Name

Minute No. and Subject

Reason

Interest

Councillor Glenn Jordan

6. Local Authority Approach to Dyslexia: Assessment, Training, Opportunities and Typical Provision Available in Schools

Has dyslexia

Private

Councillor Alison Casey

6. Local Authority Approach to Dyslexia: Assessment, Training, Opportunities and Typical Provision Available in Schools

Has dyslexia

Private

(1)

Mrs Edith Bayley, Parent Governor, is appointed as a co-opted representative for a period of four years, subject to an annual review;

(2)

two members of Youth Parliament, are appointed as co-opted representatives for a period of four years, subject to an annual review.

(a)

Plymouth City Council would continue to promote the need for schools, and the professionals working within schools, to be aware of children’s learning difficulties, such as dyslexia and continue to closely monitor data provided by schools on the learning progress of children and young people;

(b)

as the champion of vulnerable children Plymouth City Council would continue to provide advice to schools about how to support children’s Special Educational Needs (SEN).  Plymouth City Council would expect schools to use the delegated funding for SEN to support and offer alternative educational approaches such as ICT to assist pupils with learning difficulties.

(c)

if a school identified a child with a learning difficulty i.e. dyslexia or dyscalculia (difficulty with numbers) then it was expected that the school would investigate the issue further, probably through the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo), and put in place a specific programme that would assist the child with learning;

(d)

parents who had concerns about their child’s learning should raise these concerns with the school, if however the parents were not satisfied with the school’s response then they could seek help and support from the Parent Partnership service;

(e)

dyslexia did not have any medical solutions, and it was classed as a difficulty with learning; however, there was much debate internationally on whether there were any neurological factors that influenced the causes of dyslexia.

(f)

the screening process for dyslexia was too vague and letting children down; the vagueness of the screening process was a contributing factor for the stigma that was attached to dyslexia;

(g)

it would be helpful to dyslexics if the results of their diagnosis in school followed the individual through further education, such as University and Colleges, and into employment settings, such as apprenticeships.

(1)

Glenn Jordan would champion the panel’s work on dyslexia and meet separately with officers from the Education, Learning and Family Support Department and report back his progress to a future panel meeting;

(2)

Maggie Carter would provide an update to all panel members on whether the results of dyslexia diagnosed in schools follow the individual diagnosed through further education, such as University and Colleges, and apprenticeships.

(a)

the Missing Young People’s Team, renamed as MIST (Missing, Intervention and Support Team) had been set up to provide an improved service to missing young people and protect them from harm or exploitation;

(b)

Following the return of a missing child the service undertakes a return interview with that child within 48 hours (but preferably within 24 hours);

(c)

the MIST team was committed to improving the safety of young people within the city and ensuring young people were made more aware of risks and vulnerabilities through an education programme called ‘Be-Wise to Sexual Exploitation’.

(d)

one of the key risks and vulnerabilities that threatened the safety of young people was the internet; educating young people about online safety was a vital message to be delivered through the ‘Be-Wise to Sexual Exploitation’ programme;

(e)

the ‘Be-Wise to Sexual Exploitation’ programme was due to be piloted in two Plymouth schools from September 2013, with the ambition of delivering the programme more widely from early 2014;

(f)

all missing young people received a return interview, with under 13s receiving the service’s priority; the return interviews were conducted following the initial police interview and assessment, if the police had any concerns at this stage then they contacted the social care department.

(g)

the service was working towards developing a 24 hour advice and support telephone service as well as a missing young people’s advice and support website, to inform and educate parents about how to report and deal with concerns about missing young people;

(h)

the service had been working towards building relationships and partnerships with organisations from the voluntary sector including Barnardo’s and soon the NSPCC.

(i)

the service should explore working with other voluntary organisations including the Salvation Army;

(j)

social networking should form a significant part of the ‘Be-Wise to Child Sexual Exploitation’ programme to ensure that all young people were aware of the risks and vulnerabilities associated with this type of communication tool.

