Agenda and minutes

County Councillor D. Blakebrough declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest pursuant to the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of schools’ performance as she is a governor of Monmouth Comprehensive School.

County Councillor P. Farley declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest pursuant to the Members’ Code of Conduct regarding any references made in respect of Chepstow Comprehensive School and the Dell Primary School.  Also, in respect of the draft Education Achievement Service (EAS) Business Plan as he is a LA Governor of both schools and a member of the EAS Audit and Risk Assurance Committee.

County Councillor L. Guppy declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest pursuant to the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of the schools’ performance report and the EAS Business Plan as she is a governor of Rogiet Primary School and Caldicot Comprehensive School.

County Councillor D. Jones declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest pursuant to the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of schools’ performance and budgets as he is a governor of Ysgol Gymraeg Y Fenni and Llanfihangel Crucorney Primary School.

County Councillor P. Jones declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest pursuant to the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of the EAS Business Plan and the Monmouthshire Schools Outcomes of the National Categorisation Exercise as she is a governor of Raglan Church in Wales Primary School.

County Councillor M. Powell declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest pursuant to the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of school performance results as she is a governor of King Henry VIII Comprehensive School.

Mr. M. Fowler declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest pursuant to the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of Monmouthshire Schools Outcomes of the National Categorisation Exercise as he is a governor of Raglan Church in Wales Primary School.

The minutes of the Children and Young People Select Committee dated 12^th January 2017 were confirmed and signed by the Chair subject to the following amendment:

Minute 4, page 3, first bullet point under Member Scrutiny, first sentence – remove ‘In response’ from the end of this sentence.

Context:

To provide Select Committee Members with information on the forecast revenue outturn position of the Authority at the end of period 3 which represents month 9 financial information for the 2016/17 financial year.

Recommendations proposed to Cabinet:

·         That Cabinet notes the extent of forecast revenue underspend using period 3 data of £79,000, an improvement of £919,000 on the previous reported position at period 2.

·         That Cabinet expects Chief Officers to continue to review the levels of over and underspends and reallocate budgets to reduce the extent of compensatory positions needing to be reported from at quarterly cycles.

·         That Cabinet appreciates the extent of predicted schools reserve usage, its effect of forecast outturn reserve levels and the related anticipation that a further sixschools will be in a deficit position by end of 2016-17.

·         That Cabinet considers the capital monitoring, specific over and underspends, and importantly that Cabinet recognises the risk associated with having to rely on a use of capital receipts in the year of sale and the potential for this to have significant revenue pressures should receipts be delayed and temporary borrowing be required.

·         That Cabinet approves an additional investment of £30,000 into the Disabled Facilities Grant capital budget in order to respond to demands being placed on the current programme, funded by a virement from existing Highways Maintenance and Access for All budgets.

·         That Cabinet approves a £30,000 increase to the Woodstock Way linkage scheme afforded by an equivalent underspend to another area improvement scheme (Abergavenny).

Member scrutiny:

·         Six schools exhibited a deficit position at the start of 2016/17.  This is anticipated to rise to 12 schools by the end of 2016/17. Officers are meeting with these schools with a view to producing recovery plans.  However, it was noted that a number of these schools have very low deficit budgets and would therefore be likely to recover quickly.

·         In response to a question raised regarding Post 16 funding, it was noted that the money is sent through to the schools via the local Authority. There are a range of different methods that could be applied to that distribution.  The Children and Young People Directorate has been working with the schools to find an appropriate methodology which is based on live pupil data.  Work during the previous year has been somewhat undermined by the fact that the actual quantum that was received from Welsh Government was significantly lower than was expected. An 8% reduction was received compared to last year.  The Authority has a proposal with its schools that the distribution will be taken on equal shares of the reduction.  However, this is being reviewed.  If this is taken forward this year, the Authority will ensure that in the intervening year all of the schools will have to sign up to an agreed methodology, which will be adhered to for the next three years. The Welsh Government has increased the funding per unit of learning to schools by 1.25%. However, this is not the case for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Context:

To receive the latest educational attainment data allowing the service to be held to account.  This includes:

•           Performance of pupils at the end of Key Stages 4 and 5.

•           A breakdown, where possible of performance across all key stages for the following groups:

-           Girls and Boys.

-           Pupils who are eligible for free school meals (eFSM).

Key Issues:

·         Draws together the headline messages from a number of more detailed analyses which are included as appendices to the report.

·         Contains a wealth of information enabling members to drill down from authority level data to figures for specific learner groups.

·         Comparisons are provided from 2011/12 which was the academic year prior to the last full Estyn inspection.

·         Enables the Select Committee to look beyond those high level measures to some of the detail that sits underneath. 

Key Stage 4

·      Monmouthshire saw a minimal increase by 0.1 percentage point to 67.0% in the headline Key Stage 4 indicator – the Level 2 Threshold including English / Welsh & Maths, compared to 66.9% in 2015 and 56.3% in 2012.

·      Monmouthshire moved down to 3rd place from 1^st in the Wales local authority rankings for Level 2 Threshold including English / Welsh & Maths.

Key Stage 5

·      Performance improved in the percentage of pupils achieving the Level 3 Threshold, with 99.1% achieving the benchmark, an increase from the 97.9% in 2015.

Member Scrutiny:

·      Free School Meals (FSM) gap – What is key is how the Authority identifies the early need of support required by FSM pupils. Working with the EAS there are now bespoke intervention plans in place for English and maths for all secondary schools.

·      It was noted that in English, boys are underperforming, which needs to be improved.  The change in the curriculum is leading to more technical accuracy in English language as opposed to English literature which should aid boys.  The risk around English language this year is that it is a new qualification and schools have not taught it before.

