NSW Department of Education

2022 School Budget Allocation Report (SBAR):essentials

2 2022 School Budget Allocation Report (SBAR): essentials

Table of Contents Essential information ........................................................................................................................................... 3

Simplifying school budgets .............................................................................................................................. 5

Funding allocation information ...................................................................................................................... 6

Support for schools ............................................................................................................................................... 8

Strategic planning support ............................................................................................................................................................ 8 Finance support ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Needs-based funding .......................................................................................................................................... 9

Reporting and accountability .......................................................................................................................... 9

Targeted funding ................................................................................................................................................................................. 10 Refugee student support .............................................................................................................................. 10 New Arrivals Program.................................................................................................................................... 10 Integration funding support ......................................................................................................................... 11

Equity loadings..................................................................................................................................................... 12 Socio-economic background....................................................................................................................... 12 Aboriginal background ................................................................................................................................. 13 English language proficiency ...................................................................................................................... 14 Low level adjustment for disability ............................................................................................................ 16

Operational funding ........................................................................................................................................... 16 Location ............................................................................................................................................................. 16

© NSW Department of Education October 2022 3

Essential information

The funding distributed to schools through the 2022 School Budget Allocation Report (SBAR) provisions critical resources to meet student learning and wellbeing needs and improve student outcomes. The strategic investment of school funding supports every student to meet their full potential, underpinned by evidence-based guidance for all schools under the School Success Model.

The 2022 SBAR shows your school’s funding allocation for 2022 including staffing, operational costs, the seven Resource Allocation Model (RAM) loadings, initiative funding and site specific allocations.

The allocation of needs-based funding through the Resource Allocation Model (RAM) continues to ensure the best possible teaching and learning opportunities can be provided, ensuring the needs of our students are central to our decision making.

The funding your school receives needs to be expended in 2022. The funds have been allocated for the current cohort of students and are provided to support their specific learning and wellbeing needs.

The Carry Forward Policy (Schools) presents a new way of operating for schools, aimed at establishing financial management practices that reduce underspend in schools and ensure funding is used for maximum impact on student outcomes. Schools should read the policy and the Carry Forward (Schools) Guidelines.

Your school’s 2022 SBAR is located on Scout. Streamlined information and support is instantly accessible on your school’s Scout landing page.

Click the buttons on the landing page to

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Click the link icon next to your school’s

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4 2022 School Budget Allocation Report (SBAR): essentials

Personalised links are provided throughout your 2022 SBAR to match your school’s funding allocations. These links direct you to specific support information. You are able to print your 2022 SBAR through the export function. The 2022 SBAR allocations are uploaded into School Planning and Reporting Online (SPaRO) and the enterprise Financial Planning Tool (eFPT) to allow your school to engage in all aspects of the School Excellence cycle. This involves planning, tracking, monitoring, reflecting and reporting on the impact of expenditure of accountable funds on student learning outcomes. Your school will resource strategic directions and initiatives identified in your school’s Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP). This will show how your school intends to meet student needs and improve the learning outcomes for all students. Funding contributions toward each activity need to be reviewed regularly to ensure they are achieving the desired outcomes with adjustments made as required. Your school must spend each funding allocation on its intended purpose. The inclusion of impact statements as part of the annual reflection will ensure your school’s annual report clearly demonstrates alignment between the use of needs-based funds and improved outcomes of those students who demonstrate educational disadvantage. The enterprise Financial Planning Tool (eFPT) will enable your school to budget operational expenses and track all staff and operational plans. The 2022 SBAR provides details of your school’s total budget allocations at a point in time.

• The staff allocations in the 2022 SBAR reflect published 2022 Anticipated enrolment and entitlement reports. Engagement of staff based on these entitlements must be consistent with all relevant industrial agreements, legislative requirements, departmental policies, procedures and guidelines.

• Staff entitlement included in each of the equity loadings is funded from the loading and is not in addition to the loading. If applicable, this staff entitlement will appear in the blue section on the Staff entitlement report of the 2022 SBAR.

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Simplifying school budgets To simplify and streamline the school budgeting process, many allocations previously delivered through budget adjustments have now been incorporated into the 2022 SBAR. These allocations include but are not limited to:

• Connected Communities leaders and senior leaders

The staffing allocation is provided to Connected Communities schools based on school enrolment numbers to provide a vital link between the school and the local Aboriginal community.

