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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
RESOLVED That the Committee: a) Continues to review the costs of ALN provisions in schools and the progress/challenges of hiring Welsh Language teachers. b) Continues to review Dual-Stream education in Pembrokeshire.
RESOLVED a) That other schools in Pembrokeshire consider following Milford Haven School on their behaviour practices with pupils, particularly with exclusions. b) That the School consider a school promotion campaign highlighting its successes, to entice pupils in its catchment area to go there. Mrs Morris suggested that the Committee write to Welsh Government asking the for school governors to receive remuneration so it would be easier to recruit them.
RESOLVED That the School Scrutiny Panel visit Greenhill School, Golden Grove School, St. Teilo’s School, Mary Immaculate School, Manorbier School, Ysgol Elwswrw and for the 2025/2026 meeting cycle. It was noted that the schools that were nominated for a visit but will not be visited this year could be visited for the 2026/2027 meeting cycle.
RESOLVED That the Committee writes to Welsh Government to request an update on their scoping exercise on Adrenaline Emergency Auto-Injectors in schools and decide a course of action to take from that point. Councillor Howlett said that the would circulate the Senedd’s record that they were starting a scoping exercise to the Committee.
RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme be accepted subject to the following additions: a) Reading Standards Including for the Foundation Phase b) Cost of supply teachers and retention rates c) Sports in Pembrokeshire schools d) Mental health and wellbeing in schools e) Review of the Curriculum for Wales Sustainable Communities for Learning Update
There were no non-committee members wishing to speak.
Councillor Huw Murphy declared a personal interest in respect of Agenda Item No. 11 - Use of Adrenaline Emergency Auto-Injectors in Schools as he was a Local Authority appointed Governor at Ysgol Bro Ingli who discussed this topic at a recent meeting. Councillor Michael John declared a personal interest by virtue of the fact that he was a Local Authority appointed Governor at Hook CP School and Haverfordwest High School. Councillor Marc Tierney declared a personal interest in respect of Agenda Item No. 8 – School Scrutiny Panel Visit - Narberth C.P. School / Ysgol Arberth as he was a Local Authority appointed Governor at the school.
Councillor Rhys Jordan Moved that the Minutes of the Meeting held on the6 February 2025 be approved as a correct record; Seconded by Councillor Alistair Cameron. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 6 February 2025 be approved as a correct record. Councillor Rhys Jordan Moved that the Minutes of the Extraordinary Meeting held on the 4 March 2025 be approved as a correct record; Seconded by Councillor Huw Murphy. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Extraordinary Meeting held on 4 March 2025 be approved as a correct record.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
With regards to the outstanding ALN reform action, the Director of Education said that the Council had received the funding for this. They received £380,138 for ALN quality and delivery across schools, £112,000 for ALN quality and delivery across the Local Authority, £750,738 for ALN delivery across schools, £117,000 for wellbeing and counselling, £40,278 for wellbeing interventions, and £22,383 for PRUs (pupil referral units) and education outside of schools. He continued that a new ALN Act was due to be implemented, and the Cabinet Secretary was talking to practitioners regarding the challenges around this. Additionally, the legislative framework would be reviewed to ensure that it was easily understood. The Director of Education noted that further multi agency work needed to be carried out and the funding needed for ALN was never enough. In response to a question from Councillor David Howlett around trends in ALN funding, the Director of Education said that there had been an upward trend in all aspects apart from the implementation of ALN reform in local authorities. However, this was a downward trend. In response to a question from the Chair regarding the seminar on school dogs, the Director of Education confirmed that the seminar would be held in the summer. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor David Howlett; Seconded by Councillor Marc Tierney. The votes, undertaken by way of a show of hands, were carried. RESOLVED That the report be noted.
There were no public submissions.
The Forward Work Programme was taken as the last item of business.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the Committee: a) Continues to review the costs of ALN provisions in schools and the progress/challenges of hiring Welsh Language teachers. b) Continues to review Dual-Stream education in Pembrokeshire.
