Included in this update: 

• Schools White Paper and SEND Review Green Paper
• School indicative budgets 2022-2023
• Falling Pupil Funding update
• Child Protection Conferences
• Birmingham Careers Service: Risk of NEET Students - Year 11, 12 & 13
• Birmingham Digital Futures (BDF) - University of Birmingham

Schools White Paper and SEND Review Green Paper

Schools will be aware that the government published the Schools White Paper and SEND Review Green Paper earlier this week. 

We are considering these reports in detail and look forward to engaging with schools on these in the coming weeks and months.

School indicative budgets 2022-2023

• Special School Academies

The indicative budget for Financial Year 2022-23 will be published by close of business on 31st March 2022.  

• Early Years Indicative budget 2022-23 

The indicative budget for Financial Year 2022-23  will be published by close of business on 31st March 2022.  

• Special School & Resource budget 2022-23 

The indicative budget for Special Schools will be published by close of business on 31st March 2022.  

All budget queries should be sent by email to: fairfunding@birmingham.gov.uk

Falling Pupil Funding update

• Local authorities are able to top slice the DSG to create a small fund to support good schools with falling rolls where local planning data shows that surplus places will be required within the next three financial years. The fund applies to all schools including academies.
• Both the amount of funding and criteria must be agreed by Schools Forum on annual basis and in accordance with criteria set by the Department for Education.
• Whilst Schools Forum can alter and agree the criteria to accommodate local needs, changes to the mandatory criteria requires DfE consent.
• There is a mandatory requirement that only schools judged to be Good or Outstanding at their last Ofsted inspection can access Falling Pupil Funding (FPF) unless the disapplication is agreed by the DfE at the request of the Local Authority.
• Other criteria include:
  • Surplus capacity exceeds 15% and numbers on roll are at least 5% lower than October 2021 census.
  • Local planning data shows the places will be required within the next 2 academic years.
  • The school will need to make redundancies in order to contain spending within its formula budget.
  • The school does not have a surplus balance in excess of 8% for primary schools and 5% for secondary schools of its school budget share as at 31st March 2021 and 31st March 2022 (or the relevant academic years in the case of academies).

2022/23 Falling Pupil Fund

• For 2022/23 Schools Forum agreed for us to apply to the DfE for the disapplication of the mandatory criterion that only schools judged to be Good or Outstanding at their last Ofsted inspection can access FPF.
• Schools experiencing falling rolls will be required to submit a business case in October 2022 after the census day. Details will be shared on the Schools Noticeboard.
• Where schools have submitted a business case in a previous year, they will need to ensure that these are updated using October 2022 census and resubmitted within the timeframe.
• Due to the limited funding, business cases received after the deadline will only be considered if there is any funding left over.
• The amount of funding for each school will be based on the assessment of the business case and availability of funding.
• Once we have received business cases from schools with falling rolls, we will submit our application for schools judged less than Good to the DfE to disapply the criteria.
• FPF will be allocated to the schools with successful business cases for one academic year (2022 – 23) with no ongoing commitment for any further FPF for future years.

Schools with queries about this should contact edsi.enquiries@birmingham.gov.uk 

Message from Birmingham Children’s Trust: Child Protection Conferences

You will be aware that since the Covid-19 pandemic and the first lockdown in March 2020 we have had to make significant adjustments to the way we conduct multi-agency child protection conferences.  Initially for a period, Conferences were conducted by the Principal Officer (Chair) via telephone contact with all relevant parties but this was far from ideal and in the summer of 2020 we introduced both virtual conferences and a new hybrid model for Initial Child Protection Conferences (ICPC’s) at The Willows in Bordesley Village.  At that time, this was supported by the government relaxing statutory guidance to enable these and other meetings like children in care reviews to take place virtually. 