• School as community centre (SaCC) cash grant

The allocation of $16,000 is provided to each SaCC to support the project’s prime focus of enhancing the early learning and wellbeing outcomes of children up to 8 years.

• Preschool resource funding

The allocation of $30,000 per school with a department preschool is to supplement school funds to support the management of the preschool, ensure compliance with legislative and quality standards and support ongoing continuous improvement.

• National school chaplaincy program

The allocation of up to $20,280 per annum (or $24,336 for remote schools) is provided to engage a prequalified provider for a chaplaincy service to support the emotional wellbeing of students and the broader school community through the provision of pastoral care services.

• School to work

The allocation is based on school enrolments in Years 9 – 12 to support student access to quality career learning activities and education programs.

• Instructional leaders Aboriginal education

The staffing allocation is provided to selected schools based on Aboriginal student enrolments and potential for improvements in student attendance, learning outcomes and local community connections.

• Commonwealth strategic assistance

The allocation is provided to support students enrolled in specialist support classes who also access mainstream classes or community settings to extend their learning opportunities.

• Vocational Education and Training program support

Allocations range between $250 - $25,000, school calculations are determined based on training effort as measured by the total number of VET Higher School Certificate (HSC) units delivered. The allocation is provided to supplement existing school resources, supporting VET programs delivered by schools.

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• Connected Communities learning and engagement initiatives

The allocation is provided to support the Connected Communities Strategy, including $25,000 for educational resources.

Your school may receive budget adjustments such as Beginning teacher support, New Arrivals Program and those resulting from published changes in staff entitlement. You will need to update the funding figures in the SIP funding sources table in SPaRO for budget adjustments as necessary. Schools have indicated that budget adjustments and reimbursements received in Term 4 are difficult to plan for and spend before the end of the school year. To better support schools, most funding and reimbursements during Term 4 will no longer take place. Instead, these will occur earlier in Term 3, or where suitable, deferred to January the following year. This will allow schools time to maximise planning and spending within a calendar year. Visit changes to 2021 Term 4 funding for more information. A summary of key updates for the 2022 SBAR can be found here. Tracking expenditure against an individual work breakdown structure (WBS) or internal order (IO) is a school based decision. It is strongly encouraged to track funding allocations as it will support your school to evaluate the impact of the use of funds on student outcomes.

Funding allocation information Use the direct links in the table below for comprehensive information on each funding allocation:

Funding sources

Targeted funding • Integration funding support • Refugee student support • New Arrivals Program

Equity Loadings

• Socio-economic background

• Aboriginal background

• English language proficiency

• Low level adjustment for disability

Base school allocation Staffing

• Quality Teaching Successful Students (QTSS)

• Sick & FACS leave model (SFLM)

• Literacy and Numeracy Intervention

• School as community centre (SaCC)

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Funding sources

• Student support officer

• Connected Communities leaders and senior leaders

• Student learning support officer (Health)

Operational

• School operational funding

• Utilities

• Per capita

• Urgent minor maintenance

Initiatives

• SSP quality teaching support

• Professional learning

• School support allocation (principal support)

Site specific

• Schools for Specific Purposes supplementary funding

• Specialist support provisions allocation

• External validation – teaching principals support

• Sustainable schools grant

• School as community centre (SaCC) cash grant

• Preschool resource funding

• National school chaplaincy program

• School to work

• Instructional leaders Aboriginal education

• Commonwealth strategic assistance

• Vocational Education and Training program support

• Connected Communities learning and engagement initiatives

• Specialist support funding

If you would like to further develop your understanding of the SBAR, and how to make evidence-based resourcing decisions that promote student learning outcomes, visit the SBAR resource hub or contact Strategic Schools Resourcing for more information.

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Support for schools Strategic planning support

• For specialist advice to support your school leadership team to effectively plan and align resources to initiatives and activities through the Strategic Improvement Planning process, contact Strategic Schools Resourcing.

• For professional learning that will enhance your understanding of the SBAR, and how funding can support evidence-based resourcing decision making, see the range of professional learning opportunities and materials available on the Strategic Schools Resourcing professional learning catalogue.

• School Excellence in Action will provide information to assist your school to effectively align school resources to initiatives that improve student outcomes, including the effective use of needs-based funding. For information about strategic planning for continual improvement, see the School Excellence Policy and the School Excellence in Action webpages.

