Agenda and minutes

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.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The Chairman welcomed the non-members of the sub-committee who were in attendance.

The Chairman outlined that the following Executive Decisions had recently been considered by Cabinet:

1.    Bids for School Nurseries Capital Fund

2.    Provision for School Places: Robert Beard Centre for the Pupil Referral Service (PRS) – Olive Academy Work

The Chairman reported that she had responded to the consultation on the Draft Commissioning Plan for Education Provision, which closed in November 2018. The Chairman advised that Children’s Services were consulting on the proposal for the establishment of an Additional Resource Provision at Nelmes Primary School.

The Chairman recently conducted visits to Suttons Primary, Scotts Primary and Hacton Primary Schools and attended the opening of The Concordia Academy in Romford.

The Chairman and several Members visited The Cocoon where they met with Young People in their space.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 27 September 2018 and authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The minutes of the meeting of the Sub-Committee held on 27 September 2018 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman subject to the addition that Mr Ian Rusha sent apologies for his absence for the meeting.

The Sub-Committee received a report that provided an update on the provisional outcomes of the 2018 statutory assessments within the secondary and post-16 sector; and headline figures for attainment and progress at GCSE and Attainment at A-Level.

In attendance was Mr Stuart McLaughlin (Head Teacher Bower Park Academy) in his capacity as Chair of the Havering Learning Partnership (HLP).

The Sub-Committee noted that attainment standards in Key Stage 4 in Havering were in line with national performance.  The average attainment 8 score in 2018 was 46.8, compared to 46.5 nationally.  The outcomes in Havering had fluctuated over the last few years due to ongoing changes in exams and methodology calculations and had not improved as rapidly nationally or swiftly as other London boroughs.

The report outlined that in the Key Stage 4 (GCSEs) English Baccalaureate (Ebacc) exams. Havering students performed well in terms of entry resulting in Havering being placed in the top quintile nationally.  Mr McLaughlin commented that there had been an approximate 50% uptake in Ebacc following the extensive working arrangement between schools.

The Sub-Committee noted the following:

·         Key Stage 4 attainment achieving a standard pass in English and mathematics - Havering’s performance had slowly steadily improved.

·         Key Stage 4 Progress –. Havering had performed just below national in the middle quintile, and marginally above its statistical neighbours.

·         Key Stage 5 Attainment – Attainment had not improved as rapidly as elsewhere nationally, or as swiftly as other London boroughs. Nevertheless, Havering had outperformed its statistical neighbours.

·         Key Stage 5 Attainment excluding FE colleges – Attainment had not improved as rapidly as elsewhere nationally or as swiftly as other London boroughs but outperformed its statistical neighbours.

The Sub-Committee noted that the Local Authority had worked closely with the Havering Learning Partnership to deliver a joint improvement strategy and action plan.  The HLP and Local Authority had jointly funded specific improvement activity to target areas in need of improvement, which had started to produce results.

The following action plans were outlined:

1.    Working to identify students who should be in alternative provision.

2.    Part of the strategy for the last school year was to make science a key focus area and make provision for adequate support.

3.    The establishment of a subject network.

4.    The appointment of a Maths subject lead with the aim to get borough schools focused on improvement.

5.    Working with external consultant (two days a week) to identify improvement areas and development of a strategy.

6.    Working with primary schools to provide support for pupils transferring to secondary in the following year.

The Sub-Committee was informed that the plan for the current academic year included plans to establish a curriculum group and a coordinated approach to recruitment of secondary school teachers.

In response to an enquiry on support for Special Educational Needs and Disability from the HLP, the Sub-Committee was informed that that the Partnership worked closely with the Local Authority to support all Young People in Havering.

The Chairman thanked Mr Stuart  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

The Sub-Committee received performance data for seven of the eight agreed indicators in quarter two. It was noted that five of the indicators have been given a RAG status. Two (40%) have a status of Green, two (40%) have a status of Amber and one (20%) has a status of Red.

The report provided the following highlights in Quarter Two:

•      The percentage of Looked After children in good or outstanding schools was within target tolerance. Two schools were inspected in June and have since been published; both receiving a ‘Good’ judgement.

