Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Luciane Bowker  Democratic & Electoral Services Specialist

Media

Items
No. Item

17.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were submitted from Carol Cammiss and Councillors Jenny Cheng and Pauline Helliar-Symonds.

18.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 248 KB

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 17 June 2020.

 

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 17 June 2020 were confirmed as a correct record and would be signed by the Chairman at a later date.

 

Matters arising

Councillor Bray stated that the Executive Member for Children’s Services had agreed to give an update to the Committee at every meeting and noted that this item was not in the agenda.  The Chairman stated that the Executive Member for Children’s Services had been invited to attend, however the Committee was advised that there were no updates at this time.  This item would be included in the Committee’s forward plan.

19.

Declaration of Interest

To receive any declarations of interest.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

20.

Public Question Time

 

To answer any public questions

 

A period of 30 minutes will be allowed for members of the public to ask questions submitted under notice.

 

The Council welcomes questions from members of the public about the work of this committee.

 

Subject to meeting certain timescales, questions can relate to general issues concerned with the work of the Committee or an item which is on the Agenda for this meeting.  For full details of the procedure for submitting questions please contact the Democratic Services Section on the numbers given below or go to www.wokingham.gov.uk/publicquestions

Minutes:

In accordance with the agreed procedure the Chairman invited members of the public to submit questions to the appropriate Members.

 

 

21.

Wesley Budd has asked the Chairman of the Children's Services O&S Committee the following question:

 

Question

There is evidence nationally that just before schools closed for the summer holidays, pupils from more deprived backgrounds were least likely to return to school – and that this is one of a number of factors that will further widen the social developmental and academic attainment gaps between children from poorer and wealthier socio-economic backgrounds.

 

What can WBC do to ensure that this aspect of the ‘return to school’ is monitored and understood by schools and what practical interventions and supports can be put in place to address this?

Minutes:

Question

There is evidence nationally that just before schools closed for the summer holidays, pupils from more deprived backgrounds were least likely to return to school – and that this is one of a number of factors that will further widen the social developmental and academic attainment gaps between children from poorer and wealthier socio-economic backgrounds.

 

What can WBC do to ensure that this aspect of the ‘return to school’ is monitored and understood by schools and what practical interventions and supports can be put in place to address this?

 

Answer

We know that the coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on a number of families in respect of their children not being able to access education for such a long period, and recognise the efforts of parents who have supported their children’s home learning throughout.  However, we also know of the long term impact of continued isolation for school aged children both in terms of their academic achievements and social wellbeing, and thus a return to school for all children is deemed to be in the best interest, and we fully support this.

 

Wokingham Borough Council has continued to work with schools and settings throughout the summer period in respect of planning for the return of all pupils to school at the start of the new academic year in September.

 

We will continue our regular communication and have mechanisms in place to respond supportively where there are children or young people with anxieties regarding return. 

 

We are working with schools and the Department for Education on seeking regular attendance data in order that we are able to monitor this, with specific reference to vulnerable learners.

 

We are also supporting schools in relation to utilisation of the Catch-Up Premium and National Tutoring Programme that was announced by the Government in July, in respect of supporting pupils and students to return to a consistent high level of learning outcome for all children and make up for lost teaching time.

 

We will be discussing the issue further during this meeting.

22.

Member Question Time

To answer any member questions

Minutes:

There were no Member questions.

23.

Children’s Services Performance Indicators pdf icon PDF 199 KB

To receive and consider the Children’s Services Performance Indicators report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Children’s Services Performance Indicators report was presented by Stephen Goss, Intelligence and Impact Performance Leader.

 

The Committee reviewed each dashboard indicator and some of the comments made during the discussions are listed below.

 

Dashboard 1 – Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP)

·           Stephen Goss stated that improving the quality and timeliness of EHCP had been a priority for the service for some time.  The improvements shown were the result of concerted efforts to drive improvement;

·           Councillor Loyes was interested to know if there were any figures relating to Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND).  Stephen Goss stated that this could be provided;

·           Councillor Mickleburgh asked if there were plans in place to deal with potential increases in demand.  He was also interested to know what checks were in place to ensure the quality of plans.  Sal Thirlway, Assistant Director for Learning Achievement and Partnerships stated that there was planning for further growth within the medium term financial plan, the service was actively planning to ensure that future capacity would be met.  Sal also stated that there was a range of multi-agency activity, and the service received support from other local authorities to ensure the quality was not being compromised over timeliness;

·           Councillor Croy asked if there had been an impact in staffing during this period, in relation to the pandemic.  Sal Thirlway stated that there had been only one or two staff changes where interim staff had left, at the moment there was a low level of churn.  Sal also stated that the next phase of development would be to recruit staff on a permanent basis;

·           Councillor Richards asked if the improvements were due to having more staff or due to changes in processes.  Sal Thirlway stated that as well as having more staff, there had also been an improvement in partnership working, for example better timeliness from Health professionals;

·           In response to a question Stephen Goss agreed to include targets, where possible, in future reports;

·           Councillor Bray wondered if the service expected an increase in EHCPs now that children were going back to school.  She asked that future reports include the number of EHCPs that had been applied for but not granted.

