Agenda and minutes

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Venue: Committee Room 'C' - The Duke of Lancaster Room, County Hall, Preston. View directions

Contact: Claire Evans  Tel: 01772 533361, Email  claire.evans@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence presented at the meeting.

2.

Disclosure of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest in relation to matters appearing on the agenda.

3.

Minutes of the meeting held on 16 July 2013 pdf icon PDF 57 KB

Minutes:

Resolved:  That the Minutes of the meeting held on 16 July 2013 be confirmed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

4.

A report on the local authority's leadership of school improvement support pdf icon PDF 69 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr Stott, Director of Universal and Early Support Services from the Directorate for Children and Young People introduced a report on the Authority's draft strategy for school improvement and the main features of the evaluation model being used to review the effectiveness of school improvement arrangements in Lancashire.  The report highlighted the key findings from the initial review of support for school improvement including strengths and priorities for development.

 

In considering the draft strategy for school improvement and the self evaluation tool members raised the following points:

 

·  Whether there  was a school improvement board and whether elected members sat on it, Mr Stott informed the Committee that there was a School Improvement Challenge Board which met fortnightly and which was comprised of the School Improvement Team, Human Resources, Governance, Finance and other teams as necessary to consider monitoring and intervention issues.  Elected members did not sit on the Board.

·  The Chair asked that a guide to current acronyms used in the Directorate for Children and Young People be produced for use by members of the Committee

 

Resolved:  That

 

  i.  The report on the local authority's leadership of school improvement support be noted.

 

  ii.  A guide to acronyms used in the Directorate for Children and Young People be produced.

5.

Children and Young People not participating in a school setting pdf icon PDF 146 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr Stott, Director of Universal and Early Support Services, Directorate for Children and Young People, introduced a report which updated the Committee on the performance and progress of four of the teams working closely with groups of children and young people currently not participating in education in a school setting as follows:

 

1.  Work done to support children and young people who were "Persistently Absent" (PA) from school, reported at the meeting by Frances Molloy, Schools Attendance Lead, Directorate for Children and Young People

2.   Work done to support children and young people who were "Permanently Excluded" from school, reported by Audrey Swann, Acting Head of Alternative and Complementary Education and Residential Services (ACERS).

3.  Work done to support Gypsy Roma Traveller (GRT) children and young people who were not educated in school or electively home educated, reported by Joe Dykes, Head of GRT Achievement.

4.  Work done to support children and young people who were "missing from education, (CME), reported by Susan Robinson, CME Co-ordinator, and Paul Bainbridge, County Pupil Access Manager.

 

Information was also provided in the report on the themed audit that the Directorate for Children and Young People was carrying out around "missing children" and the connectivity of the Local Authority and other partner services around supporting this broader group. It was envisaged that the findings of this themed audit would be reported back to the Committee possibly in July 2014.

 

The Committee considered the work done by each of the four teams in detail as follows:

 

Persistent Absence (PA)

 

It was reported that the use of Persistent Absence as a measure was introduced in 2006 and at that time related to pupils who had an overall absence rate of around 20 per cent or more.  This measure was reduced during the 2010-11 academic year to identify pupils who had an overall absence rate of around 15 per cent or more.  This was measured as pupils having 38 or more sessions of absence (both authorised and unauthorised) across the Autumn and Spring Terms combined, or 46 or more sessions of absence over the whole school year (measured up to the summer half term break).

 

The local authority worked to ensure that schools had a clear understanding of those pupils who were Persistent Absentees or were on track to become PA if their attendance did not improve.

 

In considering Persistent Absence members made the following comments:

 

·  How monitoring of children who were Persistent Absentees was carried out cross border with neighbouring authorities and the time it took to deal with cross border issues.  Frances Molloy responded that protocols were in place for liaising with other authorities and that if legal action was required it was undertaken by the authority where the child attended school.

·  Whether work done around Persistent Absence linked in with the Youth Offending Team.  Ms Molloy stated that action plans for Persistent Absentees would  involve all relevant agencies

·  The comment was made that because of the smaller number of pupils in special schools, just  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

A summary of the provisional results at the end of Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 at Lancashire and District level pdf icon PDF 61 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr Stott, Director of Universal and Early Support Services from the Directorate for Children and Young People, presented a report on the overall attainment of pupils in Lancashire schools at the end of Key Stages 2 and 4 in 2013 and informed the meeting that the report was based on provisional data which had not yet been validated.  The results had been analysed at District level and showed progress over the past three years.

 

With regard to the 2013 Key Stage 2 results it was reported that overall attainment in Lancashire continued to rise and was 2% above the national average at 77%.

 

With regard to the 2013 Key Stage 4 results, it was reported that overall attainment in Lancashire rose compared with 2012 and remained around 1% above the national average.

 

A request was made by the Chair that all County Councillors be notified, for their information, when the detailed results data was available.

 

Resolved:  That:

 

  i.  The summary of the provisional results at the end of Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 at Lancashire and District level be noted.

 

  ii.  Further detailed information relating to individual schools regarding attainment be circulated to all County Councillors once available.

7.

Work Plan 2013/2014 pdf icon PDF 57 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members considered the work plan summarising the work to be undertaken by the Committee in the coming months and noted that it would be updated and presented to each meeting of the committee for information.

 

In response to a request for Elective Home Education to be added to the plan as a topic for consideration, Mr Stott informed members that a previous Task Group of the Committee had produced a report on Elective Home Education which could be circulated to current members of the Committee for their information prior to deciding whether to consider this topic further. 

 

The Chair updated the Committee on the progress of the Task Group set up to consider the 'Achievement of Pupils on Free School Meals'.  It was envisaged that the draft Task Group report would be presented to the Committee at its March 2014 meeting.

 

Resolved:   That

 

  i.  The work plan be noted.

 

  ii.  The report produced by a previous Task Group of the Committee on Elective Home Education be circulated to members for information.

8.

Urgent Business

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business for discussion at the meeting.

9.

Date of the Next Meeting

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee is due to be held at 10.00am on Thursday 16 January 2014 in Cabinet Room 'C' at County Hall, Preston.

 

Minutes:

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday 11 March 2014 at 10.00am in Cabinet Room C (The Duke of Lancaster Room), County Hall, Preston.