Submission - Secondary Education Funding - Letter to CEHA Panel Ref Secondary Funding

19-21 Broad Street | St Helier Jersey | JE2 3RR

Deputy Catherine Curtis

Chair, Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel

BY EMAIL 17 July 2023

Dear Chair,

Scrutiny Review: Secondary Education Funding

Thank you for your letter of 10th July requesting information for the above review. Please see the answers below provided on behalf of the Minister for Children and Education, and do not hesitate to contact the Minister if you require further information.

For your information the Department classifies secondary schools as per the below table:

Legal requirements

1. Please could you provide a copy of the constitution document for the Jersey Curriculum Council (the Council') and / or provide further details of the Council's duties, functions, powers and funding (as described per Article 59 and Schedule 5 of the Education

(Jersey) Law 1999 (the Law')).

Please see the Jersey Curriculum Council guidance document sent alongside this letter.

2. Under Article 7 of the Law, Duty of Minister to review the provision of school places', paragraph 2(b), the Minister is required to assess the current and future requirements for provision of school places by reference to the ages and numbers of the children of Jersey'. Please could you provide the Panel with some further details about how this

is achieved.

Future requirements are based upon:

• Birth numbers

• Immigration

• Percentage of children attending a fee paying or private school

• Where children live

Nursery prediction is based upon birth numbers, an immigration factor is applied and trend data of the percentage that attend a private setting is then removed. This shows the total cohort expected to attend a school nursery. The average percentage that has previously attended each school nursery is then applied.

Reception prediction is based upon birth numbers which have an immigration factor applied, the total cohort is then divided into; those that are expected to attend a fee paying or private school, and those that will attend a GoJ school. The average percentage that has previously attended each school Reception is then applied.

Years Reception to Year 5 has an immigration factor applied and are moved forward by one year.

Year 6 has an immigration factor applied which then shows the total cohort that will move to Secondary Schools. Analysis of how many children live in catchment for each secondary school informs the total cohort for each of the four Government provided non-fee-paying schools. Trend data on the percentage of children that attend a fee charging school is applied, which then provides the predicted numbers for each Secondary school Year 7.

Years 7, 8 and 10 have an immigration factor applied and are moved forward by a year.

Year 9 has an immigration factor applied and average number of children that join Hautlieu from each school is removed. This informs the prediction for Year 10.

A good example of the outcomes of this forecasting of demand was the creation of 14 new primary school classrooms that were built following higher than average birth numbers in 2011-13. These additional classrooms and associated staffing resources were all in place ready for increased demand due to the planning put in place by the Department.

3. Please could you describe how the Minister and Department interact with the headteacher and, also, the governing body of each secondary school, particularly in relation to matters of planning expenditure?

The Minister meets with all Head Teachers on a termly basis to discuss matters of interest. This can include high level discussions about funding and budgets with assistance from CYPES officers. The Minister is not routinely involved in the specifics of planned expenditure by schools although she is regularly made aware of any school issues when carrying out her planned programme of school visits.

The Governing Bodies of Highlands College, Jersey College for Girls and Victoria College are all required to request the Minister's approval for fees (and the Minister for Treasury and Resources if the increase exceeds 2.5%). In practice these fee requests are reviewed by CYPES and Treasury and Exchequer officers before the Minister is requested to give her approval.

The school funding formula methodology is applied to calculate a "cash limit". This is the budget available to the schools. A few elements are ringfenced for use of specific posts / spend, but the majority of the budget is available for the head teacher to decide how to spend. The Finance Business Partners (FBPs) work with the head teachers to set the budget for the year – i.e. allocate the available cash limit to specific / planned items of expenditure. FBPs ensure that the plan remains compliant with the Public Finance Manual. Decisions are also influenced by Department policies.

After budget setting, FBPs continue to meet with schools (Heads and/or Bursars) regularly throughout the year to monitor spend against the agreed plan and forecast how much of the cash limit is likely to be spent by the end of the year.

FBPs also sit on the Finance Sub-committee (or equivalent) with the governing bodies of Jersey College for Girls and Victoria College.

(a) Please could you confirm whether the Minister has delegated any functions under Article 58 to governing bodies of secondary schools? If so, please provide details. If not, please could you advise when this might be required?

The Minister has not formally delegated any functions under Article 58 to the governing bodies of secondary schools. The Panel is aware that school autonomy is a subject of interest for the Minister. Reference to this was made in the Independent School Funding Review (ISFR) and the Minister has committed to exploring any opportunities for this further with schools, most recently at her termly meeting with Head Teachers in June 2023.

