Agenda and minutes

To approve the record of the meeting held on 9 September 2010.

The record of the meeting held on 9 September 2010 was agreed and signed by the Chairman as correct.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Baker and Clarke, Sam Tutt (Medway Youth Parliament representative) and Jim Grogan (Roman Catholic Church representative.

The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report.

There were none. 

(a)               Personal interests under the Medway Code of Conduct.

A Councillor who declares a personal interest in a matter, including the nature of the interest, may stay, speak, and vote on the matter.

(b)               Prejudicial interests under the Medway Code of Conduct.

A Councillor who declares a personal and prejudicial interest in a matter, including the nature of the interest, must withdraw from the room and take no part in the debate or vote on the matter.

Councillors who have declared a personal and prejudicial interest may make representations, answer questions and give evidence before leaving the room but only if members of the public are allowed to attend for the same purpose.

If an interest is not declared at the outset of the meeting, it should be disclosed as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

(c)               Whipping – the Council’s constitution also requires any Member of the Committee who is subject to a party whip (ie agreeing to vote in line with the majority view of a private party group meeting) to declare the existence of the whip and the nature of it before the item is discussed.

Councillor Gilry declared a personal interest in any discussion that may take place during the course of the meeting with reference to Medway Maritime Hospital as she occasionally worked there.

Pat Wozencroft (Governor representative) declared a personal interest in item 11 (Sure Start Children’s Centres) as she was Chair of Governors at Riverside Primary School and Children’s Centre.

Councillor Smith declared a personal and prejudicial interest in item 8 (Barnsole schools – location of new school buildings) as she was Vice-Chair of Governors at the Barnsole Schools Federation and had signed a letter detailing the views of the governing body, which had been tabled at the meeting.  Councillor Smith therefore left the meeting for the duration of the consideration of the item.   

This report advises the committee on the current work programme.  It give members the opportunity to shape and direct the committee’s activities for the forthcoming year.

Discussion:

The Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinator informed the committee that adult learning had been moved from the Children and Adults Directorate to the Business Support department and would consequently come under the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee in future.  She added that the attendance of the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Services would therefore be removed from the work programme for the April 2011 meeting.

This report updates the committee on the proposed future location of the Child Development Centre (report to follow).

Discussion:

The Assistant Director of Commissioning and Strategy introduced the report, which updated Members on the progress being made to relocate the Child Development Centre service.

Members then asked questions and made comments, which included: -

·        Support for the former school site but that assurances be made with regard to appropriate public transport provision to the site;

·        Concerns with regard to increased rent prices;

·        Ongoing consultation throughout the process;

·        Adaptations of the former school building to ensure its appropriate for the service and related costs.

In response to the comments raised by Members the Assistant Director confirmed that consultation would be ongoing.  A consultation group of parents had been established for ongoing dialogue but a wider group of parents would also be consulted at key points.  The Director of Medway Community Estates Ltd added that the building would be adapted to fit the purposes of the service and would be designed and developed around the budget available.

Decision: 

(1)               The Committee recommended Cabinet to approve the use of part of the former school site in Strood for the Child Development Centre service;

(2)               The Committee recommended officers to work with Arriva to ensure bus routes, frequencies of service and vehicles used would be suitable for the users of the Child Development Centre.

This report highlights current activities and practice to support the effective transition of pupils from the primary phase to the secondary phase of education.  Representatives of the Children’s Trust 21^st Century Schools Group will be in attendance at the meeting to discuss the report with the committee. 

Discussion

The Director of Children and Adult Services introduced the report to the committee which provided information on issues and best practices in relation to ensuring transitions between years 6 and 7 were as successful for students as possible to ensure they are provided with the best start for their secondary education.

One Member explained that she had discussed this report with the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) at the school of which she was a governor and shared with the committee some of the ways in which the school tried to ensure a positive transition for the year 6 students going to secondary school.

The committee then made other comments, which included: -

·        working with academies to ensure partnership working for positive transitions;

·        what the national average scores were in relation to English and mathematics at key stage 2 and how Medway compared;

·        best practices for helping children with autism or other special education needs to transfer to secondary schools.

The Chair of the 21^st Century Schools Partnership Group, Mr Andy Reese, explained that detailed records were passed between schools and secondary school SENCOs also visited feeder primaries to meet with staff and pupils to work together for smooth transition.  He stated that there was an increased desire for schools to work in partnership cross phase and academies had been equally keen to work together on this issue.

Decision:

The committee noted the report.

This report was requested by the committee at its last meeting and further investigates two options for the buildings, with particular regard to road safety. 

Discussion:

The Chairman drew the committee’s attention to a letter from the Barnsole Schools’ Federation Governing Body which had been tabled at the meeting and provided the committee with the outcome of its discussions with regard to the issue following its meeting the previous week.

