Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence and notification of any substitutes present

1.            Apologies were received from Mr Ridings, Mr Manion, Mr Pearman, Mr Scobie and Mr Tear.   Mrs Cribbon attended as the substitute for Mr Scobie and Mrs Allen attended as substitute for Mr Ridings.

2.            Mr Hill, Cabinet Member for Community Services sent his apologies and Mrs Hohler, Deputy Cabinet Member was in attendance.

3.            Members noted that the Chairman, Mr Ridings, was ill and wished him a speedy recovery.

The Education and Young People’s Cabinet Committee is asked to note that Mr C Pearman has replaced Mrs P Stockell as a representative of the Conservative Group on this Cabinet Committee.  

The Education and Young People’s Services Cabinet Committee noted that Mr C Pearman had replaced Mrs Stockell as a representative of the conservative Group on this Cabinet Committee.

To receive any declarations of interest made by Members in relation to any matter on the agenda.  Members are reminded to specify the agenda item number to which it refers and the nature of the interest being declared

1.            Mr Balfour made a declaration advising that his wife ran a Montesorri nursery  and that he was a Chairman of a Special School

To consider and approve the minutes as a correct record

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 23 July 2014 were correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman.

To receive a verbal update from the three Cabinet Members for Education and Health Reform; Community Services and Specialist Children’s Services; and the Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services on the following:

·         Provisional 2014 Results

·         Implementation of 2014 Children and Families Act

·         Virtual Schools Kent Awards Day

1.            Mr Gough, Mr Oakford and Mr Leeson gave their verbal updates on activities that took place since the last meeting of the Cabinet Committee.

2.            Mr Gough began by advising that the implementation of the Children and Families Act 2014 was in operation from 1 September 2014.  He highlighted that the changes included the development of care plans, which would be reviewed annually, continued joint working with health professionals and an inclusive approach when dealing with the whole family.  Nationally Kent was considered a pathfinder with its implementation.

3.            Mr Gough agreed to submit a report on Elective Home Schooling to the December 2014 meeting.

4.            Mr Leeson advised that the advantages of moving to an annual care plan would not put pressure on schools as there would be an annual review.  This would be straight forward for mainstream schools but more difficult of special schools.  The DFE feedback has acknowledged that Kent was ahead in preparing schools.  If required schools would be offered additional support

Virtual School Awards

5.            Mr Oakford advised that the Virtual School Kent (VSK) annual awards took place on 22 September 2014 in Canterbury where the achievements of more than 200 children were recognized. The theme of the day was Science and the Natural World with activities which included displays by The Hawking Centre and a climbing wall.  Mr Oakford congratulated Mr Tony Doran, Headteacher of VSK, and his Team for all their support for young people.

6.            Mr Cowan advised that he attended the event with his foster children which had given them valued and positive memories.

Provisional 2014 Results

7.            Mr Leeson gave an overview of the provisional 2014 Kent examination results, which he advised were mainly positive.  69% of Early Years Foundation stage achieved good development which was above the national average.  The free school meals gap had narrowed.  The number of Kent Primary school below the floor level had halved from 44 to 22 schools in 2014.

8.            Mr Leeson advised that there had been turbulence with the GCSEs following the changes made by the Secretary of State. Nationally the publication of GCSE results had been put back until early October 2014.   In Kent the unvalidated results revealed that 61% had achieved 5 good GCSE’s.

9.            The A Level results for the international Baccalaureate were outstanding.  Many schools were looking to include the International Baccalaureate in their 6^th Form offer.  There had been a slight improvement in A and B grades.

10.         Mr Leeson congratulated Kent primary and secondary schools for their continued improvements in their results.

11.         Mr Leeson responded to questions by Members as follows:

·      Members were critical of the effect of the change in the arrangements for GCSEs which they felt could have long term effects on students.

·      Members welcomed the predicted improvement in the examination results.

·      Mr Leeson advised that every child in reception, years 1 and 2, being entitled to free school meals did not take away the need to identify those children that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

To receive the report from the Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services that sets out the details of the new structure and delivery models and the new KCC Policy on Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions (including Mental Health Needs).

(Report by Mr P Leeson, Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services)

(Ms S Dunn, Head of Skills and Employability Service, was present for this item)

1.            Mr Leeson and Ms Dunn introduced the report that sets out the details of the new structure and delivery models and the new KCC Policy on Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions including Mental Health Needs.  They advised that links with the Health Services would be strengthened and joint delivery models to support pupils with mental health conditions would be established in six new locality bases in the County.

2.            The new service would provide:

·      an education service to schools for young people with physical medical needs;

·      education outreach support for young people with mental health needs located in six resourced bases, with up to 120 places annually; and

·      together with Oakfields Education Unit and residential placements for the most complex needs.

