Issue - meetings

(a)       That the report be noted; and

(b)       That the concerns raised by the School Performance Monitoring Group on the delays in children being able to access speech therapy services because of waiting times due to pressures in the Health Service be passed to the Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee to address with Betsi Cadwaladr at a future meeting.

The Chairman welcomed Claire Homard, Primary Link Officer, to the meeting and invited her to present the School Performance Monitoring Group Annual Report.  She provided background information and advised that the School Standards Monitoring Group (SSMG) had been established to ensure that schools who were under-performing were rigorously challenged by the Authority and appropriately supported to make progress and improve outcomes for learners.

The Primary Link Officer referred to the criteria for monitoring schools and the monitoring cycle.  She reported that ten primary schools had been subjected to monitoring during 2012-13 and referred to the common themes identified in securing school improvement.  She commented that initially schools had found the process daunting, however, overall the outcome had been positive and constructive in maintaining the momentum of school improvement.    

The Primary Link Officer highlighted the high level of multi-agency work

undertaken in schools to meet the needs of individual learners and their

families.  She also referred to the level of intervention required to ensure learners were developing expressive and receptive language skills that would enable them to access the curriculum and the delays in accessing speech therapy services because of waiting times due to pressures in the Health Service. 

Councillor Dave Mackie proposed that the concerns raised by the School Performance Monitoring Group on the delays in children being able to access speech therapy services because of waiting times due to pressures in the health service be passed to the Social & Health Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee to address with Betsi Cadwaladr at a future meeting.

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RESOLVED

(a)       That the report be noted; and

(b)       That the concerns raised by the School Performance Monitoring Group on the delays in children being able to access speech therapy services because of waiting times due to pressures in the Health Service be passed to the Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee to address with Betsi Cadwaladr at a future meeting.