Agenda and minutes

Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 1 - Monday, 12th July, 2021 14:30

Venue: remotely - via Microsoft Teams

Contact: Democratic Services 

Media

Items
No. Item

29.

Declarations of Interest

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)

 

 

 

Minutes:

Cllr T Beedle declared a personal interest in item 4 because he is Chair of Bridgend Governors Association.

 

Cllr JP Blundell declared a personal interest in item 4 because he is a Community Governor of Cefn Glas Infants.

 

30.

Approval of Minutes pdf icon PDF 125 KB

To receive for approval the minutes of the meeting of 15 03 21

 

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED:                      That the Minutes of a meeting of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 1 dated 15 March 2021 be approved as a true and accurate record.

 

31.

Additional Learning Needs and Educational Tribunal (ALNET) Act 2018 pdf icon PDF 100 KB

Invitees:

 

Lindsay Harvey - Corporate Director – Education and Family Support

Cllr Charles Smith - Cabinet Member for Education and Regeneration

Nicola Echanis - Head of Education and Family Support

Michelle Hatcher - Group Manager Inclusion and School Improvement

Kate Clarke - Lead Communications and Relationships Team

Rachel Garner - ALN Lead Early Years, Cognition & Learning & CMMI 

Kathryn Morgan - Principal Educational Psychologist

 

John Welch - Strategic Lead for Equity and Wellbeing - Central South Consortium

 

Francis Clegg - Acting Headteacher, Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School

Ryan Davies - Headteacher, Brynteg School

Christopher Jones - Headteacher Llangynwyd Primary School

Helen Jones - Headteacher, Maesteg School

Jonathan Lewis - Headteacher Coety Primary School

Rhea Quinn - Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator - Blaengarw Primary School

Kate Sparkes - Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator - Maesteg Comprehensive School

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Corporate Director – Education and Family Support began by explaining that he was joined by expert Officers from Learner Support, who would take Members through the report and would be available for any questions. He thanked all school-based colleagues who had joined the meeting for giving up their time for this important meeting. He introduced the Group Manager Learner Support who presented the report.

 

Following the presentation of the report, Members of the Committee asked the following:

 

A Member asked what the professionals and practitioners thought could be potential drawbacks, problems and benefits and also asked if funding had been allocated adequately and would be allocated adequately ongoing.

 

The Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator (ALNCo), Blaengarw Primary School advised that this was a big period of change and the Authority had been preparing well. It proved challenging on a school level with more questions, and concerns, from parents regarding the decisions as to whether children did or didn’t meet the criteria of Additional Learning Needs (ALN), according to the new definition.  There was a plan in place to address this and decisions justified having regard to the strict process in place.  A lot of responsibility had been put back on class teachers, which required a shift in mind-set. There was a need to look at Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for children that still needed to be monitored, who might previously, been identified as ALN, as they still had needs that had to be met at a school level. There had been huge positives, with collaboration and local authority forums and it was important to make sure that parents had all the information available.

 

The Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator (ALNCo), Maesteg School reiterated what had been said, in that it was an absolute positive. Young people would be protected until the age of 25, taking the classification of ALN into the world of work. From a secondary school perspective, it was about making sure the right people understood their role, with pedagogy at the heart of ALN, and the appropriate level of teacher and learning. The cluster had worked on refining referral routes and routes of communication, with support from the Local Authority, to ensure that all schools knew how to get the support they needed.  One area of concern was the ALN register could go from over 200, down to 30, with students having been classified as ALN on August 31st no longer meeting the criteria and definition. It was therefore important the right people knew the right information on how to support that learner, so it is a mind-set shift. The guidance was very clear on ensuring teaching staff were aware what the expectations were and how that can be conveyed.

 

A Member asked if there was any collaborative working outside of the consortia.

 

The Group Manager Learner Support explained the consortium worked strongly, continuously looking at good practice and had worked collaboratively before the Transformation Plan came into force, for example, on the person centred planning approach. Consortium  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

32.

Forward Work Programme Update pdf icon PDF 103 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no further items identified for consideration on the Forward Work Programme having regard to the selection criteria in paragraph 4.3, and this could be revisited at the next meeting.

 

There were no requests to include specific information in the item for the next meeting.

 

 

RESOLVED:          That the Committee approved the Forward Work Programme in Appendix A, noted that the Forward Work Programme and any updates from the Committee would be reported to the next meeting of COSC and noted the Recommendation Monitoring Action Sheet in Appendix B.

33.

Urgent Items

To consider any item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in

accordance with Part 4 (paragraph 4) of the Council Procedure Rules and which the person presiding at the meeting is of the opinion should by reason of special circumstances be transacted at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

 

 

Minutes:

None