(a)

there had been a number of national developments in Children’s Social Care which had brought about a number of key changes within the service, some of these included –

·         the new Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance, which had led to changes in relation to multi-agency, safeguarding practices and a new single assessment replacing the current initial and core assessments;

·         a move to embracing a national approach to adoption, meaning that local authorities move towards working together on finding adoptive parents rather than the current local authority based local approach;

·         changes to the OFTSED inspection arrangements for safeguarding and looked after children;

·         new arrangements for dealing with missing young people and child sexual exploitation;

(b)

Plymouth had been awarded one of 20 pioneering places for its work on early intervention and prevention, following the establishment of the Early Intervention Foundation;

(c)

Plymouth had successfully reduced its timescales for care proceedings to 26 weeks from 56 weeks in a comparable period from last year, and as a result of this success, new arrangements for child care proceedings were being piloted in Plymouth;

(d)

the service faced a number of key issues and challenges, which included –

·         an increase in referrals over the past year by 10 per cent;

·         an increase in children subject to Child Protection Plans from 312 at the end of 2012 to 345 in mid-June;

·         a small increase in the numbers of children in care;

·         the ability to recruit permanent social work staff, although Plymouth had a successful recruitment process compared with national data.

(e)

the service had recently implemented a flexible hours system which had enabled a higher ratio of part-time staff within the service, this had benefited the service as staff with the relevant qualifications and experience who could no longer be employed on a full-time basis, due to changes in personal circumstances, were able to continue to work on a part-time basis;

(f)

the Children and Mental Health Service (CAMHS) provide a service to children in care, and the children’s service was working with colleagues to ensure that improvements were sustained;

(g)

the service had 21 children in residential care of which only four were located in Plymouth;

(h)

the Advice and Assessment Team had four uncovered vacancies; however, it was hoped that six new permanent appointments would be made in September leading to  all posts being covered;

(i)

the service had been reviewing its provision of ICT resources, although the equipment and software was fit for purpose there was a requirement to increase the quantity of laptops available to enable the service to have a more flexible approach to working.

(a)

the data presented in the report was from 2012, this was because the 2013 data had yet to be analysed or validated;

(b)

the uptake of Free School Meals (FSM) in Plymouth was 80 per cent, which was  around the national average for England;

(c)

attainment results for pupils with FSM across Key Stage 1 – 4 was promising, all at levels similar to the national average, however, Key Stage 5 attainment results were concerning.

(d)

applications for FSM were becoming more discreet and simpler to understand with online facilities now available for parents to establish eligibility and apply for FSM and wording being simplified to enable all parents to understand the eligibility criteria;

(e)

where eligible FSM were available for full-time pupils at school, this included nursery children who attend full days and also sixth form pupils. Meals were not available for children at further education collgese;

(f)

all school meals were produced without any traces of nuts, however, other less common allergies could be catered  for on a school-by-school basis and parents were encouraged to inform the school of any particular need and speak directly with the kitchen manager on site;

(g)

at present FSM were only available during term-time, but it was hoped that schools could look to offer food services throughout the year and make use of school kitchens, this would though need to be carefully considered in terms of cost and staff employment.  FSM were funded from the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and current budgets would not support the cost of the all-year round provision.

·          

Councillor Bowie (Chair)

·          

Councillor Sam Leaves

·          

Councillor Alison Casey

·          

Councillor Paul Jarvis

·          

Councillor Glenn Jordan

·          

Councillor David Stark

(1)

an update on the MIST team and the delivery of the ‘Be-Wise to Sexual Exploitation’ programme is provided to the panel in February 2014;

(2)

due to a clash with the Labour Party Annual Conference the Democratic Support Officer will email all Ambitious Plymouth members to establish which members will be in attendance at the meeting on 23 September 2013, subject to the response an alternative date might be sought.