Financial statements

4. In a table format, please could you provide a summary of the year end finances for each secondary school for the last five years, detailing:

1. budget;
2. actual expenditure; and
3. the sum of variance.

The above table gives 5 years of budget and actual data. It also includes 2023 budget that has been released to schools as at 30 June 2023. A few points to note:

• Grainville, Haute Vallée, Hautlieu, Le Rocquier and Les Quennevais were put onto a new school funding formula from 2022, which was then revised again in 2023 to include a new Inclusion component.

• JCG and Victoria College remain on the previous Age Weighted Pupil Units (AWPU) methodology.

• In 2017 JCG, Victoria College, Beaulieu and De Le Salle were funding at 50% of AWPU. This dropped to 48.5% in 2018 and 47% in 2019. Therefore, in the table, the base year is at a higher rate. The majority of these schools budget comes from parental fees.

• Mont à l'Abbé School (MAL) was put on a new formula from 2023. Historically its budget was rolled forward year on year. MAL accounts are for the full school (including primary and secondary) and we cannot separate out just the secondary school elements.

• La Sente is not on a formula currently, its budget is rolled forward year on year. The school's budget is also for the whole school without a primary / secondary split. It is also important to note that La Sente did not exist in its current form in earlier years, so 2019 and 2020 figures are not comparable.

• Budgets and Actuals would drop in all schools from June 22 as a result of the Teacher's Pension dropping from 16.4% to 10.8%. Part year effect is in the 2022 budget for all schools except JCG and Victoria College. Full Year impact is in all schools from 2023.

• 2022 Budgets and actuals include non-consolidated payments.

The above table shows the change in budgets between years, both as a £ value and percentage.

Schools also had expenditure on covid that is not shown in the table above. Budget would have matched actuals.

5. Please could you provide full copies of the year-end financial statements for each secondary school for 2021 and 2022?

Year-end financial statements for government provided schools are attached as a separate document.

The accounts for organisations that receive grants in excess of £75,000 per annum are published annually by the Minister for Treasury and Resources via a report to the States Assembly. The accounts for the grant aided secondary schools, Beaulieu and De La Salle can therefore be obtained in electronic (PDF) or hard copy format from the States Assembly Information Centre, States Greffe, on the Ground Floor of Morier House.

6. Please could you provide us with details of the budgeted and actual spend on school counsellor or wellbeing services for each secondary school for the last five years.

We do not centrally hold this information, and this would require a request to be made to each individual school. If this is required, please will the Panel let me know.

In 2023 part of the GP23 growth was put towards Mental Health Workers. 50% of a grade11 post was given to each school budget, anticipating a 6-month lead time to recruit. From 2024 100% of the post will be funded.

In addition to increased direct funding in school resources the Education Reform Programme and CYPES Service Design teams jointly commissioned work in schools supported by the Anna Freud Centre (AFC). This focussed specifically on social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) provisions and included work to develop policies, understand the specific school level needs (e.g. with reference to the output from the Children and Young People's Survey), and develop and implement plans.

The funding for this work in 2022 was £87,000 and a further £107,000 is budgeted in 2023.

It is important to note that there has also been significant investment in SEMH support and provisions through the Inclusion Team and development of our special schools.

(a) Please could you confirm whether, going forward, the budget for counsellors in secondary schools is provided for through the Inclusion Base Funding budget?

The funding formula allocated £37,000 per school in 2023 (based on Civil Service pay grade 11, 50% of full year cost anticipating a lead time to recruit). From 2024 the figure will be £74k per school (subject to pay increases).

Jersey Funding Formula for Schools

7. Please could you confirm when the next update(s) to the Jersey Funding Formula for Schools' (the funding formula') will be published?

The funding formula 2023 was published in July 2023 and can be accessed here Jersey Funding Formula for Schools 2023 (gov.je)

(a) Please provide details about any consultation with Headteachers and / or school governing bodies about the suitability and development of the funding formula?

The development of the school funding formula is a project within the Education Reform Programme. There is a group which inputs to its development which includes head teachers from primary and secondary schools and members of the Inclusion team, School Improvement and Advisory Service and Treasury and Exchequer.

Feedback is provided to both the Minister and the Chief Officer periodically (e.g. in termly meetings with the Minister) and this informs the future development of the formula.

The intention, in 2023, is to establish a similarly constituted governance group to operate in business as usual from 2024 as the project is closed.

8. Please could you provide a breakdown of the funding formula calculation details used for each secondary school in 2022.

The breakdown of how the Funding formula 2022 was calculated was published on gov.je on 18 October 2022. This was updated in 2023 to add further funding to schools through a new Inclusion component.

