Agenda item

To receive the Minutes of the Education & Learning Scrutiny Committee held on the 3^rd November, 2020.

(Please note the Minutes are submitted for points of accuracy only).

The Minutes of the Education & Learning Scrutiny Committee Meeting held on 3rd November, 2020 were submitted, whereupon:-

Summary of inspection outcomes for Educational Establishments – autumn term 2019 and spring term 2020

In relation to the above item a Member requested that his question regarding Brynmawr Foundation School, be included in the Minutes to show scrutiny challenge.  The report read:-

“In a majority of lessons, pupils of all abilities generally do not make enough progress.  They do not recall or use prior learning well enough, nor do they develop their skills sufficiently, particularly in literacy and numeracy.  This is an important shortcoming.”

The Member wanted assurances that Brynmawr Foundation School were engaging in professional learning with other schools and other organisations.

The Committee AGREED, subject to the foregoing, that the Minutes be accepted as a true record of proceedings.

VERBAL UPDATE - COVID-19 PANDEMIC

At the request of the Chair, the Corporate Director of Education provided a verbal update on the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Blaenau Gwent, across the whole of the school estate had moved to remote learning from the 10th December.  The decision was not taken lightly and feedback from Headteachers was that remote learning was working well, with learners continuing to be engaged. 

A Welsh Government directive was issued around two aspects of provision.  The first aspect, vulnerable learner provision, he felt the Authority were in a secure position in relation to vulnerable learner provision as there was strong provision in place to support learners that were Children Looked After and those learners that were on the Child Protection Register whose families may require support.

The second aspect of the directive was around key worker childcare provision prior to the Christmas break.  A special Headteachers meeting had been held and they had agreed that a communication be sent out to parents for them to advise of any childcare requirements that maybe needed for Thursday and Friday this week.  It had been made clear that this should only be as a last resort due to learners being safer within home settings.   The Director advised Members that the Authority was responding to the directive.

The officer continued, that Headteachers and the Council were working towards the 4th January start to the new term and were anticipating further information from the Welsh Government in terms of expectations for provision for the spring term for schools.

A Member enquired regarding the Welsh Government’s announcement around testing all pupils in schools. The Director of Education said that this was not expected to have this in place from the start of term, they were awaiting further details from the Welsh Government around testing provision in schools.

A Member said that, as a group, they had written to the Director of Education in November to request a switch to blended learning, he expressed his thanks to the Director of Education and his staff on the decision to switch to blended learning. He understood that it had been a difficult decision but infection rates had been rising fast in Blaenau Gwent with some parents removing their children from school which resulted in school numbers falling to half of what they should have been.  He felt that teachers and staff could rest securely, without the involvement of Track and Trace, over the Christmas period.  As a Councillor, School Governor and as a grandparent, he thanked the Director for making the difficult decision.

Members of the Scrutiny Committee also expressed their thanks to the Director and his staff for their hard work and diligence over the past challenging and difficult year.

The Director of Education thanked Members for their comments and reiterated that the decision was not taken lightly, but local circumstances meant that a number of schools were in a very precarious position.  After consultation with Headteachers, he felt it had been a proportionate response based upon the challenges that were faced at that time.

A Member raised concerns regarding risk assessments for pupils with complex needs whose parents were keyworkers and needed their children to attend the school hubs.  The Director of Education said that they would liaise with Health & Safety colleagues and Headteachers.  He reiterated that information was awaited from parents and carers regarding their requests for the keyworker provision.  Risk assessments would be carried out and consideration would be given to individual pupils needs with support from Health & Safety colleagues.

A Member raised concerns regarding the mixed messages announced by the Welsh Government regarding a January lockdown. He noted that Officers were working towards the 4th January start date, however, was the Directorate also considering extending blended learning should a lockdown be announced in January along with the testing of pupils in schools and the safeguards that needed to be put in place.  The Director of Education said they were awaiting further definitive guidance from the Welsh Government regarding expectations for provision from 4th January onwards.  However, Blaenau Gwent was geared up to blended learning and work had been carried out to ensure that learners had the IT capability to be able to learn from home settings, particularly those disadvantaged learners.  He felt that blended learning, for at least the spring term and possibly beyond could become the new norm and reiterated that Blaenau Gwent was well placed to continue with blended and remote learning moving forward into the Spring term.