Agenda and minutes

[The Chair to welcome everyone to the meeting.]

Cllr Qaiser Azeem, Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting and advised it was also being live streamed to the press and public.

[The Chair will explain how the meeting will proceed]

The Chair explained the process to be followed during the meeting and for asking questions.

Apologies were received from the following members of the panel:

·         Cllr Sally Green

·         Cllr Dr Michael Hardacre

Apologies were also received from the following:

Cllr Jackie Coogan, Cabinet Member for Jobs, Skills and Education

Alison Hinds, Director of Children’s Services

There were no declarations of interest recorded.

[To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record]

That the minutes of the meeting held on 22 November 2023 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

[Brenda Wile, Deputy Director of Education, to present report]

[This item is being considered as pre-decision scrutiny and will therefore not be available for Call-in once a decision has been made by the Executive].

The Chair invited Cllr Lovinyer Daley to read a prepared statement on behalf of the Cllr Coogan, Cabinet Member for Jobs, Skills and Education, who was not able to attend the meeting.

The Chair invited Brenda Wile to introduce the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Strategy 2024-27 for pre-decision scrutiny.  The Deputy Director invited Helen Bakewell, Head of SEND and Inclusion, to give the presentation. A copy of the presentation is attached.

The Head of SEND and Inclusion listed the key questions for panel members to consider when reviewing the plans. The panel were asked to endorse the strategy and recommendations detailed in the report to Cabinet.

The Chair thanked the presenters for their report and presentation. The panel were invited to comment on the report.

A copy of the presentation is attached.

The panel were invited to endorse Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and Inclusion Strategy 2024 - 2027 and the recommendations detailed in attached report for Cabinet. The panel were invited to comment on the report and presentation.

A panel member queried a possible contradiction between priority 3 and 5 in the keys aims of the SEND and Alternative Provision Plan and highlighted concerns about the issue of funding and reports from teachers that they are struggling to provide the very best for children. The panel member added that more and more children are coming to school with complex needs and wanted reassurance that teachers would get the training needed as referenced in the report.

The Head of SEND advised the panel that a working group is currently reviewing training development and offered reassurance about the level of training support being planned both locally and nationally to support teachers.

The Head of SEND highlighted the development of a SENCO website which details the range of training and support available to teachers. The Council is also working with colleagues in NHS and Public Health to look at options for co-ordinating the training offer across the City and using free training offered as part of Continued Professional Development (CPD) schemes.

A panel member queried the reference to the comment following a monitoring meeting in November 2023 where the DfE and NHS England that the strategy would be further strengthened by representation from schools and highlighted the lack of evidence in the initial consultation which shows how the voice of schools have been captured and reflected in the strategy. The panel member commented that they would have liked this to have been clearly set out in the report.

The Head of SEND and Inclusion accepted the importance of involving teachers when developing the work plan and reassured the panel that was a priority. The Head of SEND gave examples of the current and future work with the support of colleagues to engage with schools during the consultation stages to find out the concerns of teachers. The issues highlighted have fed into the thinking about services and support needs to be developed in the future.

The Head of SEND and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

[Phil Leivers, Head of Service Educational Excellence, to present report]

The Chair invited Phil Leivers, Head of Service Educational Excellence, to present the report to the panel on the Education Performance in Wolverhampton Schools and Settings 2022-2023 annual report.

The Head of Service Educational Excellence invited panel members to join in celebrating the performance of schools and young people at each Key Stage in the summer 2023 educational assessment results.

The Head of Service Educational Excellence outlined the range of work being done to support children, young people in schools in line the Council Plan goal of wanting children and young people to grow up well and achieve their full potential. A key priority for this is improving educational outcomes so young people can engage in further education and move into employment and training in the future.

The Head of Service Educational Excellence advised the panel that during 2022-2023 academic year Ofsted carried out 39 inspections or monitoring visits to schools and academies across the City.  At the end of 2022-2023 it was reported that 89 per cent of Wolverhampton schools were judged by Ofsted to be rated as either ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’. This represents a 19 per centage point improvement in performance of schools and academies since 2014.

The Head of Service Educational Excellence gave a presentation summarising the educational performance of children and young people at each of the Key Stage. A copy of the presentation is attached.

The Head of Service Educational Excellence commented that the service has teams visiting schools to offer both support and challenge and to help them prepare for an Ofsted inspection. The improvement in educational performance is a result of this collaborative and partnership working,aimed at achieving the best outcomes for children and young people in Wolverhampton.

The Head of Service Educational Excellence commented on the key questions for scrutiny members to consider and the relevant background information to the development of the strategy.

The panel were invited to endorse recommendations outlined in the report and to comment on the presentation.

The Chair highlighted the achievement that 91 per cent of schools in Wolverhampton were rated as being ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ at December 2023 and wanted to congratulate the work of the team involved in supporting schools and the appreciation of this to be noted.

The Chair invited the panel members to comment and ask questions about the report and presentation.

A panel member expressed concerns about the A - Level pathways referenced in the report and commented that schools were not offering the range of A level subjects wanted by someyoung pupil. The member highlighted the challenge of having to move between schools to study as a result. The panel member also queried the action be taken to reduce the educational performance gap between boys and girls, and specifically work being done to encourage and support boys when choosing pathways and to extend the range of subjects they study. The panel member welcomed the improved educational attainment results.

