Agenda item

Councillor Neghat Khan, Portfolio Holder for Early Years, Education and

Employment, gave a presentation on the education priorities set out in the new Council Plan. The following points were discussed:

(a)  the new Council Plan has 18 performance measures relation to education, three of which are in the Top 20 commitments. The performance indicators are to ensure that all Nottingham children attend a school judged ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted; the gap of GCSE attainment is within 5% of the national average; at least 75% of eligible two-year-olds access free nursery provision; every primary school in Nottingham has an affordable breakfast club; and attendance in both Nottingham primary and secondary schools is above the national average;

(b)  it is a primary objective to reduce the number of permanent exclusions from schools by 50% overall, and to campaign against permanent exclusions and ‘off-rolling’, to make sure that every Nottingham child has a school place. It is aimed to reduce the number of exclusions for the current academic year to 86, from 98 in the previous year. However, 54 exclusions have been made in the year to date already, up from 41 in the same period, last year. In total, 30 of these exclusions have been made by three schools, so there is a need for significant engagement with their academy trusts to try and involve them in the Council’s ‘inclusion model’ to support children at risk of exclusion to stay in school. Trigger points are in place for intervention, but it is vital to understand why schools are excluding pupils and what support would help them in avoiding carrying out these exclusions;

(c)  so far, ten schools have signed up to the model and hold weekly monitoring meetings, and it is hoped to get many more schools involved. It is no longer possible to have a full cost recovery model in place for schools that exclude children permanently. The ‘inclusion model’ represents a service-level agreement where schools commit to helping children at risk from exclusion stay in school, with the incentive of some extra funding to support inclusion. There is capacity for claiming funds back from schools within the model who exclude too many children, but entering into this agreement is entirely voluntary;

(d)  it is important to guarantee a choice of places for Nottingham children at local primary and secondary schools. However, the demand for secondary places is increasing (particularly in the north of the city), with peak demand projected in 2022. A bid to establish a new free school has been made, but there have been difficulties in establishing a satisfactory site with the Department for Education;

(e)  other major aims are to support mainstream schools in ensuring that children with additional needs are able to progress well; tackle holiday hunger by supporting school holiday lunch clubs in the most deprived neighbourhoods; campaign to extend free school meals to all primary school children by 2025; and work with schools to promote an understanding of mental wellbeing amongst staff and children. It is also intended to protect the school uniforms grant, the Education Welfare Service and the Education Improvement Board from budget cuts.

The Committee thanked Councillor Neghat Khan for her presentation.

Resolved to carry out further scrutiny into the high levels of permanent exclusion from schools within certain academy trusts, and to invite these trusts to discuss this issue with the Committee, within the wider context of effective secondary school provision within the city.