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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the 2nd February 2023 as an accurate reflection of the meeting.
RESOLVED that Members wished to acknowledge and to support the establishment of a scrutiny task and finish group and requested that the Service Director Democratic Services & Communication make the necessary arrangements to establish that task and finish group.
RESOLVED to note the progress made since the previous update, whilst considering the actions contained within the appended Annual Work Plan and acknowledging that feedback from Welsh Government was still awaited. Members agreed to receive a pre-scrutiny report in future.
RESOLVED to note the information contained within this report and Members requested that when the WG Framework was published this be shared by means of a link.
Agenda item 4 – Report on the proposal for a Task and Finish Group in relation to the report on School Modernisation – Update on Band B Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme Ø County Borough Councillor C Lisles – Personal – ‘I am the Chair of Our Children First Action Group’ Agenda Item 6 – School Attendance Data Ø Mr M Veale, Co-opted Member – Personal – ‘‘I am a magistrate, so I sometimes deal with non-attendance at schools, in the courts’
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the 2nd February 2023 as an accurate reflection of the meeting.
It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the 2nd February 2023 as an accurate reflection of the meeting.
Members were informed that following circulation of the open consultations being run by Welsh Government (WG) on the 16th February, there was one consultation, which Members, may be interested in completing. Members were also informed that there were no new relevant WG consultations, at this time.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that Members wished to acknowledge and to support the establishment of a scrutiny task and finish group and requested that the Service Director Democratic Services & Communication make the necessary arrangements to establish that task and finish group.
The Service Director Democratic Services & Communication began by referring Members to the content contained in Section 4 of the report, which set out a potential way forward and proposed some examples of how to add as much benefit as possible to the process, to secure that broadest range of views and understanding of some of the challenges and benefits presented during previous modernisation processes, and in terms of potential future opportunities for improvement. As part of any task and finish group arrangements, Members may wish to arrive at a set of findings and recommendations, as part of that process, which in terms of governance arrangements, would then be presented for cabinet consideration. This process had worked to good effect previously, when task and finish groups had been undertaken by scrutiny and, there were many excellent examples of how this had influenced policy, that had then been determined. The Service Director Democratic Services & Communication reminded Members, in terms of section 4.4, that should a decision be taken today, to establish the task and finish group, then the necessary arrangements around the establishment of Membership, the scope and the specific terms of reference, would be a matter for approval by the established working group. There was always good value in the opportunity that was provided by a working group, and a deep dive into those key issues, where perhaps sometimes the formality of committee arrangements and, the wider pressures of a work programme, meant that detailed knowledge of a subject or the feedback from service users, was not necessarily always possible. A Member suggested, in relation to the scope of the document, this needed to consider the five schools that existed, plus the two set up. Objectives fell into two areas, one aspect was the setup, covering the practicalities and the second aspect was the actual running of all age schools when established, which followed quite broadly the categories that Estyn looked at. She suggested an initial questionnaire, provided to the seven establishments, which would then provide data and information for potentially collecting via other methods. A Member felt time was of the essence, so as soon as they had anything reasonable that was of benefit in terms of set-up or lessons learned, it would be helpful to get that out. He noted he had been fortunate to do some visits to some of the schools that had been through the process, and it was wonderful to hear them being open and honest about what went well, what didn't go so well, etc., but all of this learning was happening through word of mouth. The Member agreed a questionnaire, was a great way to start the process, and was fully supportive of having a group. A Member raised the community engagement aspect, and how the wider community had been consulted and how the community had been brought along with the idea of it all and felt this was an important consideration. A Member suggested doing a phase 1 and phase 2 approach, which would make it more manageable. The Service Director Democratic Services & Communication picked up on Members comments, in terms of feedback and hearing directly from the service users, and advised, when establishing a working group, it was important to have those parameters and be very focused because otherwise taking it to a higher level, it was probably more beneficial to have those discussions within a committee environment, rather than in the working group. With regards to gathering evidence from service users, if a number of areas came back with incredibly positive feedback it could be argued there would be limited benefit in delving further into those because that approach worked well. However, should that work identify areas where perhaps comments were identified, that Members wanted to explore further, that might provide greater focus. This was an area that Estyn had focused on so, so there may be an opportunity, when published, that may give more of a specific focus for Members. The Service Director for 21st Century Schools and Transformation explained that it was hoped to have the response from Estyn by the end of this month. In terms of the scope, this had to be really clear because otherwise this would be an unwieldly piece of work to undertake with Officers, etc. She also felt it should be split from a governor’s perspective, and from an LEA’s perspective of setting up schools. A Member noted it had been explained in regard to the Estyn report which would be very handy going forward and stated he would go with the recommendation of two phases. A Member sought clarification around the proposed scope and follow up report back to committee. The Service Director Democratic Services & Communication explained that if Members were minded to support the recommendations today, then between himself and the Service Director for 21st Century Schools and Transformation, and her team, they could come together with some options and the Estyn inspection would be available quite soon. He noted that the general committee calendar was quite busy, over the next couple of weeks and months, but certainly within the immediate future, could convene a working group to start having those discussions. Following consideration, it was RESOLVED that Members wished to acknowledge and to support the establishment of a scrutiny task and finish group and requested that the Service Director Democratic Services & Communication make the necessary arrangements to establish that task and finish group.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED to note the progress made since the previous update, whilst considering the actions contained within the appended Annual Work Plan and acknowledging that feedback from Welsh Government was still awaited. Members agreed to receive a pre-scrutiny report in future.
