Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

None.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the joint meeting of the Education Youth & Culture and Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committees held on the 30June 2022 and the Education Youth & Culture Overview & Scrutiny Committee meetings held on the 14 and 29 July 2022.

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

The minutes of the joint meeting with the Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee held on the 30 June were received. 

Councillor Andrew Parkhurst referred to page 14 and asked if the Senior Manager (Inclusion and Progression) had spoken to colleagues in the Educational Psychology Services regarding children with Special Educational Needs.  As the Senior Manager (Inclusion and Progression) was unable to attend this meeting the Chief Officer (Education & Youth) agreed to speak with her and report back to Councillor Parkhurst following the meeting.

  The minutes of the meetings held on the 14 July and 29 July 2022 were both received.

The three sets of minutes were moved as a correct record by Councillor Bill Crease and seconded by Councillor Gladys Healey.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meetings held on 30 June, 14July and 29 July 2022 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

(a) That the Forward Work Programme be noted;

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

(c) That the progress made in completing the outstanding actions be noted.

The Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator presented the current Forward Work Programme which had been amended following the last meeting and incorporated suggestions made by members of the Committee.   Referring to the Action Tracking Report the Facilitator confirmed that all actions were now completed. There was one ongoing item from Adviser for Health, Well-being and Safeguarding who had confirmed she was chasing responses and would circulate these once received.

In response to a question from Councillor Bill Crease on how the internet access of staff at schools was managed and monitored, the Chief Officer (Education & Youth) confirmed that all schools had acceptable use policies, which staff had to sign, and that the internet and firewall were monitored at County Hall.  A report on social media and internet safety was brought to Committee annually and was included on the Forward Work Programme.  She agreed to speak with the Adviser for Health, Well-being and Safeguarding and provide a response for Councillor Crease following the meeting.

The recommendations, as outlined within the report, were moved by Councillor Bill Crease and seconded by Councillor Paul Cunningham.                        

RESOLVED:

(a)     That the Forward Work Programme be noted;

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

(c)     That the progress made in completing the outstanding actions be noted.

That the Committee accept the Annual Report from GwE, whilst noting the positive impact of the regional service in supporting Flintshire schools throughout the pandemic, maintaining the focus on effective and successful schools and supporting schools in their preparations for the implementation of the new Curriculum for Wales.

            The Chair thanked GwE for the support they had provided during the Pandemic to school leaders and for their continuing support to Flintshire schools with the roll out of the Curriculum for Wales (CfW). 

Mr Martyn Froggett (Supporting Improvement Adviser) explained a presentation had been prepared which was in addition to the reports attached to the agenda.  He introduced Phil McTague (Secondary Core Lead) and David Edwards (Primary Core Lead) who would also be assisting with the presentation which focussed on work currently undertaken in schools, information on Welsh Government (WG) policies and pandemic recovery support for schools.

The Primary Core Lead gave a presentation which covered the following areas: -

·         The three main priorities for GwE:-

ØImplementing Curriculum for Wales

ØEnsuring robust self-evaluation processes

ØEstyn Inspections

·         Primary – Curriculum for Wales

Øidentified the unique factors of their school and how these contribute to the four purposes

Øreviewed their vision, values and behaviours to support the curriculum

Øbeen mindful of the key considerations e.g. statutory and mandatory elements

Øreviewed curriculum design models

Øconsidered the role of progression and pedagogy in their curriculum

Øbegun to design, plan, trial and evaluate new topics. 

·         Primary – Self-evaluation & quality assurance

·         Primary – Estyn Inspections

The Secondary Core Lead continued with the presentation which covered the following areas: -

·         Secondary – Support for Curriculum for Wales

Ø  All Flintshire schools have made extensive use of the regional support programme

Ø  Engagement in regional /local planning groups is good.

Ø  Schools have taken up the offer of specific for bespoke input from the GwE team on teaching and learning

Ø  There is increasing collaborative work through clusters and through alliances

Ø  ‘Six Steps’ reports (focussing on the Education Minister’s requirements of progress toward CfW) were undertaken with all schools in the summer term following discussions between schools and their SIAs

·         Secondary – self-evaluation & quality assurance

·         Preparation for inspection in secondary schools under the new Estyn Framework

            In response to a question from Councillor Andrew Parkhurst on the robustness and objective measurement of Estyn Inspections, Mr Martyn Froggett (Supporting Improvement Adviser) said previously with Estyn focussing on exam results the work that pupils had achieved in the classroom had taken second place.  Now Estyn’s base of evidence was the books the pupils were currently working from and the lessons that they were having which were moderated and he explained how this would work in schools.  GwE were supporting schools but said that it would take some time for the shared understanding of progression to be established.