The Chair welcomed Mrs Kate Moore, Mrs Nia Thomas and Mrs Linda Tamplin of Narberth C.P. School, to the meeting and invited her to address the Committee on the Panel’s visit to their school. With regards to the report, Mrs Moore reiterated that the school was struggling financially and had to make a teacher redundant while a Welsh stream teacher took 12 months unpaid leave. In the English stream, a redundancy was planned for one of the Assistant Headteachers but instead they got a Head Teacher role at another school. However, this role was scrapped at the school there was now only one Assistant Headteacher for the new school term. On average, there were 30 pupils per class and next year they would be mixed age groups due to the staffing issues. Since September 2024, Mrs Moore noted that there had been a large influx of children joining the school out of county and three of them had severe ALN needs. These children had to be supported with a reduced ALN budget, especially with the reduced amount of teaching assistants. To add to this, Mrs Tamplin said that they wanted to keep improving the school, but they could not with the reduced budget. She also noted that staff members were able to develop themselves with the school, but this was no longer possible due to staff cuts. Councillor Cameron queried how the staffing issues impacted the pupils. In response, Mrs Moore stated that they were not able to support them as much, especially as there were mixed abilities within the mixed aged classes. The classes were also split between the two streams. It was clarified that the influx of students, including with ALN students would predominately come from England and one came from Spain. To add to this, the Director of Education confirmed that ALN funding was given on a fixed annual basis. As the funding was given in the financial year instead of academic year, it only covered 7/12 of the required funding needed. He concluded that the funding did not follow pupils in the same way as it might in terms of pupil numbers. In response to a question from Councillor Sam Skyrme-Blackhall regarding the staff member taking unpaid leave, Mrs Moore clarified that the staff member requested the leave so they could travel. Regarding the impact on the school, she stated that they had to reduce the number of classes in the Welsh stream so the classes will become larger. Due to the retention issues with teachers, the Chair noted that unpaid leave was a way to retain teachers, and it was a short-term solution. Councillor Tierney asked what the school did to retain its high attendance rate. In response, Mrs Moore stated that attendance was always highlighted in assemblies and in newsletters to parents. Pupils with high attendance rates received rewards too. She continued that they worked to have good relationships with parents, including having open afternoons and evenings to meet with parents. Recently punctuality had improved too. Regarding Narberth, Councillor Tierney highlighted that it was often advertised as a great place to live by the press. He queried how the school managed to cater for the children joining the school from other countries, including midterm. As the school was dual stream, Mrs Moore noted that this enabled them to cater for English pupils moving to Narberth or Welsh speaking pupils. The pupils were very welcoming so new pupils would integrate quickly and cater for all pupils. She noted that despite the two streams, it felt like one school as pupils would play together. This helped promote Welsh in the English stream. With regards to school builds, Councillor Murphy questioned if the quality of a school building affected parent’s choice for which school their child attended. In response, Mrs Moore noted that most parents went to Ysgol Bro Preseli but now they went to Ysgol Caer Elen which was likely because it had better facilities. Pupils also went to Haverfordwest High School, Greenhill School and Whitland. To add to this, Mrs Thomas noted that where the pupil lived affected which school they went to too as most would need to get buses to get to school. It was clarified that one pupil a year went to Greenhill School. The Chair noted that Ysgol Bro Penfro was also feeding into Ysgol Caer Elen and queried how this impact Narberth C.P. School pupil’s choices. In response, the Director of Education concurred that it would become more difficult for Narberth C.P. School pupils to go to