CAMPAIGNING

Ahead of a free Alliance Connect session this month, we look at what schools forums do and why they can be important for early years providers

What is a schools forum?
Schools forums were introduced in 2012 to help local authorities consult on issues relating to schools budgets. Each local schools forum advises its local authority on proposed changes to education funding.

Local authorities are required to have a schools forum. Each forum must include representatives from primary and secondary schools, academies, post-16 educators, maintained nurseries and at least one early years representative from the private and voluntary sector.

There is no set size for the forums but non-school members must not make up more than one third of the total number of representatives.

What do schools forums do?
Forums advise their local authority on matters such as education budgets, changes to local funding, changes to school contracts and funding arrangements for children with special needs and disabilities.

Schools forum panels also help make decision about how much funding should be retained by the local authority within the dedicated schools grant and proposals to carry forward deficits or redirect funding.

Why are schools forums important?
While schools forums have a mainly consultative role, they are able to make decisions on some local authority proposals including on funding for central early years expenditure and the early years pupil premium.

With rising costs and stretched budgets, ensuring that funding decisions are made with input from early years providers is more important than ever. Unfortunately, a recent Alliance survey found that more than a third of early years providers had never heard of a schools forum, while less than one in five of those who had felt confident that they knew what their local forum was responsible for.

How can I find out about my local schools forum?
Your local authority must keep a record of the composition of its schools forum – including who each member represents. Check your local authority website for details about your local schools forum and who your representative is.

The details of when meetings are being held and the agenda for each session should be shared in advance of each schools forum meeting. Check your local authority website to find details about the meetings in your area.

Schools forum meetings are public meetings so anyone can attend and minutes should be distributed following each meeting, although some elements may not be made public.