 

Dashboard 2 – Early Help

·           Stephen Goss stated that there had been an increase in the number of Early Help assessments in this quarter and an improvement in the length of time in days between referral and assessment completion;

·           In relation to a question about staffing, Sal Thirlway stated that this was stable.  Sal stated that a number of staff that had been isolating were now returning to work, there had been a lot of remote assessments during lockdown;

·           Councillor Croy noted that the fact that staff had been working from home had not impacted the numbers.  Adam Davis, Assistant Director for Children’s Social Care stated that there had been a change in the way the service was delivered, for example with more use of WhatsApp and phone calls; with less time spent travelling staff had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

24.

Schools' Performance Indicators and Ofsted Reports pdf icon PDF 214 KB

To receive and consider a report containing the Ofsted reports which were released since the last meeting and the Schools’ Performance Indicators.

Minutes:

Gillian Cole, Service Manager for Schools presented the Schools’ Performance Indicators and Ofsted reports report.

 

Gillian Cole went through in detail over a report outlining the school outcomes results for 2019.  This report had been prepared for a discussion at the March meeting which had been cancelled because of the pandemic. The 2019 school performance outcomes were as listed in the report.

 

Some of the comments made following Gillian Cole’s presentation are listed below:

 

·           Councillor Mickleburgh asked what attempts were being made to identify best practice in similar local authorities and he was also interested to know what other factors impacted performance, apart from financial factors;

·           Gillian Cole stated that the service actively sought to identify and understand best practice from other local authorities.  Wokingham was part of the PAN Berkshire wide group which shared best practice across the region; Wokingham took part in Voice 21 which was an oracy model providing help to teachers and schools to improve language.  Additionally, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) had found that some local authorities were experiencing the same challenges in trying to close the gap between disadvantaged children and their peers; as a result they had created a research group which had produced material which was shared with schools;

·           Gillian Cole stated that other factors that could affect performance were English as an additional language (EAL), for example;

·           Gillian Cole stated that schools were required to demonstrate how they used the Pupil Premium funding to help those children who were entitled to it;

·           In response to a question Gillian Cole stated that children of white and black/Caribbean mixed race tended to perform less well than their peers; there was a different data set in relation to BAME children.

 

Gillian Cole stated that Ofsted had suspended inspections during the lockdown period and therefore there were no new reports at this stage.  Going forward, during the current pandemic, Ofsted was going to conduct survey visits in the form of a conversation with senior leaders at schools.  These conversations would not lead to a formal judgement.

 

In response to a question Gillian Cole stated that schools had not reported any particular concerns over the proposed Ofsted survey visits and one school had volunteered to have a visit.

 

Gillian Cole stated that as everyone knew, the government had removed the requirement for school exams this year, therefore there would not be any national or local data set for 2020.  It was anticipated that tests would take place in 2021 and it was possible they may be delayed to allow for more preparation time.

 

Gillian Cole stated that the service had been running round the table drop in sessions to support schools’ leadership teams during this whole period.  These sessions had been well attended and offered an opportunity to share experiences.

 

Gillian Cole stated that most teachers, parents and students had been positive about the schools re-opening this term.  She pointed out that each school site was different, with different classroom layouts and different organisation methods.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

25.

Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 202 KB

To consider the Committee’s Forward Plan.

Minutes:

 

The Committee considered its Forward Plan for the remaining of 2020/21 municipal year.

 

The Chairman urged Sal Thirlway to encourage the Regional Schools Commissioner to attend the next meeting.

 

It was agreed to remove the Schools Performance Indicators and Ofsted reports from the November meeting as there would be no Ofsted inspections to report.

 

Members were concerned about issues relating to racial incidents in schools and how these incidents were reported.  They asked that a Diversity and Equality report be produced, including a review of racial incidents at schools and that all schools be encouraged to report using a standard format and definition of a racial incident.

 

The following items were added to the Forward Plan:

 

25 January 2021

·           Measures taken to reduce the need for children to return to a child protection plan

 

22 March 2021

·           Diversity and Equality - to be actively against racism in schools

·           Review of Covid-19 response

·           Compass Team update

26.

Exclusion of the Public

That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended) as appropriate.

Minutes:

That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of the Part 1 Schedule 12A of the Act as appropriate.

27.

Schools Causing Concern – Part 2

A report containing details of schools causing concern will be considered in a Part 2 report.

Minutes:

The report was discussed in a part 2 session.