Agenda item

(a) That the Committee supported the levels of progress and had confidence in the achievement of priorities as detailed within the Council Plan 2022/23;

(b) That the Committee supported overall performance against Council Plan 2022/23 performance indicators/measures; and

(c) That the Committee was assured by explanations given for those areas of underperformance.

            The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) presented the report which provided a summary of the Council Plan priorities for year-end for the Education & Youth Portfolio. It was highlighted that 77% of activities were making good progress with 62% of the performance indicators having met or exceeded their targets for the year. Section 1.04 of the report provided a summary of the overall progress ratings against activities at year end.

The report provided details on the small percentage of Red activities, with the Chief Officer explaining that the Council reporting year did not align with the School Academic year and that the main focus in schools this year had been on the whole school approach to emotional well-being and baseline audits which were referred to earlier in the meeting. Schools were on track in completing their baseline audits and creating their action plans which would be reflected in the Q1 report. Referring to Section 1.08 of the report the Chief Officer provided detailed information on the sub priorities for fixed term exclusions and digital learning sessions provided in Welsh.

            In response to Councillor Dave Mackie’s comment on the lack of information from Open University Wales, the Chief Officer clarified that this information sat with Aura as it was one of their targets. She agreed to feed this back to them. The Chair asked that a request be made for a representative from Aura attend a future Committee meeting to provide background to their section of the report.

            Responding to the question from Councillor Mackie on the Plas Derwen Pupil Referral Unit and increase in pupil exclusions, the Chief Officer said the portfolio had the support of the Inclusion Team but that part of the Strategy had been to use the expertise of the Pupil Referral Unit as these were highly skilled individuals who dealt with children with challenging behaviours. The Chief Officer provided an overview of the challenges faced around staffing and the focus to re-establish their senior leadership team and address the recommendations of the Estyn Inspection. In light of this the Secondary Head Teachers fully understood the situation and were sympathetic.

            The Chief Officer advised that Plas Derwen was not the only source available to schools as there were opportunities for the ongoing development of their own staff in terms of behaviour management through the professional development and learning funding. Following the pandemic and the challenges that pupils were facing returning to school, many staff felt the strategies were in place prior to the pandemic were no longer successful. The whole school approach to emotional health and well-being was important as a supportive strand of the audits and plans that the schools were putting in place to support these issues.

            In response to questions from Councillor Gladys Healey on Elective Home Education and the team supporting this, the Chief Officer confirmed that a report had been presented to Committee on Elective Home Education. The team comprised of a dedicated Officer who focused on this work with the support of a whole team of Educational Social Workers and Inclusion Social Workers. She reassured Members that the portfolio was fulfilling its statutory responsibilities in that oversight of children whose parents had taken the decision to home educate. There had been an increase with more parents taking that decision across the different year groups with some year groups more prevalent than others. Fixed Penalty Notices were issued when the school had exhausted all other opportunities for intervention to encourage parents to send their children to school. This was supported by the Community Focused Schools promoted and supported by Welsh Government (WG). It was around understanding the barriers and challenges that children faced in accessing their education and providing that support to families to assist them with these challenging issues.

            The Chair referred to the letter sent to Jeremy Miles raising the concerns of the Committee which had been circulated to Members.

The recommendations, as outlined within the report, were moved by Councillor Carolyn Preece and seconded by Councillor Gladys Healey.  

RESOLVED

(a) That the Committee supported the levels of progress and had confidence in the achievement of priorities as detailed within the Council Plan 2022/23;

(b) That the Committee supported overall performance against Council Plan 2022/23 performance indicators/measures; and

(c) That the Committee was assured by explanations given for those areas of underperformance.