Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Delyn Committee Room, County Hall, Mold CH7 6NA

Contact: Janet Kelly 01352 702301  Email: janet.kelly@flintshire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

34.

Declarations of Interest (Including Whipping Declarations)

To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

Decision:

There were no declarations of interest.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

35.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 113 KB

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meetings held on 7th November 2019 and 22nd November 2019.

 

Additional documents:

Decision:

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 November 2019, were submitted.

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

 

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 November 2019, were submitted.

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 November 2019, were submitted.

 

            The recommendation within the report were moved by Councillor Dave Mackie and seconded by Councillor Gladys Healey.

 

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

           

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 November 2019, were submitted.

 

Councillor Patrick Heesom referred to page 13 and his concerns regarding consequentials and to the risk of increased levels of Council Tax and was pleased that the level would be under 5% following the settlement from Welsh Government (WG).

           

            In response the Leader referred to the recent Cabinet and Group Leaders meetings where it had been reported it was the intention to set the Council Tax at less than 5% but at present the level was unclear.  He said within the information provided by WG there was an expectation that Council Tax would rise by 7.1% this year across Wales.   This was not a cause for celebration and more information would be shared once received. There was an enormous amount of information to go through especially with regard to grant funding and that following the General Election there could be more consequentials for Wales early in 2020 when the budget would be set.  

 

The recommendation within the report were moved by Councillor Andy Dunbobbin and seconded by Councillor Kevin Hughes.

 

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

36.

Forward Work Programme and Action Tracking pdf icon PDF 82 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

(a)     That the Forward Work Programme as amended, be approved;

 

(b)     That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chairman of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises;

Minutes:

            The Facilitator presented the Forward Work Programme which had been updated following the last meeting and was attached at Appendix 1.  The only alteration was the Child Poverty item which had been moved to the next meeting on 30th January.  All actions arising from the previous meetings on the 7th and 22nd November had been completed and a letter had been sent to the Chief Executive of the Youth Justice Board with a copy emailed to Members of the Committee.  No response had been received as yet but this would also be circulated to Members.  She confirmed the actions following the Estyn inspection had been included on the forward work programme and that the comments on the performance reports raised by Councillor Mackie had been fed back to the Performance Team and that the actions and risks had been amended and would form part of future quarterly performance reports.

 

The recommendations within the report were moved by Mr David Hytch and seconded by Mrs Rebecca Stark.                              

 

RESOLVED:

(a)     That the Forward Work Programme as amended, be approved;

 

(b)     That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chairman of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises;

37.

Provisional Learner Outcomes 2019 pdf icon PDF 160 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

(a)          That members receive the GwE report on Outcomes 2019 for Foundation Phase, Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3, relating to regional context and local performance for 2019.

 

(b)          That the Committee notes the national changes to reporting on teacher assessment and the new interim Key Stage 4 measures

 

(c)          That the Committee acknowledge the importance of the well-being of staff as the most important resource within schools; and

 

(d)          That the Committee requested a report on the GwE professional offer, the level of engagement on the offer from schools and the impact this was having on improvement, at a future meeting.

Minutes:

            The report was presented by the Chief Officer (Education and Youth) and provided information on Learner Outcomes for Key Stage 2 and 3 together with a detailed report from GwE.  She referred to the ongoing changes to performance reporting and to a meeting held with Welsh Government (WG) to understand how reporting to Scrutiny would need to be modified in the light of those changes. She added that information on Key Stages 4 and 5 could not be circulated at the meeting as it was still provisional but would be brought to the March Committee meeting.

 

            The Senior Manager referred to the executive summary which provided an overview following the recent member workshop and the significant changes in reporting and also for teacher assessments for Key Stage 2 and 3 for Welsh schools.  She referred members to the appendix which provided more detail together with an indication on how schools would manage the transition and maintain standards.

 

            Mr Dave Edwards (Senior Core for Lead Primary) confirmed standards for Foundation Stage and Key Stage 2 within Flintshire remained above the national average.  He referred to Value Added and the expected levels schools should achieve across Flintshire, however for some schools this was a real challenge but said with the reporting changes this would acknowledge these challenges especially with regard to outcomes.   He provided more detail on how information on each individual school was monitored to ensure all pupils achieved their potential.  He then referred to the information provided on the gap between boys and girls and free school meals and also the work being carried out in schools following the Estyn inspections.

 

            Mr David Hytch commented that he had difficulty understanding the figures as regards pupil progress without a base line level and asked if Mr Edwards had access to that information but was unable to share it.  In response Mr Edwards said the data would become less available in future but with the use of the tracking programme this would enable GwE to measure value added especially for children with low literacy skills and provide an overview of how support for these children could be tracked through Foundation Stage onwards.  He added, at Key Stage 2 schools worked together to use moderation to share, evaluate and create levels to understand what the outcome for Key Stage 1 and 2 would look like.

 

            The Senior Manager referred to the previous reporting of data, rankings etc. and said in 2017 91% of Key Stage 2 learners achieved the expected level.  The process of moving to the accountability framework which would look at the quality of education as a whole and include the wellbeing of pupils, Estyn outcomes and the provision at schools to ensure young people achieved their potential. 

 

            The Leader referred to indicators and detail previously received and said that WG guidelines stated that comparisons should be against the Welsh average.  The Value Added was very important to ensure every child especially those who required extra support where striving for excellence  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

38.

Members of the Press and Public in Attendance

Decision:

There were no members of the press and public in attendance.

Minutes:

There were no members of the press and public in attendance.