The 21st Century School Organisation and Business Manager explained that the report provided Members with an update on the Council's ten-year Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP) which was approved by Welsh Government (WG) in July 2022 and subsequently implemented in September 2022. She then took Members through the key points from paragraphs 3.1, paragraph 4, and paragraph 5. In terms of outcomes associated with the WESP, these will be delivered through the collaborative work of the seven WESP sub-groups and there had been good engagement from partners in the WESP steering group and the seven WESP sub-groups which includes participation from a range of stakeholders. Each of the seven WESP sub-groups had contributed to the draft annual work plan as well as a draft five-year work plan, which had been submitted to WG in December 2022 and feedback was currently awaited. A process for monitoring progress against the workplan, had been established to ensure the Council remained on target. The annual workplan was intended to be a practical working document to ensure effective delivery of the WESP in the shorter term. The council was required to review the WESP each year and submit to WG an annual progress report capturing the key achievements for that year against the identified targets. The Council remained committed to ensuring the availability of Welsh medium education and would continue to support and encourage transition from the initial early years through to primary and secondary education, before progressing through to further or higher education, so that all learners, whatever their learning needs were able to access Welsh medium provision, which was in line with WG’s vision to create 1 million Welsh speakers in Wales by 2050, as set out in Cymraeg 2050. A Member noted that within the document there were lots of ongoing items and deadlines, but there didn’t necessarily look to be much in the way of updates and details and, sought clarification around at what point this might be best presented. The 21st Century School Organisation and Business Manager explained that it was a draft document, and feedback from WG was awaited. Work was still ongoing and if that wasn’t clear, the feedback would be taken on board and reflected within the workplan. Lots of actions and tasks would be carried out in year one, with lots of them continued into year two and some throughout the duration of the WESP. They would update the timescales once feedback had been received from WG, and she was more than happy, once the report was finalised to bring back to Members. The annual progress report was on an academic year basis, so WG would be expecting feedback and a report in the Summer, so it was how Members wanted that report going forward, to show that clear progress. The Service Director for 21st Century Schools and Transformation noted this was an annual plan and there was a process in place for monitoring and progressing those actions. It was the intention to put another column on the end of the action plan, providing some commentary to show exactly what had happened in that period to make sure the commitments, in the action plan, were met. The Service Director Democratic Services & Communication explained to Members that it was the intention that the additional information mentioned, would form part of the report, that would go to the decision-making Welsh language sub-committee, and the most opportune way to engage Members would be through pre-scrutiny, as part of the work programme, in the new municipal year. A Member felt that it would be helpful to understand which of the targets were deliverable in the year and felt that the action column should have something more measurable, following on from SMART targets. A Member referred to page 29, appendix 1, target 1, and asked were there any early indications in relation to the mapping exercise. The 21st Century School Organisation and Business Manager explained that in terms of the mapping exercise, this was ongoing, and the service was working with partner organisations as well, to help fill the gaps, and identify where those areas of support were required, but there wasn’t any data that could be shared at this time. The Service Director for 21st Century Schools and Transformation acknowledged that it was about the collaboration and working with all stakeholders, and the geographical mapping, is already happening but needs regular updating as new settings come along frequently. It was noted the childcare sufficiency audit, would give a flavour of where the mapping exercises for childcare were and could be provide to Members. A Member made several points, with regards to the report, around non-Welsh speakers, and the potential for the Urdd to work with English Medium schools. Creating a video, was a great idea, and should also include non-Welsh speaking parents, discussing their child attending a Welsh Medium school. It was important to consider providing a resource to encourage non-Welsh speaking parents, not to fear homework, etc., and what were schools doing to encourage that. The Member wanted to see targets with regards to ALN. She noted the reference to Coleg y Cymoedd but felt there was more work to do with sixth form classes as well as considering some of the concerns raised by parents and young people at university level. The Member asked for clarification around the Health Board, and where they came in with regard to targets. The Member noted the reference to higher education, and working with universities, and asked about promoting Welsh Medium