To receive a verbal update from the Cabinet Members for Education and Young People’s Services, Community Services and Specialist Children’s Services, and the Corporate Director of Education and Young People’s Services, on issues including the following:
· Commons Education Select Committee report on Academies and Free Schools
· Marlow/Ellington and Hereson situation
Minutes:
(1) Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform) said primary school places would be offered on Thursday and he was pleased to say that of 17,400 places required, there had been an increase in the number of those getting their first choice to 85% and 95% of parents had received one of their choices. He said that: the number of parents who had not received one of their preferences had fallen by 0.5%; overall performance was good especially as there had been an increase in the number of reception class places required; some parents would nevertheless be disappointed and would need to use the appeals or re-allocation processes.
(2) Mr Gough said that the Marlowe Academy would merge with the Ellington and Hereson School with effect from the 1 September. The new school would be managed by the Coastal Academies Trust which already managed Dane Court, King Ethelred, Hartsdown Academy and Cliftonville Primary. In the longer term it was proposed that the new merged school be renamed the Augustus Pugin Academy.
(3) Mr Gough commended the House of Commons Education Select Committee report on academies published in January 2015 to the cabinet committee.
(4) Mrs Whittle (representing Mr Oakford, Cabinet Member for Specialist Children’s Services) said that a new division encompassing disabled children’s services, adult mental health services and adult learning disabilities headed by Penny Southern had been in place since the 1 April 2015. One of the key priorities of the new division was to improve support for young people making the transition from children’s services to adult services.
(5) Mrs Whittle said she was a member of the Corporate Parenting Select Committee which intended to present a report on its findings to the County Council meeting on 16 July 2015. She said hearing from young people in care, social workers and a range of other interested parties had been fascinating and demonstrated how much more needed to be done to reduce the number of placement breakdowns and improve the educational attainment of young people in care. She commended the work done by Tony Doran and the Virtual School for Kent to narrow the gap in attainment between children in care and others.
(6) Mr Hill (Cabinet Member for Communities) said that 2014 had been the best year ever for Kent County Council, as a licensed Duke of Edinburgh Award organisation with 5,066 new enrolments and 2,502 completed awards of which 185 were gold. He recalled feeling very pleased several years ago when Kent had achieved 100 gold awards and this year the Earl of Wessex had commented favourably on the number of Kent girls achieving gold.
(7) Mr Hill said the Kent Mountain Centre had achieved a gold star quality rating for its learning outside the classroom activities. He specifically mentioned the positive effect engaging in such activities had on some of the most disadvantaged young people.
(8) Mr Leeson (Corporate Director of Education and Young People’s Services) said the Marlowe Academy had been underperforming for several years and had the worst GCSE results in Kent. He said he was pleased that the Regional Schools’ Commissioner and the DfE had approved the Kent proposal to merge the Marlowe with the Ellington and Hereson School which would improve educational opportunities for all pupils, improve outcomes for pupils at the Marlowe Academy and strengthen one of the good academy trust arrangements in Kent.
(9) Mr Leeson said that a written report on Ofsted results would be presented at the next meeting of the cabinet committee. He said there had been a good upward trend in results with 79% of schools now being assessed as good or outstanding from 75% in July 2014 and 55% in July 2011. He said he was confident that this would increase to 82% of schools by July 2015. As of July 2014, 72% of primary schools, 83% of secondary schools and special schools and 91% of pupil referral units and early years’ provision had been assessed as good or outstanding and this equated to 81% of pupils receiving a good or outstanding quality of education. He said progress had been made to narrow the gap between the districts with the highest Ofsted assessments such as Ashford at 90% and Dover at 95% and those with the lowest such as Gravesham and Maidstone at 65% but addressing this variation continued to be a priority.
(10) In response to a question, Mr Gough said that a briefing on developments at the Marlowe Academy would have been provided on request and that efforts were being made to provide information about school closures to Members at an early stage in the process. He also said that ultimately the decision to support the merger of the Marlowe with Ellington and Hereson School would be taken by him as Cabinet Member.
(11) In response to a question about PFI contracts, Mr Leeson said the local authority was clear it should not retain responsibility for the whole debt when schools with PFI contracts converted to academies but as the DfE did not agree with this approach, issues were debated in each case. An agreement had been reached in relation to the Marlowe and Ellington and Hereson School merger. Mr Gough said negotiations were continuing in relation to the restructure of both schools and he was confident that the local authority would not retain sole responsibility for the PFI debt.
(12) It was suggested that central government should be pressed to ensure that local authorities were not required to meet the costs of schools converting to academies. The achievements in relation to the Duke of Edinburgh Award, school improvements and the educational attainment of children in care were noted, however, attention was drawn to the need to avoid putting undue pressure on vulnerable children in order to achieve targets.
(13) Resolved that the verbal updates be noted.