Ysgol Caer Elen due to Ysgol Bro Penfro being in the catchment area. Narberth was in the catchment area for Ysgol Bro Preseli for Welsh medium education. He concluded that some pupils in Narberth would go to secondary school in Carmarthenshire. Excluding more finances, Councillor Howlett queried what Narberth C.P. School would like changed in order to improve educational attainment there. In response, Mrs Moore said that she would like the school to remain dual streamed because it enabled them to have a strong bilingual community. Mrs Tamplin concurred with this and added that the school was promoting the Welsh language without needing to be a Welsh language school. She asked the Committee to enabled them to remain a dual stream school and not become Welsh language only. Councillor Tinley expressed her concerns with the increasing class sizes, increase of ALN students and lack of teaching assistants. She noted that if it was not addressed now then it would not fit into the Preventative Agenda. In order to resolve this, she suggested ‘looking outside the box’ as the current system was not working with the constant cuts. In terms of dual stream schools, the Chair queried what the future policy with them would be. He also asked what the average class size was. In terms of dual stream schools, the Director of Education said that they were currently working through the new Welsh Government categorisation of schools. When the new categorisation is introduced, the Council will need to be compliant with it. Regarding class sizes, the Director of Education said the average staff to pupil ratio was 1:28. For primarily schools, class regulations stated that it should be 1:29 at maximum but 30 pupils per teacher was often accepted. For Key Stage 2, he noted that there was no class size regulation, but it was aimed to stick to 30 pupils per class at maximum. He concluded that for nursery and reception in schools, the Council got funding to ensure the staff to pupil ration was 1:8 and 1:15 for Years 1 and 2. With regards to school visits, Councillor Guy Woodham, the relevant Cabinet Member for Education and the Welsh Language, highlighted the benefit of teachers visiting the Committee afterwards to share their views and it also showed the impact of school budget cuts. He noted that school budget cuts impacted learners and asking for percentage savings to be made instead of cutting school budgets could be a better solution. All schools were doing well with improvements in Pembrokeshire. Councillor Woodham expressed his concerns that all schools in Pembrokeshire could be financially in a deficit. Regarding the incoming Welsh language strategy, Councillor Woodham highlighted that they needed to see what was deliverable with it and how this would impact dual stream schools. Councillor Murphy concurred with Councillor Woodham and added that the original planned cut to schools was higher than 2.9%. He also highlighted the benefits of dual stream education and how culturally diverse Pembrokeshire was. Councillor Rhys Jordan Moved an Amendment to the recommendation so that: “The Committee continues to review Dual-Stream education in Pembrokeshire” be added to the Recommendation. Seconded by Councillor Alistair Cameron. The Amended Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Rhys Jordan; Seconded by Councillor Alistair Cameron. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion – Councillors Rhys Jordan, Marc Tierney, Alistair Cameron, David Howlett, Huw Murphy, Anji Tinley, Nick Neumann, Bethan Price, Alun Wills, Maureen Bowen, Sam Skyrme-Blackhall, Viv Stoddart, Michael John; and Mr James Parkin, Mrs Nicola Moore and Rev. John Cecil [16] There were no votes against or abstentions. RESOLVED That the Committee: a) Continues to review the costs of ALN provisions in schools and the progress/challenges of hiring Welsh Language teachers. b) Continues to review Dual-Stream education in Pembrokeshire.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED a) That other schools in Pembrokeshire consider following Milford Haven School on their behaviour practices with pupils, particularly with exclusions. b) That the School consider a school promotion campaign highlighting its successes, to entice pupils in its catchment area to go there. Mrs Morris suggested that the Committee write to Welsh Government asking the for school governors to receive remuneration so it would be easier to recruit them.