The hybrid model of conferencing has been successful in many ways and was part of our vision to enable some professionals who were previously unable to physically attend Conferences contribute directly to the meeting, such as GPs, for example.  For the most part during this period, the parent(s), social worker, interpreter and Principal Officer have been present at the Willows with the remainder of the professionals attending virtually. We plan to retain the hybrid model both at the Willows (at least in the short-term) and use similar technology in the future at our North and South Hubs when these are fully operational.

However, since 1st October 2021, the relaxation of government guidance to enable virtual meetings has no longer been in place and so we should now be returning to face-to-face Conferences where possible.  This in effect means that core professionals such as social workers, police officers, health visitors and designated safeguarding leads within schools should be attending the Conference along with the parent(s) and where necessary an interpreter.   The key issue until now has been the availability of appropriate settings. 

Furthermore, the Strengthening Families model that we use to underpin the Conference fundamentally works better through relationship and connection with parents and with each other as partner agencies.  Some of the value of this interaction has inevitably been lost through virtual meetings. 

From Monday 25th April, we will have re-commissioned four meeting rooms at New Aston House to enable some ICPCs and a large number of Review Conferences to take place on a daily basis, alongside lifting the restrictions on room capacity at The Willows. There will of course be exceptional circumstances when practitioners are unable to attend and will need to do so virtually, but the default position from 26th April onwards will be to assume that the Conference is face-to-face unless otherwise stated.

We hope you will be in a position to support this transition back to face-to-face Conferences in enabling our multi-agency Conference process to be as effective as possible in safety planning for children and young people who may be at risk of significant harm.

Graham Tilby – Assistant Director, Safeguarding
Birmingham Children’s Trust
Graham.Tilby@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk 

Birmingham Careers Service: Risk of NEET Students - Year 11, 12 & 13

In response to Covid-19 and the disproportionate impact on the future career opportunities for young people, Birmingham Careers Service will be offering its RONI (risk of NEET) offer with effect from 1 April 2022. Careers Leads are invited to submit a referral form for any 2022 leaver they consider is at risk of not progressing into education, employment or training. 

Full details and a referral form are available at this link. 

Please be aware this does not replace the school's statutory duty to provide impartial and independent careers guidance.

Birmingham Digital Futures (BDF) - University of Birmingham

Birmingham employers collaborate to provide free support to schools to improve digital skills and careers outcomes. Birmingham Digital Futures (BDF) is an initiative started by the University of Birmingham, PwC and ‘Tech We Can’ to inspire and support young people across Birmingham and beyond to improve their digital skills by creating a unique, accessible, and free offering.

The first phase of the project launches in Birmingham schools this week using content from the ‘Tech We Can’ programme. The Tech We Can resources aim to inspire children about a future career in technology by highlighting: 

• the breadth of tech careers available; 
• the diversity of people who work in technology; 
• the many ways in which technology is used in everyday life; and 
• how technology careers relate to children’s passions and hobbies. 

There are a range of free Tech We Can resources available for teachers, students and parents to explore. These include: 

• ‘On demand’ recorded lessons (aimed at children aged 8-14). Each video lesson ranges from 15 - 40 minutes long, covers a different tech topic and includes a creative challenge for students.
• Lesson packs (aimed at children aged 8-14). Each lesson is mapped to the National Curriculum, is around two hours long, and comes with written instructions and a 10-minute tutorial video. Covering 14 different tech topics, the lesson packs are simple to use and tailored to different levels of technology.
• Role model videos (aimed at children aged 8-14 and young adults aged 15+). These short videos feature young women talking about their roles working in technology, how they came to work in tech and advice for students. 
• Animated lessons (aimed at children aged 5+). This series of animations is aimed at educating and inspiring children from an early age about technology and the people who work in technology.
• ‘Champions’ from our industry partners are available to visit schools in person or virtually and deliver the Tech We Can resources to the children to highlight practical examples of how students can start to think about a job in technology. 

To find out more please visit this link or contact: bhamdigitalfutures@contacts.bham.ac.uk