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There is no summary of this meeting yet. Summaries are written once the council publishes the minutes, which are its official record of what a meeting decided. They usually appear a few weeks after the meeting.
1.1 Apologies were received from Councillor Richard Clark, Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Children, Families and Education.
2.1 The following declarations were made: • Councillor Cowles declared a personal interest as a Governor at both Abersychan School and Blaenavon Heritage VC Primary School. • Councillor Cowles declared a personal interest as his brother attends Abersychan Comprehensive School. • Mr. Cunningham declared a personal interest as a Governor at St. Albans Roman Catholic High School. • Victoria Horlor declared a personal interest as a parent Governor at Ysgol Panteg. • Councillor Jones declared a personal interest as a Governor of Blaenavon Heritage VC Primary School. • Councillor Jones declared a personal interest as her Grandson attends Abersychan Comprehensive School. • Councillor Seabourne declared a personal interest due to being a Pupil Referral Unit Management Board Member. • Councillor Seabourne declared a personal interest as her Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren attend Ysgol Gymraeg Gwynllyw, and Coed Eva and Blenheim Road Community Primary School. • Councillor C Thomas declared a personal interest as a Governor at Nant Celyn Primary School. • Councillor C Thomas declared a personal interest as her Grandchild attends Cwmbran High School. • Councillor D Thomas declared a personal interest as a Governor at Llantarnam Primary School. • Councillor D Thomas declared a personal interest as his children attend Croesyceiliog School and Llantarnam Primary School. • Councillor Watkins declared a personal interest as a Governor of Our Lady of the Angels Primary School and Cwmbran High School.
3.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 5th December 2024 were confirmed as an accurate record.
4.1 The outstanding action had been completed prior to the meeting and the response would be circulated to the Committee. 4.2 The Committee noted the action sheet.
5.1 The Scrutiny Officer presented the report and invited members to review the information contained in the appendices to the report and agree the remaining schedule of items for the year. 5.2 The Committee agreed to retain their existing basket of items for the rest of the year.
6.1 The Chair gave thanks to the Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) and Crownbridge School for their input in formulating questions. Nant Celyn Primary School were also thanked for allowing the Committee to visit. 6.2 Following Members’ questions and comments, the Head of ALN, Inclusion and Wellbeing and Early Years Manager made the following main points: • The Local Authority’s statutory responsibilities were being met in respect of the additional duties from the ALN Code Wales 2021. However, it was acknowledged that this was a stretch of resources. The staffing structure was under review and there had recently been a job evaluation undertaken on one role in order to allow this to better meet the needs of the team. • Information regarding the ALN Strategy development and how families and professionals were selected to be a part of this process could be circulated, should Members request it. • There was a secondary school Learning Resource Base within the north of the borough, but there was not any primary school provision. The forward projection of need and current referrals were studied to understand where the need for specialist provision lay. • The vision to ensure all children and young people felt included was closely monitored by the Education Psychology team. Paragraph 4.2 of the report set out the current vision and this was regularly reviewed. The Local Authority and Education Achievement Service (EAS) were currently reviewing the Teaching and Learning Strategy, which would be adapted to include the ALN Strategy’s vision. • It was hoped that an ALN dashboard would be created to facilitate a streamlined approach to collecting data, which would include pupil voice. • Integrating the ALN Strategy into the Teaching and Learning Strategy was in progress and meetings had been held with EAS. The Headteacher strategy group had been identified as a key vehicle to progress this task. • The number of schools that had received Trauma Informed Schools (TIS) supervision and training support would be provided to the Committee. • The potential of Caerphilly leaving EAS arrangements was unlikely to affect SenCom, as all 5 Local Authorities were committed to the service. • There were conversations held about future projection. Currently, there was an increase of Children with ASD. This added to the stretch of resources and whilst all referrals were being met, this was potentially at a reduced level. • Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance was a national issue which had worsened since the pandemic. Education Psychology had been key in supporting schools. There was currently no set guidance on the best approach to address this issue and it was felt a consistent approach needed to be confirmed. • The reasons for non-attendance in these cases were highly varied, adding to the difficulty surrounding national guidance. There was an emphasis placed on working with and supporting the family through this issue. It was noted that this was an issue affecting mainstream education also. • The specific allocations of Learning Resource Bases were currently being reviewed for the next financial year alongside the development of a Local Authority partnership agreement for these bases. • Learning Resource Bases finances were the responsibility of the school to manage, however, there was a look at providing guidance to the school on how to best use the money they were allocated. • There had been contention regarding no longer holding the £200k contingency fund, however, during the consultation there had only been two responses that expressed a wish to keep this. The biggest amount that had been allocated at once from this fund had been around £4,500. The money from the contingency fund would be distributed amongst schools. • The new ALN funding principles were designed to be more equitable than previously. The new formula was based on the number of students with additional learning needs, rather than funding based on the complexity of each case. Areas of deprivation were identified by postcode rather than Free School Meals learners as this was felt to provide a more accurate picture. • The smoothing strategy allowed for up to 50% of funding to be allocated prior to the process of an Individual Development Plan (IDP) being granted. Previously, a school were only provided basic ALN funding to support during this period. • There had been some delays with IDP’s and meeting these