Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Wendy Gough 01708 432441  Email: wendy.gough@onesource.co.uk

Items
No. Item

34.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENT OF SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS

(if any) - receive.

 

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillor Philippa Crowder (Councillor Dilip Patel substituting), Councillor Keith Roberts and Councillor Carol Smith (Councillor Linda Trew substituting).

 

35.

DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS

Members are invited to disclose any interests in any of the items on the agenda at this point of the meeting.  Members may still declare an interest in an item at any time prior to the consideration of the matter.

 

Minutes:

Jack How declared an interest on matters relating to schools. His wife was a teacher at Marshalls Park School.

36.

CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Chairman will announce details of the arrangements in case of fire or other events that might require the meeting room or building’s evacuation.

 

Minutes:

37.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 141 KB

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meetings of the Committee held on 14th January 2016 and authorise the Chairman to sign them.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2016 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

38.

ATTENDANCE AND EXCLUSION DATA pdf icon PDF 381 KB

The Sub-Committee will receive information from the Virtual Head teacher on attendance and exclusion information.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

The Alternative Provision & Looked After Children Education Manager presented to the Sub-Committee a report on school attendance and exclusion in the borough.

 

It was noted that good school attendance was important because poor attendance was linked to poorer educational outcomes which also resulted in a safeguarding concern where a child was not in school during term time.

 

The Sub-Committee noted that in Havering, the issue of taking children out of school for holidays in term time continued to be a concern and from the latest data available, it outlined that Havering schools were still authorising more absence than schools in London and England averages.  

 

The report indicated that unauthorised absence had fallen, as had persistent absence (PA) over the past few years.  This had been reflected in a higher figure for penalty notices/fines over the past two years and showed the importance of keeping focussed on reducing these two factors in particular. The Government had changed the threshold for PA from below 85% to below 90% attendance from September 2015, which would translate to an increase in the numbers/percentage of pupils falling within the definition of PA from this academic year.

 

The Sub-Committee noted that in relation to exclusions, head teachers had the power to exclude pupils for any breaches of the school behaviour policy. Concerns around educational outcomes and safeguarding for pupils who were excluded meant that the Local Authority had a legal duty to provide alternative education for such pupils who were permanently excluded. 

 

The Alternative Provision & Looked After Children Education Manager added that permanent exclusion from a school could have a long lasting (sometime lifelong) impact on a young person. The rate of permanent exclusion in Havering in previous years had been higher than the London and England average in secondary schools and there had been increased pressures on primary schools to use permanent exclusion as a way to deal with challenging behaviour. An additional concern in Havering was that the Pupil Referral Service was currently in Special Measures.

 

There had been work over the past year that had focussed on improving support, challenge and protocols with schools. Measures included improving alternative provision offer for schools, strengthening the In Year Fair Access Panel (IYFAP) for young people at risk of exclusion or without a school place, and supporting the Havering Pupil Referral Service towards academisation and improving the quality of the education offered in the interim.

 

In response to a question from the Sub-Committee on how much importance schools needed to consider the data, the Interim Assistant Director Learning & Achievement commented that it was important that Members received aggregated data on attendance and exclusions and that it was equally important that the service drilled down to understand whether the data for any specific groups of young people were respectively lower or higher than their peers.

 

The Sub-Committee accepted that schools had different tolerance levels whilst also recognising that the value of service provided by the IYFAP to children in Year 7 to Year 10. Officers were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

39.

OVERVIEW OF SCHOOL ADMISSIONS AND EXPANSION PLANS, NOT IN EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING (NEET) AND THE RAISING OF PARTICIPATION AGE. pdf icon PDF 1 MB

The Sub-Committee will receive details about the School Admissions Procedures, the Schools Expansion Programme and its progress.

 

Information will be provided on the “Not in Education, Employment and Training” (NEET) as well as the Raising of Participation Age.

 

 

 

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee received a presentation on the progress relating to the School Admissions Procedures and Schools Expansion Programme.

 

The report stated that in Havering, an additional 2,700 permanent Primary school places had been created in all year groups from 2011/12 - 2015/16. The borough had experienced the largest netflow across all London boroughs. 

 

The School Admissions Code was the statutory guidance for Admission Authorities, Governing bodies, Local Authorities, schools adjudicators and admission appeals panels.  The purpose of the Code was to ensure that all school places for schools including Academies were allocated and offered in an open and fair way.  The Code had the force of law and imposed mandatory requirements on Local Authorities.

 

All schools had admission arrangements that clearly outlined how children would be admitted, including the criteria that would be applied if there were more applications than places at the school.

 

Admission Authorities were to set (‘determine’) admission arrangements annually.  Where changes were proposed to admission arrangements, the admission authority must have first publicly consulted on those arrangements.  The consultation period allowed parents, other schools, religious authorities and the local community to raise any concerns about the proposed admission arrangements.

 

Once all arrangements have been determined, arrangements can be objected to and referred to the Schools Adjudicator.  Any decision of the Adjudicator must be acted on by the Admission Authority and admission arrangements amended accordingly. The Local Authority collated and published all the admission arrangements in the area in a single composite prospectus.

 

In the normal admissions round, parents applied to the Local Authority in which they lived for places at their preferred schools, parents were able to express a preference for at least three schools and up to six. 

 

A National offer day for notification this year for secondary transfer was the 1 March while the 16 April would be for primary school offers.

The Sub-Committee questioned the appropriateness of the mail out time for notifications. Currently the time was 17:00, whereas some authorities mailed out at 12:00.

 

The Sub-Committee noted that a draft Commissioning Plan for Education Provision approved by Cabinet in March 2015 was consulted on across the borough between April and  June 2015 to gather the views from education providers, residents, parents and other stakeholders on proposals that would help address the needs identified.  There were a total of 824 completed questionnaires, of which over 700 were completed online.

 

The consultation survey responses had helped to inform the approach to expand existing schools where possible with the options to also explore free school.

 

The report highlighted that overall 80% of all respondents agreed with the principles that guided the commissioning proposals, based on the consultation the final Commissioning Plan for Education Provision was approved in August 2015 and this had formed the basis of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

40.

CHAIRMAN TO FEEDBACK ON THE OPEN FORUM MEETING

The Chairman will provide feedback to the Sub-Committee on the open forum meeting (agenda setting meeting).

 

Minutes:

It was agreed that the latest forward plan be circulated to members of the Sub-Committee.

 

41.

STARTERS AND LEAVERS

The Sub-Committee are asked to note the change of membership.

 

Lynne Bennett – Church of England Representative (replaces Philip Grundy)

Linda Beck – National Association of Head Teachers (replaces Margaret Cameron)

 

It should be noted that due to a change in circumstances Emma Adams – Parent Governor (Primary) will be stepping down. Work is underway to find a replacement.

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee noted the following changes to the membership:

 

Lynne Bennett – Church of England Representative (replaced Philip Grundy)

Linda Beck – National Association of Head Teachers (replaced Margaret Cameron)