Agenda and minutes

County Councillor J Jackson replaced County Councillor C Evans for this meeting.

The Committee is asked to note the decision taken at Full County Council on the 21^st July 2011 to appoint County Councillor Mrs P Case as the new Chair of the Committee and County Councillor Mrs S Derwent as the Deputy Chair.

Resolved: That the appointment by full County Council on the 21^st July 2011 of County Councillor Mrs Case as Chair and County Councillor S Derwent as Deputy Chair of the Committee be noted.

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillor R Blow and from Mr F Kershaw (Coopted member representing CE Schools).

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.

Resolved: That the Minutes of the meeting held on the 21^st June 20112 be confirmed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

Mr Hewitt, the Head of Quality and Continuous Improvement from the Directorate for Children and Young People presented a report on the overall attainment of pupils in Lancashire schools and the end of Key Stages 2 and 4 and informed the Committee that the report was based on provisional data and that validated data for primary and secondary schools was expected in December 2011 and January 2012 respectively. He also reminded the Committee that as some Lancashire schools had not taken part in tests during 2009/10 the latest figures were based on a comparison with 2008/09 results.

With regard to the 2011 Key Stage 2 results in Lancashire it was noted that overall attainment had risen when compared with the last year when all schools carried out the end of Key Stage 2 tests and was 1% above the national average at 75%. Attainment had increased in 8 out of the twelve districts in 2011 and fallen in Fylde, Lancaster, Ribble Valley and Wyre. The greatest gains were made in Preston, Rossendale and Chorley and the lowest attaining district was Pendle which was 9.2% below the Lancashire average.

In discussing the 2011 Key Stage 2 results the following points were raised.

·  The importance of early intervention and preschool work in order to prepare children for the learning process in primary school and also to improve attainment.

Mr Hewitt reported that whilst many schools showed an improved rate of progress for pupils aged 7 – 11 in some districts, such as Pendle, the level of attainment on entry into Key Stage 2 was low. As a result the County Council was working to improve both pre-school and family support in order to improve the level of attainment of children before they entered Key Stage 2.

·  Mr Hewitt also reported that pupil attendance at primary schools had been in decline. However, in recent years the situation had improved substantially and Lancashire had made good progress when compared to the national average and other similar local authorities. He added that the County Council would not be complacent in this area as persistent absence generally had a significant impact on the overall attainment of pupils.

·  It was suggested that some Districts had large communities where English may not be the first language and that this could have an impact on attainment. In response Mr Hewitt reported that in Pendle the County Council was working with schools and the Asian heritage community in order to encourage members of that community to engage more in the Early Years programme. He added that in areas such as Preston where minority ethnic communities were more confident in engaging with the local authority attainment was higher. It was also noted that the County Council was working with schools and local communities in order to develop strategies and share examples of best practice for improving engagement.

·  With regard to Eastern European families who had settled in areas such as Burnley, Mr Hewitt reported that the transient nature of some  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Mr Hewitt, the Head of Quality and Continuous Improvement from the Directorate for Children and Young People presented a report on the County Council's current position with regard to the development of Academies. A copy of the associated presentation is set out in the Minute Book.

It was reported that previously those schools which had been judged by Ofsted to be 'outstanding' or 'good with one or more outstanding features' had been able to apply to convert to an Academy. An announcement by the Secretary of State in June 2011 had stated that the 200 primary schools which had been identified as having the weakest performance would become sponsored academies and the 500 low performing primary schools would work with the Department for Education (DfE) on structural solutions, including converting to Academies.

Mr Hewitt informed the meeting that where a school had been performing below a set standard for 5 years or more it would be included in the 200. However, there were concerns regarding this approach as the criteria for selecting the schools was not fully clear.

The Committee noted that to date 14 schools in Lancashire had converted to Academy status, on the basis of 11 secondary schools and 3 primary schools. Mr Hewitt informed the meeting that before taking any decision some Governing bodies had asked to meet with representatives of existing Academies in order to better understand the implications/benefits of conversion.

Referring to the earlier discussion on attainment Mr Hewitt reported that if the performance of any of the 14 current Academies was considered to be failing the County Council would have no responsibility for the performance of those Academies. However, the authority would be able to raise concerns with both the Secretary of State and Ofsted and ask for the Academy concerned to be investigated further.

He added that whilst the County Council would not be directly responsible for Academies it would continue to monitor their performance and the results at Key Stage 2 and 4 from Academies would form part of the overall results for Lancashire in the future.

Resolved: That the update regarding the development of Academies in Lancashire be noted and that further reports be presented to future meetings of the Committee as appropriate.

Sue Parr, Senior Manager & Associate Headteacher of Virtual School for Children looked After, from the Alternative and Complementary Education and Residential Services (ACERS) presented a report on the attainment of children in care in Lancashire as measured by performance in national Curriculum Key Stage tests and GCSE results in summer 2011.

It was reported that for most measures the attainment of children in Lancashire had improved though it was still well below the level of attainment for children generally.

Ms Parr informed the meeting that whilst having been in post for only a short period she had examined the current service provision and proposed to take forward a number of changes, including

·  A complete audit and review of the existing Virtual School provision in order to set new priorities.

·  Better targeting of funding in the future.

·  A redefinition of the role for consultants.

·  Improvements to the quality of data regarding children in care

·  A review of monitoring and evaluation of children in care with progress being monitored on a termly basis in the future.

·  Challenging some schools in relation to pupil progress and also with regard to how funding is used.

·  Improve working relationship with partners, including foster carers and residential care.

In considering the report members of the Committee made the following observations.

·  There was a need to improve how information was gathered in relation to children in care in order to increase the cohort and move away from the current position which was felt presented a skewed picture.

·  Information should be gathered in relation to those children in care who progressed in Further/Higher Education. In response Ms Parr agreed that this information would be important and suggested that in future it would form part of longitudinal studies relating to children in care. It was also noted that whilst bursaries were available for children in care who went into Further and Higher Education information regarding those children and their progress was limited.

·  With reference to Ms Parr's earlier comment about challenging some schools regarding pupil progress/funding there was some concern regarding the apparent lack of accountability for schools in relation to the funding for and attainment of children in care, particularly in relation to Academies. In response Ms Parr stated that the authority would be responsible for children in care and would be able to request information regarding the use of funding and attainment from schools and Academies.

·  In response to a query about the tracking the outcomes for Children in care Ms Parr informed the meeting that the authority would continue to work with designated officers in schools in order to monitor the progress of children through their education.

·  Concern was expressed in connection with the number of children in care with disabilities and the need for them to be monitored in terms of attainment and improvement. It was also suggested that training was needed for foster carers so that they would be able to also provide support in connection with children's educational needs.

·  The previous reduction  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

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 for consideration at the meeting.

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee is due to be held at 10.00am on the 13^th March 2012 in Cabinet Room 'C' at County Hall, Preston.

It was noted that the next scheduled meeting of the Committee would be held at 10.00am on the 13^th March 2012 in Cabinet Room 'C' at County Hall.