The panel member endorsed the comments about the pride in the educational achievements  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

[Darren Martindale, Virtual School Head, to present report]

The Chair invited Darren Martindale, Virtual School Head, to present the report.

The Virtual School Head advised the panel that the report provides highlights of the educational outcomes of Wolverhampton’s children and young people in care and care leavers for the academic year September 2022 – July 2023.

The Virtual School Head gave a presentation detailing an analysis of the characteristics of the pupils and a summary of the support offered and the education attainment at Key Stage 4 and post 16 achievements.

The Virtual School Head advised the panel that in 2021 the DfE announced funding and guidance which extended the responsibilities of the role to all children with a social worker. The Virtual School Head outlined the Council response to this change.

The Virtual School Head commented on the achievements of young people and specific areas of improvement, for example, improving attendance and no exclusions.

The Virtual School Head outlined the service priorities for 2023 – 2024.

The panel were invited to comment on the briefing paper and the presentation. A copy of the presentation is attached.

A panel member suggested that the report should have been delayed allowing for the validated educational attainment results to be presented to the panel.

The Virtual School Head advised the panel that national educational attainment data for children and young people in care is not published till the end of March 2024. The data referenced in the report is the most recently available data.

A panel member asked for further details about plans for increasing engagement in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects by young people and whether the plans for promoting the take up have been confirmed.

The Virtual School Head advised that a panel that a recent STEM event took place at British Aerospace was attended by several young people. The young people took part in engineering related group work and problem-solving activities. A further event is planned in the future.

A panel member queried if the budget for using the company Welfare Call represents value for money and asked for more details.  The Virtual School Head advised the panel that there are no cheap options for daily monitoring of attendance by young people as the majority attend different schools and settings.  The local authority has a statutory responsibility for monitoring the attendance of vulnerable children.

In the past this required a colleague contact the organisations daily, which was major administrative burden for the service. As a result, there was limited time for the colleague to do the analysis of the results, which was the main focus of recruiting them to role.

The Virtual School Head advised the panel that the use of an external company do this work has been the approach taken by other local authorities facing similar challenges. The work is funded by pupil premium. Welfare Call is based in Barnsley is the largest and best established in this area and has also been commissioned to monitor out of city provision for young people in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

[Brenda Wile, Deputy Director of Education, and Jameel Mullan, Inclusion and Attendance Service Manager, to present report]

The Chair invited Brenda Wile, Deputy Director of Education, to introduce the report.

The Deputy Director explained the background to the presentation and asked Jameel Mullan, Inclusion and Attendance Service Manager, to give the detailed briefing to the panel.

The Inclusion and Attendance Service Manager advised the panel that the data relates to exclusions and suspensions in Wolverhampton schools in 2022- 2023. The report was being presented in response to a request from the panel to provide a progress report following the publication of the national data. The Inclusion and Attendance Service Manager listed key questions for panel to consider at the end of the presentation.

The Inclusion and Attendance Service advised the panel that the overall trend is fewer exclusions and suspensions reported than compared pre-pandemic period, but the current figures are still considered to be too high.

The Inclusion and Attendance Service Manager commented on the extensive work being done with colleagues in Violence Reduction teams to provide support, training and strategies to support schools. In addition, schools are encouraged to seek support for individuals and groups of students where changes are noticed of increasingly disruptive behaviour at an early stage. The aim is to provide the necessary interventions to help avoid possible future exclusions or suspensions.

The panel were invited to comment on report and the presentation. A copy of the presentation is available.

The Chair thanked the presenter for the report and invited panel members to question and comment on the information.

A panel member congratulated the presenter on the performance of the service in working to reduce the number of exclusions. The panel member highlighted the importance of the work being done to improve the life chances of young people at risk in Wolverhampton. The panel member asked for further details of the method used to share best practice with teaching staff and queried if the scheme has also helped to improve staff retention rates.

The Inclusion and Attendance Service Manager advised the panel that since the model was developed three more schools have expressed interest in introducing a similar scheme as they have seen evidence of the difference it has made in other schools. The Inclusion and Attendance Service Manager added that at present five children have not been excluded from school and the hope as the scheme expands that it is possible in the future that 25 or 35 fewer children will benefit from it.

The Inclusion and Attendance Service Manager commented that schools, particularly primary schools have found the scheme incredibly useful in helping to provide a forum to be able to share the challenges and the frustrations that they might be facing at any time and leave with tangible solutions which gives them more confidence when they go back to their schools.

A panel member queried if the scheme was open to all schools in Wolverhampton.

The Inclusion and Attendance Service Manager confirmed that the scheme is open to all schools and there is evidence of an appetite among new headteachers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

[Earl Piggott-Smith, Scrutiny Officer, to present report]

The Chair invited Earl Piggott-Smith, Scrutiny Officer, to present the report.

The Scrutiny Officer commented on the future agenda items on the panel work programme.

The panel discussed the panel work programme.

The Chair invited panel members to submit suggestions for the panel work programme.

Resolved:

The panel agreed to note the report.