The new Secondary Funding Formula along with the new Inclusion component has been applied to Grainville, Haute Vallée, Hautlieu, Le Rocquier and Les Quennevais.

Age Weighted Pupil Units (AWPU) along with the elements of the new inclusion component was used for Jersey College for Girls and Victoria College. During 2023 we will consider whether these schools should move to a version of the Secondary Funding Formula.

In line with their Service Level Agreements, the Age Weighted Pupil Units (AWPU) is used for Beaulieu and De La Salle.

A new funding formula was written for Mont à l'Abbé (as a whole school, not just secondary years).

La Sente (combined Primary and Secondary) currently remains on the old system of rolling previous years' budget forward unless any budget is received through the Government plan.

9. The Jersey Funding Formula for Schools: Rationale and Calculations for 2022' stated (on page 6) that "A reduction to the mainstream components of 3.55% was applied to formula proposals to ensure the departmental budget was within available cash limits". Please could you confirm the budget components that are classified as "mainstream" under the formula?

Mainstream components are those that are required to run a school before the addition of incremental budget to support pupils with additional needs.

This includes:

Heads & Deputies

Teachers including SA Points & Lunchtime supervision

Support Staff (e.g Finance / Admin / Technicians / Manual Workers)

Premises Costs (e.g Grounds maintenance / Cleaning / Utilities / Minor works)

Supplies & Services (e.g Exams, Teaching Material, General Admin, Training &Travel Costs)

10. Please could you provide further details and, if possible, a worked example of how the Inclusion Base Funding is calculated for schools?

I suggest this is best provided in a private briefing on the school funding formula and would be happy to arrange that at your earliest convenience.

There are three elements to the Base Inclusion figure. Using the number of pupils in a school with Record of Need (RoN) or other additional needs, the "context" of a school is calculated. It puts it into a category of either:

• Low Need

• Below Average Need

• Average Need

• High Need

• Significant Need.

Depending on the category a budget in allocated to schools for base inclusion staff.

Every child with a RoN has a base amount allocated to them to fund the additional resources / support they require. This is c£10k per child in 2023. This amount stays with the school for the financial year even if the child moves, to provide some financial stability for the schools. Higher need RoN children will also receive a top up determined by an assessment of needs using a consistent needs based funding matrix. This funding moves with the child.

Additionally, there is an amount for children who have a Special Educational Need but not a RoN. This is c£1.300 per child in 2023.

In prioritising the complexity and quantum of unmet needs in the education system funding was prioritised for the non-fee-paying government provided schools which received all of these elements of the inclusion formula.

There was an opportunity to increase inclusion funding to fee-charging schools, where the relative level of unmet need is smaller. Funding was provided for a SENCO post and full funding for the additional pupil based RoN funding. Grant aided non provided private schools will receive RoN funding from September 2023.

Mont à l'Abbé is a special school so this does not apply, they are on a special school formula that addresses all of their needs.

Similarly, Le Sente is funded as a special school and should receive enough without applying this formula.

11. The Jersey Funding Formula for Schools: Rationale and Calculations for 2022' stated (on page 15) that "there is an intention to review the way funding is calculated for teachers in Secondary Schools during 2023 to ensure that it is simplified and provides an equitable base funding model". Are you able to provide any further details on how this component of the formula will be developed?

In 2022, the average cost of a teacher in each school as calculated using October 2021 payroll costs. We used the amount being paid in October – assumed that teacher's costs would remain at the same level and gave budget to cover 12 months at that level.

In 2023, teachers in secondary schools are commonly funded at an average grade TCH11. Please see link to the published pay scale here. As a transition period is required to move towards this average, the following adjustments have been made in 2023:

• If the average actual teacher grade of a school is below a TCH10, all teachers are funded at a grade TCH10.

• If the average actual teacher grade is over a TCH12, all teachers are funded at a grade TCH12. This was then applied to the number of teachers required to deliver the curriculum.

We are in the process of determining if a further change is required to better align resources with curriculum and to consider pupil numbers in schools. The next opportunity for change is in the school funding formula in 2024 and may depend on the availability of funding through the Government Plan 2024 – 2027.

Cross-Government working

12. Please could you confirm the decision-making process and oversight within the Government of Jersey for the use of financial grants made to private schools?

Grants are given to De La Salle College and Beaulieu Convent School based on a formula called the Age Weighted Pupil Units (AWPU). Historically all the secondary schools were on the AWPU. This method of calculation results in De La Salle College and Beaulieu Convent School receiving 47% of the cost of operating the school, as determined by the AWPU process.

