Cabinet Member:
Councillor Gareth Thomas
To consider the Education
Cabinet Member’s report on the above.
(Copy enclosed)
Minutes:
Submitted - the Education Service's annual report by
the Education Cabinet Member, drawing attention to the following main points:
(i)
Performance
·
Significant increase in the
TL2+ indicator
·
Improvement in the
performance of Free School Meals pupils and the gap had reduced between pupils
receiving FSM / not receiving FSM
·
The performance of learners
at the end of key stage 3, especially in the core subject indicator
·
Increase in learner
attendance in secondary and primary
In terms of
performance development, it was noted that it was necessary to:
·
Give immediate attention to
the Foundation Phase
·
Improve performance in the
Welsh language at every key stage
·
Improve performance of Free
School Meals learners
·
Improve performance of
post-16 learners in specific courses
(i)
Education Provision
·
Promote the well-being and
safety of pupils
·
Support leaders and
managers
·
Leadership models that
would offer conditions to remove the enormous pressure placed on Headteachers
·
Profile of surveys had
highlighted an improvement with no schools in a statutory category
·
Submit a Modernising
Education programme at good pace
·
The County's Language
Policy - ensure resources to extend the Language Charter into the secondary
sector
·
Further improve ICT
infrastructure
·
Performance Data - tracking
was all important in identifying pupils who were falling behind
·
Support governors to be
effective
The recommendations regarding ensuring the highest possible standards at
every key stage were referred to, and attention was drawn to what GwE was
required to do on behalf of the education authority with regard to the
education provision, additional learning needs and inclusion strategy and
school leadership and management.
During the ensuing discussion, the following points
were made by individual Members:
(i)
From recent experience by Elected Members shadowing GwE Challenge
Advisers, evidence was seen that schools received much assistance and support
from GwE. It was further noted that the experiences had been very beneficial to
Members and in maximising their understanding of the work and arrangements of
GwE
(ii)
By avoiding using the word
"challenge", it was seen that schools were willing to collaborate and
the importance of continuing to improve the relationship between GwE and the
schools was noted
(iii)
That
the county's teachers were to be congratulated for the high standards.
Clarification was
requested for on some of the points below, which also needed further attention,
and the Head of Education responded to them:
(iv)
The comprehensive report was welcomed and the
progress made was praised, but there was concern that some schools were in the
red category and an enquiry was made about the steps taken to support these
schools.
·
That
the report's culture identified strengths and also identified room for
improvement in terms of the process, so that the development work could address
these matters that need improvement. Findings were seen here that would form
the specification for a business plan between the authority and GwE for the
coming year
·
That the report identified the Service's strengths and set a firm
foundation to work as a team and in partnership. It was further noted that
Members of this Scrutiny Committee had added value by challenging and
scrutinising effectively.
·
Whatever the procedure would be, there would always be good schools, and
schools that needed additional support and it was noted that the authority and GwE's procedures had worked well to this end. However, the
achievement was to develop middle managers to be good leaders.
(v)
There was concern about the
role of the governors in light of the changes and demands placed on them for
the Future.
It was recognised that the role of governors was challenging as it was,
and that there was a need to highlight the elements needed to support them, not
only locally but regionally. It was noted that the existing consultation for
the governors' duties and arrangements created concern that not enough
attention was given to the rural element, and should the element of local
democracy be waived, this would leave a gap.
(vi)
What plans were in the
pipeline by the Education Department to improve the Foundation Phase?
There was concern
regarding the performance of the Foundation Phase regionally and a number of
elements were noted in terms of responding to what could be achieved, such as:
·
Regularly assessing children
·
Assessing the standards
·
Leadership
It was further noted
that there were examples of excellence in the Foundation Phase with the
performance being consistent in the highest quartiles and that it would be an
idea to investigate excellence beyond the county.
(vii)
Importance of responding to
pupils' behaviours, especially following the loss of the Brynffynnon
Centre provision, where benefit was seen from the centre's function
It
was trusted that the concern could be addressed soon regarding the behaviours'
support.
(viii)
Whilst acknowledging that
School to School collaboration happened, the situation must be faced that
schools competed against each other for pupils
In the context of
budgets, the Cabinet had approved a temporary bridging scheme to assist the
secondary sector.
(ix)
In the recent Gwynedd
Schools' Governors' Federation, it was noted that post-16 learners from the
Meirion/Dwyfor area had to pay £100 per term for
transport to the educational organisations and that learners from the Arfon area received free transport.
(x)
Gwynedd had too many
policies within the County which, consequently, made it difficult for
scrutinisers to be able to scrutinise effectively, e.g. one school within the
Meirion/Dwyfor area offered sixth form provision and
the rest did not.
Policies across the
County were quite consistent but that the infrastructure was different in terms
of sixth form and further discussions would be required in terms of post-16
education quality in the new Council.
