Advice needed re Deferral and funding....

[softfurnishings]

Advice needed from admissions specialists please!

My twins were due to start reception this September, but I held them back until January. The school has been very accommodating about this.

I recently wrote to the school and said I would like to hold the children back another term, as is our legal right (they are not five until the Spring). This is partly because I want to travel with them.

I talked to the Deputy Head today and while he is not opposed in principle to the children staying out of school, there is a problem: The Local Education Authority have told him that if the children are not registered on a set day in January the school will not get funding for the places.

I want to have this extra time with the children, but I also have no wish to cause the school difficulties.

My question:

Is the LEA correct that the school will not get funding if the children do not start until the Spring term? I realise that this has previously been the case, but I thought the rule had changed now that the school must hold a place open if parents keep their children out of school until the term after they turn five. If the LEA is wrong, could someone please point me to the relevant legislation.

Any information appreciated. Thank you.

Yes, funding is based on how many children are on the role on the 3rd Thursday in Jan.

Yes they have to be enrolled on the school register in January. You may be able to discuss with your head that they take a staggered approach to settling in over the Spring Term - although this will count as an absence in the school register and they may not be keen on that either as absence % is also something they are judged on.

The LA are not correct. Your children are already effectively registered with the school as you have agreed a deferred entry for them. Funding from next April is based on registered pupils on a set date in January so your twins will be counted.
Refer them to paragraph 2.69 pf the Admission Code which says that admission authorities must allow parents of children who are offered a place at the school before they are pf compulsory school age to defer entry until later in the school year. Where entry is deferred admission authorities must hold the place for that child.
If it really is the LA saying this, then it is rather worrying that they are making such a basic mistake in admission law.

Indigo and the school's DHT are right. However, school shouldn't pressure you in this way, they won't get funding for any child who joins the school after the January census incl. those who move house etc, not just YR children.

Your place for the twins is not dependent on the funding; they have to hold it open for you, though they may have a cut-off date for you take the places - in my LA it's the 1st day of the summer term, if you don't want to start then the next chance is start of the Sept term

Thanks for this, but still a bit confused (because conflicting answers).

Admissions: I know you work in this field....can you clarify?

The LEA know that the places have been accepted and deferred in agreement with the school...but they are saying funding depends on the children being on the roll on that date in January ie physically in the school.

Is there any ambiguity in the wording of the admissions code about this ie that would allow them to hold the place but not pay for the place? Does it explictly make it clear that there is a difference between being 'effectively registered' and 'registered'.

Who could I speak to that would know about this... ie which government department.... the deputy head has talked to our LEA. Is there a higher authority I could ring up for information? I am meeting the deputy head this week and I would like to be able to present him with accurate information. I'm happy to have it out with the LEA myself, but I need to be properly armed!

Thanks!

Just read the admissions code. It doesn't actually say anything about funding. Is this an area of ambiguity????

2.69 Admission authorities must allow parents of children who are offered a place at the school before they are of compulsory school age to defer their child?s entry until later in the school year. Where entry is deferred, admission authorities must hold the place for that child and not offer it to another child. The parent would not however be able to defer entry beyond the beginning of the term after the child?s fifth birthday, nor beyond the academic year for which the original application was accepted. This must be made clear in the admission arrangements for the school.

The school must keep a place for any child where a parent has requested deferred entry. However this requirement of the Admissions Code is not reflected in the mechanism for school finance computation. The finance is based on the number on the school roll - and deferred children only appear on the role once they start attending school - on the annual school roll census date in January. If a place is deferred then the school will not receive funding for that child for the fiancial year following the census date (1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013 for next year). I have just checked this on the Governor section of our LA website and the mismatch between Admissions and finance is noted.

Oh dear. That is ridiculous. A definite mismatch. Unfair for parents (pressure) unfair for schools (loss of money).

If we went part time till the children turned five would that put us on the school roll in January? Can part time be a shorter week as opposed to half days?

And what are the maximum number of days that the school can legally give us as authorised absence in a school year (as opposed to an individual school policy on authorised absence.)

Thanks

I imagine it was not picked up when the admissions rules were changed and schools/LAs are only now getting to grips. Our LA does state that they do not anticipate much deferral - but that will be no consolation to individual schools. The reality is that 2 children deferred beyond January means the loss of several thousand pounds from the school budget - for us (a small rural school) that would be significant.

There is no 'legal' authorised absence - a Headteacher has discretion to permit up to 10 days authorised absence in a school year. There is guidance as to what a Headteacher might consider in agreeing authorisation in the statutory instrument and Local Authority/DfE guidance may also be published.

Thanks. Any tips on the part time question?

For once I'm going to disagree with Admission. Before today I would have agreed but I've now looked more closely at the regulations.

