GOVERNORS' ANNUAL REPORT TO PARENTS ... - Highcliffe School

F inance S ub-Committee
Member s hip
P et er Moseley, Chair, Parent Governor
Martin Axton, Chair of Governors
Judith Potts, Headteacher
Harry Sharp, Partnership Gover nor
Jeremy Allin, First Governor
Christine King, Teacher Governor
Kay Lewis, Resource Manager
S tephen White, Parent Governor
T he s chool’s current financial position continues to r eflect events of
the 1990’s when a redetermination of the funding available for the
payment of business rates resulted in the s chool incurring an
operating deficit of £157,000.
T his legacy has required the s chool and the Local Education
Authority (LEA) to agr ee a s trategy that manages the level of deficit
in the s chool’s accounts while allowing the s chool to impr ove the
educational environment for the s tudents . The s chool carries a
deficit that is licensed by the LEA, within the fr amewor k set by the
Department for Education and S kills.
During 2002/03, the s chool produced a medium-ter m financial plan
that reflected the need for front loading of investment in staff and
facilities as part of the s chool’s overall improvement plan. The
financial plan also pr ovides for repayment of the deficit by the end
of 2007/08.
For the financial year 2002/03, the main sources of funding wer e
delegated funds from the LEA of £2.45m and funding fr om the
Learning and S kills Council for the S ixth Form that amounted to
£352,000. Standards Fund money of £275,000 included £123,000
for the Language College and £6,500 for the S ummer School for
gifted and talented s tudents moving to the s chool in S eptember
2002. The DfES passported £72,000 of funding dir ect to the s chool.
T he s chool set a r evenue budget for 2002/03 that forecast a deficit
as at 31 March 2003 of £266,200.
T he budget was set at this level in order to pr ovide additional
teaching hour s in support of the curriculum and timetable, and to
allow the es tablishment of a full leadership and management team.
Additional suppor t staff were employed in order to enhance s tudent
suppor t, finance and data handling. It was also necessary to take