(a) Please provide details of any payments or grants made to private secondary schools that have not been recorded as significant grants in the States of Jersey Annual Reports and Accounts during the last five years (i.e. payments under £75,000)?

£16,000 was given to Beaulieu (as a whole school – there is no Primary / Secondary Split), for parental fees hardship funding as a result of COVID in 2020.

13. In the Government Plan 2023-2026, a value for money (VFM) savings target of £688,000 had been allocated to CYPES, however, it had not been identified where the savings would be found. Have any VFM savings been identified within secondary school education for 2023?

No savings have been identified within secondary school budgets for 2023.

1. If so, please could you confirm where the savings have been identified?

A zero-based approach has been taken in 2022 to re-aligning budgets with committed costs outside the schools funding formula.

2. If not, please could you explain how, or if, CYPES reviewed possible VFM savings for secondary schools?

CYPES did not delegate any of the VFM cashable savings targets agreed through the Government Plan process in 2023 to 2026 to schools.

CYPES does nonetheless incentivise schools to obtain value for money via the funding formula. They are advised and challenged by their Boards of Governors in this endeavour as well as through their management lines.

The secondary schools funding formula has been compiled with a view to enabling the best possible outcomes for the available budget. The project phase for the formula review had an assurance element which included a value and outcomes challenge.

The formula creates the budget envelope for each school. Some elements of the budget are ring- fenced, for example Jersey Premium. However, the schools determine the detail of what activities their budget is spent on, bearing in mind all relevant constraints and considerations.

For example, any improvement objectives from a School Review, and the requirements of relevant professional and governance frameworks; for example, curriculum, safeguarding, inclusion, or the Public Finances Manual.

14. Could you describe the relationship structure between CYPES, individual secondary schools, and Jersey Property Holdings? (Please highlight any service level

agreements and funding flows / financial transfers as part of the response).

Metrics and monitoring

Primarily the relationship is a Landlord and Tenant relationship, with Jersey Property Holdings (JPH) acting as Landlord and CYPES as Tenants/Building Users. This relationship and structure is consistent across ALL schools

JPH provide a number of functions across the CYPES estate;

1. Estate Management
2. Maintenance Management – particularly statutory maintenance and most reactive maintenance.
3. Revenue Project Delivery – funding and project governance. Both CYPES & JPH work together to identify and prioritise such projects on an annual basis.
4. Capital Project Delivery – all stages from pre-feasibility through to completion and handover.
5. Building Design Services – architectural resource and building services engineering.

The relationship between JPH & CYPES is bound together through an agreed Service Level Agreement (SLA). This document outlines the roles and responsibilities of both parties around Building Operations, Building/Site Maintenance, Security and specific Health & Safety items such as Asbestos Management. Maintenance budgets and funding for both JPH and CYPES are determined by the responsibilities for both parties within the SLA.

In addition, it also outlines the type of work/item which CYPES need to seek Landlord approval from JPH, such as works/alterations to across the estate which are the responsibility of CYPES to deliver.

JPH allocate one Maintenance Officer (MO) for each school. The MO is the initial point of contact between the school and JPH. Aside from the MO, CYPES now have both a Head of Programme and a Facilities Manager in post, who can review the performance of JPH in terms of Planned Maintenance, Reactive Maintenance, Revenue Projects and general legislative compliance.

15. In a table format please could you provide the GCSE exam results data (and any other KS4 qualifications) for each secondary school in the last five years.

Data summarising the headline KS4 attainment measures by school for the last five years is shown below.

Our headline measures include the schools' percentage of pupils achieving a standard or strong pass in English and mathematics at GCSE or equivalent (C+, 4+ and 5+), and the schools' average attainment score across 8 qualifying subjects (Jersey 8). Please note that there are some methodological differences between England and Jersey in relation to KS4 reporting.

Due to changes in assessment methodology, comparisons between academic years should not be used for the purpose of measuring change in student performance.

In 2020, pupils scheduled to sit GCSE exams were awarded a centre assessment grade, or CAG (based on what the school or college believed the student would most likely have achieved had exams gone ahead) or their calculated grade using a model developed by Ofqual – whichever was the higher of the two.

In 2021, pupils were only assessed on the content they had been taught for each course. Schools were given flexibility to decide how to assess their pupils' performance, for example, through mock exams, class tests, and non-exam assessment already completed. GCSE grades were then determined by teachers based on the range of evidence available and they are referred to as teacher-assessed grades', or TAGs.

