EFFECTIVE CHAIRS – Autumn 2024
New term, new academic year, new government, let’s start with what we know so far…
1.Ofsted. The government has announced key Ofsted changes that so far include:
2.Attendance. Attendance continues to be one of the key issues schools face and the new Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson has made it one of her key priorities. Many parents no longer believe it is their responsibility to ensure their children are in school every day, and the idea that every day in school matters has been abandoned by some since the pandemic.
The national figures for academic year 2023/24 had an overall absence rate of 7.2% and a Persistent absence rate of 20.7%, a slight improvement on 2022/23 but schools need to get closer to pre-pandemic 2018/19 when the overall absence rate was 4.7% and the persistent absence rate was 19.1%. 2023/24 absence rates break down by school phase/type as follows:
Working together to improve school attendance came into effect at the start of this term and has a useful summary table for governors and trustees on what their responsibilities are. All trusts and governing bodies should provide support and challenge to their schools around current trends on attendance by regularly reviewing attendance data at board meetings. This should include thorough examination of recent and historic trends at a school level, benchmarking to comparator schools within the trust, local authority area, region and nationwide and paying particular attention to attendance of pupil cohorts within their school(s) that have historically had poor attendance or that face entrenched barriers to attendance. See the DfE School Attendance Guidance Training Webinar, Effective governance that supports stronger attendance. Note the difference between children absent from education (registered at a school) and children missing education (not registered at a school and not receiving suitable education otherwise.)
To help with this key area of concern, we have produced a new DAG Busy Governance Guide to attendance.
Board to consider: Does your board regularly review attendance data and help school leaders focus support on the pupils who need it?
3.Funding
Headlines generated by school funding continue, so it is worth noting what will likely have an impact on our budgets as we await the new government’s budget later this term.
In light of the fact that the National Funding Formula (NFF) allocation has not yet been seen by local authorities (usually mid-July) Devon Local Authority has confirmed that the Autumn Schools Funding Consultation set for Tuesday 1 October – Tuesday 15 October 2024, has now been cancelled. The DfE has announced that ESFA (Education and Skills Funding Agency) will be closed down and the responsibility for schools funding moved into the DfE and linked to the Regional Improvement Teams, due to be launched in January 2025.
Teachers Pay:
The government accepted in full the recommendations of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) and The National Education Union’s (NEU) executive has recommended that its members accept the offer of a 5.5 per cent pay rise for teachers and leaders. The STRB report called for increases to teachers’ pay of 5.5 per cent at all grades and a 5.5 per cent increase to all allowance ranges. The 5.5 per cent award will apply from 1 September 2024 and applies to maintained schools, noting that academies have more autonomy over pay, but could choose to implement it. This will equate to an increase of more than £2,500 for the average teacher, taking the median salary for 2024-25 to over £49,000 according to government analysis.
The deal will cost in the region of £1.65 billion over a whole school year. The DfE are reported as saying that schools will receive almost £1.2 billion in additional funding to cover their costs in the 2024-25 financial year. Whilst the DfE have said that it would “fully fund” both the rise for teachers and leaders and a proposed increase for support staff, there may well be an expectation that schools will also be expected to use “headroom” in their budgets identified by the previous government earlier this year. Under the last government the DfE agreed to provide schools with an additional £900 million for the 2024-25 financial year, with the expectation that all schools would use these additional funds for teacher pay.
Recovery Premium and The National Tutoring Programme have now ended. All organisations who received the National Tutoring Programme grant must submit a year-end statement by 26 September 2024.
Increase to educational spend. The last government’s increase to the educational spending should mean that core schools budget will rise by four per cent in 2024/25.
Nursery. The previous government has increased the funding rates to local authorities for both three- and four-year-olds and two year olds. The additional £204 million of funding was providing an uplift for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to early years providers for delivering the government funded hours to parents. From September 2024, eligible working parents with children from 9 months will be able to access up to 15 hours per week of funded childcare. The childcare offer was planned to be extended from September 2025, so that up to 30 hours per week of funded childcare will be available to all under 5s of eligible working parents.
Pupil Premium. Schools and councils receive pupil premium funding for every pupil who has been eligible for free school meals at some point in the last six years and also receive a higher amount for looked-after and previously looked-after children. This year, the basic rate for primary schools will be £1,480, and the rate for secondary schools will be £1,050. The rate paid to schools and councils for looked-after and previously looked-after children at both phases will be £2,570.
