No. |
Item |
10. |
Declarations of Interest
Councillors will be asked to make any
declarations of interest in respect to items on the agenda.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The following declarations of interest were
made by Members in accordance with the code of conduct:
Member
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Subject
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Reason
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Interest
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Mrs Nicky Williams
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All items
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She is a Parent
Governor at High View Primary and sits on the Plymouth Teaching
School Alliance.
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Personal
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Councillor Mrs
Johnson
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All items
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She is a Governor at
Compton Primary School.
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Personal
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11. |
Minutes PDF 98 KB
To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting
held on 29 May 2019.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Members agreed the minutes of the last meeting
held on 29 May 2019.
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12. |
Chair's Urgent Business
To receive reports on business which in the
opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent
consideration.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
There were no items of Chair’s Urgent
Business.
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13. |
Number of Children in Care - verbal update
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Judith Harwood (Service Director for
Education, Participation and Skills) advised Members that there
were currently 417 children in the care of Plymouth City
Council.
Agreed that further details of the trend over
the previous 6 month period of children in care would be provided
to Members.
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14. |
Pledge Update PDF 148 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Councillor Jon Taylor (Cabinet Member for
Education, Skills and Transformation), Councillor Jemima Laing
(Cabinet Member for Children and Young People) and Judith Harwood
(Service Director for Education, Participation and Skills) advised
Members that there were 10 pledges relevant to the panel’s
terms of reference.
In response to questions raised it was
reported that:
(a)
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the focus for Pledge 41 was linked to children
and young people in care that the council was responsible for, in
order to encourage more people to remain living in their own
communities, where possible, other than using institutional
placements;
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(b)
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Pledge 47 focused upon the promotion of
fostering and adoption in Plymouth with a renewed campaign; this
campaign had been completed however it was highlighted that there
were continued efforts to attract new foster carers for the
city’s children;
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(c)
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Pledge 40, regarding raising school standards,
and Pledge 42, regarding the introduction of a fair system to take
an annual holiday without penalty, were both linked as school
attendance rates were seen to impact achievement – a
consultation regarding school attendance was due to go out in the
public domain shortly and information from this would be submitted
to scrutiny in September 2019;
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(d)
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there was an
ongoing task to identify young carers that were not currently
registered with the Council.
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Members noted the update and requested that
the School Attendance Consultation is added to the work programme
for discussion in September 2019 (to include data regarding
achievement levels in schools).
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15. |
Fair Funding for Schools PDF 115 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Councillor Jon Taylor (Cabinet Member for
Education, Skills and Transformation) and Judith Harwood (Service
Director for Education, Participation and Skills) presented the
Fair Funding for Schools report.
The following key points were highlighted:
(a)
|
the inclusion of this report to the Education
and Children’s Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Panel was as
a result of a recommendation from a Motion that went to Full
Council in March 2019;
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(b)
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the introduction of the National Funding
Formula from 2018/19 was an attempt by Local Government to address
historic inequities in funding for schools; Plymouth’s
Schools Block had increased from £143.056m in 2017/18 to £149.550, in 2018/19 however
Plymouth was still receiving £283
less per pupil than the national average;
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(c)
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despite the challenges none of the maintained
schools in Plymouth were forecasting a deficit position at the end
of 2019/20 financial year; whilst this was positive news there was
a desire to understand what actions schools had taken to balance
their budgets;
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Members discussed the benefit of forming a
select committee to look at the issue in greater depth in order to
measure the impact of the current funding upon schools in
Plymouth.
The Chair echoed the Cabinet Member’s
praise of schools good financial management and acknowledged the
difficult climate they were working in.
It was agreed that the Education and
Children’s Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Panel would
undertake a select review in order to assess the impact of the
National Funding Formula (NFF) upon Plymouth schools, with
particular attention upon the impact on staffing reduction
including teaching assistants, the increase in class sizes,
collapsing the school day and concerns schools have for the
children over the city.
