Agenda item

Context:

To inform the Select Committee of the progress that the education system has made in the past twelve months since the last report. 

Key Issues:

The report is not limited to analysis of school based outcomes but is intended to offer a broader view of the services offered to Monmouthshire’s children and identify areas where there are concerns in school based performance.

Member Scrutiny:

·         On behalf of the Select Committee, the Chair thanked the Chief Officer for Children and Young People for preparing and presenting the report to the Committee despite having had to take on additional work in recent days.

·         With regard to exclusions, the total number of days lost is reported as well as the rate of fixed term exclusions per 1000 pupils.

·         In terms of FSM children, Monmouthshire’s schools are compared to other similar schools to provide a fair comparison in terms of what the children achieve.  Monmouthshire has areas of deprivation in the County.  However, we do not have the quantum to trigger additional support, which is a challenge for the Authority.

·         With regard to Monmouth Comprehensive School, the FSM children that come to the school from England are known to the Authority.  However, it does cause an issue for Monmouth in respect of the modelled expectations, as these are undertaken on a matched cohort basis. 

·         Every pupil in Wales has a unique reference number and is allocated to the correct secondary school.  If a child has been through the Welsh system at primary school, the correct information is in the model at that stage.

·         The review of the catchment areas is being undertaken as it is considered that Monmouthshire’s children should be attending Monmouthshire schools near to their communities. However, there will always be parental choice.

·         We want parents to consider Monmouthshire’s schools to be as good as, if not better than any other schools outside of the County that parents might be considering sending their children to.

·         With regard to the schools that have received Estyn inspections since the new reporting system had been introduced, of the three schools inspected, two Estyn inspection reports have been published.

·         Work has been commissioned from the Benefits team to investigate the issues surrounding FSM provision and the provision of benefits to some families. However, it was noted that there are falling numbers of FSM children across Wales.  The Pupil Development Grant (PDG) will be available for children who have been FSM pupils for the previous two years.

·         Via an evolutionary process, there will likely be fewer head teachers in Monmouthshire’s schools in the future.  When the opportunity presents itself, the Authority will look to provide shared leadership across Monmouthshire’s schools.

·         An update report regarding the process of issuing FSM to pupils to be presented to a future meeting of the Select Committee.

·         An update regarding the Donaldson report to be presented to a future Select Committee meeting.