education within the higher sector, generally. The 21st Century School Organisation and Business Manager felt that everything the Member said, had been discussed within the subgroups, and were valid points and genuine concerns. She noted the bilingual document for parents but agreed the need to offer those reassurances to make sure that parents were confident, they could help their children, if they decided to go through the Welsh Medium education system. Everything would be fed back to the sub-groups, and it was hoped the report coming back would see those comments taken on board and some of those meaningful targets within the report. The Head of Inclusion Services explained with regards to the Health Board, that the representatives sat as part of the task group, and they would set and share targets, and worked closely with the service, to contribute towards a provision for ALN. She noted that there was Welsh Medium ALN provision about to open in Ysgol Garth Olwg, and there were plans to open further provision for primary children Following consideration, it was RESOLVED to note the progress made since the previous update, whilst considering the actions contained within the appended Annual Work Plan and acknowledging that feedback from Welsh Government was still awaited. Members agreed to receive a pre-scrutiny report in future.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED to note the information contained within this report and Members requested that when the WG Framework was published this be shared by means of a link.
The Head of Attendance and Wellbeing Service began by taking Members through the report and noted the background at paragraph 3, and in particular at paragraph 3.1, prior to the pandemic annual figures had been brough to the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee, but this had not occurred since the last report on the 26th of February 2020. Paragraph 3.2 noted that in previous reports, that a comparative data was provided, with WG official statistics, but WG official data collection had not taken place since the onset of the pandemic and was not provided within this report. Paragraph 4, table 1 provided attendance data across the primary and secondary phases for the academic years 2019/20, to 2021/22, as well as the autumn term 2022/23, split across various cohorts and paragraph 4.3 highlighted some of the difficulties in analysing this data due to coding anomalies. Paragraph 4.5 outlined the data last year, in comparison to the autumn term this year, and paragraph 4.6, table 2, outlined the Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) attendance, which included the attendance of education other than at school learners (EOTAS) figures, across the last 3 academic years. Paragraph 5 outlined the statutory elements of the Attendance and Wellbeing Service (AWS) and some of the operational duties as well, with paragraph 5.4 outlining some of this work. Paragraphs 5.5 and 5.6 outlined the changes made to AWS as a result of the pandemic. Section 6 outlined the attendance strategy for 2022 - 2025 and section 6.4 specifically outlined the 4 key priorities of the strategy, which was provided fully in the appendix and was closely aligned to the wider Education and Inclusion Services Strategic Plan and below that strategy, the annual AWS plan. The Chair asked if information on the Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) could be provided to Members. A Member felt it would have been useful to include the 2018/19 figures to the table 1 at paragraph 4.1, which was the last full year before the pandemic affected figures. The Member noted the figure of 95% and asked if this was a stated ambition to get there or something slightly different. The Head of Attendance and Wellbeing Service explained that previous reports had shown the 3 academic years, and noted it wasn’t wildly different if he had included 2018/19 figures to the 2019/20 figures, because the 2019/20 year although disrupted by the onset of the pandemic, had very few actual days of attendance following school closures in March 2020. In terms of the 95%, this was an ambition, but in reality, the All-Wales average did not reach 95%, particularly at secondary level, but it was the number ordinarily quoted in WG documentation. The ambition now was to move towards those pre-pandemic levels, although this was not a one-year ambition, and would likely take a number of years, and this year had seen a slight increase in attendance figures. The Member asked in terms of the strategy, why the local authority wasn’t bold enough to articulate what the targets should be for this year, next year and the year after, and actually set something concrete. The Head of Attendance and Wellbeing Service explained that the difficulty came from the information, as outlined in paragraph 3.2 of the report, in respect of WG revoking the School Performance and Absence Targets, which had been done in August 2020, and hadn’t come back into force, so there was no statutory need for schools to set attendance targets or local authorities. Schools had been asked, to set targets, with responses from schools, but the difficulty was in being able to challenge those attendance targets. It was hopeful in the lifetime of the strategy that WG would put the regulations back in place, which would give a stronger position to challenge schools. A Member felt she would have liked more detail included within the report and asked if the next report could have more detail which allowed more of an ability to drill down to see where things were