Venue: By Zoom. View directions
Contact: Wyn Richards, Scrutiny Manager and Head of Democratic Services
Media
Items
No. |
Item |
1. |
Apologies
To receive apologies for absence.
Minutes:
Apologies for absence were received from
County Councillor M Weale and from A. Davies and G. Robson
(Co-Opted Members)
|
2. |
Declarations of interest
To receive declarations of interest from
Members.
Minutes:
There were no declarations of interest from
Members relating to items for consideration on the agenda.
|
3. |
Declarations of Party Whip
To
receive disclosures of prohibited party whips which a Member has
been given in relation to the meeting in accordance with Section
78(3) of the Local Government Measure 2011.
(NB: Members are reminded that under Section 78 Members having
been given a prohibited party whip cannot vote on a matter before
the Committee.)
Minutes:
The Committee did not receive
any disclosures of prohibited party whips which a Member has been
given in relation to the meeting in accordance with Section 78(3)
of the Local Government Measure 2011.
|
4. |
Ysgol Bro Hyddgen Language Category PDF 238 KB
To scrutinise the draft report of the
Portfolio Holder for Education and Property and to make
recommendations / observations to the Cabinet for
consideration.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Documents
Considered:
·
Draft Report of the Portfolio Holder for Education
and Property.
Issues
Discussed:
·
A number
of consultation
meetings had been held. There have been a significant number of
responses – 440 online and 25 others by post or email,
including from Estyn. 61% of respondents (online) were in favour of
the proposals.
·
Questions:
Question
|
Response
|
Thank
you to the Service for the consultation response document. Some
people have asked for public meetings to be held but that would not
give any greater opportunity for them to comment that they had
online.
School council - was this a
range of Welsh and English speakers – only 3
selected.
Also in relation to the secondary
school – again only a small number was selected. How were
these pupils selected.
|
The school selected the pupils
who took part in the consultation exercise. The pupils were very
mature and able to express themselves very well. There was a mix of
Welsh and English speaking pupils
selected.
|
If you are going to start from
the Reception year in September 2022, then it will take many years
for this proposal to be fully implemented. Hopefully this process can be
accelerated.
|
Immersion is key to this proposal and
also more support for bilingual pupils. Immersion will also
be needed for latecomers to the school.
|
Can you expand on the support
for Immersion and how this will be delivered, and will this allow
an acceleration of language development for year 2, 3, and 4
pupils. What support will there be for
English Language parents to have access to learning
Welsh.
|
In
relation to Immersion – an online system has been piloted and
is successful. The Council is moving to a different model from
September 2021 and will be redirecting the Athrawon Bro Service who are involved in immersion
in schools. The Council could also tap into the successful
immersion process used in Gwynedd.
Parental support is important for parents. There are
a number of support packages available
for parents that have already been developed. Parents have joined
pupils in immersion sessions which has helped them learn the
language.
The
methodology being proposed is to developing pupils to be
multi lingual.
There is also a great deal of
experience in this field which will be made available to Ysgol Bro
Hyddgen.
The
Service will work with the school on what additional support can be
provided to pupils in the English Language stream.
|
With older children moving into
the area and latecomers to the school they will have difficulty
following GCSE courses in the medium of Welsh. Internet learning
will be huge in the future. Will there be precautions to stop using
the internet for Welsh avoidance. - if most lessons are online,
will there be support even if pupils do not use the Welsh Language
in lessons.
|
The school is very Welsh now
and will be a Welsh Medium school in future. Out of school
activities will help integrate pupils into the community and will
assist ...
view the full minutes text for item 4.
|
|
5. |
Post 16 PDF 604 KB
To scrutinise the draft report of the
Portfolio Holder for Education and Property and to make
recommendations / observations to the Cabinet for
consideration.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Documents
Considered:
·
Draft Report of the Portfolio Holder for Education
and Property.
Issues
Discussed:
·
Questions:
Question
|
Response
|
The proposal is welcomed, and
the methodology in reaching this stage is impressive. It has been
good that headteachers have been involved in the whole process and
it is hoped that this will continue in future.
Strategic Management Board
– as the overarching body, will there be role for scrutiny in
overseeing the work of this group and when would scrutiny be
involved.
There is also no councillor
involvement in this group – should the Portfolio Holder for
Education represent the Council on the group.
|
The initial advice to officers
was not to include officers and Members on the Board. However, this
is now the intention, and the Service is awaiting clearance from
the Legal Service before including the Portfolio Holder on the
Board.
The Strategic Management Board
will be able to be scrutinised.
