Agenda and draft minutes

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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 Councillor K Roberts Jones and A Davies Co-Opted Member, as well as from County Councillor P Davies (Portfolio Holder for Education and Property)

2.

Disclosures of interest

To receive any disclosures of interest by Members relating to items to be considered at the meeting.

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.

Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP) pdf icon PDF 146 KB

To receive and consider the report of the Portfolio Holder for Education and Property and to make recommendations / observations to the Cabinet for consideration.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Documents Considered:

·                 Report of the Portfolio Holder for Education and Property – Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP) 2022 – 2032.

 

Issues Discussed:

·                 This is a draft document, and part of the national framework. What has changed is that this is a ten year plan with constant monitoring during that period.

·                 In the past they were three year plans with authorities not able to deliver within the timescale due to other pressures. As a strategic document this can be seen as part of the overall plan to change education in Powys.

·                 There are seven specific outcomes set out in the document which includes increasing the numbers of staff who can teach through the medium of Welsh.

·                 Welsh Government have placed all authorities in categories to assess what targets would be reasonable for them. For Powys this means a significant increase over the period from 22.2% of Year 1 pupils being taught through the medium of Welsh in 2019/20 to between 32 – 36% taught  through the medium of Welsh in 2030/31.

·                 The document will be developed to become the finalised consultation document and the post consultation WESP will be considered by the Cabinet and if approved submitted to Welsh Government.

·                 Once the WESP comes into force (anticipated September 2022) the authority will be required to submit an annual review report to Welsh Government by 21 July each year.

·                 Some of the data is currently not available but by the time is it submitted for consultation the 2020-21 data will have become available.

·                 A question for scrutiny is what should the percentage be to ensure continuity of education through the medium of Welsh from primary to secondary.

·                 Currently it is only over 82% of pupils who are taught through the medium of Welsh at primary level and then study through Welsh Medium streams at secondary level. This means we lose around 20% of all pupils at 11 years of age who move from Welsh Medium streams to English Medium streams.

·                 Another question for scrutiny is what the growth rate should be from Year 6 at primary level and Year 7 at Secondary level. Should we be aiming at more than 100% growth.

·                 There are examples of effective Immersion programmes (Trochi) elsewhere where pupils between Years 6 and 7 can decide that they wish to be fully bilingual, can follow the programmes to develop language skills and become fully bilingual. The question is how many opportunities we should give to 4 and 11 year olds to have bilingual skills through an Immersion process.

·                 The Council also needs to consider how to develop its staff who want to work bilingually to do so.

 

·                 Questions:

 

Outcome 1 (Nursery / Three Year Olds):

 

Looking at actual provision of education and heavy reliance on Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin (MYM), are we going to have sufficiently robust agreements with MYM around the ongoing provision and particularly developments of new provision where there is no provision now.

Many of the outcomes cross. This is beginning of the journey  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 235 KB

To note the Forward Work Programme as attached.

Minutes:

The Committee noted the details of forthcoming meetings. It also noted that it would continue to consider school transformation proposals.