A presentation will be given at the Meeting.
Minutes:
Councillor Tariq, the Cabinet Member for Children and Families attended the meeting to report on the work that was being planned in relation to schools’ performance across the borough.
Councillor Tariq stated that the Council was facing challenging circumstances but the situation can be recovered if the Council takes a fresh outlook to build and repair relationships with schools.
Councillor Tariq explained that he had already visited 7 schools across the borough to meet with head teachers, he had attended a workshop with head teachers and had written to every head teacher in the borough. The key aim being to rapidly drive up performance.
It was explained that schools would be partnered so that any school facing difficulty will have the support of stronger schools. The skill set of the borough’s talented and exceptional head teachers needs to be used for mentoring, support, specialisms and school to school support.
The new academic year would see a package of support for head teachers which would include an Associate Heads Scheme and a Federation Model as well as other support opportunities.
Councillor Tariq explained that the Council could take action against schools by issuing a ‘notice of concern’ if the need was there. Work was being carried out to identify any schools that would benefit from the Council’s intervention.
It was reported that a motion had been agreed at the last meeting of full Council on 10 July 2019 asking that a working group be established to assume responsibility for overseeing the transformation of educational standards within the borough.
It had been agreed that the group would meet on a termly basis.
An outline work programme for the Group was presented to the Committee.
Members of the Committee were given the opportunity to ask questions and make comments and the following points were raised:
· Councillor Lucy Smith referred to the fact that a number of schools were considering becoming academies and asked what the Council’s response to this was.
It was stated that the Council had a shared responsibility for all of the children in every school of the borough and therefore must work with every school. It was explained that there were a number of options for schools to consider other than academies such as co-operatives and federations and each school would need to consider the options to decide the best fit for them.
· Councillor Walsh asked whether the head teachers were working across sectors so there was collaboration for transition from primary to high school.
It was explained that the advisory group had cross-sector membership so that all sectors were covered. There had recently been a workshop held which focussed on concerns relating to mental health. All school sectors were invited to take part as this was an issue across all age groups.
· Councillor Walsh referred to Special Educational Needs and the requirement for the service to become more inclusive and asked whet this would look like.
Julien Kramer, Interim Assistant Director, Education and Inclusion explained that there were currently circa 250 children sent to out of the borough provision at a cost of over £9m to the Council. Work was being carried out to enrich the Council’s own provision to build capacity and provide the service in-house. This would be in a cluster based model with locality support which will provide a better and more local service. The service will be monitored, regulated and supported.
· Councillor Susan Southworth stated that all teachers across Bury were doing the best job and needed support and advice. She stated that she wasn’t sure that the issuing of a notice of concern would help.
Julien explained that the Council considered a notice of concern as a rescue raft but would have to refer to it as a notice of concern as this was the language used in the legislation.
Councillor Tariq stated that the Council would act sensitively and have discussions with head teachers, governors and unions beforehand. It was explained that the Council will have to make a strong case for issuing a notice of concern before it takes any action.
· Councillor Harris referred to timescales involved and asked when improvements would be seen.
Julien explained that he had carried out similar work in other local authorities across the country and would expect to see significant improvements in the next two years.
It was agreed:
1. That a working group of Councillors be appointed to assume responsibility for overseeing the transformation of educational standards within the borough.
2. That the working Group meet termly and be briefed on each occasion by the Cabinet Member for Children and Families and the Interim Assistant Director of Education.
3. That the Cabinet Member for Children and Families appear before each sitting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to brief Members on the steps being taken by Bury Council to drive up educational standards.