Agenda item

Report of the Director of Education Services

Daniel Skurok began by delivering a presentation on exclusions in Nottingham City, highlighting the following:

(a)  Nottingham’s permanent exclusion rate is twice as high as its region and England, and its fixed period exclusion rate is a third higher;

(b)  Nottingham’s volume of permanent exclusions has dropped since 2016/17, however the outturn for 2018/19 is forecast to be the same as 2017/18;

(c)  the Timpson Review states that there is no optimum rate or number of exclusions, as exclusions must be considered in the context in which decisions are made;

(d)  excluded children have worse trajectories in the long term, with over one third going on to be NEET (not in education, training or employment) or commit crimes;

(e)  78% of permanent exclusions issued were to pupils who either had SEN, were classified as in need or were eligible for free school meals. Three quarters of those excluded are boys;

(f)  the level of permanent exclusion by school varies widely across the city, with a few secondary schools excluding the majority of pupils;

(g)  the data can be used to identify which pupils are at risk of being excluded, for example those that have received fixed period exclusions and those with poor attendance. With better management with schools the Council can better support schools in identifying pupils who may need extra support.

The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:

(h)  the Schools Forum Sub-Group will meet to look at the impact of Council services on reducing exclusion rates before the next meeting. Academy Trusts must work with the Council in a joined-up approach, including data sharing;

(i)  when looking at the schools that are high excluders, the number of pupils that they take through managed moves must also be considered;

(j)  reduction of exclusions is a top priority for the Portfolio Holder for Early Years, Education and Employment and will be monitored closely;

(k)  supported transition from primary to secondary education is important, as often the support is lost at this time and those at risk need to be identified;

Kimberly Butler, Behaviour Support Team Leader, delivered a presentation on Rotes to Inclusion and the Intensive Support Team, highlighting the following:

(l)  Routes to Inclusion (R2i) was launched in October 2018, with waves 1 and 2 having commenced and working with 37 schools. Feedback has been very positive so far;

(m)work has commenced with secondary schools, with pilot schools now chosen to work with from the Autumn term. A secondary school version of the toolkit will be developed;

(n)  a R2i Project Board has been established to look at commercialisation of the service;

(o)  the Intensive Support Team (IST) is for the small percentage of pupils who at risk of placement breakdown in spite of the R2i graduated response. Schools refer to the IST panel with evidence that the R2i process has been followed;

(p)  the IST is currently being piloted and its model and impact is being evaluated in order to demonstrate a reduction in the number of children at risk of permanent exclusion.

RESOLVED to note the proposed use of £174,296 from the DSG reserve to fund the establishment and running costs of the Intensive Support Team for the first 12 months.