            Mr Phil McTague (Secondary Core Lead) explained that it was the in-school variant which was more significant, and he explained what GwE were focussing on.  He provided information on the question level analysis which would enable training strategies to be provided to bring about improvements.  The data for the in-school variants, the question level analysis and classroom observations would drive progression and standards.   He felt that this ensured  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

That the Committee note the outcome of the Education Portfolio’s annual self-evaluation report on the quality of education services for the period 2021-2022.

            In presenting the report the Chief Officer (Education & Youth) provided an overview of the April 2021 to March 2022 Self Evaluation.   She stated that with the suspension of Estyn inspections, the portfolio’s previous two evaluation reports had not followed the Local Government Education Services (LGES) Inspection framework.  The portfolio had now reverted to that structure as Inspections had resumed, the Authority’s last inspection took place in 2019, and Estyn were proposing to complete this cycle by the summer of 2024.  Information was provided on the focus of self-evaluation which identified strengths, areas to improve and how these improvements were made.   The Estyn area framework together with the four recommendations made were included in the report and the portfolio continued to make progress against these recommendations despite the challenges of the pandemic.  The recommendations were also embedded in the priorities of the Council Plan and the portfolio’s business plan. 

            In response to a question from Councillor Dave Mackie on data information, the Chief Officer clarified that because of the decision made by the Welsh Government (WG) it was not possible to provide data on individual schools.  She referred to section 1.01 of the report which reflected the current situation in schools and said all secondary schools had support plans in place to focus on the priorities that each school had identified.  At 1.03 of the report information was provided on attendance and exclusions, which had been discussed at the last meeting.  

            In response to further comments around data, the Chief Officer explained that the working environment had changed, and she was unable to provide tables of data on examination results and the models for pupil assessment had changed making it difficult to compare data.  She felt a workshop for Members would be beneficial to enable more information to be provided.  The Local Quality Board had these in-depth discussions and at the next meeting the school performance monitoring processes would be discussed, and members would be able to join these discussions with the only external validation being the current Estyn inspection reports.   This evaluation was a summary of the portfolio’s performance over that year

            Councillor Andrew Parkhurst referred to section 1.05 of the report which stated the role was to rigorously challenge schools and provide targeted support and said maybe it would be clearer for the Committee if an explanation was provided on how that was undertaken.  In response, the Chief Officer said that this would tie in with a report from the School Performance Monitoring Group which would provide information on the escalation process.  At those meetings the current situation of every school was discussed in detail with emerging issues or concerns highlighted and a plan put in place from either the Authority or GwE to support that school. 

            The Senior Manager for School Improvement confirmed that there was a clear support process and escalation process in place in schools.  A report was brought to Committee last year on how this was being looked at regionally and those processes had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

That the level of school reserves as at the 31 March 2022 be noted.

In presenting the annual report the Strategic Finance Manager (Schools) provided detailed information on the overall level of reserves held by Flintshire schools which had been impacted by the pandemic.  She explained that the report had been shared with Head Teachers, the School Budget Forum and the Governance and Audit Committee. 

The Strategic Finance Manager provided detailed information on the school reserves across the three sectors, highlighted the reserves for individual schools and the trends over the last 5 years.   She referred to 2020 when there were worryingly low levels of school reserves and said the increases over the past 2 years had been welcomed.  This coincided with significant increased funding to schools by WG over the last 2 years and this was outlined at section 1.03 of the report with every school having specific reasons for the level of their school balances and individual plan in place for the future.  There had to be a balance to ensure that the funding was spent on the education of the current pupils, and that excess amounts of funding were not being held back without clear reasons, so the school did not fall into deficit.  She provided information on the Council’s role in monitoring school reserves and explained that each school had been requested to complete a reserves declaration form and a Medium-Term Plan had been requested for the next 3 years outlining what schools were planning.  

In response to a suggestion from Councillor Dave Mackie around ensuring tables were presented in the same format throughout reports, the Strategic Finance Manager agreed to ensure this was amended for future reports. 

