Issue - meetings

To consider the latest trends, priorities and pressures in terms of departmental performance as reported in the QSR for the second quarter of 2016/17 (July to September 2016) relating to Children, Young People and Learning, giving particular attention to outcomes of Ofsted school inspections, validated examination results and attainment data, Looked After Children, and primary and secondary fixed term exclusions and managed moves.

Panel members are asked to give advance notice to the Overview and Scrutiny Team of any questions relating to the QSR and to the Annual Reports on this agenda where possible.

The Panel received the Quarterly Service Report, July to September 2016, relating to Children, Young People and Learning. 

In response to discussion, the following points were noted:

·       An allowance had been made in the budget for the new Apprenticeship Levy which had been introduced in grant maintained schools.  However, the levy was not payable if the school employed an apprentice. 

·       Unacceptable treatment of apprentices – for example poor conditions or no travel allowance or sick leave – which made it hard for the apprentice to continue, should be raised in the first instance with the appropriate school or college governing board or Chief Executive if the employer was a private provider.

·       18 employees in Children, Young People and Learning voluntarily left the organisation during the quarter. All leavers were offered exit interviews, of which only 2 were taken up.  It was agreed this was a disappointingly low number as it was important for the organisation to understand the reasons why people had chosen to leave.

·       With regard to levels of attainment and pupil progress across all phases of learning for all pupils, the gap narrowed in phonics by 5% at Year 1 and 7% for pupils retaking in Year 2. The gap narrowed overall at Key Stage (KS)1 but this was not a direct comparison due to changes in testing. A significant gap remained at KS2 and although it narrowed marginally at KS4, the gap remained significant. This was a key priority for Children, Young People and Learning.  It was requested that data was provided to Members to show individual results for all schools, not just those that were not performing well.  The Director advised there had been a recent change in language and ‘narrowing the gap’ was now known as ‘diminishing the difference’.

·       The stability of placements of Looked After Children, length of placement (agedunder 16 and looked after continuously for at least 2.5 years, who were in the same placement for at least 2 years at the end of the quarter) was 51.9% against the target of 60%.  This was due to a number of different factors including children stepping down from residential to foster care, those being placed with adoptive families but not yet adopted and even those who stayed with the same foster carer but who had moved house, which the Department for Education (DfE) counted as a change.  It was noted however that sometimes older teenagers could prove very challenging for foster carers and this aspect was monitored on a monthly basis. 

·      With regard to fixed term exclusions, Ian Dixon, Head of Targeted Services, reported the following data to the end of July 2016:

• Brakenhale - 12 pupils accounted for 28 exclusions leading to 90 days lost
• Garth Hill – 29 pupils accounted for 37 exclusions leading to 117 days lost
• Sandy Lane – 8 pupils accounted for 14 exclusions leading to 28 days lost

The Head of Targeted Services said the majority of incidents were as a result of persistent  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32