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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 Councillors J Berriman, L Roberts, K Laurie-Parry.
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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.
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3. |
Declarations of Party Whip
To
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.
(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 had been
given in relation to the meeting in accordance with Section 78(3)
of the Local Government Measure 2011.
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4. |
Scrutiny Items
Minutes:
The Chair reported back on a decision taken at
the previous meeting in respect of the financial position of Ysgol
Calon Cymru. Following the meeting the Chair took advice from
officers and a request was made for SWAP to undertake an
investigation to look at the structures, the decision making
process, the reports that were received which have resulted in the
current position with Ysgol Calon Cymru. The draft report is
expected in September or October 2020.
The urgency of the issue was due to an
increasing deficit and as the Council is about to undertake a major
review of the school estate, and it is important that the Council
understands the issues and learns lessons from the setting up of
this school before moving forward with the transformation
process.
The Portfolio Holder for Education and the
Interim Chief Education Officer welcomed this investigation. The
Committee was advised by a Challenge Adviser, that lessons had
already been learned and a different approach used in the
establishment of the new school in Llanfyllin for example by the early appointment of
a business manager to support the school.
A Member asked if the Committee could have
sight of the issues arising from the establishment of Ysgol Calon
Cymru as it could be used to challenge future proposals. The Chair
advised the Committee that these would be detailed in the SWAP
report. Another Member suggested that the Council should not be
comparing Ysgol Calon Cymru with an all through school such as
Llanfyllin but look at another dual
site school such as the Newtown and Presteigne school.
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4.1 |
Scrutiny of the Decision in relation to the 4 week Term in July and the Autumn Term Break PDF 241 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Documents
Considered:
·
Report on the re-opening of schools in Powys for
four weeks until 24th July, 2020.
Issues
Discussed:
·
This arose following the Minister's announcement
regarding the reopening of schools, and Welsh Government's proposal
that check-in, catch-up and prepare for September would extend the
term for a further week in July as well as a proposal to extend the
October half term break by an additional week.
·
Questions:
Did every school
and every setting open for the four weeks
|
All schools and
all settings opened for the fourth week. The Council did consult
with all headteachers and key partners such as the Unions about the
proposals to take account of the well-being of staff and learners
and the support received for the fourth week was overwhelming. The
fourth week and the guidance being received from Welsh Government
also assisted the Council in its preparations for
September.
|
The interaction
with headteachers and unions is important. Could you expand on that
and why there was such positivity within Powys when other
authorities were not getting the same response.
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Regular
engagement was undertaken with the unions, governors, elected
members which was welcomed. The headteachers' union supported the
proposals as well.
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Feedback from
children is that they welcomed going back to school for the fourth
week, and especially welcomed by those transitioning into secondary
schools. Does the Council have the percentage figure for how many
children attended school during the 4 week
period.
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Week 1 - 73%;
Week 2 - 74%; Week 3 – 78%;Week 4 - 78%.
With regard to
transitioning this related to all ages including those moving from
early years to schools.
|
Of the 22% of
pupils that did not attend, what percentage of pupils were classed
as shielded.
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This information
is held by the schools and the information could be provided
following the meeting.
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Could the
Portfolio Holder and officers expand the detail about the October
half term in terms of the predicted modelling.
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Normality going
forward will contain an element of distance and blended learning
and the authority needs to be prepared for this. Should there be a
further spike in the pandemic, this is one reason for the
recommendation by the Minister for an additional week in October,
as the data when the recommendation was made that there could be a
further spike around the half term period.
The Interim
Chief Education Officer advised the Committee that 3 contingency
plans had been prepared for the Autumn term i.e. for a full
lockdown, a partial reopening of schools, and a full reopening.
Part of the contingency plans include blended learning. With the
range of plans that have been prepared the Council believes it is
prepared for the Autumn term. There was no outbreak or Covid-19 in
any of the emergency childcare hubs and the plans for the emergency
hubs were highly effective.
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There have been some comments
from schools that some pupils seem to have lost confidence and
appear to be fragile and around 50% were not engaging,
...
view the full minutes text for item 4.1
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4.2 |
Report of the Children's Commissioner in Wales regarding Vulnerable Learners PDF 439 KB
Minutes:
Documents
Considered:
·
Powys Schools Service Covid-19 Response
Issues
Discussed:
·
There was a great deal of commonality between this
report and the final item on the agenda.