3.            Mr Leeson and Ms Dunn responded to questions by Member as follows:

·      Ms Dunn confirmed that professional development would be available to teachers so that they have sufficient knowledge to identifying early signs of mental health and what they need to do if they think they have spotted a developing problem.

·      A request was made for examples of where this is working to be included in future reports.

·      Mr Leeson advised that this was a county wide service and resources would be moved where there is a need. 

·      The new service would be approved by Cabinet in October 2014 and implemented in April 2015.

·      A comment was made that this was a welcomed provision as there had been growing problems with young people’s mental health conditions not being caught early enough.

·      Mr Leeson confirmed that this service was a priority of the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service. CAMHS had appointed the new post of Primary Mental Health Worker.

·      Mr Leeson explained that the PRUs would be overseen by Management Committees.  He confirmed that the membership of the Committees would include headteachers from local schools.

4.            RESOLVED that:-

a)    the responses to questions by Members be noted; and

b)    the Education and Young People’s Services Cabinet Committee endorses the proposed KCC Policy on Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions, including Mental Health Needs, prior to approval by Cabinet on 13 October 2014.

To receive a report from the Cabinet Members for Specialist Children’s Services and Education and Health Reform; and the Corporate Director of Education and Young People’s Services that provides an update on the progress of and key issues for development in relation to early years and childcare and children’s centres.    

(Report by Mr P Oakford, Cabinet Member for Specialist Children’s Services, Mr R Gough, Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and Mr R Leeson, Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services)

(Ms A Gamby, Head of Early Years and Childcare, Mr N Fenton, Interim Head of Kent Integrated Family Support Services; and Ms F Kroll, Director of Early Help and Preventative Services, were present for this item)

1.            The Corporate Director, Mr Leeson, introduced the report that provided an update relating to the current position, progress to date and key issues for further development and improvement in relation to early years and childcare and children’s centres.  He advised that the 91% of Kent Early Years providers were judged by Ofsted to be good or outstanding.  Ms Gamby added that the early years sector were now working in over 40 collaborations to help to drive a faster rate of improvement and to further narrow gaps in achievement 

2.            Mr Leeson, Ms Gamby, Mr Fenton and Ms Kroll responded to questions by Members as follows:

·           A comment was made that the report was excellent.

·           Members congratulated Ms Gamby and her Team for their work.

·           Mr Leeson advised that the Early Years and Childcare Service had been restructured and was now operational in May 2014.  The Children Centres were in hubs and were now thought of as services supporting the whole family. 

·           Mr Leeson advised that improving the collection of data was critical and having good outreach work to ensure families were engaged was essential.  Ms Gamby advised that the Children Centres and Early Years Teams were working together on a programme to enhance families involvement in their children’s learning.

·           Ms Kroll advised that the next phase of the Troubled Families Programme was to widen the criteria from working just with adolescents to include young children and offer services to them.

·           Mr Oakford said that the focus needed to be on the services to be delivered and ensuring those services are available in the correct geographical positions, on public transport routes.  There was a need to get away from the mind set of physical buildings.

3.            RESOLVED that:-

a)     the responses to questions by Member and the report be noted; and

b)     the progress achieved to date and the next steps in developing KCC’s early years and childcare provision including children’s centres be noted.

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and the Corporate Director of Education and Young People’s Services thatprovides the Cabinet Committee with the opportunity to comment on the Commissioning Plan for Education Provision 2015-19 prior to final approval by Cabinet.

(Report by Mr R Gough, Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and Mr P Leeson, Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Service)

(Mr K Shovelton, Director Planning and Access and Mr D Adams, Area Education Officer, South Kent, were present for this item)

1.            The Cabinet Member, Mr Gough introduced the report that sets out the Commissioning Plan includes clear proposals for increased provision in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and looks ahead to 2019 with forecast data about additional places required.  He advised that there had been more temporary school expansions than predicted.  The numbers in need of a school place increased due to inward migration into the County.  This increase had reduced the surplus capacity of school places across the primary school sector.  Seven out of 12 Kent districts were now at below 5% surplus capacity. 

2.            Mr Leeson said that he was grateful for the positive response from those Kent schools that managed the delivery of expansions to their schools on time.

3.            The Director of Planning and Access, Mr Shovelton, advised that 95% of parental preferences for school places were met this year and the 758 additional children seeking places after National Offer day had all been offered a school place for September.

4.            Mr Gough, Mr Leeson, Mr Shovelton and Mr Adams responded to questions by Members as follows:

·      Mr Adams advised that it was a constant challenge to know when housing developments would come on line.   If Members considered that any data in the Commissioning Plan was considered technically incorrect this could be looked at.  Mr Gough advised that there were continual discussions on progress on their local plans with all 12 district councils.