(xi)
Welsh Language - it was
noted in the report that Ysgol Bro Idris would be an all-through catchment
school for 3 - 16 years old, but in the Berwyn catchment area, it was noted
that the school would play a key part in promoting the Welsh language. It was
asked why the circumstances had changed?
It was agreed that
the Welsh Language was a corporate matter. It was further noted that clarity
was needed nationally regarding the role of education to promote the Welsh
language, and a discussion was needed about who was taking ownership. It must
be completely clear that the Welsh Language was financially part of the
corporate strategy.
(xii)
The Welsh Language Charter
- it was noted that one of the Charter's successes was that the Council and the
Government had taken ownership from the beginning, and that the money for
appointing other officers should not come from the education budget.
(xiii)
In light of changes to the
new GCSE specifications, it was asked how confident the Education Service was
that the schools had sufficiently planned for the amended specifications and
that the results would be as good as last summer's results.
There was concern that discussions were not taking place widely with
Heads of Education regarding the specifications.
·
The
Head of Education was of the opinion that the level TL2+ threshold was going to
continue to carry weight and power. However, when introducing any new
procedure, it was very difficult to anticipate and see what the pattern would
be. From the preparatory viewpoint for the amendments to the specifications, it
was understood that teachers had been running both specifications. The Head of
Education highlighted concern about the changes in the context of the proposal
that would be available for vulnerable learners and learners with the least
ability and that the specifications summarised a series of qualifications
towards children with average ability and higher ability. It was anticipated
that the specifications did not offer appropriate suitable qualifications for
young people who played an important part in the communities, and there was a
possibility that the changes made schools very difficult places to attend.
·
In
terms of training for teachers regarding the change to the specifications, it
was ensured that discussions were ongoing between the consultants and heads of
school departments regarding examination paper tiers but that it was difficult
at the moment until specifications were seen, and another set of results would
need to be able to be analysed in order to see the exact detailed preparatory elements.
(xiv) The ICT network needed to be improved in the secondary sector. It was
understood that the supply of computers for pupils in the primary sector was
very good but there was no follow-up when they moved to the secondary sector.
The infrastructure of the ICT network must be
considered corporately and the Committee was reminded that the Scrutiny
Investigation - Education Support Services was investigating the CYNNAL
provision and that a wider investment was possibly needed for the infrastructure,
and whether the provision / systems were sufficiently up-to-date to be able to
provide the relevant skills for young people for the future.
(xv)
There was no reference to
able and talented children in the report. The importance of keeping schools
from slipping was noted, but at the same time, an ambition should be reached
for, and improvement sought.
It was noted that
this was the service's challenge and to strengthen the A* and A performance,
and to prepare schools to be the best.
(xvi) The importance of looking forward to the future, and the challenge for
Members was cuts to school budgets along with a lack of teachers across North
Wales. If this was not addressed, it was anticipated that more schools would be
in the red category in 4 / 5 years.
·
It
was recognised that there were a lack of teachers, and it was ensured that
discussions were ongoing with Bangor University and Glyndwr University to
attract prospective teachers.
·
In
addition, it was noted that 22 authorities in Wales had launched a website as a
method of attracting more teachers into the system.
·
It
was suggested that a model that would "accumulate staff" where they
could bridge between more than one school needed to be considered and looked
at.
·
The
challenge was to attempt to get schools not to look internally, and to
collaborate in partnership.
(xvii)
There was concern about the
size of classes, and an example was referred to by a Member locally, where
there were 37 children in one class, and this was not sustainable.
In response, it was
noted that the above was part of a local discussion, and it was recognised that
budgets were tight and once classes reached a specific figure, it was difficult
for teachers and it meant that, in some circumstances, there was another group
of pupils within a class. It was added that the empty spaces policy had
received national attention.
(xviii)
It was welcomed that the
Foundation Phase was going to receive further attention, and the need to
provide structural opportunities.
(xix)
In response to a question
regarding pupils leaving school with no qualifications, it was noted that the
forecasts for this year were significantly lower.
(xx)
The importance of the
definition of the Immersion Centre being completely clear and that this type of
Centre was extremely important for Bangor
(xxi)
From the viewpoint of home
schooling, the report referred to children who could not attend school, and
children with physical / medical illnesses. In the context of the cohort of
children who were not able to attend school, it was noted that a discussion was
needed between the Health Service in order to change the wording of the
statements.
(xxii)
Children with additional
learning needs should not be deprived of the opportunity to be bilingual and
reduce the opportunities for them within communities.
Resolved: To accept, and
express thanks to the Education Service's annual report that noted strengths in
the education provision, along with areas to develop further.
The Cabinet Member
took the opportunity to sincerely thank the Head of Education for his
commitment and commendable work on behalf of the Education Service over the
past two and a half years, and from the comprehensive report that was
submitted, it was obvious that the Service had moved on, with the Head having
built a strong team within the Service and schools. He was wished every success in his new post
with GwE.
Supporting documents: