Agenda and minutes

Points raised by the Panel:

Responses received from Officers or Cabinet Members.

Clarification sought by Committee Chair as to what could be added by Scrutiny given the paper was at Full Business Case stage.

Questions already received across the different Boards and Welsh Government (WG) in terms of was the school build big enough in relation to demand. Would there be equity at a future date for similar in the south of the County.

Location and the catchment of the school was confirmed in the strategic case of 2018/19 as the right location, post Covid was this still the case.

The site remained the best location not only strategically but operationally for the build. The site was in Council ownership, a key factor in the decision and despite other Council owned sites being considered. The majority of learners at Brynllywarch are from Montgomeryshire with a few attending from the Mid of the county. There is concern about the capacity of Brynllywarch and the demand for BESD provision which points to whether consideration is required in future as to whether a second site was required in the south of the County.

The maintenance backlog for the existing building stood at £3.8m. Powys’ contribution of 25% of costs for the new build equated to £3.1829m and would be less money to contribute to new than to continue with the old building.

That was correct.

Information requested in the relationship with the satellite school in Ystradgynlais.

Bryn Bach was a class within Maes y Dderwen High School and offered a suite of classrooms with specialist teachers and a LSA, with the Headteacher effectively an executive Head of both sites. The learners who attended were mainly from Breon and Ystradgynlais. There were 8 learners currently, with little space to accommodate more due to complexity and size of the space.

The site remained successful and was like to continue into the future.

Whilst the maintenance backlog was noted at £3.1m to refurbish and bring the school to modern standards would be £12.6m which would have to be fully funded by PCC.

How would the Local Authority meet the needs of south Radnorshire and Brecon for those learners with BESD.

Concerns were raised in regard to the travel time of 1 hour to attend Brynllywarch School.

In terms of the areas mentioned in the Mid and South of the County, the numbers were not seen currently, however aware this may change in the future. The Service acknowledged the distance and the travel time, the school did have their own staff on the specialist transport to support learners on journeys.

What were other schools within the mainstream sector doing which meant that the specialist support for those learners was not required, that Welshpool and Newtown were not.

There could be considered an equality of provision.

No school was handling situations any differently, the specific need in other communities was not there or not to the same level of complexity demonstrated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Points raised by the Panel:

Responses received from Officers or Cabinet Members.

Chair of the Learning and Skills Committee stated that they had always been supportive of this initiative, and now Powys had an opportunity to make a real difference.

Officers have shown their commitment increasing number of learners becoming bilingual across Powys. Data and statistical information has been included within the Education Service IEP, (Integrated Education Plan), which would also be a measure within the Corporate Strategic and Equalities Plan (CSEP) 2025-26.

The main challenge was funding, how would schools contribute. The Trochi Chair’s Report would be shared with the Fair Funding Formula Panel and the Schools Budget Forum.

Schools must demonstrate a commitment to Welsh Medium education, question raised whether matched funding could be considered as an option to increase funding.

The Funding Formula Review Group would consider any changes and currently working toward April 2026. Any proposals or changes that were brought forward would involve full consultation with all schools and their governing bodies.

Component 4 of the Formula was for national and LA priorities, at present  special schools accessed these specific funds.

If consideration were given to schools’  contributions, the narrative would need to be clear and concise, a period of consultation would be required including the Funding Formula Review Group and the Schools Budget Forum, prior to any arrangements being put in place. There were various ways of approaching the movement of funds under the funding formula and whether there were amendments required e.g., additional funding for Trochi provision, or through a business case to  implement changes to the delegated base budget, which would form part of the Councils Finance Resource Model (FRM) 

Also for clarification purposes the funding formula provides the same funding for both an English stream and a Welsh stream in terms of components. A dual stream school was treated as separate schools for both funding purposes, with a minor element included in the formula for Welsh Medium and dual stream schools of £3-5k translation more than an English stream school for translation purposes.

The Portfolio Holder for a Learning Powys wished to express his gratitude to the Trochi Working Group. The issues that have been identified echoed and supported the messages from them along with the backing from other Portfolio Holders in discissions with the Minister. The group has identified the challenge of support and immersion in rural areas, and the need to provide greater levels of provision.

It was hoped that through the progression of the organisational changes in respect to Welsh Medium Primary and Secondary level across the county, there would be 3 localities to review for immersion centres. Assistance from Welsh Government was required for all rural counties, given the distances involved, to make a significant contribution to the 2050 target, if this was a genuine WG priority.

Officers will be asked to bring this to the attention of their peers in Welsh Government.

Points raised by the Panel:

Responses received from Officers or Cabinet Members.

Why are we letting our children down. This data had been requested by Committee for a long time. Standards in schools have been slipping, the outcomes for learners are deteriorating and there was an increase in number of schools in an Estyn category, which was quite frightening.

There would not be a single teacher that would want to let our children down, however it had perhaps become an element that required focus for appropriate challenge. We must identify the potential our learners have and push them to the fullest, with an offer of the breadth of subjects choices as described in the presentation, which has to be balanced within the funding envelope.

The Service continues to support and challenge both senior and middle leaders, establishing peer groups.

Assurance given that the Service would not rest until standards were where they were expected and would continue to compare to other equivalent LA’s.

Director Of Education commented that there were variable standards and a lack of consistency across Powys’ schools. The Authority have set a vision and have a strong strategy to realise that vision. Need to focus on the things that would impact on learning progression in schools.

A key requirement was how well do we know our schools, what was the relationship between School Improvement Advisors (SIA) and school leaders, how were the education authority supporting and challenging evaluation and improvement planning in schools to ensure the right areas were targeted, work in these areas was ongoing.

Powys really did need to have that comparison to equivalent authorities, however there was something fundamentally wrong in the schools. The commitment of teachers, headteachers was not being questioned, but Estyn have highlighted teaching, learning and leadership concerns, which possibly could correlate to funding, asking schools to undertake more than able.

Comments made in relation to the new qualifications, in this meeting, that the schools will try and figure it out, was not acceptable. The new qualifications would be dependent on what staff are in the school for what subjects could be taught. Would the new qualifications lead to better outcomes and futures for our children. WG keep moving goalposts making targets difficult to achieve.

The implementation of the new curriculum would not be left to chance. The Service was working with leaders, the subject teams with our teachers ensuring they were supported.

The capacity of our schools was important as was making sure all leaders and middle leaders get opportunities to work with MWEP (Mid Wales Education Partnership) and use those links across Wales.

Mr Andrew Williams, headteacher of Radyr HS had undertaken the deep dives on funding which has assisted in forging significant relationships with Ysgol Radyr in Cardiff providing examples of how they have driven teaching and learning in their schools.

Would Scrutiny Committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Date

Agenda items – Subject to change

Notes

16.01.2025

1.    Ysgol Golwyg Pen y Fan (Brecon Primary) SOC

Delayed

29.01.2025

1.    Draft 2025-2026 Budget

05.02.2025

1.    Alternative Budget

2.    Bro Cynllaith Consultation Report