To receive apologies for absence (to include reasons, where appropriate) from Members/Officers

Apologies for absence were received from the following Members/Officers:

Councillor P N John             -             Personal

Councillor G Phillips             -             Unwell

Councillor R L Thomas        -             Work Commitments

Councillor D B F White        -             Work Commitments

R Keepins                            -             Unwell

To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members’ Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 1 September 2008 (including whipping declarations)

None.

Invitees

D McMillan – Corporate Director – Children’s Services

Cllr H J David – Cabinet Member – Children and Young People

P Wolstenholme – Bridgend Link Advisor

H Woodhouse – Managing Director – CSC

R Hopkins – School Improvement CSC

J Thompson – Challenge Advisor

Cllr C Elmore- Chairperson of Joint Consultative Committee, CSC

The Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, welcomed Kym Hirons, the temporary Scrutiny Officer, to her first Scrutiny meeting. 

The Scrutiny Officer presented a report to provide the Committee with detail and analysis of the 2013-14 school performance for schools within the Borough, and a report by the Corporate Director – Children, providing all the relevant data, was attached at Appendix 1, including a number of appendices containing statistical information for the Committee’s consideration. 

The School Improvement Officer – Central South Consortium (CSC) reported that the general message conveyed in the report provided by the Corporate Director – Children was that there had been overall improvement in school performance in Bridgend, particularly in the primary and secondary sectors.  However, he advised that there was still some work to be carried out to ensure that improvement is sustained extending also to attendance, which had also improved over the past three years.

Discussion took place and the Committee asked for clarity of the terminology that was used within paragraph 3 of the report attached at Appendix A.

The School Improvement Officer (CSC) explained that some of the wording was connected to the Estyn Inspection process, and paragraph 3.5 referred to links with target settings for individual pupils as to how well they were performing.

The Committee were concerned that although the schools in the Borough had considerably improved, Bridgend was still rated under the All Wales Indicator as 15^th out of 22, therefore the Authority’s aspirations to be in the top 10 by 2016 seemed to be a considerable challenge.  Also there had been confusion in schools caused by the constant turnover of Challenge Advisors.

The School Improvement Officer (CSC) advised that arrangements within the Consortium, which involved five local authorities, were still at a fairly early stage; and the Consortium would need to demonstrate over a period of time that its input was adding value to schools.  He acknowledged there had been changes with the Challenge Advisors and assured Members that attempts were made to try and minimise those changes where possible.  This year a number of key modifications had been made to the challenge framework, placing more responsibility on schools, and offering them support by bringing in more experienced colleagues with school leadership skills.  He reported that there had been a good response to the Challenge Advisor posts which had been advertised, particularly from Primary School Headteachers.

The Chairperson of the Joint Consultative Committee (CSC) informed Members that he had chaired that Committee since last summer and in that time had seen significant change and improvement in how the Consortium was progressing.  It had experienced real success over the past six months and Headteachers were now engaging with the process.  He advised that further improvements were expected in the Foundation Phase, KS2 and KS3.

One Member was concerned that the report had indicated a downward trend in the Foundation Phase outlined in the Benchmark Summary on page 9 of the report.  She asked what was being done to reverse  ...  view the full minutes text for item 153.

Invitees

D McMillan – Corporate Director – Children’s Services

Cllr H J David – Cabinet Member – Children and Young People

M Lewis – Group Manager, Integrated Working and Family Support

The Scrutiny Officer presented a report for the Committee to consider and discuss the Authority’s proposed Attendance Strategy for 2014-2017, attached at Appendix 1 to the report, and to determine whether it wants to make any comments or recommendations to Cabinet.  Evidence suggests there is a clear link between good educational attainment and high school attendance, as poor attendance has a detrimental effect on a child’s learning and can have a significant impact on their wellbeing.  Individual school attendance rates for 2013-14, current performance for 2014-15 and targets for 2014-15 were attached at Appendix 2.

One Member pointed out that although it was recognised that attendance at school was critical to education, care should be taken not to alienate parents by putting in strategies which may cause problems.  He described how some parents were unable to take annual leave during the school holidays, and suggested that to be refused unauthorised absence for a child who regularly attended school and who had supportive parents, would lose the good will of such parents.

Another Member referred to the Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) under paragraph 7.8 of Appendix1.  She was concerned that as this was not prescriptive, with any decisions to enforce FPNs being left to the Headteachers, it could result in some schools being more lenient than others which would cause problems.  She questioned whether parents who did receive FPNs and could not afford to pay would then be asked to present bank statements as proof that the fine would have an adverse effect on the family.  She further asked whether the enforcement of FPNs would penalise employees of the Authority with children of school age, who were unable to take holidays during school holidays.

A Member had spoken with a number of parents on this subject and reported that some schools were taking pupils on holiday to places such as Hawaii and Barbados for history trips, and he believed the situation was getting out of control with Headteachers not taking responsibility.  He advised that this placed pressure on parents.

The Corporate Director – Children advised that attendance strategies were explained in detail in a report which went to Cabinet in December 2014 on the terms of the policy around FPNs.  The Education (Penalty Notices) (Wales) Regulations 2013 sets out the framework for the operation of fixed penalty notice schemes which came into force in September 2013.  The Local Authority is required by law to have regard to the guidance supporting the use of these measures and to adopt a Code of Conduct for the issue of Fixed Penalty Notices, which are intended as an additional option that can be used as part of a range of interventions and support strategies to tackle circumstances of unauthorised absence from school.  She reported that attendance was improving in secondary schools due to a more robust approach; however there remained a cultural problem with attendances in primary schools.   

She explained that it had been made clear to Headteachers that they could authorise absences during term  ...  view the full minutes text for item 154.

The Scrutiny Officer presented a report outlining the items due to be considered at a meeting of the Committee due to be held on the 17^th February 2015, and further sought confirmation of the invitees to attend the subsequent scheduled meeting due to be held on the 7^th April 2015.

Conclusions:

The Committee noted the topics due to be considered at a meeting of the Committee scheduled for the 17^th February 2015 and acknowledged the invitees to attend the meeting of the Committee on the 7^th April 2015.