I agree that funding is based on the number of pupils registered on a set date in January. However, the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 state that the admissions register lists all the pupils at the school and goes on to say that a pupil is only a pupil at the school from the start of the first day on which the school has agreed, or has been notified, that the pupil will attend the school. Looking also at the school census data, there doesn't seem to be any provision for counting a pupil who has deferred entry.
This does seem to be a case where the funding rules haven't caught up with the admission rules.

I haven't checked this in as much detail but I believe children who are part time at the time of the January census attract reduced funding.

This is bad news. How can I check about funding and part time attendance?
I don't want the school to loose it's funding. But nor do I want to loose all my trips and time with the children!

prh47bridge: If the funding is affected by going part time, what about if we agree to flexi school, at least for the spring term for three days a week. Then the schools funding would not be affected would it?

Any pupil who is not present for 10 sessions per week (in other words, 5 full days per week) is flagged as part time and only counts as half a pupil for calculating funding.

Schools can find themselves over- or under-funded for all kinds of reasons. For example, if a child is on the roll in January but leaves by Easter the school will have funding for a full year for a child that is no longer attending the school. Similarly it is possible for the school's numbers to go up or down significantly in September. The school's budget will not be adjusted to reflect the change in numbers until the following financial year. For most schools that starts the following April, so f0r 7 months they will be running on a budget that is either too high or too low for the number of children they actually have on the roll. The assumption is that these things will even out over time but there is, of course, no guarantee that they will.

By deferring until April you are in exactly the same position as a child who moves into the area after the January school census and gets a place at the school. The school does not receive any funding for that child either. In a typical primary school one Reception pupil will represent less than 0.5% of the school's funding, but it will be more than that in a small school.

If we were to start school in January but register as flexi schooled three days a week - as opposed to part time attendance - and I homeschool two days a week would the school then be entitled to full funding for both children for the year? (I'd happily flexi school for far longer than the first term as it happens..). What does flexi schooling involve in terms of paperwork etc for the school and for us? Also what does it mean for the annual number of authorised days off the headteacher could allow (does it reduce proportionally?).

Thanks for your help. Trying to find solutions.

As I said, any pupil who is not present for 5 full days a week is flagged as part time in the census and only counts as half a pupil for funding purposes. It doesn't matter whether you call it flexi-schooling or part time schooling, as far as the census is concerned your child would be doing 6 sessions a week and therefore would be part time.

For most schools the effect on their budget of the funding for one child will be minimal. As I tried to explain in my last post, there are all kinds of ways they can end up with funding for more or less children than they have got. Unless we are talking about a small village school with less than 100 pupils I really wouldn't worry about it.

admission is now scratching head and is going to consult with others who have more detailed knowledge of the school finance situation before they open mouth again!

Just to be clear:

If the children go part time in January - however many days they do - the school will only receive 50 per cent of the funding for each pupil for the year.

prh47bridge: you feel that this is a negligible amount - or at least an absorbable amount - in a large school (which this is).

Unfortunately, the school feels differently.

What would happen if we started school full-time in January and then, if it did not suit the children, went part time later in the month until they were of legal school going age. Would the school get full funding then?

admission - I would be very interested to hear what you find out. I was surprised when I found the instructions for the school census include a reference to the regulations I mentioned and that they don't seem to have been amended.

softfurnishings - That would be playing the system but yes, the school would get full funding as long as they are registered as full time at the school on the third Thursday in January. Of course, the school may not be happy with them going part time later in the month.

I do wonder if the school is using the funding argument in an attempt to bounce you into starting your children in January for administrative convenience. If the school has, say, 200 pupils on the roll it will lose less than 1% of its budget if your children delay until April and less than 0.5% of its budget if your children are part time in January.

More to the point, if a child moves into the area just after the census and is awarded a place at your school there will be no additional funding for this child. The school will just have to absorb the shortfall for up to 14 months. They have no choice about that. And that kind of thing happens all the time. They should therefore have had plenty of practise in dealing with this kind of situation and should be managing their finances accordingly.

The school has way more than 200 pupils on it's roll.

Thanks all for the advice. After a night of reflection, I have decided to avoid all complications and send the children to school next term. I think they are ready for it. And at least the conversation threw light on some interesting discrepancies in the admissions law/finance...

I have consulted the Oracle and regrettably the finance regulations are out of step with the admission regulations over deferral and I was wrong.

In effect you can defer entry in September and then start in January without affecting the funding for the school. But if you defer past the date in January which is used for the next funding period from April to end of March then the school will not receive funding for that year. Part-time schooling will result in reduced funding.

Softfurnishings If you feel your DTs are ready then best wishes to all of you for a happy introduction to school. From what you have written it would seem that you have a good communication link with a sensible school.