Minutes:
The
Committee scrutinised the following matters:-
Cabinet
Board Proposals
7.1 Hillside Secure Children’s Home – Estyn
Inspection
Members received an overview of the Hillside Secure Children’s
Home – Estyn Inspection which took place between the 19 September and the 22
September 2016 as detailed in the circulated report.
It was highlighted that there has been a significant
improvement within the education provision in Hillside Secure Centre since the
direct management of the provision was taken over by Cefn
Saeson Comprehensive School, with the improvement
continuing with the aim to achieve an excellent grade from Estyn.
Members asked the following questions:
·
Will Members be kept updated on the progress of improvement?
Officers agreed to provide reports on a 6 monthly basis to
committee to keep Members updated on progress.
·
In our current climate do staff receive any
training to enable them to identify young people who could have been
radicalised.
Officers explained that staff
receive all the training necessary to undertake their role but no issues
have been identified that need any specific training. It was noted that Raising Awareness and Prevent training has
been arranged to commence shortly and is offered to all staff.
Members thanked Officers for all the work that had
been undertaken to improve the education provision at Hillside and asked that
their thanks be cascaded to all the staff concerned.
Following Scrutiny, the report was noted.
7.2 Annual Pupil Performance Report 2015/16
The committee received an overview of the Annual Pupil
Performance Report 2015/16 as detailed in the circulated report.
It was highlighted that Neath Port Talbot schools have achieved
excellent results especially when considering the high levels of children with
special educational needs (SEN). Neath
Port Talbot has the 4th highest proportion of pupils with a special educational needs. At Key Stage 4 Neath Port Talbot has had its
best performance since 2013 with 9 of 11 schools in benchmark quartiles 1 or 2.
Members asked the following questions:
·
At teacher assessment stage our outcomes are not as good as other Local
Authorities. How do we know if the
teacher assessments are being too critical within Neath Port Talbot compared to
other Local Authorities?
Officers explained that at Key Stage 4 there is a
huge improvement in the results because they are all standard examinations,
prior to this it is a teacher assessment which could vary between local
authorities.
·
Was there any data available on the reasons for school exclusions?
It was noted the Overall Attendance and Penalty
Notices Report contains a detailed breakdown of this information which is
reported to Committee on a 6 monthly basis.
Following, Scrutiny the report was noted.
7.3 Establishment of a Temporary Governing Body for the Proposed
New All Through School Replacing Dyffryn
Comprehensive School and Groes Primary School.
Cllr.R.G.Jones and Cllr. D.Whitelock re-affirmed their interest in this item and withdrew from the
meeting for this item only.
Members received a verbal update that at the last meeting of Cabinet
held on the 4 January 2017, the decision to publicise the statutory
notice to create a new (3 –16 age range) school that would replace Dyffryn Comprehensive (Upper and Lower) and Groes Primary Schools was approved which would become
operational on the 1 September 2018. As
a result the authority has to establish a temporary governing body to conduct
the business for the new school before setting the permanent governing body
when the school
becomes operational. It
was highlighted that the composition of the Governing Body is prescribed by the
Welsh Government as detailed in the circulated report.
Members asked the following questions:
·
Did Officers take into account when setting up school governing bodies
the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP) because the Welsh Governments
ambition is to increase the number of Welsh Speakers by 2015 and as part of
this there needed to be a bilingual representation on school governing bodies?
Officers confirmed that the WESP is taken into
account but the response to the request for school governor representatives
does not always result in a great deal of interest from applicants.
Members also noted that the Welsh Government is currently seeking views
from Local Authorities on the Reform of School Governance Consultation. The draft response will be considered by the next
meeting of this committee prior to being submitted to Children, Young People
and Education Cabinet Board.
Following Scrutiny, the committee was supportive of the proposals.
7.4 Neath Port Talbot Draft Young Carers
Strategy
Members
received an overview of the Neath Port Talbot Draft
Young Carers Strategy (2016-19) as detailed in the circulated report.
Members were pleased to see that the draft strategy
had been developed to try to ensure that the correct support was put in place
for young people who carry out a caring a role and it will be interesting to
see the feedback from the Consultation to confirm that the correct areas are
being targeted.
Officers confirmed that the consultation is
available on-line. In addition, focus
groups and youth clubs have been targeted to ensure that we try to capture all
the information necessary. In addition, the consultation is available in Welsh
and a Welsh speaker will attend all the focus groups. Also, the Communication and Engagement Plan will
accompany the final version of the Young Carers Strategy on its return to
Committee for Members to see the detail of consultees.
Following Scrutiny, the committee was supportive of
the proposals.
7.5 Hillside Secure Children’s Home – CSSIW Inspection
The Committee received an overview of the CSSIW
Inspection Report (2016) as detailed in the circulated report.
Officers confirmed that the Inspection continued to
show steady progress and that the quality of care had continued to
improve. In addition, young people were
encouraged to express an opinion but this could be developed further.
It was also highlighted that an area that needed to
improve was Staff Supervision. Members
noted that in the last year there had been a number of staff changes which had
an impact of Staff Supervision but this should improve in future. Also, identified in the Inspection was the
improvement in Training and Clinical Supervision.
Members asked the following question:
·
In the report it identified an issue with not enough TAITH support has this
been improved?
Officers explained that currently this was provided
on a 3 day week basis but
the Director of Social Services, Health and Housing was aware of
the issues and work was on-going to increase the support from TAITH.
Chair asked that Members appreciation be cascaded
to Hillside staff for all the hard work they undertake at Hillside on a daily
basis.