Schools forum

What the Forum does

The Schools Forum is a statutory body comprised mainly of headteachers and governors from Bristol. It usually meets once a (new) term and is independent of Bristol City Council, but supported by it.

It considers proposals drawn up by the council to allocate the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). This is received by Bristol City Council from the the Department for Education and is earmarked for education funding in Bristol.

Currently the DSG is principally allocated through the use of the “formula”. Any changes to this “formula”, and any additional specific funding proposed by the council must be approved by the Schools Forum. This accounts for approximately 70% of the total funds spent on education in Bristol each year.

In order to undertake its role of dialogue with the council, the Forum is also interested in how our budget for education is spent, to ensure that it understands the “wider” picture as well. It will be seeking to understand the financial implications of various initiatives, such as:

• The inclusion programme of placing special schools alongside secondary schools
• The creation of further academy schools.

Because of its role to consider local authority proposals, the Schools Forum is unable to ‘champion’ any individual causes, but is always interested to be advised of issues.

Membership

The Schools Forum draws representatives from schools, governors and non-school members.

• Chair: Carew Reynell, Governor at Henbury School
• Vice Chair: Christine Townsend, Governor at Whitehall Primary
• Clerk: Billy Forsythe

Bristol Schools Forum has 31 members compromising the following:

School members

• Secondary: 4 headteachers, 4 governors (3 places in each category reserved for academies)
• Primary: 7 headteachers, 7 governors (3 places in each category reserved for academies)
• Special: 1 headteacher, 1 governor
• Nursery: 1 headteacher, 1 governor
• PRU: 1 HT or management committee representative

Non-school members

PVI Early Years (1), Diocese of Bristol Board of Education (1) Diocese of Clifton Board of Education (1), recognised teaching professional associations (1), support staff representative (1), Post 16 Providers (1).

Meetings

All meetings are open to the public.

Contact the Clerk for more details.