The Chair welcomed Mrs Ceri-Anne Morris and Mr Daryl John of Milford Haven School, to the meeting and invited her to address the Committee on the Panel’s visit to their school. Mr John concurred with the points raised in the report, including the school’s community feel, positive points in behaviour and awards won by the school. He noted that they had similar issues regarding budgets, recruitment and redundancies like Narberth C.P. School. Like other secondary schools in Wales, Milford Haven School was struggling with the new Curriculum for Wales. To add to this, Mrs Morris highlighted the behavioural strategies referenced in the report. These new behavioural strategies were managed by the new Assistant Head Teacher and the school also introduced rewards for pupils with good attendance. Regarding the school’s mobile phone policy, Mrs Morris noted that they trialled Prefects keeping their mobile phones and they also led on the implementation of the new policy. She reiterated the difficulty with hiring teachers due to Milford Haven’s location. Mrs Morris continued that Prefects would hold a pupil conference with pupils who did not engage with them to try and get their views. There were plans for there to be a cluster pupil conference with primary schools. These primary school pupils that will go to Milford Haven School also can ask questions to teachers too. She continued that plans were underway to grow plants in their outdoor garden and work with Patch to engage with less advantaged families. With regards to rugby, Mrs Morris spoke to Milford Haven Rugby Club who told her that their pupils who were signed up at a different rugby club could not join them. She also expressed her dismay that pupils felt discriminated against because of the school they went to, especially as some pupils would leave then rejoin the school. Regarding school successes, the noted that the current Head Boy and Girl at Haverfordwest High School came from Milford Haven School and five of their ex-pupils got into Oxbridge this year. Mrs Morris noted that they lost several members of staff to Pembrokeshire College who wanted to work in a newer building. Regarding finances, they worked hard to try and get back into a financially stronger position, but staff costs had increased and PRU placements had doubled. She noted that because of this, the school will lose three teachers and three support staff. With regards to the press, she stated that they would often name the school when something bad happened i.e. staff cuts, but they would not do this for other schools. Also, the press would not mention the school if there was a good news story. She stated that she was glad that the catchment area did not change for the school, and she highlighted the delays with the school’s planned new build. Regarding the ALN budget, Mrs Morris noted that the school would often receive the funding for a pupil months later after they started and after the budget was set. The school’s average class size was 19 pupils, but they had had 36 pupils in a class before. She noted that pupils worked better when they received feedback of work marked by the teachers and larger class sizes would impact this. The Chair concurred that people would visit the school with a pre-emptive opinion, but the reality was very different as the school worked hard and was very successful with its pupils. Regarding the Curriculum for Wales, Councillor Cameron noted that several schools had expressed problems with it and he queried if the schools could collaborate with it. The Chair concurred with this and noted that there was not a way to measure with the new curriculum. In response, the Director of Education said that the new curriculum was meant to be purpose and context led so children were worked with for what they were. Curriculum providers were worked with to support and develop the new curriculum and people’s thinking had been challenged with this. He agreed that work could be done in Pembrokeshire to make it more cohesive but there was a lot of disparity with this across Wales. Interim performance measures were in place to manage the new curriculum, and tests were being brought in for primary schools. He concluded that teachers constructed their curriculum with learners, and they would try to work collectively with colleagues. Regarding asymmetric weeks, Mrs Morris said they were invaluable for the school and staff could look at authentic learning experiences for children. Additionally, the cluster schools could meet up and share best practices. Schools in Swansea asked her to visit them and talk through these practices. With regards to sixth form, Councillor Skyrme-Blackhall queried how many of Milford Haven School’s pupils would go to Pembrokeshire College this year. In response, Mrs Morris said that historically, 30% of their pupils stayed there to do A Levels at the school which was why it was scrapped. Most of their pupils would do vocational qualifications at Pembrokeshire College instead of A Levels and this had increased due to financial issues in the country. She concluded that this is why they would not reintroduce the sixth form. Regarding staff