Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillor Steve Harrod (Councillor Greene substituting).

Councillor Howson declared an interest by reason of his employment

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 3 December 2015 (ESC4 (to be circulated separately)) and to receive information arising from them.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 3 December 2015 were approved and signed subject to the following amendment:

Minutes 43/15 Councillor Waine corrected the minute to include a focus on attainment looking at the locality level on a school by school basis.

During discussion the following was agreed:

Minute 43/15 – a supplementary report on secondary schools was to be added to the forward plan;

Minute 43/15 Officers to provide the clarification requested in the bullet point around Henley College Grouping;

Minute 45/15 Carole Thomson clarified that it was details of the meeting to be circulated not the paper. