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States Greffe
Deputy Robert Ward
Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning
BY EMAIL 11th July 2024 Dear Minister
Follow-up matters from the Public Hearing on 10th July 2024
Thank you for attending the public hearing yesterday, together with your Officers, your time is much appreciated. During the hearing you committed to follow up with:
• written details of the year end finances (to include budget / actual spend / variance) for all secondary schools in 2023 and provide the year to date figures for 2024.
• further details about the inclusion support available for students at JCG and Victoria College, and how this is funded by Government.
• comparison data of public expenditure on education (since 2019) with other jurisdictions,
if possible.
As we came to the end of the time allocated for the hearing you agreed to respond to the Panel's additional queries in writing, and I set these out below, for your attention:
- The Funding Formula for Schools appears to be largely built around costs of staffing, please can you confirm what percentage of secondary school budgets are made up of staff costs?
- How much control does CYPES have over what staff costs are?
- Can you explain how the "non-contact time" element of the secondary school staffing budget works?
- Are secondary schools provided with funding for facilities that are not linked directly to curriculum learning, for example: libraries / afterschool clubs / other pursuits and student interests? Please provide details, where possible.
- The Funding Formula indicates [on page 18] that primary schools have an additional supplementary allowance of £7,000 for supporting Social, Emotional Mental Health and wellbeing needs. Is there an equivalent for secondary schools?
- Should there be a core / base level of wellbeing funding included in the funding formula?
- The recently published Participation and Engagement Feedback Report' (in relation to the Children, Young People and Families Plan 2024 -2027) had a section about Spending' in relation to school life. What will the Government do with this feedback from
young people and will there be any consideration of it in the next revision of the funding formula for 2025?
(a) Do you think that there should be opportunities for stakeholders, including young people, to consult on the funding formula?
- The funding formula provides £200 per secondary school teacher per year for training, plus a centrally held budget for learning and development. Please can you clarify the total of that budget per year? [Separating secondary from primary, if possible]
- Are you able to confirm what the average cost of secondary school teacher professional development is in Jersey?
- Is the centrally held budget used for continuing professional development for existing teachers, and does it include training on the teacher graduate programme?
- Is there a budget for a supply teacher if / when a teacher attends training or development during school time?
- In some industries, professionals are required to undertake a certain number of hours of professional development each year, rather than have a specific budget limit to their training and development needs. Could that policy approach be adopted for teachers in Jersey?
- Minister, are you aware of how the £200 per teacher compares to other jurisdictions and do you think that the learning and development budget provided for teachers in Jersey is sufficient?
- Please can you describe how secondary schools utilise the Information & Communication Technology (ICT) budget, which is stated to be £105,000 for all secondary schools in 2024?
(a) Please can you provide a breakdown of how is this allocated between the secondary schools and confirm the rationale for how the funds are split?
- The Panel notes that the total budget for ICT in secondary schools has been reduced in the past two years. What is the reason for that reduction?
- How much technology are secondary school students expected to have access to for their schoolwork and are there funds available to help those who may not have access? [If funds are available, are these held centrally or is it school based support?]
- How does CYPES review the adequacy of its ICT and technology requirements and are these reactive to demand?
- Has any work been done to anticipate the future technology requirements for Education?
- The funding formula provides for a counsellor role for each school (grade 9 at 30 hours per week). For each secondary school please can you clarify if there is a dedicated school counsellor in post, working 30 hours per week, or if there are currently any vacancies?
(a) If a counsellor is not employed by the school, can the budget be repurposed or is it ringfenced?
- The funding formula states that the assumption of class size is 25 students for most subjects and 20 for some practical subjects, how typical are these averages?
- Are there classes that are significantly bigger or smaller than the average of 20 - 25 in secondary schools?
- Does the minimum class size of 12 students (for options subjects) limit the subjects on offer?
- What are the objectives of the Jersey Premium funding?
(a) How does the Government assess whether the Jersey Premium funding is achieving those objectives?
- The Funding Formula for 2024 has set the Jersey Premium rate for secondary school pupils as £1,060. How is that level of funding set each year and is there a link with inflation?
- Can you provide some details of how the Jersey Premium funding is spent in secondary schools?
- Is there any conformity across schools?
- Why is there no requirement to tie it to the specific pupils that it is allocated for?
- The Panel understands that there is budget available to headteachers to support families with uniform costs. Is this included in the Funding Formula?
(a) How is information about financial assistance for uniforms communicated to parents?
- We understand that there is additional funding provided for "low prior attainment" provided through the funding formula. Please can you confirm the objectives of that funding?
- The 2024 formula states that secondary schools were allocated £663,000 to support students with low-prior attainment. Can you describe how that funding is used in secondary schools?
(a) How does CYPES review the effectiveness of the additional funding allocated for low prior attainment?
- The 2024 formula states that £134,000 of funding was allocated to support multi-lingual learners in secondary schools. Are you able to provide any further details about the different levels of additional funding and resources provided to the secondary schools in Jersey?
- What would you consider to be the important outcomes of secondary education?
(a) What metric is there for measuring outcomes from secondary education, in addition to grades or qualifications?
- How long term can CYPES' policy for the future development of secondary education be, and how does that impact funding for education?
- Do changes in the birth rate influence policy decisions about education and funding for secondary education?
- Have the findings of the Government's 2020 report on The Big Education Conversation' been used in education policy development?
- Minister, does the Government have any plans to update the Education (Jersey) Law 1999 in ways that will impact secondary education?
Thank you in advance for your assistance. The Panel looks forward to your formal response and would request that this is received by Friday 19th July 2024.
Yours sincerely,
Deputy Catherine Curtis
Chair
Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel