Issue - meetings

The action sheet arising from the meeting of the Education & Learning Scrutiny Committee held on 14th September, 2021 was submitted, whereupon:-

Education Services – Main Self Evaluation Report (SER)

A Member referred to the attachment and asked for clarification on the rates of transfer figures for Brynmawr Foundation School and Georgetown Primary school.  The Service Manager Education Transformation & Business Change explained that the wrong document had been attached in error and she would provide Members with the correct document.

A Member raised concerns regarding the number of outward migration of pupils and enquired why pupils were choosing to be educated outside of Blaenau Gwent.  The Director said the overall data illustrated that there was comparability between those learners that were moving out of county and those that were coming in county. The Member commented that in year transfers out of Blaenau Gwent also needed to be captured in the tables to give Members a clearer picture of transfer rates.

The Director commented in relation to the secondary sector, three of the four secondary settings were now starting to experience, not surplus places, but sufficiency issues. That meant schools were actually having more applications than the amount of school places that were available.  He informed Members there had been some progress against Section 106 planning agreements, where the housing prospectus was now starting to generate additional requirements for places across the school estate.  Overall, the position was improving across the secondary sector in relation to the amount of learners that were either staying or actually coming into those schools.

With regard to reasons for outward migration, the Service Manager Education Transformation & Business Change said they vary significantly from application to application.  Parental preference usually dictated where the pupil attended school, other considerations were friendship groups, transport, child care and sometimes the parent’s workplace, it could be a matter of convenience to access out of county schooling rather than better Education provision.

A Member suggested that post-16 transfer figures for pupils transferring from Blaenau Gwent secondary schools to out of county colleges be available in the future. The Officer would look into providing this information in future.

The Committee AGREED, subject to the foregoing, that the action sheet be noted.