Agenda and minutes

Cllr M Pimm and Sally Ann Jenkins

Cllr Marshall declared an interest in the Children’s Services End of Year Report and left before this item was considered. Cllr Davies declared an interest as her daughter is a social worker.

The minutes of the meeting held 11^th June 2024 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

a)    Officer presentation

b)    Committee questioning and discussion

c)     Formation of comments and recommendations

Education Services

Invitees:

Rhys Cornwall – Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate

Sarah Morgan – Head of Education

Cllr D Davies – Cabinet Member for Education and Early Years

The Head of Education (HE) and the Cabinet Member for Education and Early Years presented the report.

Questions:

·         The Committee asked what Welsh Government support had been provided to promote Welsh within schools. The HE noted grant schemes including the Welsh sabbatical scheme and a stream of grants to promote Welsh language professional learning for teaching staff as seen in the EAS business plan.

·         The Committee queried the length of the waitlist for the sabbatical scheme. The HE agreed to provide this information.

·         The Committee queried when the new Millbrook school would be completed. The HE advised that there were no changes to the opening date despite delays.

·         The Committee asked whether educational attainment had been impacted due to the Millbrook closure. The HE noted there was no evidence to indicate this.

·         The Committee questioned how the financial restraints and capital finance within the budget would be addressed. The HE informed Committee that there were consistent reviews to assist in mitigating costs and overspends. The HE noted the People Capital Board, which mapped the progress of projects and fed back to direct management meetings. The HE assured Committee that discussions and troubleshooting took place at Corporate Management Meetings (CMT) and capital projects are included in monitoring reports which were presented to Cabinet.

·         The Committee asked what support was given for projects in listed school buildings. The HE explained that feasibility studies are conducted prior to works to unravel the complexity of large programmes. The Committee asked whether this would change with any maintenance providers or contractors utilised. The HE agreed to take this back to the governance board.

·         The Committee asked whether works in the Bassaleg School car park had been completed. The HE noted all works were due to finish but the increased timeframe was a result of works location and considerations around community impacts.

·         The Committee asked whether the local authority (LA) was resourced in order to meet all Additional Learning Needs (ALN). The HE noted that no LA was fully equipped and that a long-term approach needed to be adopted. They informed Committee that a consideration tool had been reintroduced to allow children to access appropriate support. The HE also noted the development of teachers’ professional learning in early years to improve support for children with ALN. They highlighted that Newport has the highest number of placements in learning resource bases in Gwent and gave an example of Llanwern resource base, which was expanded to 16 places this year.

·         The Committee queried what partnerships were utilised to assist in alleviating challenges. The HE highlighted Flying Start and shared educational psychologists as some partnership successes. 

·         The Committee asked what initiatives were in place to support wellbeing for vulnerable groups. The HE highlighted the drive for all schools to become “communication friendly schools” and networks for ALN Co-ordinators (ALNCo) and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

a)      Actions Arising (Appendix 1)

b)      Forward Work Programme Update (Appendix 2)

c)      Information Reports

d)      Outcomes Monitoring (Appendix 3)

a)    Actions Arising

The Scrutiny Advisor noted that there were a few actions outstanding. They noted the two information reports received by Committee.

b)    Forward Work Programme

The Scrutiny Advisor highlighted the addition of the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan to the March 2025 meeting. They also noted the date of the next meeting as the 30^th July 2024.

c)     Outcomes Monitoring.

The Scrutiny Advisor noted the responses.

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