Deborah Turner commented that in the she has seen articles saying parents were feeling frustrated by the process of signing up for the 30 hours provision and the lack of available places. Amanda replied that she had had hundreds of calls from parents about problems with the Government website for signing up, but no calls about not being able to find a place. She also said that the additional hours (between 15 and 30) can only start at the beginning of a term, so delays in obtaining the required access code from HRMC meant parents were losing a term of those additional hours. The LA could choose to fund pupils from mid-term but were not doing so. HMRC are assuring everyone that their website will improve over time. A further impact of the additional hours provision was that some parents were choosing to defer their child starting reception from September to January or April as private nurseries were more flexible with timings for working parents i.e. 8am to 6pm provision. Deborah Turner if schools had been made aware of the potential impact on reception numbers in school. Amanda replied that it was very early days yet and they were monitoring the position. The Forum agreed the report’s recommendations. 17/35 30 hours of early education DSG capital Investment – Amanda Gordon presented the paper to update the Schools Forum on the use of the funding designated to support capital projects for the creation of places for three and four year olds to address the issues of undersupply of places in order to meet the requirements for 30 hours of nursery education. Chris Wayment asked where the deficits of supply were. Amanda replied that the shortfalls were in Glossop, Woodville and Belper. PVI providers are opening up new nurseries and/or expanding to take up the slack and are accepting the rate of funding. However, there is a problem in Woodville where, despite an extensive search for properties or the purchase of new suitable property/land, no new site for any LA provision has been identified. The Forum agreed the report’s recommendation. 17/36 Dates of next meeting 6th November 2017 - 4.30pm-6.30pm - Rangewood Room, Post Mill Centre, Sth Normanton. 17/37 Other Business With the permission of the Chair, Andrew Critchlow made available leaflets regarding a survey for schools about the EU School Milk Subsidy Scheme. The meeting closed at 8.05pm.
Deborah Turner commented that in the she has seen articles saying parents were feeling frustrated by the process of signing up for the 30 hours provision and the lack of available places. Amanda replied that she had had hundreds of calls from parents about problems with the Government website for signing up, but no calls about not being able to find a place. She also said that the additional hours (between 15 and 30) can only start at the beginning of a term, so delays in obtaining the required access code from HRMC meant parents were losing a term of those additional hours. The LA could choose to fund pupils from mid-term but were not doing so. HMRC are assuring everyone that their website will improve over time. A further impact of the additional hours provision was that some parents were choosing to defer their child starting reception from September to January or April as private nurseries were more flexible with timings for working parents i.e. 8am to 6pm provision. Deborah Turner if schools had been made aware of the potential impact on reception numbers in school. Amanda replied that it was very early days yet and they were monitoring the position. The Forum agreed the report’s recommendations. 17/35 30 hours of early education – DSG capital Investment Amanda Gordon presented the paper to update the Schools Forum on the use of the funding designated to support capital projects for the creation of places for three and four year olds to address the issues of undersupply of places in order to meet the requirements for 30 hours of nursery education. Chris Wayment asked where the deficits of supply were. Amanda replied that the shortfalls were in Glossop, Woodville and Belper. PVI providers are opening up new nurseries and/or expanding to take up the slack and are accepting the rate of funding. However, there is a problem in Woodville where, despite an extensive search for properties or the purchase of new suitable property/land, no new site for any LA provision has been identified. The Forum agreed the report’s recommendation. 17/36 Dates of next meeting 6th November 2017 - 4.30pm-6.30pm - Rangewood Room, Post Mill Centre, Sth Normanton. 17/37 Other Business With the permission of the Chair, Andrew Critchlow made available leaflets regarding a survey for schools about the EU School Milk Subsidy Scheme. The meeting closed at 8.05pm.
2017-11-06-schools-forum-5-october-2017.docx