improving and where the difficulties were, being faced. The Member also referred to the data available from the WG and was disappointed by the average percentage of sessions present in the academic year to date, which was 88.3%, and the unauthorised absence at 4%. The Head of Attendance and Wellbeing Service explained that the wider information, at the school level, was provided to schools, on a half termly basis and was a 110-page report, containing information about every school, grouped by cluster, and grouped in the vulnerable cohorts, and it was suggested this was shared with governing bodies, particularly attendance leads, within the governing body. This report could be provided to Members, up until Autumn Term 2. In terms of the WG report, the data was extracted directly from School Information Management Systems (SIMS), so it was not necessarily clean or verified data, but agreed, it put the local authority near the bottom. WG currently presented that data as all children aged 5 – 15, rather than splitting it along phases, which would probably more useful. It was a concern, and it was hoped the strategy would align with what was already being done, as schools put a lot of work into attendance. In terms of unauthorised absence, schools were challenged on absence, and the figures demonstrated that schools were not simply authorising, when there was no reason given to them, which was in line with what schools should be doing, in terms of absence codes. There would be more concern if authorised figures were the highest, as that would mean, there was no effective challenge. The Member also asked if RCT was considering anything particular with regards directing resources towards the dysregulation or the readiness to learn, which would have a knock-on effect in relation to attendance. The Service Director for 21st Century Schools and Transformation explained that the budget position was very difficult. Schools were supported during the pandemic and many schools had healthy budgets, so there were no schools in deficit budget positions. In terms of the readiness to learn, it was a real issue and would be there for a long time, but the service was working with schools to provide some initiatives and plug those gaps. The Head of Achievement and Well-being for secondary and through schools in RCT explained that she was predominately speaking about older children, but a lot of consultation work had been done with schools around behaviours for learning, including the RCT conference, which would allow schools to engage with external agencies in respect of behaviours. A large amount of money had also been given to schools for the Step 4 provision in addition to the Green Light project which had been developed. A Member asked whether it was possible to see any comparative data, where a school had a Family Engagement Officer (FEO), and another school, didn’t. The Member referred to paragraph 2.3 and noted the pre-notice warning letter had resulted in a success rate of 63% and sought further clarification. The Member referred to paragraph 2.2, regarding the WG Framework, and asked if it was known what WG was expected to say. The Head of Attendance and Wellbeing Service explained for all the FEOs, that the local authority, partly funded, there were termly monitoring reports from those schools, so comparative data could be provided and there was already comparative data available, as provided in the reports to Cabinet. Due to the Covid-19 context, it was not always possible to show whole school improvements but what could be seen in a lot of the reports, was targeted cohort data e.g., for children who the FEOs worked with, had directly shown an improvement in their attendance. In terms of the 63% success rate this refers to when a school would request a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN), a warning letter was sent out where learners could not have any unauthorised absence within the timeframe stipulated. 63% of the time the warning letter if successful with no unauthorised absence and therefore they didn’t progress into a full FPN. The remaining 37% were unsuccessful during the monitoring period and would progress to a full FPN. In respect of the WG Framework, it was not known, currently, what position the WG would take, and noted in current guidance WG referred to FPNs as a last resort. One of the things WG was looking at was a national campaign, but it was thought there would not be a huge position shift, but more of a spotlight on attendance going forward. The service would however have to take into consideration some of the guidance that had come out and it would have to be reflected in the strategy and the plans that sat below that strategy. A Member referred to the online referral service, mentioned at paragraph 3.2.5, and asked if there had been any progress The Head of Attendance and Wellbeing Service explained that work was already done with other local authority partners to refer into the authority. What it was hoped to use more, would be intelligence gathering and to use the website more, in essence to inform where there were potential issues around attendance. Following consideration, it was RESOLVED to note the information contained within this report and Members requested that when the WG Framework was published this be shared by means of a link.
The Chair thanked Members for their contributions and thanked Officers as well. There had been some really detailed discussions and some really interesting points had been made.
None.
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