·
The report shows the collaborative work which was
undertaken by services in Powys.
·
In relation to blended learning a Teaching and
Learning Group developed guidance for schools to support blended
learning, support for emotional well-being of pupils, support for
pupils and for parents. While teaching was key it was important to
support pupils and parents as well.
·
Questions:
It is important
that both teachers and pupils are ready for blended learning. The
report under paragraph 2.1 states what has been done for digital
connectivity. Have all of these been used, are there still
connectivity problems in any areas. Is the Council confident if
there were a full lockdown that education could be delivered in the
next academic year.
|
The
collaborative work between catchment schools during the period has
been important, especially in getting devices out quickly to those
that did not have access to such devices previously. The support of
Welsh Government was also important in accessing wi-fi dongles so
that pupils could access services such as HWB.
|
Has there been
an audit of the additional hardware support needed for new learners
attending schools in September and what are the plans to get
devices out to pupils if this is necessary
|
The original
devices were issued from the hub schools and should now have been
returned. Any damaged devices should have been replaced. The
Committee received assurances that there are adequate digital
devices in schools to accommodate new learners in September and if
not they can be procured quickly.
|
Has the
authority got figures for numbers of pupils that have not connected
at all digitally during the pandemic as these pupils may need
additional support and training in September.
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Each pupil
connecting to HWB is logged. However this information would be
dealt with at a school level. Pupils are being encouraged to use
the resources available to them and on average 85% of learners were
able to and had logged onto HWB. However this does not include all
the foundation phase where pupils did not always have a need for
digital devices. Much of the foundation phase learning is in the
outdoors and practical. This was a broad curriculum which could be
undertaken at home with families.
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Safeguarding
– has there been an increase in safeguarding issues or
disclosures since pupils have returned to school
|
The Council is
anticipating an increase in disclosures and there have been some in
the last four weeks. What the Council has also seen is an increased
number of children requiring counselling during the period
particularly in Year 5 and 6 which has seen a 60% increase. There
has also been an increase in instances of domestic violence during
the period. Schools are considering what types of support pupils
will need on return in September either academic or well-being
support.
Additional
funding for counselling provision has been made available
...
view the full minutes text for item 4.2
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4.3 |
Scrutiny of Decisions taken during the Covid-19 outbreak period PDF 411 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Documents
Considered:
·
Report – Education Response to
Covid-19
Issues
Discussed:
·
Childcare Hubs.
·
Questions:
Some hubs have
moved from schools to leisure centres, not necessarily in the same
towns. How was this transition.
|
There were
challenges in moving these venues. There was concern about capacity
for key workers' children and where it was felt that there was
insufficient capacity in schools, leisure centres were utilised in
5 settings where children could not be cared for in their own
schools.
It was clear
that as more key workers returned to work there would be a need for
increased capacity for their children. Powys was the only Council
that made that additional childcare provision available. With the
additional week of schools being opened this meant that there was
an additional week's care for the children of key
workers.
|
The Interim Senior Manager, Additional
Learning Needs and Inclusion advised the Committee that the PRU had
been asked to contribute to an Estyn best practice case study on
supporting vulnerable young people during lockdown. The Portfolio
Holder for Education referred to the Estyn report on Community
Schools where one of the Ystradgynlais
schools had been included in the case study.
Outcomes:
Noted
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5. |
Work Programme
The
next meetings of the Committee will be as follows:
07-09-2020
|
10.00 a.m. – 12.00 p.m.
|
Item: School Transport Policy
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07-10-2020
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14.30 p.m. – 16.30 p.m.
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11-11-2020
|
14.00 p.m. – 16.00 p.m.
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16-12-2020
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14.00 p.m. – 16.00 p.m.
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Minutes:
The
Committee noted that the next meetings will be held as
follows:
07-09-2020
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10.00 a.m. – 12.00 p.m.
|
Item: School Transport Policy
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07-10-2020
|
14.30 p.m. – 16.30 p.m.
|
|
11-11-2020
|
14.00 p.m. – 16.00 p.m.
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16-12-2020
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14.00 p.m. – 16.00 p.m.
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The Scrutiny Manager indicated that following
the last meeting of the Improvement and Assurance Board there would
be a role for scrutiny to consider performance reports. The Chair
advised that it may be necessary to hold another meeting in
September to deal with School Budgets for 2020-21 which were
deferred from a previous meeting.
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