• For information about quality teaching practices that are known to support school improvement and enhance the learning outcomes of our students, see the Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation’s What works best publications.

Finance support • For enterprise Financial Planning Tool (eFPT) information and support, see

the range of eLearning modules that can be accessed through MyPL on the planning, budgeting and forecasting webpage.

• For a range of updated and simplified finance and accounting support materials, see the EdConnect finance and accounting webpage.

• For updated general ledger accounts and budget planning hierarchy information, visit the Schools finance intranet page.

• For information about principal classification and how it is calculated, visit principal classification structure.

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Needs-based funding Needs-based funding is the recurrent resourcing delivered to students and schools based on characteristics of demonstrated educational disadvantage, and provided to lift student outcomes. Needs-based funding is distributed directly to schools through the School Budget Allocation Report and includes:

• targeted funding (Refugee student support, New Arrivals Program, Integration Funding Support)

• equity loadings (Socio-economic background, Aboriginal background, English language proficiency, Low level adjustment for disability)

• base school allocation (Location).

Needs-based funding, including staffing and flexible allocations, will be used to improve outcomes for specific students or specific student cohorts. It is essential to decide which initiatives and activities in your implementation and progress monitoring these loadings will be used to support. By adding the fund source and including an associated budget in the SIP funding source table will update to show, an ongoing balance that can be maintained and evaluated.

Reporting and Accountability Improvement measures, including both system-negotiated and school-determined targets, support you and other school leaders to lead improvement in your unique school contexts, and to have sharper, more focused conversations about school improvement. Some improvement measures specifically target equity groups, while others apply to whole school cohorts with equity and targeted students included.

Your school will establish annual progress measures that relate to specific student targeted and equity groups. You will evaluate and reflect on the impact of your initiatives on an annual basis against the annual progress measure/s. This will demonstrate the impact on student learning and effective teaching practice.

School’s evaluate the allocation of resources and complete impact statements as part of the annual reflection and reporting process. The impact of expenditure of accountable funds towards achieving strategic directions will be completed in School Planning and Reporting Online (SPaRO). This process will ensure Equity loadings are strategically invested and will be used to inform the school’s annual report.

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Targeted funding

Targeted funding is provided to your school to meet the specific needs of identified students. The three targeted allocations include Refugee student support, New Arrivals Program and Integration funding support.

Refugee student support This funding supports students from refugee backgrounds who have been enrolled in an Australian school for less than three years.

Data is extracted from the English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D) survey data signed off by the principal in June.

Examples of the effective use of the allocation include:

• supporting teachers to differentiate teaching and learning through EAL/D professional learning that focuses on refugee education

• creating a refugee support role or team to coordinate personalised support for students from refugee backgrounds

• identifying and targeting support for refugee students, including mentoring, tutoring, peer support, bilingual support and provision of essential equipment to facilitate active participation in school activities and the community.

For further details of how to use the allocation and effective practice examples, visit the SBAR resource hub.

Need to know more?

Contact the refugee student programs advisor on 7814 3796.

Refer to the Multicultural education and Supporting refugee students webpages for more information.

New Arrivals Program This resource provides on arrival, intensive English tuition for eligible, newly arrived English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D) students at the beginning and emerging phases of English language proficiency.

This resource is not provided through the SBAR. Primary schools and rural and regional secondary schools with eligible, newly arrived EAL/D students should submit an application for New Arrivals Program teaching support.

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Need to know more?

Contact the new arrivals advisor on 7814 3046 or by email ESLnap@det.nsw.edu.au, the EAL/D education advisor (rural and regional) on 7814 3731 or the intensive English programs advisor on 7814 3284.

Refer to the English as an additional language or dialect education and New Arrivals Program webpages for more information.

Integration funding support Integration funding support (IFS) allocations support eligible students in mainstream classes who require moderate to high levels of adjustment.

Data is extracted from the information provided through the access request process. The allocation shown on the 2022 SBAR is your schools 2021 allocation, and will be updated to the 2022 allocation in the 2022 SBAR Adjustments.

Schools are expected to expend the total allocation in the year it is received or return any unused funds in excess of $100 to integration funding support.

The allocation should be used to support eligible student/s by:

• engaging additional teachers and school learning support officers (SLSOs) to assist with personalised learning and support for students in their classrooms

• providing release for classroom teachers to undertake targeted professional learning regarding a specific disability

• providing release for classroom teachers to evaluate and plan adjustments with parents and carers and other school staff.