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16. |
Elective Home Education PDF 119 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Councillor Jon Taylor (Cabinet Member for
Education, Skills and Transformation), Judith Harwood (Service
Director for Education, Participation and Skills) and Isabelle
Morgan (Inclusion and Attendance Manager) presented the Elective
Home Education report.
Key points highlighted to Members
included:
(a)
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the Elective Home
Education support service was delivered by the ACE Multi Academy
Trust who held the register of children who were electively home
educated; ACE Multi Academy Trust monitored the curriculum and the
delivery of home education however there was no requirement for
families to register but this was encouraged. This contract was due
to end in August 2019 and the monitoring and oversight of home
education would be the responsibility of Plymouth City Council;
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(b)
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Electively Home Educated (EHE) pupils were
also monitored through a Local Authority register; appropriate
action was taken where it appeared that an EHE pupil was not
receiving suitable education;
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(c)
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the Department for Education was conducting a
consultation in relation to establishing a local authority
registration system for children who did not attend state-funded or
registered independent schools;
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(d)
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the Home Education
Bill had its third reading at the House of Commons on 24 July 2018
– the outcomes was the withdrawal of the Bill at this point
in the process however the Department for Education subsequently
launched a Call for Evidence regarding children not in school. This
call for evidence incorporated elective home education as a
theme. This call for evidence closed on
24th June 2019 and officers were awaiting the outcome with regard
to the impact for children who were electively home educated;
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(e)
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Officers considered that parents should be
given a two week cooling-off period once they have withdrawn their
child from school – this would provide officers with a short
window of opportunity to work with parents to find out possible
resolutions to problems. Officers also suggested that a child who
had withdrawn from school should be able to return to school up to
a six month period after they had withdrawn to make it easier for
them to return to the formal education system.
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In response to
questions raised it was reported that –
(f)
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there was currently a voluntary registration
system for home education therefore it was not known how many
children had only ever been home educated as parents were not
required to notify the Local Authority;
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(g)
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a significant number of those who had elected
to be home educated had given the reason for this choice to be
‘other’ on the questionnaire instead of specifying why – it was considered that this
was because it was a lifestyle choice and they had elected not to
be a part of the local authority education system;
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(h)
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the school was required to notify the local
authority if a child had been removed from a school setting to
instead be electively home educated;
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(i)
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schools were working closely with the Council
to recognise and reduce pupil movement, specifically with regards
to elective home education;
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(j)
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from the ...
view the full minutes text for item 16.
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17. |
Bullying and Attendance PDF 119 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Councillor Jon Taylor (Cabinet Member for
Education, Skills and Transformation), Judith Harwood (Service
Director for Education, Participation and Skills) and Isabelle
Morgan (Inclusion and Attendance Manager) presented the Bullying
and Attendance report.
The following key points were highlighted to
Members:
(a)
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a sample of 415 of the current open cases
referred to an Education Welfare Officer had been reviewed by
Officers; within this sample, 5% of the cases cited bullying as a
reason for persistent absence;
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(b)
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schools were required by law to act to prevent
bullying and also to address it if it happened; the Department for
Education (DfE) had produced guidance for all schools which
outlined their duty towards preventing and tackling bullying:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying
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(c)
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the Education Reference Group (Safeguarding)
had identified that the way in which the software used to monitor
bullying (CPOMS) was inconsistent therefore a piece of work was
underway to develop best practice guidance for schools to use this
software and form part of best practice guidance;
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(d)
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Plymouth City Council had a webpage which
provided advice around bullying and signposted to support services
and was improving the Plymouth Online Directory to enhance the
information available;
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(e)
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Officers were continuing to work with families
and schools to properly support them and had recently sent a letter
to Plymouth Head Teachers requesting data in relation in
absence.
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In response to questions raised it was
reported that –
(f)
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there was no single route for parents to
report bullying to the local authority;
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(g)
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the Plymouth Online
Directory was advertised on the
Council’s website and included on the bottom of
letterheads.
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It was agreed that the Committee:
1.
