Agenda and minutes
With effect from 1 April 2016 Agenda and Minutes will be available in both Welsh and English. Reports are working documents and produced in English only in accordance with Welsh Language Standard 41 of this Council’s Final Compliance Notice from the Welsh Language Commissioner.Venue: Council Chamber, Guildhall
Contact: Craig Stevens Scrutiny Facilitator
Media
No. | Item |
---|---|
Apologies for Absence Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Sonia Benbow Jones, Frank Hemmings, Tina Mannering, Rondo Roberts and Robert Walsh and co-opted member, Mrs Alison Fisher. |
|
Confirmation of Minutes To sign as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting held on 17 December 2018 Additional documents: Minutes: Correction to Minute 26 That recommendation (i) be amended to include the wording “library review” AGREED – That,
subject to the aforementioned amendment, the Minutes of the Meeting held on 17
December 2019 be signed as a correct record. |
|
To consider the report of the Head Finance Additional documents: Minutes: The Head of Finance submitted a report (HF/03/19s) to assist the Committee in considering and agreeing its work programme. The Scrutiny Facilitator reported that the changes agreed at the last meeting had been incorporated into the work programme. It was requested that the report on Behaviour and Schools include information on how decisions regarding school exclusions are challenged by the local authority. AGREED – That the
work programme outlined in report HF/03/19s be agreed. |
|
Local Authority Education Services Improvement Planning Processes To consider the report of the Lead Member for People - Education Additional documents:
Minutes: The Lead Member for
People – Education submitted a report (HEd/03/19s) to
provide Members with an overview of the Education Department’s self-evaluation,
performance management and business planning processes and the draft
improvement priorities for 2019-20. The Chair welcomed
representatives from the Wrexham Association of Secondary Head Teachers (WASH)
and the Primary Head Teachers Federation (PHF) to the meeting. Members considered the
report and asked questions of the Lead Member and Head of Education. In debate the following issues were
highlighted: ·
Support
for the high level priorities and accountability framework outlined in the
report. ·
Request
for the Committee to receive the Level 1 – 4 plans for the Education
Department. The Head of Education
suggested that the Committee consider the information as part of the relevant
reports identified in it’s work programme. ·
Clarification
sought in respect of the definition of self-evaluation principle ‘Robust’ which
referred to performance data ‘where relevant’.
The Head of Education reported that this reflected the use of both
quantifiable and qualitative data. It
was suggested the definition be amended to read ‘where available’. ·
Reported
that governor membership of the Education Steering Group included one governor
from Primary, Secondary and Special schools, with the term of membership
lasting for 2 years to ensure continuity. ·
Noted
that the priorities for improvement would be shared with Councillors. ·
Clarification
sought regarding the target and performance data to be available to enable the
Committee to evaluate performance in the future. The Head of Education reported that whilst
schools would hold performance data, aggregated data would not be publically
available from next year. Discussions
were ongoing with Welsh Government in respect of the data that would be
available to Committees going forward.
Concern was expressed regarding the lack of clarity regarding the future
role of scrutiny in respect of Education services. ·
Suggested
that consideration be given to inviting individual schools to future meetings
to enable Members to consider their targets and to gain assurance that
sufficient progress was being made. ·
The role
of the Committee’s School Performance Monitoring Working Group would also
provide Members with a level of assurance regarding individual school
performance. The Chair invited
the representatives from WASH and PHF to address the Committee. They assured Members that Primary and
Secondary Head Teachers were very familiar with the business plan, with these
priorities reflected down to school plan level.
Head Teachers, along with GwE colleagues,
challenged performance and schools were able to evidence pupil progress using
tracking data. Some of the Committee’s
concerns regarding the move from a high level of accountability were shared by
Head Teachers, but Members were assured that core subject focus would remain, but
the change would also enable schools to recognise pupils’ progress outside of
level 2+. AGREED
– (i) That the
committee support the high level priorities identified in paragraph 2.10 of the
report. (ii) That work be undertaken to marry up the
plans contained in the accountability framework with relevant items currently
contained on the committee’s work programme. (iii) That ... view the full minutes text for item 32. |
|
Local Government Education Services To consider the report of the Lead Member for People - Education Additional documents: Minutes: The
Lead Member for People – Education submitted a report (HEd/02/19s)
to advise the Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Committee about the revised
methodology for Estyn inspections of Local Government Education Services (LGES)
and to enable the committee to consider the approach to evaluating its own
effectiveness against lines of enquiry in the LGES framework. During
discussion of the report the following matters were highlighted: ·
Noted that the Estyn framework for inspecting local authority education services
had been revised and was now branded as Local Government Education Services. ·
The role of Members and the Scrutiny function would form part of
Inspection Area 3 and the Council would receive 10 weeks notice of a
forthcoming Estyn inspection. ·
The Chair reported that she and the Vice-Chair were considering the
focus of the Committee’s work programme in order to maximise its effectiveness. ·
The Committee’s initial self-evaluation would feed into the local
authority’s self evaluation documents. ·
The Head of Education reminded the Committee that annual self-evaluation
was good practice. ·
Suggested that areas for consideration, when considering previous
effectiveness, could include the Scrutiny Annual Report, the work of the Period
Poverty Task and Finish Group, the Committee’s support for the financial
position of schools and the on-going work of the School Performance Monitoring
Working Group. ·
To ensure that the comments of all Committee members were incorporated
into the self-evaluation response, the Scrutiny Facilitator would provide
Committee members with an information pack for Members to feed back their
comments for consideration by the Chair and Vice-Chair in advance of the
February meeting. ·
Requested that following an inspection recommendations from Estyn for
Scrutiny be fed back so that the Committee could develop an action plan. AGREED – That consideration
of this issue be deferred to the February meeting with a view to developing a
full response to be submitted to the Head of Education by 31 March 2019. |