Agenda item

To receive a verbal update from the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education and the Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education.

1.    Roger Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) gave a verbal update on the following issues:

National Offer Day - National Offer Day had taken place for secondary school places on 1 March 2018. He said that 17,442 children in Kent were offered a secondary school place, this figure had increased by 750 children since 2017. He said that Kent were seeking to build the capacity in schools to match the rising secondary school roles. He said that the number of children in Kent who had been offered their first secondary school preference was 79.6% and only 4.4% of children in Kent were allocated a place outside of their preferences. He said that although some children were allocated a place outside of their preferences, this was not the end of the process, parents were able to go through the appeal and reallocation process. He said that although Kent would not always be able to deliver every child’s first school preference, the aim was to deliver that to the highest ability. He registered thanks to Scott Bagshaw (Head of Admissions & Transport) and his team for making trips into the office and coping so well in the extreme weather conditions that Kent had been faced with, Members of the Committee generally supported this. He said that Kent were seeking to minimise oversubscription cases and maximise parental choice as much as possible.

Post 16 Transport Policy – The Post 16 Transport Policy had gone out to consultation on 27 February 2018 and would continue through to 8 April 2018, schools, colleges and training providers had been made aware of this. The cost of the vacant seat payment would be reduced to an annual amount of £400, which would be the same amount as a 16+ travel card.

Special Educational Needs Statements – Special Educational Needs (SEN) statements were in the process of being converted to an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). At the end of February, 99% of SEN statements were completed in Kent. Kent had 6,800 SEN statements and Learning Disability Assessments (LDAs) that needed to be converted to EHCP’s, the number of EHCP applications had risen significantly during the conversion stage and therefore Kent had struggled to meet the 20-week target for processing all EHCP applications, although Kent were ahead of the national average.

2.    Matt Dunkley (Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education) gave a verbal update on the following issues:

Recent Weather Conditions - He registered his thanks to all staff for their efforts to keep core services open within Kent during the adverse weather conditions.

KCC Staff Briefings - Kent had recently provided briefings for Kent staff relating to the process of integration for Children, Young People and Education Services and its focus on the role of a Corporate Parent. Kent had also met with head teachers to discuss High Needs Funding (HNF) and Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), both of which were a financial challenge for Kent and a matter of considerable angst for schools.

National Activity – The Local Government Association (LGA) had launched a campaign relating to the funding of Children’s Services to highlight the national £2billion funding gap for Children’s Services. In relation to Social Workers and Children’s Social Care working together, the Government had published its response to the consultation which meant that Kent were presented with a clearer idea of the new guidelines relating to child protection and working together. Matt Dunkley said that a further update would be brought to future meetings of the Committee.

Ofsted Update – Kent had had an annual conversation with Ofsted as part of the new arrangements for Kent. With regards to the process, Kent produced the self-evaluation relating to the current performance within Social Care and Education in Kent. Ofsted asked questions relating to out-of-county children in care and requested information regarding the impact that this had on Kent’s services and schools. Matt Dunkley confirmed that Ofsted presented Kent with a letter which provided information relating to the discussion and said it would be available for Members of the Committee to see in the near future.

a)    In response to a question, Mr Gough said that a reallocation process offering places to late applicants and original applicants that had joined a school’s waiting list after offer day, would take place on 25 April 2018.

b)    In response to a question, Mr Gough said that the figure for out-of-county placements was 3,289 for secondary schools. He said that this figure was 1,760 in 2013 and therefore had almost doubled in the last 5 years, he reminded the Committee that not all the applications were for grammar schools.

c)    In response to a question, Mr Gough said that Scott Bagshaw and his team ran a very effective admissions co-ordinating approach and the Area Education Officers (AEOs) had undertaken work in terms of the number of school places that were available. He said that Kent had communicated with parents as much as possible to ensure that they had all the documentation required when applying for their child’s school place or progressing through the appeals or reallocation process.

3.    The Chairman said it was important that children in Kent were placed in a good or outstanding school and said that the increase in good and outstanding schools in Kent maximised parental choice.

4.    RESOLVED that the verbal updates be noted.