Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Deputy John Bennett, Caroline Haines, Tim Campbell and Helen Sanson.

Sheriff & Alderman William Russell declared a non-pecuniary interest in Item 9 (Review of Funding to the Guildhall School Music Trust and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for Scholarships) as a Member of the Board of Governors of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 25 May 2017.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 May 2017 were approved as a correct record.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

Members considered an update report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding the Education Strategy.

RESOLVED, that Members

·         Approve the updated prioritised actions for Objective 1 and Objective 3 of the Education Strategy 2016-19.

·         Agree that officers continue to refine the prioritised actions in consultation with the Chairman of the Education Board, and report back in September with a final version of prioritised actions for Objective 1 and 3, and an action plan for the 2017/18 academic year.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

Members considered an update report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding activities and events undertaken in support of the Education Strategy, and the following points were made.

·         The Education Policy Manager agreed to update Members outside of the meeting on the details regarding the length and content of the Prefects’ Leadership Course.

·         A Member requested that events such as the City of London Freemen’s School Residential Course should be advertised to the City Family of Schools earlier in the year.

RECEIVED

The Education Strategy Director to be heard.

The Education Strategy Director noted that there were no safeguarding issues to bring to the attention of the Board.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services and The Chamberlain.

Members considered a joint update report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services and the Chamberlain regarding the Education Budget. Members requested that future iterations of the budget omit the revised budget figure and instead focus on reporting variances against the agreed budget.

RESOLVED, that Members

·         Approve the proposed revised Education budget and note the latest forecast Outturn position.

·         Note that there has been a £4k increase in the overall budget as a result of an additional corporate funding to cover expected higher pension costs. Apart from this amendment, total central and local risk allocations remain the same although detailed allocations have been revised.

Report of the The Chamberlain and the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

Members considered a joint report of the Chamberlain and the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding the Revenue Outturn 2016/17.

RECEIVED

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services and The Chamberlain.

Members considered a joint report of the Director of Community Services and the Chamberlain regarding a review of funding for the Guildhall School Trust and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for scholarships and the following points were made.

·         In response to a question, the Education Policy Manager clarified that the funding went towards both bursaries and scholarships.

·         Members noted that they were minded to approve the recommendations set out within the paper subject to future reporting from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama featuring detail on the allocation between scholarship and bursary funding. Future reporting should also include detail on whether funding awards were means tested.

RESOLVED, that Members

·         Agree to continue the City Corporation’s payment of £30,000 to the School to fund scholarships for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 financial years subject to the School reporting back annually to the Education Board on the numbers of scholarships awarded and the impact of the grant.

·         Agree to review the payment again after a further two years’ funding in the context of the City Corporation’s education priorities at the time.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer.

Members considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer regarding revised eligibility criteria for the City Educational Trust Fund and the City of London Corporation Combined Education Charity.

RESOLVED, that Members

·         Approve the amended eligibility criteria for the Charities; and

·         Approve the dates for the next deadline of the Education & Employment theme of the Central Grants Programme.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

Members considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding the appointment of governors to new schools’ local governing bodies and the following points were made.

·         Members commented that the balance of skills across the various local governing bodies was promising, but that Highgate Hill and Newham Collegiate Sixth could benefit from some more business skills.

·         The Chairman noted that Dame Colette Bowe had been identified as potential Governor for Highbury Grove and would be put forward for consideration by the City of London Academies Trust.

·         The Chairman added that two vacancies had arisen on the Board of the City of London Academy Islington.

·         The Deputy Chairman noted that the skills audit template used by the Education Unit and the City of London Academies Trust could be reviewed to ensure it accurately captured governor skills sets.

RESOLVED, that Members

·         Note the City of London Academies Trust Board had approved the appointment of Trust Governors on the local governing bodies of the Trust’s new schools, as per Appendix 1.

·         Approve the Chairmen of each local governing body, as per the Sponsorship Agreement.

·         Note that a Chairman was still being sought for the City of London Academy Highgate Hill.

·         Grant delegated authority to the Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman, to appoint to the two vacancies expected on the Board of the City of London Academy Islington.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members considered a report of the Town Clerk on action taken since the last meeting.

RECEIVED

The Director of Academy Development to be heard.

The Director of Academy Development was heard regarding the academies development programme and the following points were made.

