Invitees:

Cllr Huw David, Deputy Leader

Cllr Hailey Townsend, Cabinet Member, Childrens Social Services and Equalities

Deborah McMillan, Corporate Director – Education and Family Support

Nicola Echanis, Head of Education and Early Help

Michelle Hatcher, Group Manager - Inclusion

Youth Council Representative

The Committee received a report from the Corporate Director – Education and Family Support which described the development of more strategic approaches to supporting vulnerable groups of learners. This included pupils who are eligible for free schools meals, looked after children on the Child Protection register identified as a child in need, those for whom English is an additional language, those with additional learning needs, young carers, those excluded from school and young offenders.

It was explained that there has been a multi-level strategic approach to supporting and targeting the educational performance of vulnerable groups of children in Bridgend which was a key priority in the Directorate business plan.  The report outlined the Vulnerable Groups Strategy which identified a range of groups of children who were deemed to be vulnerable.  It was expected that the interventions and practices which are proven to have the greatest impact in raising the attainment of looked after children and those children entitled to free school meals will be replicated to benefit other vulnerable groups.

Following the pattern of a high number of fixed-term and permanent exclusions, a Fair Access Strategy Group was formed and an action plan written for 2015-2016. The implementation of the Fair Access Strategy Group has ensured that there is a strategic approach to enable all pupils to have a fair access to education.  Robust tracking and data analysis was used to provide targeted early prevention and intervention to meet the needs of children and young people.

The report provided information regarding the number of permanent and fixed-term exclusions in previous years.  Partnership working had resulted in no further permanent exclusions.  This has been due to the creative use of the Bridge Alternative provision with pupils who were at risk of permanent exclusion. 

The Committee indicated that the use of fixed term and permanent exclusion were only used as a last resort but these created additional pressures for finding suitable placements.  Members were advised that provision mapping was being undertaken and that the although Heronsbridge School had no physical space extra funding was being used as part of the 21^st Century Schools to improve special needs capacity.  It was intended that all fixed term exclusions needed to attend Ysgol Bryn Castell (YBC) but permanent exclusions would attend a different school.

Members queried the reasons for fixed term exclusions and were advised that exclusions were for a variety of reason as shown in the report which included Racial Harassment, Theft and Substance misuse.  Officers were working to tighten up in these criteria to enable specific issues to be identified and managed appropriately.  The Corporate Director – Education and Family Support added that the culture to exclude pupils had changed since her arrival and exclusion was the last resort.  The figures identified that the number of days lost had been halved in the last period. 

The Committee queried the support which a child could expect.  It was explained that although the provision varied they could be provided with a youth worker, Family support and counsellors.  The Deputy Leader offered to provide an explanatory note to members to of the work being undertaken as part of the Bridge alternative provision and the support that was available at YBC.

The Corporate Director – Education and Family Support described the data and work carried out to develop the 3 hubs in the County Borough and the collective working of the support teams.  Members welcomed the benefits that the hubs could achieve and it was requested if the Public Service Board could provide top-down support for the long term sustainability of the hubs.  The Corporate Director explained that the Authority were committed to the model and were working with other agencies to progress the opportunities for early intervention.

The Cabinet Member for Education explained that the authority had a legal and moral responsibility to provide all children in the county borough with a good quality of education.

Members queried the sufficiency of the support able to be provided.  It was explained that the service was leaner but due the multi-disciplined approach the authority was able to provide more support for the available funding.

The Committee asked for clarification for the range of reasons for exclusion and the number of exclusion for racial harassment and theft.  It was explained that the existing data was being analyse further to identify patterns of behaviour which could then be addressed accordingly.  Further work was also being undertaken to hone the categorisation in order for detailed and common descriptors to be used when recording data which with minimise the use of “other” categories.

The Cabinet Member commented that Show Racism the Red card programme was being offered to all primary school  This was becoming increasingly important given the level of publicity that the immigration debate was having recently which was being picked up by young children.

Conclusions

1.    The Committee commented on the fact that whilst the report contained a lot of detail on pupils eligible for free school meals, Looked After Children and pupils at risk of exclusion; there did not appear to be the same detail afforded to other vulnerable pupils such as young carers or those with English as an additional language.  The Committee asked that strategic approaches be balanced out appropriately to ensure that there are no gaps in support and that provision for other vulnerable groups such as those mentioned above be made more obvious in the supporting documentation.

2.    The Committee expressed concern over the exclusion data for fixed term exclusions for reasons such as Racial Harassment, Assault/Violence and Substance Misuse.  The Committee recommended that:

a)    the programme ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ be promoted more with school governors to try and encourage more schools to sign up: and

b)    that the Police be approached to offer more support through the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs.

Additional Information

1.    The Committee asked for the data of any charges that have been brought against secondary school pupils from Bridgend’s schools.

2.    The Committee asked for further breakdown and analysis of the exclusion data, particularly focusing on data for 2014-15 for fixed term exclusions in Primary and Secondary Schools.

3.    Members asked for an explanatory note on the various types of provision under the Fair Access Strategy.