·      Mr Leeson stated that he did not expect the number of children with SEN to increase although there was an increase in children assessed with autism and communication difficulties.

·      A Member stated that the need for school places in Gravesend was critical and families were dissatisfied with the school allocated.   Mr Leeson advised that the Commissioning Plan gave the forecast data about for school places for 5 years with more detail for the first 2 years.  It was the responsibility of the local authority to provide places - the admission arrangements were a separate issue.  Mr Gough advised that Kent had made its forecast with a high degree of accuracy.  He accepted that Gravesend had significant pressures.  Mr Shovelton advised that 4 schools had been expanded in Gravesend but there had been pressure on places in year groups further up the schools from increased inward migration by established families.

5.            Mr Cowan said that he could not endorse the document.

6.            RESOLVED that:-

a)    the responses to questions by Members be noted; and

b)    the Commissioning Plan be endorsed by the Cabinet Committee   prior to the final version being considered and approved by Cabinet on 13 October 2014. 

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services that provides an update on the strategy to improve the retention and recruitment of Headteachers and teachers in Kent.

(Report by Mr R Gough, Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and Mr P Leeson, Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services)

(Mrs S Tunnicliffe, Senior Improvement Advisor, was present for this item)

1.            The Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services, Mr Leeson, introduced the report advising that this was the annual report to provide an update on the strategy to improve the retention and recruitment of Headteachers and teachers in Kent.  At present there were no schools in Kent without appropriate senior leadership.  There were 17 schools [2.9% of schools] in Kent that were currently advertising for a substantive Headteacher, which mirrored the national position.   Mr Leeson highlighted the examples of KCC’s comprehensive leader development programmes for teachers, from the end of their first year of teaching through to Executive Headship, detailed in the report.

2.            Mr Leeson, Mr Gough and Mrs Tunnicliffe responded to questions by Members as follows:

·      Mr Gough advised that there would be no internal enquiry regarding the removal of Headteachers from Kent schools that had been judged to be failing.

·      Mr Leeson stated that a failing school was a serious issue and Headteachers in failing schools were given support where necessary to improve the school. The post of Headteacher required resilience; every headteacher would have access to a mentor, if they would like one; and a counselling service was available. 

·      Mr Gough said that he would be aware of the schools that were failing.  Mr Leeson advised that there were currently 27 Kent schools in serious/special measures.

3.            RESOLVED that responses to comments and questions by Members and the actions being taken to monitor and improve Headteacher and teacher recruitment and retention in Kent be noted.

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and the Corporate Director of Education and Young People’s Services that sets out a position statement for services within the Education and Young People’s Service (EYPS) Directorate regarding equality and diversity work and progress on KCC Equality objectives for the year 2013/14.

(Report by Mr R Gough, Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and Mr P Leeson, Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services)

(Mrs A Agyepong, Corporate Lead, Equality and Diversity, was present for this item)

1.            The Corporate Lead, Equality and Diversity, Mrs Agyepong, introduced the report that sets out a position statement for services within the Education and Young People’s Services Directorate objectives for the year regarding equality and diversity work and progress on KCC’s Equality objectives for the year 2013/14.  Mrs Agyepong highlighted some of the achievements detailed in the appendix to the report.

2.            In response to a request Mrs Agyepong agreed to include details of vulnerable groups eg Free School Meals, absent from school, BME and NEETs. 

3.            RESOLVED that:-

a)    the current performance in relation to priorities be noted;

b)    the actions to ensure that equality governance is observed in relation to decision making be noted;

c)    the proposed changes to KCC’s Equality Objective; and

d)    this report be received annually in order to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty be agreed.

To receive a report from the Head of Democratic Services that seeks future topics and items to be considered by the Cabinet Committee.

(Report by Mr P Sass, Head of Democratic Services)

1.            The Democratic Services Officer, Ms Singh, introduced the regular report on the Cabinet Committee’s work programme and sought suggestions for additional topics from Members.

2.            Members requested a report on the Youth Service to be submitted to the December 2014 meeting.

3.            Ms Singh confirmed that the next agenda setting meeting would be held on 21 October when the suggested agenda items for the December meeting would be discussed.  Members were invited to forward their suggested agenda items to the Chairman, Group Spokesmen or the Democratic Services officer.

4.            RESOLVED that a report on the Youth Service be submitted to the December meeting and the work programme be agreed.

To receive a for information report by the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and Corporate Director of Education and Young People’s Services on the decisions taken outside the meeting cycle in accordance with the process in Appendix 4 Part 6 of the Constitution.

(Report by Mr R Gough, Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and Mr P Leeson, Corporate Director for Education and Young People’s Services)

RESOLVED that the decisions taken between the meetings of this Cabinet Committee, in accordance with the process set out in Appendix 4 part 6 of the Constitution, be noted.