Agenda item

To receive and consider the Diversity and Equality at Schools report.

Sal Thirlway presented the Diversity and Equality at Schools report which was set out in agenda pages 25-46.

Some of the points made by Sal Thirlway are listed below:

·           The School Improvement Service, as part of Learning Achievement and Partnerships commenced a programme with schools to respond to the issue of racial equity in schools which arouse following the death of George Floyd in May 2020 and other related incidents at the time;

·           The programme started in the 2020 summer term, engaging with schools and developing a work plan in partnership with schools;

·           Three key areas of focus were identified:

·           Learning – to understand the issues and improve awareness

·           Outcomes for pupils, staff and parents – to achieve positive change

·           Workforce – to promote a diverse workforce

·           The report contained the results of a Racial Equity Survey, to which 32 schools had responded.  This data was being used to shape the proposals;

·           This was the start of a journey hoping to achieve racial equity in schools.

During the discussion of the item the following comments were made:

·         Councillor Croy stated that the Committee had requested a review of how racism incidents are measured in schools in the Borough, in recognition of the fact that currently there is no way to compare and evaluate the situation because schools do not use the same report format and standards.  In his opinion the report was valuable but it did not address the issue of reporting racial incidents.  He was concerned that he could no longer find the reporting page in the internet; (subsequently Councillor Croy found the relevant page https://wsh.wokingham.gov.uk/learning-and-teaching/mea/equality-act-2010/racist-incidents/ );

·         Sal Thirlway apologised that the report had not addressed the issue of reporting racial incidents in schools. However, he stated that schools were no longer obliged to report such incidents to the local authority, therefore the local authority was not able to compel schools to report back to the Council;

·         Sal Thirlway stated that it was hoped that this programme would build relationships with schools and encourage them to share their data with the local authority.  He also stated that the ambition was to have a consistent approach across the Borough;

·         In response to a question Sal Thirlway stated that 32 responses was an average level of response to a survey, especially in the context of the pandemic;

·         In response to a question Sal Thirlway stated that he was not aware of formal national standards for reporting racial incidents, there were guidelines;

·         Councillor Mickleburgh asked if other factors such as social-economic status, housing and family structure were going to be included for monitoring, along with ethnicity.  Sal Thirlway confirmed that the intention was to include other factors that influenced children’s lives;

·         Councillor Mickleburgh asked for a breakdown in the data relating to exclusions, such as gender and age; he also asked if there were examples of good practice in tackling this issues that the local authority could learn from.  Sal Thirlway agreed to provide this information to the Committee via email;

·         Councillor Mickleburgh asked if it was possible for Members of the Committee to attend as observers the workshops which were being organised for the summer.  Sal Thirlway agreed to contact the organisers about this possibility;

·         In response to a question Sal Thirlway stated that there were no specific targets in relation to school exclusions;

·         Councillor Blumenthal asked for information in relation to exclusions criteria.  Sal Thirlway stated that each school would have its own behaviour policy.  However, schools would contact the Council’s Education Welfare Service when a pupil was at risk of permanent exclusion and schools and parents would receive support during the process;

·         Councillor Blumenthal asked if any targeted work was being planned to address the minority groups more at risk of permanent exclusion.  Sal Thirlway stated that this was proposal was part of the work to understand and address the complexities of the issue;

·         Councillor Bray stated that permanent exclusions were a complex process, and she informed that SEND children were more at risk of permanent exclusion than others.  She asked if SEND, school attendance and family support was being considered as part of this work;

·         Sal Thirlway stated this particular piece of work was focusing on racial equity;

·         Councillor Helliar-Symonds stated that every school should have an anti-bullying policy and she wondered if those policies included racial bulling.  Sal Thirlway stated this could be checked by the School Improvement Team;

·         Councillor Croy asked the service to ask schools what forms they were currently using to record racial incidents.  Sal Thirlway agreed to ask schools;

·         Councillor Richards asked if the proportional representation of the workforce was supposed to reflect the regional make up of ethnicity in the Borough and wondered how this worked in line with potential changes in demographics;

·         Sal Thirlway recognised that communities changed year on year, what the programme was trying to achieve was an improvement in aligning the workforce proportions to reflect the diversity within their community;

·         Councillor Bray reported that most secondary schools seemed to tackle racism in their anti-bulling policies.

Councillor Croy stated that this report, although valid, had not addressed the initial request from the Committee to which was to review the reporting of racial incidents at schools, in an effort to find a consistent approach to enable measurement and comparison. 

Sal Thirlway stated that this report intended to raise awareness of the issues around race and equality in schools.  

Carol Cammiss pointed out that schools could not be compelled to report racial incidents to the local authority, and that it may be more productive to undertake this discussion in another forum.  She offered to discuss this further with Councillor Croy outside of the meeting.

RESOLVED That the report be noted.