retention, Mrs N Moore noted that a school’s facilities was important to pupils and parents, so it was unsurprising that the school lost a lot of staff members to the College because of this too. To add to this, Mrs Morris noted that teachers mainly asked for new carpets, blinds and a working whiteboard for their classrooms instead of additional resources. When some rooms were recarpeted, the floor needed to be recemented. Despite this, she noted that a lot of teachers did not want to move school, but they were struggling to get young teachers to teach there. Mr James Parkin expressed his dismay that pupils felt judged because of the school they went to and highlighted the importance of pupils having positive role models outside of school. He questioned whether the Council considered the deprivation area a school was in and education needs when their budget was given to them. In response, the Director of Education clarified that 70% of school budgets was affected by the number of children that went to the school. Other aspects considered were the school premises and running costs; however, the age of the building was not considered. Budget reform was being looked at and a review of budgets would be undertaken too. In terms of communities, there was a set allocation within the local authority education grant for schools which looked at deprivation and Pembrokeshire got a lot of money for this. He continued that schools would get funding for support of family engagement, community-focused school managers, professional learning, education welfare officers, elective home education activities, and money for ethnic minorities including gypsy traveller children’s activities. The Director of Education noted that the main element in terms of deprivation was the pupil development grant which the Council was granted £3,169,400 for. £162,000 was given for transition funding for pupils being taken off free school meals and £188 ,600 for looked after children. He concluded that the Council got ££4,352,052 to manage pupil deprivation in schools however this was not enough for the schools. Regarding Milford Haven Town Council, it was clarified that there was engagement between students and the Council as some students would meet with them and relay things back to the student body. In highlighting the exclusion reduction rates, Councillor John concurred with the proposed recommendation that other schools should consider following Milford Haven School’s behaviour strategies. He noted that Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Committee sent their congratulations to the school on achieving the Gold Investors in Carers Award which was referenced in the report. As well as the Gold Investors in Carers Award, Mrs Morris emphasised that she focused on children’s rights at the school, and they also won the Gold Rights Respecting Schools Award. With regards to the sixth-from, Councillor Viv Stoddart noted that in 2018, the school planned to have a sixth-from block but this this never happened. She continued that Milford Haven School was meant to get a new build in 2011-2012 and the lack of rugby club was a vicious circle as students would need to go to Neyland or Haverfordwest to play and could not join Milford Haven club after. She concluded that the Head of Governor’s at the school did a lot of youth work in Milford Haven. In response to a query from the Chair around changing rugby clubs, Councillor Alun Willis stated that the current youth rugby club at Haverfordwest had the option to rejoin Milford Haven Rugby Club at the end of the current season. This was because the rules of youth rugby changed so when a child turned 18, they could not change rugby clubs. The Chair clarified that the students who wanted a school rugby club were under 16 years old, and all rugby clubs were having an issue with youth recruitment because there were less pupils in Pembrokeshire to feed into the clubs. For rugby players under 16, Mrs Morris stated that WRU regulations stated that they could not change clubs. Mrs Nicola Moore requested that the Committee considered contacting the WRU as youth clubs were closing cross-county and they were not addressing it. It was clarified that the school will lose five teachers in September 2025. In response to a question from Councillor Maureen Bowen regarding attendance rates, the Director of Education stated that for secondary schools ranged from 84.31% to 93,96% as of March 2025. Primary schools ranged from 85% to 99.52% and 25 primary schools averaged 94%. Councillor Tinley reiterated the importance on new policies being peer-led as they were more likely to be enforced then. To add to this, Mrs Morris noted that their Chair of Governor’s did a lot of work through Milford Youth Matters, and this included making sure that all pupils had affordable school uniform. She concurred with policies being pupil led as the school helped form the Council’s Diversity & Inclusion policy. In terms of the school’s asymmetric week, Councillor Tierney queried if this helped them meet their attendance targets. Additionally, he queried what steps the school wanted to be taken to get parents to put their