ESFA Update academies: 29 September 2021
Published 29 September 2021
Applies to England
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1. Action: coronavirus (COVID-19) summer school claim form
The coronavirus (COVID-19) summer school claim form is now live.
The deadline for your submission is 11:59pm on 01 October 2021.
We’ve published guidance to help you complete the form.
You can read more on GOV.UK.
2. Action: complete your revenue funding data collection (RFDC) 2022 to 2023 by 15 October 2021
We have published information on how to complete the revenue funding data collection (RFDC).
The online RFDC form is now open for institutions, where the funding agreement allows for estimate funding, to provide estimate pupil numbers for the academic year 2022 to 2023.
Please submit your form by 15 October 2021. Your final budgets may be delayed if we do not receive your pupil number estimates by the above deadline.
3. Reminder: autumn schools census 2021, Thursday 7 October 2021
All non-maintained special schools, academies, free schools and city technology colleges should be reminded that the schools census is due to take place shortly.
The census date for the 2021 autumn school census is Thursday, 7 October, with the deadline for approved submissions being Wednesday, 3 November. The database will be closed to amendments on Wednesday, 1 December.
A ‘beta’ release of the 2021 autumn school census live COLLECT blade is now available for you to become familiar with. This will remain open until 4pm on Friday, 1 October.
A guide for the 2021 to 2022 academic year is now available.
if you have any queries about COLLECT or the school census in general, please use the service request form.
4. Reminder: Fair funding for all – completing our reforms of the National Funding Formula
The Department for Education’s Fair school funding for all: completing our reforms of the National Funding Formula consultation closes tomorrow, Thursday 30 September.
This consultation seeks views on how to simplify the current funding process and ensure all schools are funded on a single, fair, and consistent basis.
The introduction of the schools National Funding Formula (NFF) in 2018 to 2019 was a major step forward from the postcode lottery of the previous funding system. Our ambition is now to complete those reforms, so that every school’s final funding allocation is determined by the same, national formula, and is no longer subject to further adjustment by local authorities.
The consultation presents our proposals for how such an NFF, that is directly applied to schools’ budgets, should operate. It also sets out the next steps to ensure a smooth transition towards this goal.
5. Information: themes arising from ESFA’s assurance work
We have published the latest edition of themes arising from ESFA’s assurance work. The outcomes of our assurance work relate to the financial management and governance of the academies sector in 2020 to 2021.
Highlighting common themes in our work aims to enable the sector to improve the quality of its financial governance.
The briefing is for academy trust accounting officers, finance staff and trustees. Auditors of academy trust accounts may also find it helpful.
6. Information: webinar for RPA members on management systems
As part of our risk management support, we are hosting a webinar on RPA management systems. Please select the best date for you to read more information and register:
7. Information: Schools Autumn Procurement Expo – a helping hand in your school’s recovery
Join DfE on 13 and 14 October 2021 to find out how you can save and get the best value for money for all things from buying your electricity to ICT, legal services to network connectivity.
Come along to a variety of procurement sessions and ask the experts the questions you may have.
See the wide range of sessions available and register for free:
8. Information: renewing your catering or cleaning contract – you could save time and money
Before you renew your schools catering or cleaning contract come along to one of DfE and YPO webinars. All sessions are free, with multiple dates available.
To register and for more information about the sessions use this Eventbrite link.
For the latest on our wide range of webinars, check out the events tab on our Buying for schools LinkedIn page.
9. Information: consultation on prioritising schools for the School Rebuilding Programme
The Prime Minister announced the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) in June 2020 to carry out major rebuilding and refurbishment projects at schools and sixth form colleges in England over the next decade. We have previously announced the first 100 schools in the programme. Details of these and the programme are available on GOV.UK.
We are now consulting on the approach to prioritising schools for future places in the programme, to identify schools most in need of major rebuilding or refurbishment. Further information on the consultation process and how you can contribute your views can be found on GOV.UK.
The consultation is due to close shortly, so please provide your views by 11:59pm on 8 October.
10. Information: ‘Going Too Far?’: an interactive classroom resource to help students stay safe online
‘Going Too Far?’ is a new resource jointly developed by the Department for Education and London Grid for Learning that aims to promote critical thinking and build resilience in young people to extremism and online harms.
Using recent case studies, and with discussion points built in, this interactive resource helps young people explore the techniques used by extremists and evaluate digital content, understand positive choices about who/what is trustworthy online, challenge extremist narratives and consider the consequences of their actions online.
11. Your feedback: have your say on T Level data collections
ESFA user researchers are seeking T Level provider volunteers to take part in research to help us develop and improve the T Level 2022 to 2023 pulse survey.
The survey will collect information, between January and June of 2022, on how providers are progressing with recruitment T Levels and Transition Programmes and with sourcing industry placements for the 2022 to 2023 academic year. We would like to hear from providers who have completed the survey previously, along with those who will be completing it for the first time.
If you can spare up to one hour of your time during the next couple of months and would be interested in being involved, please register your interest.