ACTION – include in
the Scrutiny comment that a scrutiny process needs to be built into
the final process and that the Portfolio Holder should be a member
of the Board.
|
Welsh Language and ALN are
mentioned in document. The document also refers to 14-16 age
groups. Will the proposal regarding ALN include individuals up to
25 years old.
|
The proposal has been developed
in consultation with the ALN team. With ALN it is pupils in the 16
to19 age range which are the focus of this proposal. ALN
specialists will look at the 19 to 25 age group.
|
The proposals have been thought
through in detail which is impressive.
This could be great for pupils
but there is concern about teacher development. Will post 16
teaching impact on less numbers of teachers in future. Will this
impact on staff development and the turnover of staff.
Will the Strategic Management
Board commission schools or teachers.
|
The proposal is to develop post
16 teaching in Powys and to increase the offer. The development of
teachers to work differently will be critical, and they have learnt
to do this over the past year due to the pandemic. Learning in new
ways and styles could be exciting for teachers and support and
development will be available for teachers.
The Operational Management
Boards will be asked to consider the local offer to be provided.
There are too many courses with small numbers at present, or
courses being taught which are available on e-sgol. These recommendations will go to the
Strategic Management Board for approval. The development of Boards
is being considered currently.
|
Is there a Welsh Government
Grant for Welsh Medium for 16 to 19 pupils.
|
There is an uplift grant from
Welsh Government which includes Welsh Medium. Post 16 has been
funded on what was provided previously - this needs to grow. The
Welsh Medium grant level is not large
but we could make better use of this and grow the use of Welsh
Medium provision.
|
There should be savings with
the development of courses. Other courses will need ...
view the
full minutes text for item 5.
|
|
6. |
Work Programme
To note that future meetings of the Committee
are scheduled as follows:
Date
|
Time
|
Items
|
12-05-21
|
14.00 - 16.00
Zoom
|
Post 16 (Cabinet
18-05-21)
Ysgol Bro Hyddgen
language category (Cabinet 18-05-21)
|
09-06-21
|
14.00 - 16.00
Zoom
|
WESP pre consultation (Cabinet
22-06-21)
Ysgol Dyffryn
Trannon Language category (Cabinet 22-06-21)
|
08-07-21
|
14.00 - 16.00
Zoom
|
Castle Caereinion (Cabinet
13-07-21)
Llanfihangel Rhydithon (Cabinet
13-07-21)
|
14-07-21
|
14.00 - 16.00
Zoom
|
School Budgets
2021-22
School Budgets
out-turn 2020-21
Poverty
Report
|
15-09-21
|
14.00 - 16.00
Zoom
|
Mount Street / Cradoc (Cabinet
21-09-21)
Llanbedr (Cabinet
21-09-21)
Churchstoke (Cabinet
21-09-21)
|
08-12-21
|
14.00 - 16.00
Zoom
|
Llangedwyn / Llanfechain / Bro
Cynllaith (Cabinet 14-12-21)
Llanfyllin - Phase 2 (Cabinet
14-12-21)
Ysgol Calon Cymru (Cabinet
14-12-21)
|
12-01-22
|
14.00 - 16.00
Zoom
|
WESP - post consultation
(Cabinet 18-01-22)
|
Minutes:
The Committee noted that future meetings would
be held as follows:
Date
|
Time
|
Items
|
12-05-21
|
14.00 – 16.00
Zoom
|
Post 16 (Cabinet
18-05-21)
Ysgol Bro Hyddgen language category (Cabinet
18-05-21)
|
09-06-21
|
14.00 - 16.00
Zoom
|
WESP pre consultation (Cabinet
22-06-21)
Ysgol Dyffryn
Trannon Language category (Cabinet
22-06-21)
|
08-07-21
|
14.00 - 16.00
Zoom
|
Castle Caereinion (Cabinet
13-07-21)
LlanfihangelRhydithon (Cabinet 13-07-21)
|
14-07-21
|
14.00 - 16.00
Zoom
|
School Budgets
2021-22
School Budgets
out-turn 2020-21
Poverty
Report
|
15-09-21
|
14.00 - 16.00
Zoom
|
Mount Street / Cradoc (Cabinet
21-09-21)
Llanbedr (Cabinet
21-09-21)
Churchstoke (Cabinet
21-09-21)
|
08-12-21
|
14.00 - 16.00
Zoom
|
Llangedwyn / Llanfechain / Bro
Cynllaith (Cabinet 14-12-21)
Llanfyllin - Phase 2 (Cabinet
14-12-21)
Ysgol Calon Cymru (Cabinet
14-12-21)
|
12-01-22
|
14.00 - 16.00
Zoom
|
WESP - post consultation
(Cabinet 18-01-22)
|
|