children in the school. Regarding attendance, Mrs Morris noted that attitudes to attendance had changed since Covid-19, so they had a rewards system in place. They regularly had parents take their children out of school for elective home education, but they would be re-enrolled six weeks later and the school would have to get the pupil to catch up with their peers. With regards to the asymmetric week, she said that Friday was not the worst days for attendance and Monday was not a great day for attendance. With the catchment area choices, Mrs Morris asked for the Council to share their good news stories as this would encourage parents to send their pupils to the school. She noted that visiting parents would initially be turned off by the building but would come around after speaking with teachers. She concluded that the pupils were often discriminated against because of their age but they were good pupils. The Chair recalled that Milford Haven School had a high usage of the pupil learning centre (PLC) which affected the school’s budget. The PLC itself was used as a pupil intervention and then they should return to the school. In response, Mr John highlighted that some of the pupils they had to pay for were primary school pupils in their catchment area. Since September 2024, they had referred two pupils to the PLC which was the lowest yet; this was because of their work on behavioural strategies. It was noted that the school did not have any say on the primary schools who went straight into the PLC from their school. Provision was put in to try and get some of these pupils out of the PLC. The Director of Education clarified that PLCs were not schools, but instead local authority provisions and every child there needed to be dual registered to a school too. Placements were determined by their Inclusion Panel and PLC costs were determined through the public budget consultation and there were no objections to the costs. Regarding Milford Haven School and Ysgol Bro Preseli’s new school builds, Councillor Woodham noted that the situation was constantly changing. Most of the funding for the new builds will come from Welsh Government and the Council had to follow their requirements within their business case model. He emphasised with the frustrations of how long the builds were taking and noted that the Sustainable Communities for Learning Strategic Board will meet in May 2025 to discuss this. Councillor Woodham said they would update the local members on the builds and affordability was a reoccurring issue with the new builds so there was additional complexities with this. He suggested that the Committee consider adding an update from the Sustainable Communities for Learning Strategic Board onto the Forward Work Programme. [Mr James Parkin left the meeting at this juncture at 12:16]. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Rhys Jordan; Seconded by Councillor Anji Tinley. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion – Councillors Rhys Jordan, Marc Tierney, Alistair Cameron, David Howlett, Huw Murphy, Anji Tinley, Nick Neumann, Bethan Price, Alun Wills, Maureen Bowen, Sam Skyrme-Blackhall, Viv Stoddart, Michael John; and Mrs Nicola Moore and Rev. John Cecil [15] There were no votes against or abstentions. RESOLVED a) That other schools in Pembrokeshire consider following Milford Haven School on their behaviour practices with pupils, particularly with exclusions. b) That the School consider a school promotion campaign highlighting its successes, to entice pupils in its catchment area to go there. Mrs Morris suggested that the Committee write to Welsh Government asking the for school governors to receive remuneration so it would be easier to recruit them.
The Meeting adjourned at 12:20 and reconvened at 12:31.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the School Scrutiny Panel visit Greenhill School, Golden Grove School, St. Teilo’s School, Mary Immaculate School, Manorbier School, Ysgol Elwswrw and for the 2025/2026 meeting cycle. It was noted that the schools that were nominated for a visit but will not be visited this year could be visited for the 2026/2027 meeting cycle.
The Chair asked the Committee for suggestions on which schools the Committee should visit for the 2025/2026 academic year. In response, Councillor Murphy suggested that Manorbier School be visited to see how they were progressing since the fire. Due to the changes since the previous visit, the Chair suggested that Greenhill School be revisited. Additionally, he suggested St. Teilo’s School and Mary Immaculate Primary School as they had recently federated. He concluded by proposing Golden Grove School as they recently moved from being a dual-stream school to English medium. Mrs Nicola Moore suggested Ysgol Maenclochog, Ysgol Eglwyswrw and Ysgol Cleddau as they focused on the Welsh language. As they had recently started the asymmetric week, Councillor Skyrme-Blackhall suggested Tenby CW Primary School. Councillor Price nominated Croesgoch School to be visited. In response to the Chair’s request for another secondary school to be added to the list, Councillor Cameron suggested that Ysgol Bro Gwaun