Agenda and minutes

Councillor Josh Cook   - Personal

Councillor Mohammed Ibrahim   - Personal

Councillor Chris Tansley   - Personal

None.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 21 November 2017

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 November 2017 were confirmed as a correct record subject to the addition of apologies being recorded from Councillor Neghat Khan due to other Council Business and were signed by the Chair.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2017

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2017 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Councillor Sam Webster, Portfolio Holder for Business, Education and Skills introduced the report on school place planning, and Nick Lee, Head of Access and Learning gave a presentation highlighting the following information:

(a)  Over 4,000 new primary school places have been added across the city to accommodate the growing population. This has led to 94% of parents getting their 1^st or 2^nd choice primary schools;

(b)  the challenge now is to provide an additional 15-17 forms of entry for secondary school pupils, with peak demand expected to be in 2022;

(c)  historically around 20% of City pupils attended a County secondary school, this has dipped to 15% currently and as pressure for secondary school places increases in the County it is likely to dip further. This will further increase demand for secondary school places within the City;

(d)  the Council is responsible for ensuring there are sufficient school places for young people in the City, however due to legislation they are not able to open new schools to meet this need. The options available are for existing schools to increase capacity, or to encourage free schools to open in places of greatest need;

(e)  discussions have been taking place with schools that have historically reduced intake to consolidate results and focus resources on a smaller number of pupils. They are now starting to take more pupils and are getting closer to their full capacity. All schools have been advised to be mindful of the City’s requirements;

(f)  there is only one maintained secondary school remaining in the City and so discussion and negotiation around increasing school capacity is reliant on the engagement of multi-academy trusts and single academy trusts. The Council has a good relationship with many of the academies, but some schools and trusts have different priorities, such as those that have schools in both City and County;

(g)  another challenge is limited financial resources. In terms of primary education the Council had a settlement from the Government that was just enough to cover the costs it needed to. However, with the secondary expansion the reduced basic needs settlement is not considered sufficient. The Council has made representations to the government and has expressed concerns that without having this direct capital they will be too reliant on other factors out of their control to deliver the increased capacity required;

(h)  there are plans in place that will give an extra 8 forms of entry, Fernwood have applied for funding that the Council is willing to match fund up to £1million should they be successful. From September 2018 Nottingham University Academy of Science and Technology are extending their intake from 14-19 year olds to 11-19 year olds and Trinity School are adding an additional form of entry during their rebuild;

Following questions and comments from the Committee the further following information was highlighted:

(i)  There are further discussions taking place with other schools and trusts to secure the other 7-9 forms of entry required to meet peak demand. These are not yet confirmed and discussions are in a variety of different stages;

(j)  provision of extra reception primary places is now stable with a surplus of around 5%. Pressure on primary places is now in later year groups as there is still a high level of mobility within the population;

(k)  it is a difficult balance to get school places in areas that are seeing the most development and in schools where there is capacity or demand;

(l)  transport to and from school is not routinely funded by Nottingham City Council. Each application for help with school transport costs is assessed on an individual basis. Advice to families would be to ensure a school place is secured before moving house where possible.

RESOLVED to thank Councillor Sam Webster and Nick Lee for their attendance at the Committee and to note the content of their report.

Councillor Sam Webster introduced the report on 2016-17 educational attainment. Nick Lee, Head of Access and Learning gave a presentation detailing the attainment from across the city. He highlighted the following points:

(a)  Primary education is performing very well, in some instances at or above the national average which is an excellent achievement for a city with higher than average deprivation levels;

(b)  66.2% of pupils aged 4/5 years in Nottingham are assessed as being at a good level of development. This is up from 63.5% in 2015/16. This takes Nottingham to 130 out of 150, up from 138;

(c)  in Key Stage 1 phonics, pupils’ attainment improved significantly. Nottingham City was in the top 10 most improved authorities having been the lowest performing authority in 2014/15. The authority now sits at 118out of 150;

(d)  Key Stage 1 attainment is below the expected standard but is improving at around the same rate as nationally, the number of higher attainers dipped in comparison to 2015/16;

(e)  at Key Stage 2 (end of primary school) attainment matched national figures in terms of improvement. There was mixed results in attainment for individual subjects which has given the authority a picture of the areas on which to focus going forward;

(f)  the maths results at the end of Key Stage 2 are encouraging. Nottingham currently sits 82 out of 150 authorities. This is excellent considering that it is the 4^th highest city in terms of deprivation;

(g)  for Attainment 8 and Progress 8 the provisional data suggests a larger decreased in average Attainment 8 than the national figure and a decrease in Progress 8 score too. Nottingham City is still struggling to move away from the lowest rankings on the league tables.

Following questions from the Committee the following additional information was highlighted:

(h)  The Education Improvement Board is a place where head teachers are able to collaborate and share ideas but there is also a sense of self governance and challenge;

(i)  a specific piece of work is taking place through the Education Improvement Board to look at how Key Stage 2 teachers can work with Key Stage 3 teachers to ensure that they have an understanding of pupils existing knowledge particularly around Maths;

(j)  the National Curriculum is seen as very prescriptive and does not suit all young people. There needs to be a broader curriculum including more vocational work to ensure that all young people achieve their best. This view is seen across the country and has been echoed by successive Chief Inspectors of schools;

RESOLVED to thank Councillor Sam Webster and Nick Lee for their attendance and to note the content of their report on educational attainment in 2016/17.

Councillor David Mellen, Portfolio Holder for Early Intervention and Early Years, introduced the report on Education for Vulnerable Children – Virtual School and the Education of Children in Care. He gave a brief outline of how many children are currently in care and the Council’s responsibility around education to them. Jasmin Howell, Service Manager of the Virtual School highlighted the following information: 

(a)  The Virtual School (VS) looks at children in care as if they were one cohort of at a single school. It has a governing body which holds the Virtual School to account and a head teacher. The School is scrutinised through the Corporate Parenting Board;

(b)  the VS collects data from schools and social care in order to track and advocate for the correct interventions when necessary on behalf of the young people;

(c)  the VS is also responsible for the management and administration of the pupil premium. The school that the child attends applies to the VS for the premium detailing interventions and the VS will award or challenge it. This system has recently been moved to an online system which reduces time spent on the application making it less onerous;

(d)  each child in care has a Personal Education Plan written by the designated lead at school they attend. These are monitored by the VS to ensure they are written in a timely manner, updated and complied with;

Following questions from the Committee the following information was highlighted:

(e)  The VS offers support and information to foster carers to ensure that they can communicate with schools with confidence and to know what each child they care for is entitled to;

(f)  The VS has aspirations for the young people in care. It looks at each child individually and can recommend changes to support/intervention to improve their educational outcomes;

RESOLVED to thank Councillor David Mellen and Jasmin Howell for their attendance and to note the content of their report on Education for Vulnerable Children.

Jane Garrard, Senior Governance Officer, introduced the report on the Work Programme 2017/18.

RESOLVED to note the work programme for the municipal year 2017/18