Agenda item

Consideration was given to the report of the Corporate Director of Education which was presented to provide Members of the Education and Learning Committee with an opportunity to review the Estyn Thematic Review report that outlines narrative on the corporate response to the COVID-19 situation, particularly supporting the schools during the emergency period.

The Corporate Director of Education spoke to the report and highlight the main points contained therein.

A Member referred to page 32 of the report and requested an update on the number of vulnerable pupils who attended hub provision between March and July. The Service Manager Inclusion confirmed that the current number stood at 120.

The Co-opted Member provided a response to the thematic review from a Headteachers perspective.  He said the last few months had been very challenging in relation to trying to maintain a good standard of education for pupils when so many of the staff had to isolate.  There had been two areas of rapid progress in Blaenau Gwent, the first being the considerable progress in using IT more effectively to support pupils with distance learning, the second was the level of collaborative working with schools and Local Authority Officers.  There had been clear consultation, and totally unified agreement on all major decisions.  This provided greater clarity for parents because there was a consistent approach from all schools and felt that it had helped to limit the spread of the pandemic.  It was pleasing to note that Estyn had recognised this level of support, collaboration and trust and hoped it would continue in the future.

A Member referred to the first paragraph of page 33 - ‘Neither the interim arrangements for the corporate director position or the lack of school improvement lead officer appear to have impacted negatively on the local authority’s ability to support schools during the pandemic’.  He felt it was important to mention that the current Director had taken over on a temporary basis at the beginning of the pandemic and felt the Director and all his staff should be congratulated on the work they had undertaken since the start of the pandemic. 

The Chair and Members of the Committee expressed their appreciation and agreed with their colleague’s comments.

A Member referred to the savings of £210,000.  The Corporate Director of Education clarified that the report highlighted the portfolio underspend at that point in time linked to cost reduction, they were not revenue savings but just the financial position at that point in time.  In relation to budget monitoring, the additional costs associated with Covid such as catering and cleaning were largely funded through Welsh Government support through the hardship fund, the Directorate would be in an adverse financial position.

A Member expressed his appreciation for the invaluable support for vulnerable learners from the Inclusion team and acknowledged the good work of the Youth Services team regarding the distribution of computers and dongles to allow youngster to get online.  He welcomed the Thematic Review report which highlighted the approach during the early days of the pandemic and the reopening of schools, however, he had concerns that it was not evidenced based.  The Member was pleased to note that as a Local Authority we had put forward the five recommendations highlighted in the report to the Welsh Government. 

The Member referred to the recruitment, recovery, raising standards and accelerated learning grant funding to support pupils to catch up and with learning and enquired what progress had been made on monitoring the impact of the grant and what evidence was available to measure pupil outcomes.  He also enquired regarding strategic planning around what would education in Blaenau Gwent look like in September, for example what were the expectations of each school, how would pupil progress be measured and what had schools learned from blended learning.

The Corporate Director of Education said that in relation to the recruitment and recovery element of funding from the Welsh Government there were stringent monitoring arrangements in place that measured the impact associated with that spend.   He was now a participant of the Welsh Government led Recovery Group and felt this position could help Blaenau Gwent shape recovery at a strategic level.  Moving forward he felt that recovery in terms of the Covid response was going to be more of a medium to long term arrangement and that was why managing pupil progression was the key priority put forward to the EAS business plan.

The Member referred to promoting learning and quoted from the document ‘Officers considered the EAS provided good support to schools and blended learning approaches’ and felt that Estyn would need evidence in relation to this.  The Corporate Director of Education said that work was being undertaken with the EAS around celebrating, sharing, supporting and refining and a pilot was underway.  He felt that Blaenau Gwent was at the vanguard of doing that work and there would be the opportunity to share practice across the school estate.  Presentations were taking place from 13 out of 25 schools that were part of the pilot, they were also committed for the other 12 schools to participate in the next round of CSSR initiatives which would bring forward elements of good practice and felt that they were in a reasonable place to roll out that learning across the whole of the County Borough.

The Assistant Director EAS stated that a distance and blended learning session for Members had been held recently, the latest of a series of those where two schools in Blaenau Gwent presented what work they were doing to Members.  It had been well attended and the EAS would continue, through the Local Authority, to offer similar sessions moving forward.

The Committee AGREED to recommend that the report be accepted and endorse Option 1; namely that the report be accepted as presented.