·      Self-evaluation and target setting – Some of Monmouthshire’s schools were closer to their targets than other schools. Target setting is a process and we as an authority are working closely with our schools from Foundation Phase to Key Stage 4. Targets have been verified and pupil level data has been analysed to ensure that the targets are reliable.

·      We are not where we would like to be in terms of our outcomes achieved last summer.  The work that is being undertaken this year puts us in the right direction to break the 70%.  The challenge will be the new qualifications and this might have an effect across the whole of Wales.

·      The Authority continues to work with its schools. It has a close relationship with both primary and secondary schools.

·      Pupil Deprivation Grant (PDG) – the Authority has commissioned the Education Achievement Service (EAS) to drive forward this piece of work.

·      Courses and training is on offer via the EAS for teachers regarding Free School  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Context:

We received the South East Wales EAS Business Plan 2017-2020. The plan sets out the priorities, programmes and outcomes to be achieved by the Education Achievement Service on behalf of the South East Wales Consortium. This consideration by key partners is part of the construction of the plan.

Key Issues:

The South East Wales Consortium is required to submit to the Welsh Government a three-year business plan that will be updated annually. This is the fourth iteration of the plan first submitted in 2013. This plan covers the period 2017-2020.

The South East Wales EAS Business Plan sets out four priorities: Improving attainment overall but narrowing the gap between eligible for Free School Meals (eFSM) and non Free School Meals (FSM) pupils; raising attainment in English; Welsh and Mathematics. These are the core priorities for the service and all other activities and programmes are now supporting the achievement of these outcomes.

The Education Achievement Service (EAS) for South East Wales has prepared this Business Plan for 2017-2020 to outline the programme of work required to achieve improved outcomes for children and young people. This version builds on the current Business Plan for the service (2016-2019) but takes account of the framework of new Welsh Government (WG) policy, particularly:

·         National School Categorisation system.

·         ‘Qualified for Life 2’- the National Education Improvement Strategy.

·         ‘Successful Futures’ - the review of curriculum and assessment.

·         ‘Teaching tomorrow’s teachers’ - the review of Initial Teacher Training.

The programmes of work are closely targeted to achieving improvement where the needs are greatest. The aim of the Education Achievement Service (EAS) in partnership with Local Authorities is to:

• Improve leadership, teaching and learning to secure sustained improvement in outcomes for learners (in literacy/ Welsh / English and numeracy / mathematics) at least in line or above the rate of progress in Wales.

• Increase the pace of improvement for groups of learners across the region, particularly FSM and more able learners in Key Stage 4.

·         Improve regional capacity to implement a self improving system.

There is a comprehensive consultation with all stakeholders that will lead to the publication of the final version of the Business Plan within the timescales agreed in the EAS Business Planning Cycle. The first draft version has been shared with each local authority Director of Education and takes into account actions and deliverables that have been requested.

There is a high level summary of the main actions within the Business Plan and a section with Accountability Measures. In addition, there are detailed delivery plans and detailed reviews of progress for the previous Business Plan.

The Business Plan sets out the overall priorities for the South East region and in addition an annex that focuses in particular on the priorities and programmes for each local authority in the Consortium, these have been discussed with local authority Directors and Cabinet Members prior to submission. These documents will also form part of the consultation process.

Member scrutiny:

·         The Regional More Able Strategy will be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Context:

To advise the Select Committee of the outcomes of the annual national school categorisation exercise.

Key Issues:

The categorisation of schools is a useful annual barometer of the progress Monmouthshire’s schools are making in two key areas; their academic performance and their capacity to improve. 

Member scrutiny:

·         Concern was expressed regarding how the National Categorisation Exercise is seen from the public’s point of view and how Free School Meals (FSM) pupil data can have an effect on the categorisation of a school.  The EAS recognises the unusual nature of Monmouthshire which has low levels of FSM pupils in comparison with other local authorities.  However, it was noted that the data that had been examined by the EAS year on year had indicated that the gap in performance for FSM pupils and non FSM pupils was evident.

·         It was noted that for primary schools, FSM data is not a consideration in terms of the measures.  It is in secondary schools only.

·         In response to a Select Committee Member’s question regarding ‘Green’ secondary schools, the Principal Challenge Adviser stated that ‘Green’ is about whether a school only requires four days support from the EAS.  A school with a ‘Green’ status is very different from being a school in a standards Group 1 at Step One.  A school in a standards Group 1 at Step One will require more than four days support from the EAS. 

·         Concern was expressed that the public perception of this system is not fully understood and may give the wrong impression of how a school is actually performing due to it colour status.

We received and noted the list of actions that had been completed arising from the Children and Young People Select Committee meeting held on 12^th January 2017.

We resolved to receive the Children and Young People Forward Work Programme.  In doing so, the following points were noted:

·         A Joint Select Committee meeting for all four select committees will be held on 27^th February 2017 at 2.00pm to scrutinise the business case for the Alternative Service Delivery Model and the Council’s Wellbeing objectives.

·         The next ordinary meeting of the Children and Young People Select Committee, scheduled to be held on Thursday 23^rd March 2017 will become a Joint Select Committee meeting with the Adults Select Committee.   This Committee will consider the first Young Carers Strategy in Wales whereby some young carers will be invited to the meeting.  A report on Safeguarding will also be considered at this meeting.

We resolved to receive the Council and Cabinet Business Forward Work Plan and noted its content.

The next ordinary meeting will be held on 23^rd March 2017 at 2.00pm.

The next meeting will be a joint meeting with Adults Select Committee which will be held on Thursday 23^rd March 2017 at 2.00pm.