be considered. The Director of Education concurred that Greenhill School should be visited due to their improvements, including being removed from special measures. He agreed that small rural schools should be considered to be visited too like Manorbier School, Ysgol Maenclochog, Ysgol Eglwyswrw and Ysgol Cleddau but two of these schools could be visited. He concurred with the Chair that Golden Grove School should be visited as they became English medium from dual stream and their improvements in early years provision. He concluded that St. Teilo’s School and Mary Immaculate School be visited too due to their recent federation and so the Committee could see what an interim visit from Estyn looked like. A Motion was Moved by Councillor Alistair Cameron to the effect: That the School Scrutiny Panel visit Greenhill School, Golden Grove School, St. Teilo’s School, Mary Immaculate School, Manorbier School, Ysgol Elwswrw and for the 2025/2026 meeting cycle. Seconded by Councillor Wills. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion – Councillors Rhys Jordan, Marc Tierney, Alistair Cameron, David Howlett, Huw Murphy, Anji Tinley, Nick Neumann, Bethan Price, Alun Wills, Maureen Bowen, Sam Skyrme-Blackhall, Viv Stoddart, Michael John; and Mrs Nicola Moore and Rev. John Cecil [15] There were no voted against or abstentions. RESOLVED That the School Scrutiny Panel visit Greenhill School, Golden Grove School, St. Teilo’s School, Mary Immaculate School, Manorbier School, Ysgol Elwswrw and for the 2025/2026 meeting cycle. It was noted that the schools that were nominated for a visit but will not be visited this year could be visited for the 2026/2027 meeting cycle.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the Committee writes to Welsh Government to request an update on their scoping exercise on Adrenaline Emergency Auto-Injectors in schools and decide a course of action to take from that point. Councillor Howlett said that the would circulate the Senedd’s record that they were starting a scoping exercise to the Committee.
The Committee considered a report by the Director of Education on the Use of Adrenaline Emergency Auto-Injectors in Schools (epi-pens). He highlighted key points from the report including that the policy should remain at school level as local authority policy would follow current Welsh Guidance. He suggested that a briefing paper be provided to school governing bodies highlighting current guidance and where support could be sought. As allergies were becoming more common, Councillor Tinley noted that lives could be saved if schools had to have epi-pens and the needs for epi-pens could suddenly happened. To add to this, Councillor Murphy said that he was not against school governing bodies determining their epi-pen policy, but it would be good if the Council bulk bought epi-pens for schools to have. He noted that schools had fire extinguishers in case of fires and England’s Department of Health stated that 8% of children had allergies. He continued that delayed ambulance response times meant that an epi-pen could mean life or death. Councillor Murphy queried if it was known how many schools in Pembrokeshire had epi-pens as they were compulsory to have in England. In response, the Director of Education noted that the Council would go against Welsh Government guidance if they created a policy on epi-pens and bought bulk bought them; they also could not instruct teachers on this. It was unknown how many schools in Pembrokeshire had epi-pens, but the schools themselves would be aware of pupil allergies and this information could be sought. The Chair emphasised both sides of the argument but expressed his concern that the Council would need to buy epi-pens for all schools after cutting the school budget. He also noted that doing this would go against Welsh Government guidance. In response to this, Councillor Murphy highlighted that children with allergies would often have a sever allergic reaction during school hours. Regarding epi-pens, Councillor Tierney queried if it was known how many episodes there were when an epi-pen was needed in Pembrokeshire schools and what current procedures were currently in place when a pupil had an allergic reaction in schools. In response, the Director of Education said that it was unknown how many episodes there were when an epi-pen was needed and there were no procedures in place if an allergic reaction was to occur. Schools should have some of this information. Councillor John suggested that a task and finish group be formed to discuss the data on this and present a recommendation back to the committee. In response to a question from Councillor Price regarding epi-pens, it was confirmed that schools did not have to have epi-pens in their first aid box. In January 2025, Councillor Howlett noted that this issue was raised in the Senedd who were now undertaking an independent scoping exercise around this. He suggested that the information from this scoping exercise be looked at first before a task and finish group be formed. [Rev. John Cecil left this meeting at this juncture at 13:00] When she worked in a school, Councillor Skyrme-Blackhall