In response to a question from Councillor Mackie on actual reserves being distorted by grant funding, the Strategic Finance Manager said that last year the value of the grants was taken away from the reserves, however last year was different to this year as one of the biggest grants was for revenue repair and maintenance in schools which did not arrive until the last few days in March giving schools no opportunity to spend that money.  Schools would have dealt with them in different ways some spending it straight away whilst others were using grants to fund work over the summer with this still in their balances.  She said presenting it this way highlighted the increased level that schools had received and the potential impact on the level of school reserves.

In response to a question on increasing council tax to assist with deficit budgets in secondary schools, the Strategic Finance Manager confirmed that there was an additional amount of funding put into the secondary school’s budget in 2020/2021 because of the Estyn recommendation 4 addressing secondary school deficits more effectively.  This was outside of the secondary funding formula and targeted specifically towards deficit reduction.  It had been effective but there had been a lot of grant funding provided so they had worked together to improve the financial position at those schools.   She then provided information on meetings held with schools  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

(a) That the Committee note the progress made to date on implementation of UPFSM;

(b) That the Committee note the resource implications and risks identified in relation to UPFSM; and

(c) That the Committee support the UPFSM Policy and local implementation.

            The report was introduced by the Chief Officer (Education & Youth) and contained an update on the roll out of the Universal Primary Free School Meal Programme (UPFSM) in Flintshire.  This was a commitment made by Welsh Government (WG) with the authority opting for a phased approach.  There had been significant challenges with NEWydd and schools which had been acknowledged by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language who had written to all Local Authorities expressing his thanks for their hard work.  She provided information on the Working Group which had enabled the rollout to commence in September 2022 to Reception aged children with infant children in years 1 and 2 receiving their meals from April 2023 with all primary aged children receiving this by 2024.   She stressed that those families who were entitled to Free School Meals must continue to apply for those benefits as so much funding goes into schools based on that entitlement to a free school meal.  She was concerned that once this was universal that parents would be under the impression that they did not need to claim but this was so important and could have an adverse effect on the funding which went into schools.

            Councillor Dave Mackie had concerns around the extra staff members that would be required and wondered if this should be included on the Forward Work Programme as he had been told there were issues around staffing to support free school meals.   In response the Chief Officer (Education & Youth) confirmed that this was an area of concern saying NEWydd had had significant challenges recruiting.  The portfolio and schools did what they could to support NEWydd and she was not aware of any school not being able to deliver this meal offer.  This was a national issue with vacancies for catering, classroom assistants, specialist schools’ staff and this was being monitored as the rollout continued.

            Councillor Gladys Healey firstly thanked Welsh Government (WG) for doing this especially in the current climate.  She said as a Governor we were able to write to parents to remind them to claim for their free school meals.   The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) added that there had been a media campaign via social media and the website and asking schools to keep this message on their websites and newsletters.

The first recommendation, as outlined within the report, was moved by Councillor Dave Mackie and seconded by Councillor Andrew Parkhurst.

The second recommendation, as outlined within the report, was moved by Councillor Paul Cunningham and seconded by Councillor Gladys Healey.

The third recommendation, as outlined within the report, was moved by Councillor Mel Buckley and seconded by Gina Maddison.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the Committee note the progress made to date on implementation of UPFSM;

(b) That the Committee note the resource implications and risks identified in relation to UPFSM; and

(c) That the Committee support the UPFSM Policy and local implementation.

That the Committee agree the Council Plan Part 1 reviewed and updated timelines for completion, as shown at Appendix 1 of the report.

The Chair reported that for the Education & Youth portfolio there were 32 core business items on the timeline with estimated completion dates together with 7 project items with start dates and estimated completion dates.

            The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) commented that when the Council Plan was presented to Committee there was concern that several of the actions had an end of year reporting date of the 31 March 2023.  The Senior Management Team had reviewed these dates and some of the actions had been given earlier completion dates.  She confirmed that updates on these would be given during the usual performance reporting cycle.

            Councillor Dave Mackie asked if the date had passed did that mean that the action had been completed.  The Chief Officer confirmed that this was correct.

The recommendation, as outlined within the report, was moved by Councillor Bill Crease and seconded by Councillor Gladys Healey.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee agree the Council Plan Part 1 reviewed and updated timelines for completion, as shown at Appendix 1 of the report.

There were no members of the press in attendance.