·         Highgate Hill, Shoreditch Park and Primary Academy Islington were all scheduled to open in September 2017. Newham Collegiate Sixth would open in March 2018 due to ongoing lease negotiations. The London Borough of Newham would provide funding for the period September 2017 – March 2018.

·         There were two issues concerning Highbury Grove, namely the fact that a neighbouring school shared private finance initiative (PFI) infrastructure with Highbury Grove, and second whether a proposed one form of entry (1FE) increase should be deferred one year whilst the school was absorbed into the City of London Academies Trust.

·         In response to a question from a Member, the Director of Academy Development noted that admissions numbers for the three academies were as follows: 130 for Shoreditch Park, 44 for Primary Academy Islington and 86 for Highgate Hill. Both pan London and local factors affected the number of acceptances versus the number of applications.

·         The Chairman noted that the City of London Corporation had overseen a significant expansion of its academy offer in recent years and, given that the skills element of the Education Strategy was an emerging focus of the Board, he would welcome a steer from Members on the proposal that further academy expansion be deferred unless a very pressing case could be made for the City of London Corporation to sponsor a further academy.

·         In response to a comment from the Chairman, the Education Strategy Director noted that capital works to Highbury Grove would not prove an issue to the existing site, as access was directly from the road and would not affect the access to the existing school. Project management would be overseen by the City of London Academies Trust, and the

Report of the Chair of the Learning & Engagement Forum.

Members considered a report of the Chair of the City of London Learning & Engagement Forum regarding the establishment of a cultural education partnership. The Chairman noted that the funding for the proposed learning initiative had been agreed in principle by the Policy and Resources Committee, but that a satisfactory business case had yet to be presented to him and the Deputy Chairman under delegated authority. To allow the project to progress, Members therefore agreed to release £30,000 of the agreed funding subject to a further report and business case being submitted to a future meeting of the Board in late 2017.

RESOLVED, that Members approve the release of £30,000 of the agreed £150,000 funding to allow the proposal progress, subject to a business case being submitted to a future meeting of the Education Board for approval.

Report of the Director of Open Spaces.

Members considered a report of the Director of Open Spaces regarding the STEM and Policy Education Programme Legacy and a further Policy Initiatives Fund Application. Members noted that the proposal had been approved by the Policy and Resources Committee and the Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park Committee.

In response to a comment from a Member, the Head of Learning noted that the City’s support for Forest schools could be examined by the City of London Learning and Engagement Forum.

RECEIVED

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

Members considered a report of the Director of Economic Development regarding the Employability Strategy 2017-2020 and the following points were made.

·         The Education Strategy Director noted that a detailed action plan to support the strategy would be submitted to the Board in late 2017.

·         In response to a comment from a Member, the Education Strategy Director noted that the development of soft skills was a focus of the Education Strategy. The Deputy Chairman added that embedding positive behaviours and attitude to work should be a particular focus.

·         In response to a comment from a Member, the Director of Community and Children’s Services agreed to examine whether all City Schools should consider signing up for the National Citizens Service.

·         In response to a question from a Member, the Education Strategy Director confirmed that the City of London Academies Trust was signed up to the Government’s Careers & Enterprise Company.

RECEIVED

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

Members considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding the City of London Corporation’s Apprenticeships Programme and the following points were made.

·         In response to a question from a Member, the Head of Adult Community Learning confirmed that apprentices for the City Open Spaces would be recruited into the July 2017 cohort of apprentices.

·         The Business Engagement Manager (Economic Development Office) noted that financial services firms paid 10% of the Apprenticeship Levy but only employed 3% of the total apprentices, so there was clearly some work to be done to increase that percentage.

RECEIVED

There were no questions.

Education Board Strategy Day

In response to a request from a Member, the Town Clerk agreed to convene an away day for the Board for them to discuss elements of strategy.

MOTION - That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act

RESOLVED – That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 25 May 2017.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 25 May 2017 were approved as a correct record.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

Members considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding additional funding for City academies.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

Members considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services regarding predicted outcomes arising from the quality assurance and accountability framework monitoring visits conducted during summer 2017.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services and the City Surveyor.

Members considered a joint report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services and the City Surveyor regarding the provision of additional primary school places and social housing on the former Richard Cloudesley School site, Golden Lane, EC1.

RECEIVED

There were no questions.

There was one item of urgent business regarding the format of Board agenda packs.