Boards to consider: Does our school have well trained finance governors/trustees and does the board provide full accountability for the funding it receives as evidenced by up to date statements on the school website?
4.SEND
The wait for new national SEND standards for the provision that children and young people should expect to receive continues and Devon Local Authority is still running with a very significant overspend of the SEND High Needs Block. Devon Local Authority is now part of the ‘safety valve’ scheme to reduce the deficit driven by SEND demand. The grant follows high needs reforms and savings targets agreed for local authorities with the highest dedicated school grant deficits. Devon Local Authority undertakes to reach a positive in-year balance on its Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) account by the end of 2026-27 and in each subsequent year. The Department agreed to pay to the authority an additional £38 million of DSG before the end of the financial year 2023-24. In subsequent financial years, subject to compliance with the conditions set, the Department should pay further reducing DSG sums bringing the total grant to just under £95 million. This funding will be provided in instalments and subject to continued satisfactory progress. Subject to full compliance, Devon County Council should it is hoped, eliminate their cumulative deficit no later than 2031-32. It seems likely that the DfE will uphold the existing safety valve scheme agreements with local authorities, but may not agree to any more.
Devon schools should expect SEND provision to continue to be in the spotlight this academic year. DAG has produced a DAG Busy Governor Guide to SEND to bring together all the key information boards need in one document.
Boards to consider: How does the number of SEND children in my school compare with the National average and the Devon average? (noting that Devon has higher rates than National) and are all SEND children within my school supported by a plan for additional provision and do we use the Devon Graduated Response Tool or other appropriate plan throughout our organisation?
5. Safeguarding.
Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) originally published for information in May 2024, is now in force and replaces previous versions. The Local Authority has also published The Safeguarding and Child Protection model policy (July 2024) and the Level 2 Basic PowerPoint (September 2024) for sharing with staff, governors and volunteers and these are now on the website, Safeguarding policies, guidance and training – Support for schools and settings (devon.gov.uk). Schools and academies should ensure that they have the most up to date policies in place. While this policy is correct, including embedded links, at point of publication, schools are being asked to ensure that as national or local changes occur, the policy is updated. The Safeguarding Team will of course keep schools informed throughout the school year through half-termly newsletters of changes or amendments they are aware of.
There are a few specific areas within KCSIE that remain under review, following further information or government changes, including:
Boards to consider: Is safeguarding training up to date across the whole board?
6.Environmental Sustainability. The DfE require that by 2025, all education settings will have nominated a sustainability lead and put in place a climate action plan. This applies to all school settings, both maintained and academies and governors and trustees can lead change in this important area. The DfE are clear that senior decision makers, SLT and governors should support and drive school sustainable activity. They should:
DAG understands that while there is a lot of relevant advice and resources available, particularly online and numerous initiatives underway at local, regional and national scale, it can be somewhat overwhelming and difficult to navigate for those who are new to the subject. The DAG Sustainability Forum on 24th June 2024 brought together experts from Devon County Council, the Diocese of Exeter, DfE Climate Ambassadors and Let’s Go Zero to discuss with members how schools can get ready for the Department for Education’s sustainability leadership and climate action plans initiative. The recording is now available on the DAG website, please click here to watch a recording of this important DAG Forum.
Boards to consider: How do we ensure that our school and our board engage with this important initiative?
7.Supporting Governance.
DAG has been supporting governance in Devon for over 30 years and publishes over 150 articles each year for more informed governance, all free to DAG members. Please ensure that your board is accessing all the support it can to deliver better governance leading to better outcomes for all Devon pupils. See more on the DAG website www.dagdevon.uk.
Conference: The Devon Association of Governance Conference will be held on Saturday morning, 16th November 2024 at Exeter Racecourse. How do you future proof the governance of your school? In a time of considerable change how do you ensure that effective governance is firmly rooted within your school or trust and can deal with whatever comes down the track? Come and join us on 16th November to hear from experts in their field about what the future holds.
Please book your place by registering on the DAG website www.dagdevon.uk. Early booking is recommended as places are limited.