•      The average number of children missing from education in Quarter 2 was higher than Quarter 1 but lower than at the same point last year.  It was noted that other boroughs have been more pro-active this year in placing pupils that have moved during the summer break, meaning Havering had been able to trace children to areas - and subsequently schools - more quickly.

•      The number of adopters approved is on target for this point in the year and higher than at the same point last year.

The update report also detailed the following areas where improvement was required:   

•      The percentage of initial child protection conferences (ICPCs) held within 15 working days was below target for the quarter but within the agreed tolerance; at 81%. It was noted that during the month of September, 100% of ICPCs were held to timescale.

•      The number of new in-house foster carers was in line with the same point last year (5) but behind the target set (8). It was noted that work remains ongoing to recruit high quality foster carers through the Face to Face Pathways Programme.  Marketing was being targeted at the caring professions (e.g. teachers, nurses and social workers), certain faith communities and those prospective carers who are prepared to look after older children, to increase the diversity of foster carers and reflect the profile of children needing care.

The Sub-Committee noted the performance update.

The Sub-Committee received an update report that outlined the Improvement Plan for Children’s Social Care Service following the Ofsted Inspection in June 2018 and detailed the improvement work within the Service to address issues and risks throughout the social care system, review existing projects and consider if new areas of work needed to be explored and developed.

The service had achieved an overall ‘good’ grading and the Improvement Plan would ensure that the service could be both proactive and reactive to the improvement needs.  Each of the strands in the Plan had a dedicated project officer, who would support and facilitate each area, managing risks and issues including all relevant reporting. The Sub-Committee noted that these improvements would be overseen by the Head of Service and Innovation Officer bringing together all activity under the programme.  In response to an enquiry, the Sub-Committee was informed that the plans were yet to be implemented as they were to be considered by Cabinet.

In response to an enquiry on sharing data with North East London NHS Foundation Trust, at present there was no direct link to share data but the service was investigating the transfer of data from the data warehouse.

The Sub-Committee noted the planning for improvement work within the Service and agreed to receive regular updates on the social care improvement plan.

The Sub-Committee received a report that provided an update on the actions required following the Ofsted/Care Quality Commission inspection of Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND).

The report detailed the action plan that would be monitored by the SEND Executive Board which comprised of partners, parent representatives, schools and representatives from health and the local council.

The SEND Strategy was agreed by the Health and Wellbeing Board in September 2018 and incorporated all of the priorities and areas of improvement already identified by the service and its partners.  The Strategy’s headline priorities, areas for improvement and progress on implementation were:

·                To establish a SEND Executive Board to manage and monitor implementation of SEND reforms, putting children and young people at the centre of planning and to develop “co-production” - The Board was operational, with parents and partners fully engaged as members of the Board and would meet approximately six times a year to monitor progress.

·                To Implement Havering’s High Needs Review and Strategy - The Strategy had been approved and detailed the Council’s provision for children, young people and their families; and how the Council would ensure that sufficient provision could be adapted to meet changing needs and demands.

·                To review and identify the therapy services on offer to those children and young people with SEND, and to ensure they were fit for purpose, properly resourced and any gaps identified.

·                To continue to develop, maintain and keep the local offer up to date, to ensure it was responsive to their needs - The work was in progress, with further development planned for late 2018.

·                To establish an EHC hub, an interactive web-based platform to make EHC assessment and planning process more efficient and transparent - The hub had concluded a pilot phase and had been introduced across all schools from September 2018.

·                To develop a single joint commissioning process which would inform the commissioning of services for those children and young people with SEND.

·                A complex needs panel had been established to ensure children with the most complex health and educational needs were considered earlier in the process.

·                To commission a new free school which would meet the needs of children and young people in the borough.  The provider and site had been located and was planned to open in September 2021.

·                To deliver a programme of new provision to see a better distribution across the borough and throughout both primary and secondary schools - One new Primary ARP was planned to open at Easter 2019 and another in September 2020. Consultations were taking place with two secondary schools to explore having ARPs in their schools.  A Member was of the opinion that the outlined plans were not smart enough; that there was a gap in what was funded and what was not funded and there was concern that the 60 new places would be inadequate to meet current requirements.

·         To improve the quality of Education, Health and Care needs assessments and plans, ensuring that they paint an accurate picture  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.