The Head of Contracts and School Organisation gave an overview of the report.

A panel member asked if schools budgets will be protected as the funding follows the pupil. The Head of Contracts and School Organisation said the council is not generally in a position to protect schools budgets as school funding is determined by a national funding formula. The council can provide advice and some schools may find it beneficial to share resources at the management level.

A panel member asked if decisions about school places can be determined by the council rather than individual schools. The Head of Contracts and School Organisation said the council has statutory powers for Community Schools and to some extent Voluntary Aided schools but not Academies; the preference is always to work in partnership. Enforcement would only be a last resort.

A panel member asked for figures on the cost of the additional schools places and if the council should have found short term accommodation as the need for additional school places was temporary.

The Head of Contracts and School Organisation said that none of the external bodies providing population and pupil projections were of the view that it was temporary at the time of expansions, but we were cautious as soon as there was indication;  the expansions completed around 2016 some temporary classrooms were used. The expansion programme was a multi-million pound project and was largely funded by the government.

The Director of Children, Schools and Families said there had always been a pragmatic approach to projection of school places with recognition that the GLA projections are considered to be at the higher end of the scale and therefore the Council has been cautious.

Panel members asked why there has been increase in demand in special educational needs and if there is a strategy to address this. The Director of Children, Schools and Families said there is an increase nationally, the age range for children in receipt of education health and care plans have increased from 5-19 years to 0-25 years.  There has been an SEN strategy over a period of time. The approach has been to increase places in special schools as Merton historically had low numbers and support children in mainstream schools wherever possible.

A panel member asked how schools are adapting to change in the school population. The Assistant Director of Education and Early Help said the churn is significant and schools are managing this process, they use the induction process for new children, screening for SEN. Schools are familiar with looking at the data to inform their development plans and how processes might need to be adapted to respond to change in population.

A panel member asked if there will be extra support for schools given the deficit in the dedicated schools grant. The Director of Children, Schools and Families said negotiations will take place with the Department for Education.

A panel member asked about the impact on Head teacher’s pay and support available to schools. The Assistant Director of Education and Early Help said discussions are taking place with individual schools and they are encouraged to look at staffing and curriculum models. Head teachers’ pay may be affected and this will be discussed with Governing Bodies.