DAG Community Networks – Chairs: Support for chairs each term from across the Devon local authority to come together in a free interactive session to discuss the latest issues affecting governance. Those who attend are chairs of governing boards, chairs of academy trusts and chairs of local academy bodies.
DAG Community Networks – Clerks: DAG supports clerks and governance professionals each term to come together in a free interactive hour-long session recognising the key role clerks have in delivering effective governance.
DAG Community Networks – Governors: DAG will be supporting all governors and trustees to come together in a free interactive hour-long session to consider key responsibilities.
Each forum has a theme and is facilitated by DAG board members or associate members with considerable governance experience, dates for this term will be available soon.
Questions for the board to consider: Are all opportunities being taken to upskill the board, share experiences and concerns and support all board members and the clerk?
7. What’s out there:
Ofsted: Changes to judgement wording with immediate effect, see above.
New Academy Trust Handbook: The latest edition of the Academy Trust Handbook, came into effect on 1 September 2024. For all trusts, compliance with the handbook is a condition of their funding agreement and is therefore one of the most important documents that trust boards need to consult.
Maintained Schools Governance Guide: This non-statutory guidance published in March 2024 replaces the governance handbook 2019 and is a reference document for those involved in local-authority-maintained school governance, bringing together essential information from a range of sources on the governing body’s roles and legal responsibilities.
Academy Trust Governance Guide: This non-statutory guidance published in March 2024 replaces the governance handbook 2019 and is a reference document for those involved in trust governance. It provides essential information from a range of sources on the trust board’s roles and legal responsibilities.
Attendance: ‘Working together to improve school attendance: This came into effect from 19 August 2024 and ‘Summary table of responsibilities for school attendance also applies from 19 August 2024’. The status of these documents is now statutory. See above for more information.
Wraparound Childcare: Devon is supporting schools and providers to start wraparound childcare provision from September 2024. Guidance is available on how schools should respond to requests for wraparound childcare. The ambition is that by 2026, all parents and carers of primary school-aged children who need it will be able to access term time childcare in their local area from 8am-6pm.
Protective security guidance: Guidance was issued last term on how education settings should prepare for and respond to terrorism and other major incidents. The non statutory guidance ‘Protective security and preparedness for education settings’ applies to all education settings and aims to improve security awareness, help staff and learners identify security vulnerabilities and suspicious activities and sets out practical low cost steps to improve preparedness and response plans. Has your school appointed a Security Lead responsible for co-ordinating and overseeing the setting’s protective security and preparedness?
PE and Sport Premium digital tool for use this academic year.
Music: All schools should have a music development plan, as set out in the national plan for music education. From this academic year, schools will be expected to publish a summary of their music development plan on their website. The summary should reflect how a school delivers music education to pupils and what changes they are planning in future years. Schools should then update the summary before the start of each new academic year.
Admissions: It is important that all boards consider if they are compliant when it comes to their role in the admissions process. All schools are requested to review their entry in the Local Authority Admissions Directory and advise on any amendments that are required – headteacher names, contact details, establishment status, oversubscription criteria, Published Admission Numbers (PAN) and Numbers on Roll (NOR). This month The Local Authority will send a link to draft policy documents for all schools that are their own admissions authority and to traded service academies for approval. If a clerk in an own admissions authority school has not been made aware of the new draft policy, then it may be that the school has forgotten to forward it to the clerk. Own admissions governing boards and academy trusts should have a meeting scheduled to consider these or their own drafts and whether any changes are to be proposed.
Are you an own admissions authority school? See DAG Busy Governance Guide to Admissions to find out and help understand this complicated subject.
School Defibrillators: Is your school’s defibrillator registered on The Circuit? The Circuit is the national defibrillator network from The British Heart Foundation which maps defibrillators across the UK. It allows ambulance services to locate the nearest registered defibrillator when a bystander calls 999 in response to a cardiac arrest. The Circuit also sends maintenance reminders to defibrillator Guardians (the individuals responsible for looking after the defibrillator). These reminders support Guardians in making sure that their defibrillators are always ready to save lives. Have a look at the British Heart Foundation Defibrillator finder service to find out more.
Boards to consider:
How do we ensure that we stay up to date and aware of what is happening within the education sector both locally and nationally that will have a direct impact on our school?
16-11-2024