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recommend to Officers to extend an invitation
to both a Primary and Secondary Head Teacher to attend a future
Education and Children’s Social Care Overview and Scrutiny
Committee in order to advise Members on how they react to bullying
within their schools;
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2.
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recommend to Officers to explore the
feasibility of inviting a parent whose child had been bullied to a
future Education and Children’s Social Care Overview and
Scrutiny Committee in order to share their experiences;
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3.
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would hear from Mrs
Nicky Williams (Parent Governor Representative) at a future
scrutiny committee regarding a case of bullying she was aware of
which she could share with Members.
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18. |
Care Leavers and NEET - plan (to follow) PDF 147 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Councillor Jemima Laing (Cabinet Member for
Children and Young People), Judith Harwood (Service Director for
Education, Participation and Skills) and Ed Coley (Head of Skills
and Employability) presented the Care Leavers and NEET Plan.
It was highlighted to Members that Pledge 48
focused upon the work involved in providing support to care leavers
up to the age of 25 years old; it was recognised that a coordinated
approach was required from a variety of partner agencies to achieve
a sustainable offer for all young people in care or leaving the
care of the local authority.
In response to questions raised it was
reported that:
(a)
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the 110 Club consisted of representation from
several council departments, a wide range of partners including
Barnardos, the Virtual School Team and a Head Teacher;
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(b)
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it was recognised through analysis that work
experience for young people and the planning for it needed to
happen much earlier in order to engage children and offer them the
correct support to develop their skills;
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(c)
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17% of care leavers between the ages of 18-25
years old were NEET (not in education, employment of training)
because of ill health or disability;
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(d)
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the Care Journeys
work with Barnados focused upon
achieving outcomes for care leavers; the programme included
volunteering opportunities. One Plymouth was also working to create
a system for volunteers to easily identify what opportunities were
available.
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Agreed that a progress report on Care Leavers
and NEET (Pledge 48) would be scheduled on the panel’s work
programme for 6 months’ time.
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19. |
Strategic Risk and Opportunity Register - update PDF 187 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Chair advised Members that the Strategic
Risk and Opportunity Register was attached to the agenda in order
for the panel to be aware of risks that specifically linked to
their terms of reference.
It was agreed to include information upon the
Failure to Reduce Health Inequalities to the committee’s work
programme as this was an amber risk; for an action plan and future
mitigations to be provided to Members.
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20. |
Work Programme PDF 136 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Members discussed the work programme and
agreed the following:
(a)
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Ofsted Improvement Plan – to be
discussed on 11 September 2019;
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(b)
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Child Exploitation – to be discussed on
11 September 2019 (for Members to be provided with the scope of
child exploitation and include information upon cyber issues,
modern slavery and the framework for the multi-agency group);
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(c)
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Education and Skills Strategy – refresh
(date not specified);
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(d)
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Plymouth Challenge Update - to be discussed on
11 September 2019;
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(e)
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New Ofsted Framework – (impact on the
inspection framework) to be discussed on 13 November 2019;
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(f)
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School Attendance Consultation - to be
discussed on 11 September 2019 (to include data regarding
achievement levels in schools);
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(g)
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Fair Funding for Schools – Select Review
(to assess the impact of the National Funding Formula (NFF) upon
Plymouth schools, with particular attention upon the impact on
staffing reduction including teaching assistants, the increase in
class sizes, collapsing the school day and concerns schools have
for the children over the city);
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(h)
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Elective Home Education (DFE consultation
results to be added to the work programme for discussion in the
Autumn with reference to the Inclusion and Attendance
Strategy);
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(i)
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progress report on Care Leavers and NEET
(Pledge 48) would be scheduled on the panel’s work programme
for 6 months’ time (8 January 2020);
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(j)
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Failure to Reduce Health Inequalities - this
was an amber risk on the Strategic Risk Register (for an action
plan and future mitigations to be provided to Members)
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21. |
Tracking Decisions PDF 53 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Chair advised Members that all tracking
resolutions from previous meetings had been completed as
information had been emailed out.
Members noted the completed tracking decisions
document.
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