Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were presented at the meeting.

Members are asked to consider any Personal/Prejudicial Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

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

Mr Stott, the Director for Universal and Prevention Services from the Directorate for Children and Young People, referred to the comment at the bottom of page 1 of the Minutes and informed the meeting that information regarding insurance liability was included in the report set out at item 4 on the agenda. 

Resolved: That the Minutes of the meeting held on the 19^th January 2011 be confirmed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

Mr Stott, the Director for Universal and Prevention Services presented a further report to update the Committee on developments in relation to Academies and informed the meeting that the current position regarding schools in Lancashire was as follows.

Hambleton Primary School  ) all converted to Academies on

Lancaster Girls Grammar School  ) 1^st January 2011

Clitheroe Royal Grammar School    )

Lancaster Royal Grammar School  ) applied to be Academies. Academy

Hodgson High School  ) Orders issued and awaiting

Ripley St Thomas CE High School  ) confirmation of conversion.

(Lancaster)

St Michaels CE High School (Chorley)  ) all in the process of applying for

Bishop Rawsthorne CE High School  ) Academy status.

Bowland High School    ) 

It was also noted that under previous legislation two other Academies existed in the County at Accrington and Fulwood, near Preston.

Mr Stott reported that whereas previously the opportunity to convert to an Academy had been restricted to those schools which had been judged by Ofsted to be 'outstanding' the Department for Education (DfE) had recently announced an extension of the arrangements so that 'good schools with one or more outstanding features' could also apply to become Academies on the same basis as outstanding schools. In addition other schools which did not satisfy the above criteria would be able to apply to convert to Academies provided that such an application was made in conjunction with an outstanding school or a good school with one or more outstanding features. It was also noted that that where a special school had been rated as 'outstanding for overall effectiveness' by Ofsted it would in future be able to apply to convert to become and Academy.

The following information was presented regarding schools in Lancashire.

1.  Schools which were considered to be outstanding.
Primary  69
Secondary  16
Special    6

2.  Schools which were considered to be good.
Primary  263 of which 220 had one or more outstanding features.
Secondary  34 of which 27 had one or more outstanding features.
Special  18 all of which had one or more outstanding features.

In response to requests from County Councillors Jones and Motala, Mr Stott stated that he would arrange for members of the Committee to receive a more detailed breakdown of the information outside of the meeting.

With regard to voluntary and foundation schools it was reported that the DfE had agreed model documentation with the National Society (Church of England) and the Catholic Education Service which would be used where such schools sought to become Academies. The Committee noted that currently three CE schools were engaged in the process though no applications for conversion had yet been made from RC schools.

In view of the change to the criteria County Councillor P Evans asked whether the County Council expected a rush of applications from schools wishing to convert to Academies and whether the authority would be able to cope if this proved to be the case. In response Mr Stott reported that whilst there was no  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Mr Stott presented an overview of the Schools White Paper and the subsequent Education Bill 2010/11.  It was noted that the Bill covered the following seven areas as summarised in the report and Appendix.

·  Teaching and Leadership

·  Behaviour

·  Curriculum, Assessment and Qualifications

·  The New School System 

·  Accountability

·  School Improvement

·  School Funding

The Chair invited members of the Committee to comment on the areas and the following points were discussed.

Teaching and Leadership

In response to a query from County Councillor Wells regarding the link between academic ability and teaching ability Mr Stott reported that teaching was a graduate profession and the provisions of the Bill sought to increase recruitment routes into teaching as set out in the Appendix. However, he also recognised that academic ability did not always necessarily equate with teaching ability.

With regard to teachers acting as role models for young people County Councillor Motala expressed concern that there were not more disabled teachers. In response Mr Stott stated that this was a matter which would be monitored via the recruitment process and whilst he was aware of some disabled teachers within Lancashire he accepted that the County Council could not afford to become complacent.

Behaviour

It was noted that the Bill sought to strengthen teacher's powers in relation to behaviour with particular notice being given to the proposals regarding exclusions. In response to a comment from County Councillor Blow Mr Stott acknowledged that it was important for excluded pupils to be reintegrated into mainstream education and this was usually via Pupil Referral Units. He drew attention to the fact that in future the responsibility for funding any excluded pupil's ongoing education would be the responsibility of the school (or Academy/Free School) from which they were excluded, until such time as the pupil was reintegrated into mainstream education. It was also noted that the exam results of pupils who were excluded would be reflected in the relevant school's performance tables.

County Councillor Case welcomed the proposal which she felt reflected the good work already done in Lancashire by the PRUs which had been identified by the Behaviour in Schools Overview and Scrutiny Task Group in 2008. She added that schools needed the freedom to experiment in order to identify alternative ways of supporting excluded pupils and Mr Stott reported that the County Council had already made a submission to the DfE regarding current services provision relating to excluded pupils with a view to building upon current good practice as part of a pilot scheme.

Curriculum, Assessment and Qualifications

County Councillor Riches referred to the use of systematic synthetic phonics and asked whether schools would have the freedom to disapply that particular teaching method. Mr Stott reported that the proposed national reading test for children aged six would highlight potential schools where the expected standard level of reading was not achieved and in those circumstances the approach adopted by a particular school would be examined.

It was reported that the 'English Baccalaureate' would recognise those students who achieved C+  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

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.

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

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee is due to be held at 10.00am on the 12^th July 2011 in Cabinet Room 'C' at County Hall, Preston.

It was noted that the next scheduled meeting of the Committee was due to take place at 10.00am on the 12^th July 2011 in Cabinet Room 'C' at County Hall, Preston.