Issue - meetings

(a)       That the Committee confirmed it had been able to effectively scrutinise the work of GwE in their delivery of school improvement services to Flintshire schools during the Covid-19 pandemic;

(b)       That the Committee acknowledged and applauded the extensive range of support delivered by GwE to enable schools to quickly and effectively change their models of educational provision in direct response to the Covid-19 pandemic; and

(c)        That the Committee acknowledged the effective partnership working between GwE and the Education Portfolio to ensure that Flintshire schools received high quality and timely support in an unprecedented period of change and anxiety.

The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) introduced the School Improvement and Examination 2021 Update report and welcomed the following GwE officers to the meeting, who would assist in presenting the report:-

• Mr. Martyn Froggett, Secondary Core Lead for Flintshire
• Mr. David Edwards, Primary Core Lead for Flintshire
• Mrs. Gaynor Murphy, Secondary Improvement Advisor 
• Mrs. Vicky Lees, Primary Improvement Advisor

The Chief Officer commented on the Blended Learning report presented to the Committee at its meeting in December and explained that this report gave a broader overview of the support the regional service had provided to all local authorities during the emergency situation.  The focus had been on the well-being of learners, school communities and staff which had helped to shape and maintain the focus on school improvement in all schools whilst providing support during the pandemic.  

The Chief Officer provided an overview of the support provided for core skills of literacy and numeracy and the professional development plan delivered by GwE for teachers and classroom assistants to ensure quality learning whether in the classroom or via digital remote learning.  

The detailed presentation on Accelerating Learning Programme was provided which covered the following areas:-

• Context – Literacy and numeracy, delivering and maintaining high quality teaching across the curriculum with high quality, structured and targeted interventions;
• Accelerating the learning;
• Primary – examples of learning sequences, evidence reviews and teaching and learning strategies;
• Accelerating the learning within the Secondary Sector;
• Literacy Toolkit;
• Literacy Targeted Offer;
• GCSE English Language – Inference, Accelerate;
• Mathemateg GwE;
• Impact

In response to a comment from Councillor Ian Smith, it was agreed that a larger print copy of the accelerated skills model, shown as part of the presentation, be circulated to the Committee following the meeting.

            Mr David Hytch thanked officers for the report and presentation which he felt had been informative and commented on the positive co-ordination and collaboration between the local authority, schools and GwE.  He commented on the responses to individual surveys, as shown within the appendix to the report and questioned whether this related to Wales as a whole rather than just Flintshire and suggested that it should be highlighted within the report that the wellbeing of pupils and staff was of the highest priority.  He also commented on the immense strain schools were feeling in getting the balance right between school improvement and prioritising staff and learner wellbeing, as stated within the report, and whilst he welcomed advisors looking to verify the quality of learning, in the circumstances he hoped that the pressure schools were under would be taken into account.  The Chief Officer responded that it was not their intention to put extra pressure on schools but the local authority had responsibility standards in schools and engaged regularly with Estyn.  She reassured Members that additional pressure was not being put on schools, it was a case of monitoring the situation and adjusting support accordingly.  

            Mr. Froggett explained that it was not possible to undertake the usual standard of quality assurance and confirmed that focus  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34