Schools forum

About the schools forum 

The schools forum is made up of representatives from: 

• schools and academies 
• non-school organisations such as nursery and 16-19 education providers.

The forum listens to:

• changes to the local funding formula (the local authority makes the final decision) 
• proposed changes to the operation of the minimum funding guarantee 
• changes to or new contracts affecting schools, such as school meals 
• arrangements for pupils with special educational needs, in pupil referral units and in early years provision 

The forum decides:

• how much funding may be retained by the local authority within the dedicated schools grant (for example, for providing an admissions service)
• any proposed carry forward of deficits on central spend from one year to the next
• proposals to de-delegate funding from maintained primary and secondary schools (for example, for staff supply cover, insurance, behaviour support) 
• changes to the scheme of financial management. 

Schools representation

The forum includes representatives from:

• maintained nursery schools
• maintained primary schools 
• maintained secondary schools 
• maintained special schools
• maintained pupil referral units 
• mainstream academies (including free schools)
• special academies (including free schools) 
• alternative provision academies (including free schools) 
• post-16 education providers.

The number of representatives from each type of school should reflect how many pupils they represent.

Schools forum meetings

Schools forum meeting dates for the remainder of the academic year 2024/25 are:

• Thursday 23 January 2025, 4–6pm
• Thursday 22 May 2025, 4–6pm
• Thursday 17 July 2025, 4–6pm.

Documents and reports

We regularly publish all documents and reports from schools forum meetings, available for up to two years.

View documents

Schools forum vacancies

Secondary academy senior leadership representatives

There are currently two vacancies for secondary academy senior leadership representatives. The local authority has asked the secondary academies to let us know who will be taking up those two positions.

Maintained primary governor and headteacher representatives

Currently, there is one vacancy for a maintained primary school governor representative and one for a maintained primary headteacher representative. Maintained schools are community schools or voluntary-aided (church) schools, and not academies or free schools.

A letter has been emailed to chairs of governors to share with their governors and to headteachers inviting them to submit nominations to join the forum by Tuesday 21 January 2025, 5pm.

Governors from schools and federations already represented on the forum cannot apply. Refer to the letter or contact the Clerk to the Forum for more information by emailing jane.wright@islington.gov.uk. If there are more applications than vacancies, there will be an election.

Email jane.wright@islington.gov.uk or governor.services@islington.gov.uk.