20 May 2025 weekly update

Dear Colleagues,

New Members induction 

Last week we had the pleasure of meeting some of the 81 mainly newly elected councillors to Kent County Council . Members had opportunities to talk to officers from across the council and find out more about our work as well as listening to presentations and asking questions. If you want to find out who the members are please see the KCC website

We have also included the poster we distributed of the senior officers in the Education and SEN division (PDF, 560.4 KB) if this is of interest.

The Sutton Trust report - The Opportunity Index 

Hot off the press is the Sutton Trust's latest research report The Opportunity Index: The geography of opportunity and social mobility in England

We know that youngster's opportunities are impacted by factors including the income level of their family, their parents’ educational qualifications, and their family’s wealth (identified through using Free School Meal eligibility), but what this report shows clearly is that where in the country you are educated can have as much impact as family background.

This interactive map shows key data by constituency

Schools' Funding Forum 

The Schools Funding Forum met on Friday and the agenda included:

• Funding for PRUs and Alternative Provision
• Updates on outturn and Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG)
• High Needs Funding (HNF) Benchmarking update and commissioned places
• Non-statutory services
• Communities of Schools update
• Central Schools Services Block (CSSB) budget and spend.

A really big thank you to all the members who volunteer to do this work on your behalf, particularly to the Chair Ben Cooper, Headteacher of Swalecliffe Primary School. Ben will be writing about his role in a future edition of the Kelsi e-bulletin. This Forum, supported by the subgroups, fulfil an important statutory function with regard to how the LA distributes funding.

This is the mission of the KCC SFF:

The SFF will carry out its statutory functions, make decisions and provide strategic advice to KCC’s executive on matters relating to the funding of schools/academies. The Forum will present a consensus view to inform KCC policy on the overall Schools Budget and the calculation of individual school/academy’ budgets by formula. The Forum will also make recommendations to pass on to central government and the Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) concerning their funding policies and arrangements for schools. The Forum is committed to an on-going review of funding arrangements and to disseminate practical guidance to schools to aid budget planning.

The Forum is constituted of representatives from all the various education sectors, whose role is to represent the views of their sector. So, if you have an interest in school budgets and want to find out who your representative is, the current membership and contact details are on the Kelsi website (PDF, 135.6 KB) with contact details for your representative

And finally ...

Well done to primary colleagues who have supported their children and families through this year's SATs.

May is Garden Party month at Buckingham Palace and this year an additional party was organised to celebrate those working in education across the United Kingdom. Kent was well represented at this memorable occasion and congratulations to all of those Kent colleagues whose contributions to education were recognised at this event.

Best wishes

Christine McInnes
Director of Education and SEN