Agenda and draft minutes

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 icon 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 icon 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)