In 2022, the summer exam series returned. As part of the transition, adaptations were made to the exams (including advance information) and the approach to grading for 2022 exams broadly reflected a midpoint between results in 2019 and 2021 (https://explore-education- statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-4-performance-revised/2021-22).

There are a broad range of abilities and pupil characteristics represented across our schools which means that it is not appropriate to draw comparisons between schools. For example, some schools have higher levels of children with Special Educational Needs/Disabilities, Multi-Lingual Learners, or pupils in receipt of Jersey Premium.

16. Please could you confirm whether CYPES records Progress 8 scores and Attainment 8 scores for secondary school pupils?

Jersey 8 scores are included in the table above. Please note that these are not comparable to Attainment 8 as our methodology differs to that used in England. For example, if pupils sit a qualification more than once, the best awarded grade will be counted in the measures (best entry as opposed to first entry). Jersey also has a separate Approved Qualifications list.

Jersey Progress scores are not available for the last five years. The UK Department for Education did not publish Progress 8 scores using grades awarded in 2020 or 2021. We are currently refining our local value-added progress measures to ensure we have meaningful data. This is a priority as we are keen to reflect the importance of this data in highlighting the achievements of all pupils.

(a) If so, please could you provide details of these for each secondary school in the last five years.

Average Jersey 8 scores are included within our response to question 15.

17. Please could you provide details of how CYPES records absence rates across secondary schools.

Please find below a description of CYPES' process to record absence and calculate absence rates across secondary schools:

1. CYPES has shared "SIMS Data Collection Guidelines", to support schools to consistently record absences across non-fee-paying government schools and fee-paying government secondary schools (the "Government Secondary Schools");
2. Government Secondary Schools record an attendance code, which also covers reasons for authorised absence and unauthorised absence, for each pupil, at the point of the morning and afternoon registrations in the school information management system ("SIMS");

3. The attendance data is then automatically transferred from SIMS during the mid-morning and late afternoon to a central database held by the CYPES Informatics team.
4. The team performs regular data quality checks on the attendance recorded by the schools
5. Because of the way SIMS deals with some of the data elements that pertain to a pupil and which change over time, such as their Registration Group, a summary of pupils and attendance data is archived from our central database on a rolling weekly basis. This archive is then used for much of our reporting.
6. CYPES Informatics prepares management information dashboards showing absence rates across schools, using the archive reporting described above.

(a) In a table format please could you provide the data collected on absence rates, for each secondary school, across the last 12 months.

Please find below the attendance/absence rates for government secondary schools - for years 7 to 11 - during the first 5 half terms of the academic year 2022/2023, as captured on SIMS.

The table was sourced from report called Attendance Dashboard' and copied on 13 July 2023. Calculations are based on morning registration only for pupils in Years 7-11. Non-compulsory school age pupils (Years 12 & 13) are excluded. We have not included the final half term of the academic year as this is not yet complete and will be skewed by high levels of study leave that occur in the last part of the academic year. As described in question 16, there are a range of sub-categories that are captured within authorised/unauthorised absences.

18. In a table format, please could you confirm the number of i) bullying incidents; and ii) wellbeing concern matters, that have been recorded in each secondary school in the past 12 months.

1. Bullying incidents

Bullying and associated types of behaviour are recorded in detail at a school level. We will work with schools to collate this information and make this available to the Panel.

SIMS allows schools to record a range of positive and negative behaviours. Examples of the negative behaviour categories available include aggressive behaviour, unkind behaviour, disrespectful to peers, and friendship issues. These behaviours may or may not amount to bullying, as bullying can often involve repetitive behaviours, which cannot be easily identified through our behaviour incident recording.

The extent and type of bullying amongst young people is also reflected in the responses to the "Jersey Children and Young People's Survey", which provides insights into the occurrence of bullying, frequency, method, location and unwanted sexual attention. This information is used by schools and CYPES to further develop policies and practices.

2. Wellbeing concerns

Wellbeing concerns are recorded in detail at a school level. We will work with schools to collate this information and make this available to the Panel.

CYPES updated "Keeping children safe in education - Guidance for Nurseries, Schools, Colleges and Education Services in Jersey" in March 2023, and this informs the approach for reporting wellbeing concerns, which are captured in the safeguarding software "MyConcern". Each school can access their own data as data and reporting controllers.

In addition, schools work with multi-agency colleagues to address concerns about individual children. This might be through contacting the Children and Families Hub, or liaising with other professionals who are supporting a child or their family.

Yours sincerely,

Connétable Richard Vibert

Assistant Minister for Children and Education D +44 (0)1534 440152