Agenda and minutes

Councillor Azad Choudhry  -  on leave

Councillor Maria Joannou  -  on leave

Councillor AJ Matsiko  -  Council business

None.

RESOLVED to appoint Councillor Salma Mumtaz as Vice Chair of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee for the current municipal year (May 2019 to April 2020).

Minutes of the meeting held 19 March 2019, for confirmation

Subject to the following amendments, the Committee confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2019 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair:

(a)  under ‘Colleagues, partners and others in attendance’, Peter McConnochie’s role is amended to ‘Head of Access to Learning’;

(b)  under item 39, four references to ‘excellent’ Ofsted ratings are amended to ‘outstanding’;

(c)  under item 41(a), ‘September 2017’ is amended to ‘September 2010’.

Report of the Head of Legal and Governance

The Committee noted its Terms of Reference (as approved at the Council meeting of 20 May 2019) and their implications for its operation during the year.

Report of the Head of Legal and Governance

Naomi Skelton, Early Learning Specialist, and Catherine Smith, Early Years Programmes Manager, presented a report on the current position relating to the take-up of early years funding in Nottingham. The following points were discussed:

(a)  currently, 15 hours of free childcare or early education for two-year-old children is available per week for 38 weeks for families in England receiving some forms of support. The same provision is available to all families with three and four-year-old children, rising to 30 hours per week for certain working families. The latest participation rates for this provision across the City (for the Autumn Term 2018) reflect the old ward structure, so the data is being re-formatted for the new ward configuration. Take-up of the provision for two-year-olds was 73.4%, which compares positively with the national figure, but uptake at a national level has decreased;

(b)  Early Years is working with the Department for Work and Pensions to make contact with the families of all two-year-old children eligible for the free childcare by phone, by letter, through the Council’s Ask LiON website, and face-to-face.  This is to ensure that all parents with eligible children know about the scheme, and to discover why some families do not wish to take up their entitlement (or whether they do take advantage of the scheme with a provider based outside the City area). The Families Information Service (FIS) reviews the applications for the scheme and returns data on how and when families apply for places;

(c)  the fact that the provision is free will be advertised more strongly, with an emphasis that placements represent early education – not just childcare. ‘Small Steps, Big Changes’ (SSBC) family mentors are carrying out engagement work in some wards, while the FIS does outreach at activities and sessions at Children’s Centres and distributes information leaflets. A balanced level of detail needs to be provided on the leaflets to ensure that they are both informative and engaging, and work is underway to ensure that the most important information relating to the schemes is available on a single leaflet. Children in care or with special educational needs and disability are reached through their care providers, including social workers and family support;

(d)  currently, a marketing project is focused on the Clifton wards (where take-up is comparatively low) and a number of stakeholder events are underway. New training processes are being put in place and a review is underway on what information is marketed, and how. A consultation will be held with councillors to identify the best places to advertise the provision and eligibility criteria in a given ward, and colleagues can join councillors at ward events to circulate leaflets and information. Ward maps will also be produced to identify the current location of providers;

(e)  the Committee suggested that advertising could be set up at bus and tram stops, including through scrolling text on the associated electronic information boards. The literature distributed through the FIS should be circulated to libraries (including in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Report of the Head of Legal and Governance

Peter McConnochie, Head of Access to Learning, and Michael Wilsher, Inclusion Officer, presented a report on the pupil exclusion rates for Nottingham schools, the measures in place to seek to reduce exclusions, and the recommendations of the Timpson Review of Exclusions. The following points were discussed:

(a)  the permanent exclusion rate in Nottingham is twice as high as both the regional and national average, while its fixed-term exclusion rates are one-third higher. This position has not changed significantly in recent years. The national data for exclusions is two years behind current and is taken from census returns, while the local ‘live data’ is not always reported consistently by schools. Steps are being taken to address this through updated data sharing agreements and ICT-based links with school systems;

(b)  fixed-term exclusions are used more regularly in Nottingham than in the rest of the local region and across England as a whole. In total, 40% of all pupils who receive a fixed-term exclusion have been excluded multiple times (and this figure does not reflect pupils put on part-time timetabling or who are sent home temporarily with no formal, legally required record of a fixed-term exclusion). The rate of exclusions from secondary schools (at 7.44 pupils in every hundred) is well above the national average (at 4.62 in every hundred). Exclusions from primary schools are marginally above average (at 0.88 per hundred pupils in Nottingham, relative to 0.62 nationally). However, fixed-term exclusions from special schools are below the national average (at a rate of 4.55 in Nottingham, compared to a rate of 5.09, nationally);

(c)  the local data for permanent exclusions is more current. Although the rate of exclusions has been rising nationally, Nottingham is still well above the average, having the 10th highest number of exclusions per 100 pupils of 152 Local Authorities in 2016/17 (with 101 secondary exclusions and 26 primary exclusions). A significant proportion of pupils excluded have either special educational needs and disability (SEND) or are in receipt of free school meals (FSM), or both. A number of exclusions sometimes occur when an academy school moves between trusts, or when a school is in special educational measures;

(d)  the Committee requested that the data was provided to show the breakdown of the gender and ethnicity of the children excluded, and that the number of SEND and FSM pupils excluded was differentiated. It recommended that the demographic data on the pupil population of each school was reviewed as part of the process of understanding the exclusion rates;

(e)  the ‘Inclusion Model’ has been introduced by the Council to encourage schools to not exclude pupils, where possible. Ten of seventeen secondary schools are part of the model and have seen reductions in their exclusion rates, but the highest three excluding schools have not signed up. Meetings are held with the head teachers of all of the schools that are part of the Model, and the other schools are invited to attend. Individual meetings are also held with the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Report of the Head of Legal and Governance

Zena West, Senior Governance Officer, presented the proposed work programme for the 2019/20 municipal year, as per the agenda. The Committee aimed to review the findings of the Independent Inquiry into child sexual abuse and the current situation relating to children and young people with Special Education Needs and Disabilities at its November meeting, and to consider the promotion of academic excellence and the future resourcing of the Education Improvement Board at its January meeting.

·  26 September 2019

·  28 November 2019

·  30 January 2020

·  26 March 2020

RESOLVED to meet on the following Thursdays at 10:00am:

·  26 September 2019

·  28 November 2019

·  30 January 2020

·  26 March 2020