Minutes:
(1) Cabinet Member - Children and Young People
The Cabinet Member - Children and Young People announced that Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen Comprehensive School has been chosen as one of the 40 secondary schools to be part of the Welsh Government’s new multi-million pound Improvement Programme School Challenge Cymru.
Y Dderwen, the only school in Bridgend to be selected, will be given the opportunity to access proven expertise to deliver a package of individually tailored support. The programme will also provide targeted support to the participant schools’ cluster primaries in order to address challenges at the earliest opportunity and improve transition between these key stages of education. He felt sure that the school will take full advantage of the extra support to continue to make rapid progress.
With a major decline nationally in pupils choosing the option of modern foreign languages at Year 9, the Cabinet Member - Children and Young People announced that it was encouraging to hear Maesteg Comprehensive School had bucked this trend. He reported that the school had been praised by the National Centre for Languages (CILT) for achieving a very impressive 11% increase in take up at Key Stage 4, and the school had made effective use of the careers resources and ideas for classroom activities available from CILT Cymru. Pupils at the school were given a talk by two local ambassadors of the Business Language Champions on the importance of languages in their companies, as well as their personal language journeys. Year 9 pupils were so convinced of the benefits of further language study that in September 2014, Year 10 will comprise GCSE groups in French and Spanish, as well as an NVQ group in Spanish. He congratulated the school on its success in modern languages.
The Cabinet Member - Children and Young People reported that a new app, created by the Fostering Network, was recently put to the test at a family day out at Bryngarw House. The event was organised for support carers, their families and the children they support. He advised that the free ‘Fostering Adventures’ app provides support carers and foster carers with a variety of activities both indoors and outdoors, as well as affordable places to go during the summer holidays, including information on 140 venues across Wales.
He announced that the Authority was continuously aiming to recruit more support carers, each of them working with one family at a time, offering planned time-limited short breaks for the children, together with support for the parents. He reported that a ‘Young Carers Conference’ will be held on Tuesday, 24th June 2014 at the Heronston Hotel between 5.00pm and 7.30pm. The event, which is aimed at anyone working with young people and children who are carers, is being organised by the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg Health Board (ABMU) and the Bridgend Young Carers Project, and it is hoped that staff from schools, the college and health will be in attendance.
The Cabinet Member - Children and Young People announced that the Authority continued to support the National Youth Arts Wales through its annual Service Level Agreement with the Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC), and he was pleased to inform Members that several young people from Bridgend had auditioned successfully for national groups. Alastair and Lucy Noden and Peter Greenwood will be playing for the National Youth Orchestra of Wales; Connie Finnie and Kamila Godinzska from Archbishop McGrath and Teilo Evans from Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg, Llangynwyd will be singing in the National Youth Choir of Wales; Porthcawl’s Robert Young will be playing in the National Youth Jazz Wales; Brynteg’s Celyn Ripley and Jesse Goss will be joined by Porthcawl’s Alexandra Hunt and Peter Greenwood in the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Wales. He congratulated all those talented youngsters.
Finally, the Cabinet Member – Children and Young People announced that following a very thorough assessment, Porthcawl Primary School had been awarded Level One Accreditation under UNICEF’s Rights Respecting Schools Awards. He advised that Porthcawl Primary is the first school in Bridgend to have achieved the Award, which is based on the United Nations Convention of Rights of the Child.
(2) Cabinet Member - Resources
The Cabinet Member - Resources announced the pre-Council Presentation, “Support for Transgender People in Bridgend”, which has been scheduled for the 16th July 2014. This Presentation will include information on coping with transgender discrimination, prejudice and hate crime and its impact on family relationships, friendships and work. It will also address the perceived lack of support from public service providers.
The Cabinet Member - Resources announced that further School Performance training has been scheduled to take place on the 23rd and 30th June 2014. Appointments have only been placed in the calendars of those Members who were unable to attend either of the earlier two sessions, and it is especially requested that Members of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee should receive this training.
He also announced a further session of Social Media training to be held on Monday, 7th July 2014. The training will provide Members with information on how the Social Media can be used to support them in their role and provide an awareness of the possibilities of the medium, whether it is their intention to use Social Media or not. He stressed that this training must be undertaken if Members wished to use Social Media via their BCBC provided equipment.
Webcasting training has been arranged for two dates in July 2014 and the relevant times and dates have been placed in Members’ calendars. The intention of these` sessions is to provide information on the current situation, offer tips on how to interact with the audience and the “do’s and don’ts” of being on camera.
Finally, the Cabinet Member - Resources reminded Members that a meeting will be held after today’s Council for those Members who had expressed an interest in participating in the Leadership Academy which is being run by the Wales Local Government Association (WLGA) here in Bridgend.