Agenda item

That the progress of the Sustainable Communities for Learning programme be noted.

The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) introduced Jennie Williams, the Senior Manager, (School Planning and Provision) to committee and outlined the areas of work which she covered.

            In presenting the report the Senior Manager (School Planning and Provision) highlighted the progress which had been made with regard to the Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme, previously referred to as the School Modernisation Programme.  The last update was presented to committee in February 2022 and this report highlighted the progress made in a number of areas and included information on the challenges and pressures which were being faced.   The Senior Manager provided information on the grant funding which had been made available and the small team which were tasked to deliver this.  She then highlighted some key points within the report and provided an update on the Childcare Programme and the Ysgol Croes Atti site which would be the second net zero carbon school and first new build Welsh Medium school.  An update on the 3 to 16 Campus at Mynydd Isa was provided which included information on the excellent social value team and the impacts it was making within the community and wider school network.   The Senior Manager confirmed that the portfolio had executed the statutory proposals to increase capacity in Drury and Penyffordd which were completed in December 2022 and that the next stage of extensions and refurbishment had commenced.  Information was then provided on the engagement process for the Saltney and Broughton Area Review which had been completed and would be presented to Cabinet.  The Senior Manager then provided an update on the Universal Primary Free School Meals Grant which was progressing well and this had enabled some resource and refurbishment changes to be made in primary schools.  Referring to Additional Learning Needs (ALN), the Senior Manager confirmed that capital grant funding of £2m had been received and it was confirmed that some money had been directed to the shared Hydro Pool used by the Special Schools and other learners.  Work was being undertaken to increase the capacity for learners who required ALN support.  The Senior Manager confirmed that the service had accessed the Community Facility Grant and Sports Wales Grants which had enabled works to be undertaken on school sites to support community access of those facilities.

            Councillor Bill Crease referred to the Saltney Broughton Area Review and St David’s High School and raised a number of questions around the public consultation, the condition survey and funding for maintenance at the school.  He also asked if any Senior Officers or Members had attended the school this year to see what was happening there.

            In response, the Senior Manager recognised that this review had taken some time to progress as there were complex circumstances around the school site and flooding in this area.  An update would be provided to Cabinet and the Committee with regard to the outcomes of the engagement process.  She explained that she and other officers had visited the school as there had been some significant repairs and maintenance issues which were not flagged with the authority until fairly recently.  As soon as the team were made aware they had visited and enabled some significant investment to be made to resolve them and improve the heating issues at the school.              There were concerns with regard to demographics with learners bypassing the school with a range of responses received around why this was happening.  The information would need to be considered when a decision was made as to what was best for the area. 

Councillor Crease said the flooding issues were not a concern when the previous proposed plans to build on the site were made.  Referring to demographics, he understood the numbers were increasing in the school and that the Local Development Plan was enabling a significant amount of house building within 2 or 3 miles of the school.  In response, the Senior Manager explained technical work had been undertaken with regard to TAN 15 which confirmed that the flooding as a result of global warming had ramped up changes in areas which would have been developed previously.  This included Saltney and limited the potential options for the area.  Consideration had been given to demographics and birth rate information from 2020 which posed a significant drop which would flow through the school systems.  There were sufficient learners in the Saltney area which could make the school sustainable but currently the numbers were not where they needed to be.  This was a concern.

            Councillor Dave Mackie referred to the issues of flooding saying that there were very few areas in Flintshire which were not affected by it and that it was the view of the Planning department that these sites had to be built on at some stage.  He said the previous discussions and delays concerning Saltney had resulted in the money being moved to the Mynydd Isa site.   With regard to the consultation with local residents he assumed that prior to the previous development around the Saltney site, that a public consultation was undertaken.  He asked what the outcome of that consultation had been and presumed the outcome enabled the progression of the Saltney development to where a site was allocated.  He also referred to the Holywell High School development where one of the arguments was that a high school was needed in that area.  There were similar issues with regard to pupil demographics at that site and he reported on a conversation with the Chief Education Officer at the time who said that the new school could just be the answer that parents needed.  Referring to local developments at the Airfields and the two developments within Hawarden, there could be a situation when the current LDP ends in 2035 that 300 high school places could be required in that part of the county.  He understood the school allocation policy allowed for the catchment areas to move depending upon demand and this was a pressure within the Hawarden area.

            In response the Senior Manager commented that forecasting on demographics was difficult and reported on the areas in Penyffordd and Hawarden which were being monitored.  In Hawarden it was explained that cohorts were coming into the school even though it was not in their catchment area.  The situation was continually monitored especially around the shifts and PLASC (the electronic collection of pupil and school level data provided by all maintained sector primary, middle, secondary, nursery and special schools) data. 

            Councillor Mackie referred to the Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) rollout and understood that some schools were having difficulties because children were not eating their meals quickly enough to enable another group to have their meals.  The Senior Manager reported on the audits carried out in schools with regard to their kitchen facilities and it was recognised that this did have impacts on some schools in terms of sittings.   A survey was undertaken with parents, carers, learners and schools to assess the impact and ascertain if there were significant problems.  She was not aware of any issues but would like to speak to Councillor Mackie outside of the meeting to get more information to enable this to be investigated.  The roll out had been successful for learners to have this meal within the primary sector.

            Councillor Mackie also referred to the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) saying that one of the problems which had been highlighted was that the two schemes were running alongside each other which had confused parents.  He asked if Welsh Government (WG) were aware of these issues and the impacts that the new curriculum, budget pressures and ALN were having on schools with them all coming in at the same time.  In response the Chief Officer commented that this particular report referred only to the Capital Programme which included some provision for Additional Learning Needs provision,  not the changes to ALN legislation which Cllr Mackie was referring to.  She explained that members would receive an update on the challenges of the implementation of the new ALN legislation, and the two systems being referred to by Cllr Mackie in the ALN report which would be presented at the joint committee in June.  She was proud of the way that the team had supported schools with legal and complex matters which were new for everyone including officer teams.  There had been a joint effort with Head Teachers and Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinators to prepare schools for the implementation.  She explained that she was Chair of the National Group of Education Directors, and the Senior Manager (Inclusion and Progression) was the Vice Chair of the National Implementation Group for ALN.  Concerns were raised with Welsh Government around the pace of change and the number of initiatives that schools had to manage and through conversations with other authorities she felt that Flintshire had done incredibly well supporting schools and that they had received a positive response from Estyn’s Local Area Link Inspector with regard to this.

            Councillor Jason Shallcross reflected on his time as a pupil at St David’s School and said that parents had the choice on whether to send their child to Hawarden and the two high schools across the border.  He said that looking forward as there were no future plans to build in Saltney or Broughton and when he talked to residents, he told them that if the school was not used it would be lost.

            In response to further comments by Councillor Crease, the Chief Officer confirmed that they were working through options and the purpose of this early informal engagement process with the school and local community in Saltney was to have that discussion as everyone wanted the best outcome for all learners and to find a sustainable affordable model.  Once the responses had been received and collated, they would be reported to the Committee with public information being made available shortly as Welsh Government were expecting the authority to outline its priorities for the next phase of the Sustainable Learning Communities by March 2024.

The recommendation, as outlined within the report, were moved by Councillor Bill Crease and seconded by Councillor Jason Shallcross.   

RESOLVED:

That the progress of the Sustainable Communities for Learning programme be noted.