Agenda and minutes

None.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2019 were accepted as a true and accurate record.

Attendees:

-              Councillor G Giles, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills

-              Sarah Morgan, Chief Education Officer

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills introduced the report and gave an informative overview to the committee highlighting that the Education service served all maintained schools in Newport and provided support for pre-school settings for pupils who were educated other than at school.  The Cabinet Member continued in saying that the service was responsible for nine secondary schools, 43 primary schools and two nursery schools.  In addition, there was a pupil referral unit and two special schools.  Newport was one of the five local authorities in the EAS regional consortium for school improvement.  The service consisted of 11 teams that provided the following support:

·   21^st Century Schools

·   Early Years

·   Education Welfare

·   Education Business Support

·   Gwent Education Minority-Ethnic Support (GEMS)

·   Gwent Music

·   Healthy Schools

·   Inclusion Enrichment Team

·   School Admissions

·   Pupil Referral Unit

·   Youth Engagement and Progression

In 2018/19, the Council received a positive report from Estyn, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales.  It was recognised however that further work was required by the Council’s Education Service to continue its development and improve education in Newport.  These were captured within the Service Plan 2019/20.

The Wellbeing Objectives were outlined as, Objective 1 – improving the skills, education and employment opportunities.  Objective 2 – promoting economic growth and regeneration, whilst protecting the environment.  Objective 3 – enabling people to be health, independent and resilient, in line with the corporate themes: Aspirational People and Resilient Communities.

Members asked the following:

·        Chair, referred to the ‘Managing Weapons in School’ Policy and asked if there was a concern regarding weapons in Newport Schools.  The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills explained that there had been seven incidents in one year, the range of incidents were explained to the Committee, including the use of fake guns at a play in Llanwern School.  The Committee however, were assured that incidents were extremely rare.  Links forged with Police and Youth Offending Scheme to put packages in school to focus on preventative work were in place.  The policy promoted a process in order to be proactive should any further incidents arise.

·        Members of the Committee asked Officer about attendance figures.  There was an example raised about a pupil at Newport High School that only needed to attend one hour a day.  The Chief Education Officer would look into this, as it would not give an accurate reflection on attendance figures and was more likely to be a phased re-introduction into the school.

·        Members of the Committee felt that there was not enough information to support the red and amber headings under the Service Area Risks, such as 21^st Century Schools Band B, which was a concern.  The Chief Education Officer explained that the risks measure a set period of funding and costs could rise over time, for example, the risk relating to Brexit meant that costs could increase.  There was a pot of money however there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

a)      Forward Work Programme Update (Appendix 1)

Attendee:

-      Daniel Cooke – Scrutiny Adviser

a)   Forward Work Programme Update

The Scrutiny Adviser presented the Forward Work Programme, and informed the Committee of the topics due to be discussed at the next two Committee Meetings:

19 November 2019, the agenda items being:

·      Children and Young People Services – Mid-Year Service Plan Review 

·      Adult and Community Services – Mid-Year Service Plan review

14  January 2020, the agenda items being:

·      Education, Children - 2020-2021 Draft Budget Proposals and MTFP

·      Young People Services - 2020-2021 Draft Budget Proposals and MTFP

·      Adult and Community Social Services - 2020-2021 Draft Budget Proposals and MTFP

b)   Action Sheet

There were no actions outstanding.