Agenda item

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

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

Results Day 2018:

Mr Gough attended Canterbury Academy and Bennett Memorial during results day this summer and thanked both schools for making him feel welcome. Both Canterbury and Bennet Memorial were good examples of the sheer range of post-16 options and destinations that were available to you people and had very strong outcomes and good performance. Revised GCSE and A-Level results figures had not yet been released, although Kent County Council had seen most of the figures for Kent schools, there were still figures that had not yet been seen. Targets continued to change due to a tougher set of benchmarks and changing grade boundaries. Overall, performance within Kent’s schools was good and Kent County Council were continuing to address challenges such as gaps for vulnerable learners.

‘Change for Kent Children’ programme:

The ‘Change for Kent Children’ programme followed on from the integration of the new Children, Young People and Education directorate. A series of pilots had been undertaken which focused on different aspects in each of area of Kent. In the North of the county, there was a particular focus on integrated teams, in the East of the county, there was a focus on schools and how Kent could ensure that services connected with and supported challenging schools, the South of the county focused on adolescent services and the West of the county focused on placement stability and what Kent could do to support young people who were facing a series of disruptive places in foster care and aimed to build stability for those young people. The productive work that had taken place allowed a drawing model to be constructed, and Kent County Council aimed to implement the full model before the start of the new financial year.

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

‘Change for Kent Children’ programme:

The decision made in 2017 by Kent County Council was to create an integrated children’s directorate. The ‘Change for Kent Children’ programme would move Kent County Council to a more integrated way of working with children and families. There are two imperatives in the drive towards integrated working.   The first was the national situation around children’s services funding and the need to retain and develop preventative services to be sustainable and reduce demand. The second factor is that integrated working generally produces better outcomes for vulnerable children, and this is reflected in the new Ofsted framework.  Kent County Council aspires to be ‘outstanding’ and Bexley, East Sussex and North Yorkshire were the first local authorities to be rated as outstanding by Ofsted in the new framework this summer. Integration of preventative services with social work services was key to managing demand successfully and building resilience into families.

a)    In response to a question, Matt Dunkley referred to the programme’s title ‘Change for Kent Children’ and reassured Members of the Committee that the title could be adapted to explicitly recognise young people as well as children.

b)    In response to a question, Matt Dunkley explained the early years practice model and said that services were provided to support children through early childhood. He said that early help providers within The Education People had ensured that that they would continue to work with Kent County Council in an integrated way to ensure that there were no gaps and to see the journey of a child through all ages and stages.

c)    In response to a question relating to future funding for Kent schools, Keith Abbott said that he would provide a detailed analysis to Members of the Committee outside of the meeting which would explain the position on balances. He said that out of 349 maintained schools in Kent, approximately 10% of the 349 schools were currently in deficit or were forecast to be in deficit within the next few years, he said that there were also concerns around other schools. In relation to the teachers’ pay award, he said that all schools would budget for 1% of the pay award, and school governors would make the remaining 2.5% available nationally through a grant.

d)    In response to a question, Keith Abbott said that Kent County Council were working with school improvement colleagues to assess the projected roll numbers for primary schools.

3.    RESOLVED that the verbal updates be noted.