Agenda item

This annual report provides an account of the role of the Portfolio Holder for Education. It details their ambitions for their areas of responsibility, how they have and will undertake political challenge and leadership and what their priorities and ambitions are for the year ahead.

Discussion:

Councillor Tracy Coombs, Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services was in attendance and took questions from the Committee.

Members raised several questions and comments which included:

Partnerships - in response to a question on working relationships, the Portfolio Holder confirmed that there was good relationship with the leadership of schools including Academies and she was able to hold open and frank discussions on ambitions and expectations. The relationship with the Department for Education and the regional schools presented some challenges and there would be a meeting with the regional schools director to discuss issues in detail.

Challenges in Medway Education system – in response to a question on what the main concerns were in the system and what actions were being taken to improve attainment for children with Education Health Care Plans (EHCP), the Committee was informed that some of the main challenges was as a result of increase in demand, and trying to meet needs whilst working to balance the budget. A symposium had taken place last year on how to improve outcomes for all children in Medway. There had been an increase in resourcing for children with EHCP including recruitment of Educational Psychologist to address issues with backlog of Plans, and additional financial resourcing for schools to help meet needs whilst awaiting the outcomes of EHCP assessments.

Elective Home Education (EHE) – it was asked what quality of education the high number of children who received EHE. The Committee learnt that there were approximately 1000 children received EHE. Parents had the right to EHE, and the Local Authority had limited powers to refuse their request. The Local Authority worked closely with school leaders in understanding parents decisions and the Fair Access Panel worked well to re-integrate children back into the school environment as needed. The Local Authority had limited powers to inspect the home education provision arranged by parents and carers, however the new Education Wellbeing and Schools Bill would afford Locals Authorities more powers, in particular the ability to refuse a EHE request where risk factors were identified.

It was further asked what the reasons behind the choice made for EHE and whether pupils who were excluded were included in the figures. The Committee was informed that pupil that were excluded from schools were not included in the EHE figures. Parents and carers did not have to give a reason for their decision to EHE and there could many reasons for that decision including but not limited to breakdown in relationship with the schools or parents believing that it was the best decision for the child in the present circumstance.

Outcomes - it was commented that persistent absence rates had improved but literacy, numeracy and exam results outcomes remained low. The Portfolio Holder said that attendance rates had improved but acknowledged there was still work being undertaken to improve the small number of persistent absence rates. There were various strategies in place to address issues with attainment such as a refreshed literacy strategy. There was also extensive peer to peer support between schools and the Local Authority provided support to address attainment outcomes.

Backlog of EHCP cases – in response to a question on what progress had been made in clearing the backlog of cases, the Portfolio Holder acknowledged that there had been a substantial back log of cases which was in excess of 700. Additional funding resource was agreed and put in place to tackle clearance of the backlog through the employment of Locum Educational Psychologist to deal with the backlog whilst the permanent team managed the current cases. This workstream had resulted in only 186 cases left to be worked through by the team and it was anticipated that they would be cleared in the next few months, at which time the contract for the Locums would end.

Ofsted- in response to a question on what preparation was taking place for a new future with Ofsted way of working, the Committee was informed that the service would continue to monitor progress in all aspects regardless of the fact that Ofsted rating judgements would no longer be in place. They had worked with schools to develop performance dashboards to which the Local Authority would monitor and use to challenge schools where necessary.

School Places – it was commented that whilst over 90% of pupils had been offered one of their preferred choice of school, the number of pupils that were given their first choice had declined. The Committee was informed that this was due to a number of factors such as parents not listing their local school as their first choice and applying for schools much further away. In order for more children to attend their local schools, it had to be listed as a preference on their application.

Decision:

The Committee noted the report.