Minutes:
1) Mrs Prendergast said that some SEN families had experienced difficulties over the last few weeks as a result of the regrettable delays in completing vital retendering work intended to create sufficient capacity in the transport system to get eligible pupils to school. Apologies were given for the impact this had and for the huge amount of uncertainty and anxiety that had been caused for many families and the children.
Alongside communications with families, work had been undertaken with Kent PACT – the forum for SEN parents – to address concerns raised by parents and carers and respond to the challenges presented. Thanks were given to them for their work on behalf of children and families.
KCC was committed to conducting a thorough and transparent review of what had led to the situation so that lessons could be learned and the experience of families could be improved in the future. Work had continued within the Client Transport Team to ensure that all pupils were provided with the transport to which they were entitled.
The matter was to be discussed at Cabinet and also at the Scrutiny Committee on 8 March where Mrs Prendergast, Mrs Chandler and Mr Brazier, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, will respond to questions put by Members of the Council.
It was National Offer day for secondary school places on 1 March. A total of 18,311 Kent parents/carers applied for a place for their child in a school for September 2022 - the highest number of Kent applications ever seen. 79.6% of Kent families were offered a place at their first preference school - an increase from 69.7% last year. While the results in the previous year were affected by the increased number of preferences parents were offered due to COVID, results still exceeded the 77.7% achieved for 2020’s intake. Overall 95.4% of families were offered a school of preference, maintaining the same level as last year in spite of the increase in applications.
This left a small proportion of families without a school of their preference - however, all pupils had been offered an alternative school. Unfortunately, fewer than 8% of these parents made full use of their preferences to name eligible schools, which significantly limited KCC’s opportunity to offer them a school of their preference. Kent’s process will continue to provide opportunities to secure alternatives before the start of the new school year. Parents were advised to read their offer letter, which explained how these ongoing processes work.
It was announced that this year, Kent had seen an increase in the number of disadvantaged children securing a Grammar assessment through the Kent Test. On National Offer Day, while the whole cohort figures for securing a grammar school places had seen a small reduction (42.6% compared to 42.8% for 2021 intake), 25.8% of tested FSM pupils secured a grammar school compared to 23.9% the previous year. Similarly, 26.4% of tested Pupil Premium children were offered a Grammar school compared to 25.1 last year. It was also confirmed that following further negotiation, all Kent Grammar schools have now agreed to include priority for Pupil Premium pupils in their oversubscription criteria.
Kent families who applied online will be sent an email from 4pm on 1 March, informing them of the school they had been offered. All other parents were to be sent a first class letter.
KCC staff members were ready to speak to parents and carers to answer any questions they had - as well as offer information, advice and support.
2) In response to comments and questions from Members, it was noted:
· Work was ongoing to resolve the SEN home to school transport issues.
· The news that Kent grammar schools were to prioritise children from deprived backgrounds was welcomed.
3) Mrs Chandler said that further to the commitment made to Members at a meeting of County Council, work was underway looking at how KCC could effectively engage with partners to identify young carers and how partners could help support KCC’s work with young carers.
A report was to be brought to Cabinet Committee on 10 May, regarding how the national Family Hubs work was to be developed across KCC.
The Family Hub model was centred around three key principles: access, connectivity and relationships.
KCC was working with the Anna Freud Centre to consider how learning form the pandemic could help shape Kent’s vision for improved outcomes for children, young people and parents across Kent and enhancement of their experience of a range of services. Members were to have an opportunity at the Cabinet Committee on 10May to respond to the paper and ask questions.
On Thursday, 24 February, Inspectors from the South East Regional Ofsted Team came to Kent to take part in the Annual Conversation. The meeting was with the senior Officers of Directorate, and was based on KCC’s self-assessment for Children’s Social Care. Although the Annual Conversation does not conclude with a judgement being made by Ofsted, a follow up letter would be sent to the Local Authority and the letter was to be shared with members of the Cabinet Committee.
The work being done by the KCC adolescent service in collaboration with the Violence Reduction Unit and the Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital on the Reachable Moments Pilot in Ramsgate, was highlighted. The aim of the pilot was to engage with the child and explore if they had been a victim of violence in the community or as a result of exploitation. Children were often too scared to tell Police or the authorities the real story of why they had sought medical attention but at that moment of vulnerability, within an A&E setting, children were perhaps more likely to respond to that ‘reachable moment’. It was hoped that intervention would lead to improved engagement and outcomes for our most vulnerable children facing extra-familial harm in the community.
It was announced KCC was now part of a Care Leaver pilot project in Thanet, working with Moving Forward. Moving Forward was to work to support young people leaving care aged 18-25 (and those aged 16 or 17 who are at the transition stage), including former UASC, where work would be done to increase positive outcomes and provide support and assistance for these young people. Young people and Care Leavers were to be linked to voluntary and statutory services for support with issues such housing, employment, training/education, mental health issues, advocacy, and engagement with social activities, as well as given help to plan for the future, manage crisis and enjoy and pursue hobbies and new interests. KCC Care Leaver Navigators were to build on the support that already existed for Care leavers by working collaboratively with other services, always with the best interests and wishes of the young person, and by assisting them to navigate their way through all the services and pathways of support available to them.
Reconnect: Kent Children and Young People was working with Kent’s newly formed Digital Kent team to tackle digital exclusion. This work ensured that there was an access pathway to enable both children and young people aged 4 to 18 (and those aged up to 25 with an EHCP), in or currently out of education, employment or training, to receive a digital device. There was a simple referral process for professionals to use to apply for a device for the family, together with a 4g router, if needed, and basic software to support learning. The device would be gifted to the family.The referral form could be accessed on the Digital Kent website.
The Spirit of Try Angle Awards ceremony was to take place on Sunday, 20 March at the Port Lympne Animal Reserve. The Try Angle Awards, which were in their 27th year, recognised and rewarded the outstanding efforts and achievements of young people and groups who really tried their best whether at school, work, college, in business or in their wider community across Kent. Mrs Chandler looked forward to seeing all young people who would be accepting their awards on the day.
4) In response to comments and questions from Members, it was noted:
· The issue of the music licences within youth centres had been brought to officers’ attention.
· National organisations had decided to run their pilot projects in Thanet. The Care Leaver pilot had been funded by the Moving Forward Project by the National Lottery and the Reachable Moments was a Police and Crime Commissioner initiative working with health services.