(a)

the inspection had highlighted the strengthens and improvements to be made;

(b)

strengths include -

·         progress made since last inspection in 2014;

·         assessment undertaken had improved;

·         engagement with children and young people;

·         timeliness of assessments.

(c)

areas for improvement include –

·         the recording of supervision;

·         smarter plans to include timescales and accountability for tasks.

(d)

they looked at each service area with a focus on caseloads;

(e)

the virtual school and SEND was also part of the inspection.  Ofsted were assured that investment was appropriate and driving forward improved outcomes for children.  They also look at the assurance and compliance around our most vulnerable children in education.

(f)

following the phone call from Ofsted on Friday they expect to receive the draft full report within the next 10 days and then have 3 days to check for factual accuracies.  Once this has taken place the full report would be published on their website;

(g)

there were 284 children currently being home educated, this number fluctuates week by week and has tripled in recent years in line with national trend.  They regularly check the quality of education and work closely with parents to ensure that it is appropriate for the child;

(h)

if a child had been excluded from school and meets the category for the local authority to place then they won’t be elective home schooled during that period because we would be looking to place the child, where you might find home educated when waiting choice for a managed transfer rather than an exclusion;

(i)

if the looked after child was subject to a care order then the local authority has the parental responsibility and we would never opt for home education.

(a)

the SEND Strategy covers the needs of the child and significant work within the new framework undertaken with parents gave an oversight of the presentations within different social situations and family life.  They do not go into detail within the business plan but do go into more detail within the SEND Strategic Plan;

(b)

this business plan sets out how we would work with schools that have the accountability and the responsibility on how they respond to Ofsted.  We do however work very closely with the schools but the business plan does not reflect the changes to Ofsted framework;

(c)

the Pledges do not exactly match the priorities for the department, but would be the best place for that Pledge to sit.  The Carers Pledge ensuring the right learning environment, support for children within the school help them take control and to become confident learners;

(d)

the legislation sets out that local authorities have the duty to be the champion of all children’s outcomes irrespective of the schools they attend;

(e)

through Careers SW they have the STEM Ambassador Programme, they also receive funding from the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and higher education for the next STEPS Programme and 15 of the secondary schools were involved with the LEP.  They were making sure that the offer would be there for all young people;

(f)

the extent that early years was represented within the business plan  was through attainment outcomes within early years foundation stage.  In the Plan for Education there was a reference for place shaping, capacity etc but not detailed within the business plan.  As part of the next refresh would look at the 30 hours provision.  Children Centres would sit within commissioning strategies;

(g)

they had not attempted to list all of the statutory functions within the business plan but focused on the priorities.  SACRE if included would sit under attainment and raising aspirations;

(h)

the supported placement includes 4 to 5 very young people that they could not find placements for given their complexities of their behaviour.  This resulted in the local authority having to create placements for them which involved finding accommodation and around the clock staff for about 6 to 7 weeks at a cost of £980k.  One placement was jointly funded with the CCG costing the local authority £50k a week. This child was subject to a court protection order and no changes can be made without the agreement of the official solicitor and the court;

(i)

a recently published report on the mental health needs of young people highlighted that 25% of young people under  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

(a)

that the team manager would have an awareness of experience, expertise and resilience of each of the social workers within their team.  However, they do have staff on long term sick but sickness levels within the service area was well below the target and had been for a sustained period of time.  This was reflected by Ofsted who reported that staff morale was high, people felt supported and  managers were supportive and visible;

(b)

workload meeting takes place weekly and once month they review  time taken off in lieu and extra hours of work.  Some teams were working their contracted hours but those teams involved in court proceedings could work up to an extra 10 hours.  This should not become the norm or expectation and encourage staff to take the time off for recovery and for manager to have oversight of this;

(c)

the social worker as reported in the local press was an agency worker. 

The referral and assessment service was not functioning properly which resulted in a reorganisation of the service.  They now have a robust system in place to deal with performance issues.  There should be records in place on the action taken at that time;

(d)

they were working more proactively with each of the teams so that social workers could undertake the work that needs to be done and that other elements of the role could be undertaken by someone else with the team;

(e)

they commission ACE to undertake the active home visit and if concerns comeback around safeguarding they would send an Inclusion and Welfare Officer to visit the home.  There was a provision within the law to work with either social care or the police if a child was at risk of harm but was pleased to report that there were no cases;

(f)

social workers often express which area they wish to specialise in but also request to work within another service area to broaden their experience and expertise;

(g)

they look at the child’s journey through the system and management looks at the service area as a whole to manage the pressures across the service area.

(a)

Higher Education (HE) had been included on the Board because they are our education partners that work with particular schools.  This Board represents all sectors and phases of education and HE bring a different perspective to the discussion;

(b)

Ivybridge Community College is a school of choice for parents within the city because of the good Ofsted rating and specialities in sport.   Ivybridge is also part of the WeST MAT which includes primary and secondary schools from Plymouth;

(b)

the Board was set up in September 2017 and throughout the summer term 2017 a working group was set up to establish the Board.  10 years ago and beyond the system was not fragmented because schools were maintained and there were very few academies and schools worked very closely together;

(c)

that a solution nationally was to bring in more MATs but there was a reluctance for MATs to come to the city as well as stand-alone academies entering into a MAT.  There were definitely things we could do locally and have a role in developing MATs;

(d)

the Board would have the more strategic conversations and delegates work to the different groups attached to the Board;

(e)

the oracy project was funded by various sources throughout the city and an update on the oracy project can be provided to the Committee;

(f)

Torbridge Primary School has been issued with an Academy order following their recent Ofsted report.  Action has been taken action to strengthen governance and to improve various aspects of the school.  A recovery programme would be completed by the end of this week and were working closely with the Regional School Commissioner;

(g)

they operate a system where people can opt out but it’s about making sure they want to be part of the conversation.  All the sectors are represented on the Board and one of the biggest challenges for head teachers is the rotation of their representatives and ensuring that they work on the communications to keep the momentum.