Issue - meetings

(a) That the report be noted; and

(b) That the positive thematic report undertaken by Estyn on the work of education services in Flintshire to support children and young people during the pandemic be noted.

            The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) presented the self-evaluation report and explained that, due to the pandemic, the information had not been structured in the usual way against the Estyn Framework for the inspection of Local Government Education Services which had been temporarily suspended together with the key data collections from Welsh Government (WG).  She referred to previous reports to meetings attended by GwE and Estyn colleagues with the Thematic Review of the Regional Services presented at the last meeting and attached to the report was the letter sent to Flintshire County Council from Estyn which summarised the positive assessment of the work undertaken in schools during this period.  She also provided information on the next steps and priorities within the Council Plan.

The Chair said that the format of the report was very useful in providing information on all service areas.  He invited questions on each of the service areas, as outlined in Appendix 1 of the report.

Inclusion and Progression Service

            The Chair referred to page 54 the last paragraph and asked as this was now an online offer with no theoretical limit why the training was not available to everyone.  In response the Chief Officer confirmed she would refer this to the Senior Manager (Inclusion and Progression) to provide a response. 

            Mrs Stark asked if provision had been considered for young person counselling and psychology services moving forward and were schools aware of pupils who may already require that support.  In response the Chief Officer confirmed that this had been identified by the Children’s Commissioner and that previously WG had provided additional funding for counselling services to support ALN services and that this would be a priority moving forward for them.  There was a strong holistic recovery programme working with Health and CAMMS colleagues and Children’s Services to enable a wraparound model to support these children and young people.  She added that additional funding had been provided last year to support young people’s emotional health and well-being.

Early Entitlement Service

            The Chair asked for an explanation on what was covered by the Coronavirus Childcare Assistance Scheme.  In response, the Chief Officer explained that during the pandemic WG had suspended the childcare offer and created the Coronavirus Childcare Assistance Scheme and that similar to schools who operated during the pandemic providing childcare for critical workers, WG provided funding for this service to provide the same support for critical workers.  This was managed by the Childcare team within Social Services.

            Mrs Stark asked if WG had anticipated the impact of the gap in education for young learners in their early years’ education and would this be taken into account when measuring their performance.   In response, the Chief Officer confirmed that this was being discussed and referred to the Foundation Phase Curriculum for 3 – 7 year olds which firstly looked at the child and their personal and social development and then provided support across different areas of learning.  She confirmed the early years was front and centre of the National  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44