The committee then asked questions and made comments, which included: -

·        Road safety measures and confirmation of a controlled crossing point;

·        What the next stages were for the decision on which option would be progressed;

·        Support to increase the published admission numbers (PAN) to 90;

·        Introduction and progression of the walking bus.

In relation to the road safety measures, the Traffic Engineer and the Road Safety Manager responded that controlled crossings included zebra, pelican and puffin crossings.  For this development and most future developments in Medway the team would be proposing the use of puffin crossings as they were the most user friendly in that they detected pedestrians and did not change until the pedestrians cleared the road and also reduced congestion as they changed if the pedestrian cleared the road quickly or decided not to cross.  They also confirmed that the junction with Barnsole Road had been considered already but decisions around the amalgamation of the school and future location of the school buildings were awaited before any action was taken.

The Executive Headteacher of the Barnsole Schools explained that the walking bus which had been started some years ago had been largely unsupported as most parents were from the local area and brought their children to school themselves.  However, a walking bus was operated in partnership with a local play group which brought and collected children to and from school.

Decision: 

The committee recommended: -

(1)         the Procurement Board to recommend to Cabinet the progression of option A, as detailed in the report;

(2)         that emphasis be made on road safety and that measures include a puffin controlled crossing and barriers on the pavement;

(3)         that the possibility of increasing the school’s published admission number to 90 be explored;

(4)         that the committee receive briefing notes updating them on the progress with the developments.

This report updates the committee on the status of the Academy programmes in Medway.   

Discussion:

The Director of Children and Adult Services and the Head of School Organisation and Student Services gave a presentation which provided the committee with further information about converter academies and free schools.

The committee then asked a number of questions and made comments, which included: -

·        concern about the lack of local authority role in converter academies;

·        impact on funding and viability for special education needs (SEN) resources and the local authority;

·        clarification of the freedoms such academies would have in relation to staff terms and conditions;

·        concern about what happens to an academy if its standards reduce and improvement is required;

·        co-ordination of school admissions for key stage 4 to 5;

·        importance of students at schools being aware, in advance of the impact the type of qualifications they decide to take at key stage 5 will have on their successful entry into some universities;

·        concerns for schools which experience a change in leadership, resulting in possible reductions in standards;

·        confirmation on who academies are accountable to;

·        possible changes to school day hours and the impact this could have on school transport costs.

·        importance of working in partnership, productively with all schools.

In response to some of the questions officers explained that; academies where standards dropped and interventions were required would revert back to local authority control; that there would be a challenge in managing the budget as funding is reduced; the local authorities would work with academies in providing independent advice on 14-19 education and academies were accountable to the Young People Learning Agency and they have the same duties in relation to SEN provision and admission procedures.

Decision:

(1)               The committee noted the report;

(2)               The committee requested a briefing note providing information on the white paper regarding new ways of working and reform of school systems, which would be published shortly;

(3)               The committee requested that when officers report to overview and scrutiny on admission arrangements, that these reports include information about academies proposing changes to their admission criteria and the impact of such changes;

(4)               The committee recommended that officers evaluate the potential impact of the change in school hours (which some academies were adopting) on the Council’s School Transport Policy and if necessary report to Cabinet with any revisions to the policy required as a consequence of this.

This report provides the outcome of the consultation on the proposal to change the designation of Rivermead School from a maintained special school with a designation as a hospital school to a community special school.

Discussion:

The Director of Children and Adults Services introduced the report, which detailed the outcome of the consultation.  The School Organisation Officer added that since the report had been published five further responses had been received and of these, four were in support of the proposals and one against.  However, the one opposed to the proposal was because they did not want the education provision to the hospital to cease, which officers confirmed was not proposed.

Members then expressed their support for the proposal, identifying the benefits of being able to extend the provision at Rivermead to some pupils currently being educated outside of Medway.

Decision:

The committee recommended the Cabinet to approve the proposal to change the designation of Rivermead School from a maintained special school with a designation as a hospital school to a community special school by means of a prescribed alteration.

This report provides an update on the Sure Start programme to improve outcomes for young children in Medway and the impact of integrated early childhood services. 

Discussion:

The Strategy Manager for Early Years gave a presentation to the committee updating them on the progress and impact of the Sure Start Programme.

Members welcomed the report and fed back their positive experiences of sure start centres in Medway.  One Member explained that she had received feedback from a number of centres across the Medway area that partnership working had greatly improved, however, GPs were not informing patients of the service and provision available at sure start and requested that this be addressed.  It was also requested that the Chairman of the Committee write to all the sure start children’s centres in Medway to state the committee’s recognition and appreciation for the work they do.