For further details of how to use the allocation and effective practice examples, visit the SBAR resource hub.

Need to know more?

Contact your central integration funding support learning and wellbeing officer directly or at integration_funding_support@det.nsw.edu.au.

Refer to the Inclusive education webpages for more information.

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Equity loadings

Equity loadings are provided as additional funding to your school to support the needs of students in equity groups. The four equity loadings include Aboriginal background, socio-economic background, English language proficiency and low-level adjustment for disability.

Socio-economic background The socio-economic background equity loading is to be used to meet the additional learning needs of students who may be experiencing educational disadvantage as a result of their socio-economic background.

Your schools socio-economic background loading is calculated using data extracted from the Enrolment Registration Number (ERN) system in early Term 2 each year to produce the Family Occupation and Education Index (FOEI) score.

The socio-economic background loading includes:

• needs-based funding allocations based on the FOEI and the number of quarter 1 and quarter 2 students

• staff entitlement related to the loading, and a staffing adjustment (where applicable) for those schools that do not receive sufficient socio-economic background funding to cover the cost of this staff entitlement.

Your school should use the socio-economic background equity loading to plan and implement effective evidence-based strategies to address possible educational disadvantage associated with socio-economic background.

Examples of effective use of the socio-economic background equity loading include:

• employing a teacher to work as a literacy and numeracy mentor with students identified as requiring additional support

• reducing the cost of extra-curricular activities and excursions to ensure whole school engagement

• providing equitable access to opportunities for students by purchasing school equipment including laptops

• engaging a youth outreach worker to support student engagement in schooling and goal setting.

For further details of how to use the allocation and effective practice examples, visit the SBAR resource hub.

Need to know more?

Contact the strategic schools resourcing team at SSR@det.nsw.edu.au.

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Aboriginal background The Aboriginal background equity loading is provided to your school to implement strategies to engage Aboriginal students and ensure that literacy, numeracy, Year 12 attainment and attendance outcomes of Aboriginal students improve to match or better those of the broader student population, while maintaining cultural identity. Funds may also be used to ensure all teachers are culturally competent and schools are culturally responsive, acknowledging connections to local Aboriginal culture.

The department’s Aboriginal Education Policy and 2020-2030 partnership agreement with the NSW AECG, Walking Together, Working Together, clearly outline the commitment we share to improving Aboriginal educational outcomes.

The NSW Premier’s Priority is to increase Higher School Certificate (HSC) attainment for Aboriginal students by 50% by 2023, while maintaining cultural identity.

Engaging Aboriginal people in partnership and decision making is a critical element of successful practice. The NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Inc. (NSW AECG Inc.) is the peak community advisory body on Aboriginal education. Schools should acknowledge and seek advice from the NSW AECG Inc. at local and regional levels when considering, designing and implementing Aboriginal programs and initiatives.

Funds under the Aboriginal background equity loading are provided to schools to ensure that the performance of Aboriginal students in NSW public schools, across a broad range of key educational measures, improves to match or better those of the broader student population, while maintaining cultural identity.

From 2021, all schools with a sufficient Aboriginal student cohort will use a system-negotiated target to increase the percentage of Aboriginal students achieving in the top 3 NAPLAN bands in reading and numeracy in their Strategic Improvement Plan for Strategic Direction 1: Student growth and attainment.

Data is extracted using the mid-year census data from National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) – all Aboriginal enrolments.

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Examples of effective use of the Aboriginal background equity loading include:

• engaging a literacy and numeracy focused instructional leader and Aboriginal identified positions to deliver differentiated and personalised support to Aboriginal students

• implementing focused initiatives to improve attendance • engaging an AEO to facilitate improved community engagement,

including the engagement of students and their families with the personalised learning pathway (PLP) process

• participating in relevant professional learning, including courses focusing on Aboriginal cultural education such as Connecting to Country

• working in conjunction with a NSW Department of Education Language and Culture Nest to create school literacy resources embedding local language

• engaging an Aboriginal identified position to support weekly Aboriginal cultural lessons in local Aboriginal language to build understanding of local and broader Aboriginal perspectives

• ensuring community consultation and engagement to promote and enable the inclusive development of cultural competency

• establishing an Aboriginal learning and engagement centre (contact the Aboriginal Outcomes and Partnerships directorate for more information).