noted that they had a couple of children who were epi-pen users and teachers who were first aid trained. Therefore, her school held epi-pens which were replaced when they expired. It was confirmed that if a school held an epi-pen for pupils, a member of staff had to be trained by healthcare professionals to administer it and there always needed to be a trained member of staff on site too. A school’s epi-pen could not replace one a student already had or replace prescribed devices. Councillor Tierney said that he was against a county-wide policy until enough data was obtained. [Mr James Parkin rejoined the meeting at this juncture at 13:04] In response to this, Councillor Murphy stated that in the Human Medicines Regulations 2017, there was a default acceptance that in a medical emergency and epi-pen could be administered. Therefore, live saving actions could be administered even if the training for it had expired. In voluntary third sector projects, Councillor Tinley noted that they had ventilators and epi-pens which they were trained to use but epi-pens were very easy to administer. The Director of Education confirmed that his team had the capacity to manage a task and finish group, and it could be added to the Forward Work Programme for Autumn 2025. Regarding Councillor Howlett’s comments, Councillor Tierney suggested that the Committee write to Welsh Government regarding their scope of work and then consider forming a task and finish depending on their findings. A Motion was Moved by Councillor Michael John to the effect: That a task and finish group be formed to discuss the pros and cons regarding a policy for Adrenaline Emergency Auto-Injectors in Pembrokeshire schools. Seconded by Councillor Huw Murphy. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll call, was lost. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion – Councillors Huw Murphy, Anji Tinley, Bethan Price, Alun Wills and Michael John [5] Against the Motion – Councillors Rhys Jordan, Marc Tierney, Alistair Cameron, David Howlett, Nick Neumann, Maureen Bowen, Sam Skyrme-Blackhall, and Viv Stoddart [8] A Motion was Moved by Councillor Marc Tierney to the effect: That the Committee writes to Welsh Government to request an update on their scoping exercise on Adrenaline Emergency Auto-Injectors in schools and decide a course of action to take from that point. Seconded by Councillor David Howlett. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion – Councillors Rhys Jordan, Marc Tierney, Alistair Cameron, David Howlett, Huw Murphy, Anji Tinley, Nick Neumann, Bethan Price, Alun Wills, Maureen Bowen, Sam Skyrme-Blackhall, Viv Stoddart and Michael John [13] There were no voted against or abstentions. RESOLVED That the Committee writes to Welsh Government to request an update on their scoping exercise on Adrenaline Emergency Auto-Injectors in schools and decide a course of action to take from that point. Councillor Howlett said that the would circulate the Senedd’s record that they were starting a scoping exercise to the Committee.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme be accepted subject to the following additions: a) Reading Standards Including for the Foundation Phase b) Cost of supply teachers and retention rates c) Sports in Pembrokeshire schools d) Mental health and wellbeing in schools e) Review of the Curriculum for Wales Sustainable Communities for Learning Update
[Councillors Maureen Bowen and Nick Neumann left the meeting at this juncture at 13:16] The Chair stating that he would like for reading standards to be added to the work programme for June’s meeting due to the falling statistics. for the foundation phase added for June To add to this, Councillor Cameron requested that progression with the foundation phase be included with this too. Regarding cost of supply teachers and retention, the Chair noted that this was removed as there was no update at the time and the School Modernisation Working Group was being updated on this. However, there was now an update from Welsh Government so this item will be readded. Due to the concerns raised regarding rugby, the Chair said that ‘Sport in Pembrokeshire schools’ will be added to the item to look at sports provision including grassroots for young people. Councillor Cameron suggested that the Curriculum for Wales and mental health and wellbeing in schools be added to the work programme. To add to this, Councillor Tinley noted that money was being invested in schools to focus on emotional wellbeing for pupils. Following the recommendation from the Cabinet Member, the Chair suggested that Sustainable Community for Learning Update be added onto the work programme too. Moved by Councillor Rhys Jordan; Seconded by Councillor Anji Tinley. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme be accepted subject to the following additions: a) Reading Standards Including for the Foundation Phase b) Cost of supply teachers and retention rates c) Sports in Pembrokeshire schools d) Mental health and wellbeing in schools e) Review of the Curriculum for Wales Sustainable Communities for Learning Update
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