking feedback from users with a view to producing an improved version in due course.  By providing your feedback on this tool you will be able to shape the improved version
 

Following changes to intervention powers introduced by the Education and Adoption Act 2016, the Department for Education has released guidance (external link) on the powers that can be taken in respect of a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU).

The Secretary of State now has a duty to make an academy order in respect of a PRU that has been judged 'inadequate' by Ofsted. This duty will apply to PRUs judged inadequate prior to 27 June 2016as well as  to PRUs that are judged inadequate subsequently.

Once made, the academy order can only be revoked by the Secretary of State in exceptional circumstances such as where a PRU is deemed to be no longer being viable and therefore making it more appropriate for it to close.

The Department for Education has provided further information about the competency framework for governance promised in March’s white paper. The National Schools Commissioner, Sir David Carter, has convened a working group of experienced chairs of governors and one clerk to support the production of the framework, which will set out the skills, knowledge and behaviours required for effective governance.

A first draft will be produced by early July and will be put out to consultation with stakeholders. As part of the Advisory Group on Governance (AGOG), it is the DfE’s intention that the final framework will be published in the autumn term. The framework will be used as a basis from which to make recommendations about the content of the National College of Teaching and Leadership’s professional development programmes for chairs and clerks from September 2017. It will also be used to produce a national standard for governor induction training.

Governors are reminded that all schools are required to have a policy on supporting pupils with medical conditions.

Governing bodies must ensure that arrangements are in place in schools to support pupils at school with medical conditions.

In addition, governing bodies should ensure that school leaders consult health and social care professionals, pupils and parents to ensure that the needs of children with medical conditions are properly understood and effectively supported.