Agenda item

This report details the areas covered by the Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services.  The areas within the relevant portfolio are listed each time a Cabinet Member is invited to attend any of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees to be held to account.

Discussion:

The Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services, Councillor Wicks, addressed the committee outlining the main achievements and priorities within his portfolio. This included updates on the:

·        Youth Service – this service was functioning well despite the difficult financial climate.  A ‘mobile resource’ (an equipped minibus) had been invested in which provided support and advice for young people.  The cyber scheme (a project working with young people in Suffolk, France and Belgium to train them for employment) was also under way.

·        Duke of Edinburgh Award – this continued to be successful with 449 awards achieved this year.

·        Youth Offending Team – this was a very successful service and visitors from Japan had visited the team to learn best practice.

·        Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service – this was improving and under a new provider.

·        Early Years Service – the service was flourishing, with 60% of children now achieving the national benchmark.  There were 19 Sure Start Centres, which were well used across Medway.

·        Provision of free nursery places for 2 year olds – extra places were largely being provided by the voluntary and private sector.  Students from Canterbury Christchurch University were working with the Early Years Service to develop activities for nurseries to promote young children’s personal developments.

·        University Technical College (UTC) – A bid was being submitted to the Department for Education (DfE) in February for a UTC in Medway which he was hopeful would be successful.

·        Music – The Council had been successful in a bid to the Arts Council to provide tuition with musical instruments.

·        Completions of school buildings – Walderslade Primary and Strood Academy had both won design awards.

·        Provision of school places – Members were advised that the Cabinet had earlier that day agreed to consult on expansions at Brompton Westbrook and Saxon Way Primary Schools.  An additional class had also been put into Greenvale Infant School and a 3 form of entry school would be going into the building that previously hosted Chatham South School.

·        School challenge – there was concern relating to the Key Stage 2 and phonics results, both of which placed Medway at the bottom nationally.  One factor was leadership and therefore partnership working across schools was being encouraged between successful and poorer performing schools.  He also confirmed that the School Challenge and Improvement Team were risk assessing and tracking every school and targeting schools as necessary.

·        Special Educational Needs (SEN) – the Council was continuing to work on bringing children and young people with SEN back into Medway provision.  It was also noted that accommodation issues for Abbey Court were being considered and that a joint provision with Kent County Council may be considered.

·        The Oaks at Silverbank – this would become Medway’s first free school.

·        Key Stage 2 – the 12 recommendations from the improving performance at Key Stage 2 Task Group had been implemented as fully as they could be and 1:1 tuition had been effective with pupils receiving the tuition improving their performance by an average of 9%.  The tuition was provided to 200 students last year and would be extended to 600 students this year.

The Portfolio Holder then answered questions from the committee, which included: -

·        The level of funding for 1:1 Tuition at Key Stage 2 was and where this would be funded from.

      The funding for 200 pupils had been £68,000 and funding for 600 pupils was expected to be over £200,000.  It would be funded from the Children’s Services budget, which was under pressure so there would need to be an analysis of priorities but 1:1 tuition at Key Stage 2 would be a high priority.

·        Had there been any consideration of other measures, such as meetings with the Headteacher, Chair of Governors, the Portfolio Holder and Opposition Spokespersons after Ofsteds (good and bad) to share best practice.

      Performance at Key Stage 2, particularly for boys, has been stubborn for some time.  The task group recommendations were welcomed, as was the idea of a cross party group and work had been ongoing to develop a standard practice for Governors on how to challenge Headteachers.

·        All schools should have phonics programmes, how had the Portfolio Holder had led on the implementation of this?

      The Portfolio Holder confirmed that schools were checked by officers that they have the right phonics programmes in place and that they were used effectively and that he held officers to account on this.

·        Had the Portfolio Holder visited other local authorities to learn from best practice?

      He confirmed that he had visited Ealing Council to look at a computer system but had not visited anywhere regarding Key Stage 2.

·        A Member commented on the success of the partnership working with the Williamson Trust and The Hundred of Hoo Academy as the academy had recently received a good Ofsted inspection report and asked what lessons could be learned from this.

      The Portfolio Holder advised that the Williamson Trust was a well directed academy system and it was working with other peninsula schools.  He felt the success achieved by the Hundred of Hoo Academy demonstrated how strengthening senior management in schools could have a real benefit.

·        What improvements were necessary at Key Stage 2 as Medway children perform better at other key stages?

      The Portfolio Holder explained that something occurred during the transition from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2 but did not know exactly what and welcomed a cross-party group to look at the issues further.  He undertook to visit other local authorities to learn about best practice at Key Stage 2 elsewhere.  He also suggested that Members visit the schools in their ward a few times a year to find out how effectively they were performing.

·        There are excellent young musicians in Medway, can a Medway Youth orchestra be developed?

      The Portfolio Holder confirmed this was something that would be aspired to and orchestra group work was ongoing.

·        Concern about resource in the School Challenge and Improvement Team was raised?

      The Portfolio Holder explained that the School Challenge and Improvement Team worked very hard to collate full and helpful data.   Resources were limited and he confirmed that the best outcomes needed to be achieved with resources available.  He assured Members that Key Stage 2, phonics and children in care were priorities.

·        Are there any other free schools, other than The Oaks, planned?

      The Portfolio Holder advised that there were none planned at the moment.  If agreed, the UTC would be an academy.

Decision:

The Portfolio Holder was thanked for his attendance.