timescales which could be attributed to the capacity issues within the team. Some of this delay was due to the proactive nature in respect of identifying ALN within Early Years. • There had recently been quality assurance undertaken on IDP’s which identified that there needed to be professional learning development within this area which would be supported by peer review. This had been taken up in nine schools. • The 50 additional places at Crownbridge were mostly full. There had not been definite numbers confirmed as of yet, but there had been over 100 requests that were being processed. The process was currently at the stage of undertaking home visits to ensure the correct provision was offered based on the required needs of the children. This would be carefully balanced against the financial implications of adding more specialist placements where they were not necessarily needed. • There was not any known preference of whether secondary schools preferred to send young people to the PRU or their own alternative provision. • The PRU was now considered a “turnaround” provision to reintroduce children into mainstream education. • In respect of Educated Other Than At School (EOTAS) provision, schools were worked with to ensure correct and safe processes when commissioning these. There was a designated budget for the cost of this. • There would be information shared with the Committee on the exact make up of current out of county provision. These provisions were subject to inspections approximately once a year and a DBS and safeguarding check was completed prior to using any provision. • There was an assessment centre available for primary schools to use as a turnaround provision to assess needs and re-integrate learners into school. • The number of children on a modified day was analysed monthly. It was emphasised that modified days were not a negative but should only be used for a short period of time. • The Improving Behaviour in Schools (IBIS) programme was launched in January last year. This was a pilot project that was undertaken with secondary schools. It was currently too early to assess the impact but there had been positive reviews from staff involved with the project. It was hoped that there would be data to assess the improvements by the end of the academic year. • There were Welsh speakers within the Education Psychology and the Additional Learning Needs team. • There was an event to be held around Welsh-medium ALN provision in March and it was hoped that this may provide insight how to best provide this going forward. • The stakeholder groups that were referenced in 4.47 of the report were well attended. • A Local Authority IDP request consideration tool would allow schools to refer their IDP’s to the Local Authority for support with writing these as per Welsh Government legislation. It was noted that the legislation was being reviewed currently. • The Learning Resource Base funding formula was separate to the main ALN funding formula. • It was agreed that the Edukey system was not being used to its full potential but it was noted that this was a fairly new system and would be subject to a 2-3 year phased approach to enable schools to completely utilise Edukey. • Parental expectations were managed by both Early Years and by Health Visitors by promoting the correct admissions process and reiterating that all schools should be able to meet pupil needs. • There were a number of discussions taking place surrounding toileting and guidance had been sought around this. This was felt to be a fine balance as it needed to be ensured that all needs were met in respect of the child, parents and staff. • There was a toileting group being piloted in the north of the borough which would look at school readiness in more depth. 6.3 The Chair thanked the Head of ALN, Inclusion and Wellbeing and the Early Years Manager for their contributions to the meeting and they left the meeting. 6.4 Recommendations On completion of their scrutiny activity, the Committee concluded by offering the following comments and recommendations for consideration: Recommendation 1 – Members noted the increasing demand for specialist provision in Torfaen schools and the reference within the ALN Strategy’s Vision to have services that are close to home. Therefore, Members recommended that future reviews into the amount of specialist provision within Torfaen schools should also consider geographical needs, as there were currently no primary schools with specialist provision in the north of the borough. Recommendation 2 – Members recommended that officers encourage the wider use of the Edukey system amongst Torfaen schools, in order to improve ALN tracking and support. Members were pleased to hear that an implementation plan and the use of school champions had already been considered. Recommendation 3 – Members acknowledged officers’ comments that creating more capacity within specialist provision was not always the required course of action, and that building capacity within the workforce and using ALN funding effectively within schools was important. However, in light of the large number of applications received for places at Crownbridge School, Members recommended that projected admission numbers be kept under review, as well as the potential need for any further expansion of the school. Recommendation 4 – Members recommended that the role of Pupil Voice be increased in terms of the ALN Strategy and that links be formalised in order to monitor how young people are included, such as gauging their opinions around ALN provisions / settings. 6.4 Members commended the Head of ALN, Inclusion and Wellbeing for an excellent report and thanked officers for the way in which they answered the Committee’s questions during the meeting. 6.5 Members noted the following points: • It was pleasing to hear that the LA was exploring ways, both locally and regionally, to provide more Welsh-language resources to schools, particularly for ALN. • The number of pupils identified as being on a modified day would continue to be monitored; however it was acknowledged that there would always be a requirement for some pupils to be on a modified day, so the figure would never reach zero. • Members welcomed the promotion of staff wellbeing, as highlighted within paragraph 4.47 of the report. • It was acknowledged that recruitment was an issue for certain staffing roles, as officers had commented that one particular job description needed to be re-worded and then re-advertised in order to overcome this issue. The Committee welcomed the offer from Officers to provide the following: • The number of schools or staff that had received the Trauma Informed Schools (TIS) Supervision and Training Support; and • Confirmation of the out of county placements, commissioned by the LA, that were the furthest away from Torfaen.
7.1 The date of the next meeting was noted.
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