For further details of how to use the allocation and effective practice examples, visit the SBAR resource hub.

Need to know more?

Contact your local Aboriginal education and engagement advisor on 131 536, your Director, Educational Leadership or the Director, Strategic Delivery, Teacher Quality and Impact.

Refer to the resources supporting effective practice on the Aboriginal Outcomes and Partnerships directorate webpage, including the Aboriginal Education Policy.

English language proficiency

The English language proficiency equity loading provides support for students at all four phases of English language learning – beginning, emerging, developing and consolidating. The loading provides a higher level of support for students with greater need, including a higher weighting for students in the early phases of learning English, students from refugee backgrounds and students in secondary schools.

A new methodology has been developed to deliver a more equitable distribution of the loading and address a number of identified risks.

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The revised methodology includes new weightings for each of the four English language proficiency phases; a revised length of time in an Australian school measure has been applied; and an increased weighting for refugee students has been calculated.

Data is extracted using each school’s level of English language proficiency need as reported in the EAL/D survey in June. The number of students reported is moderated for:

• international students • scholastic year • refugee students • length of time in an Australian school.

The EAL/D rate is determined by the total funding available for distribution and the total weighted EAL/D need for all students.

All schools with EAL/D enrolments receive funding. The minimum for schools with EAL/D enrolments is $2,400 per school and the maximum is $700,000 per school.

The total pool of EAL/D teacher positions is 1,000 full time equivalent (FTE), provided to assist schools in meeting the learning needs of growing numbers of EAL/D students.

Please note, all schools for specific purposes (SSPs) with EAL/D enrolments will receive separate advice.

Teaching allocations should be filled by qualified EAL/D teachers.

Examples of effective use of the English language proficiency equity loading include:

• employing an additional EAL/D teacher to deliver targeted support for EAL/D students

• employing a bilingual SLSO to support students to clarify learning in their home language

• enhancing the delivery of EAL/D pedagogy across the school through strategic school EAL/D leadership positions and professional learning for teachers.

For further details of how to use the allocation and effective practice examples, visit the SBAR resource hub.

Need to know more?

Contact the EAL/D education coordinator on 7814 3727, the rural and regional EAL/D education advisor on 7814 3731 or your Director, Educational Leadership.

Refer to School Excellence in Action: Using funding for EAL/D students and the Multicultural education and English as an additional language or dialect webpages.

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Low level adjustment for disability

The Low level adjustment for disability (LLAD) equity loading is an allocation to support students at your school in mainstream classes who may have a disability and additional learning and support needs requiring an adjustment to their learning.

The LLAD allocation comprises an allocation base determined by revised school enrolments preschool – Year 12 and a supplementary allocation based on student need determined from NAPLAN data which informs each school’s Student Learning Needs Index (SLNI).

Specialist teacher allocations will remain the same to ensure stability in schools in 2022.

The funding can be used for additional teacher or SLSO time as well as teacher release, for example for related professional learning and program coordination. SLSOs must have a minimum period of employment of an unbroken two hours.

Examples of effective use of the low level adjustment for disability equity loading include:

• engaging specialist staff to collaborate with classroom teachers to build capability in meeting the literacy needs of identified students

• engaging a learning and support teacher to work with individual students and in a case management role within the classroom

• providing support for targeted students within the classroom and playground through the employment of SLSOs.

For further details of how to use the allocation and effective practice examples, visit the SBAR resource hub.

Need to know more?

Contact your local Student Support Services and Specialist Programs team on 131 536 or your Director, Educational Leadership.

Additional information and resources are available at Inclusive education.

Operational funding Location

This funding allocation is provided to address school needs associated with remoteness and/or isolation.

The location loading measures remoteness using the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA+) and measures isolation based on a school’s enrolments and distance from other schools. (NSSC data – all enrolments.)

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Examples of effective use of this allocation include:

• purchasing resources to enable connection and collaboration with other schools for a range of purposes, including professional learning

• professional learning to develop new skills and support teachers in their use and integration of technology to increase collaboration with other schools, including for curriculum delivery

• using funding for excursion buses, which might otherwise make the cost of the program prohibitive.

Need to know more?

Visit the SBAR resource hub or contact the strategic schools resourcing team at SSR@det.nsw.edu.au.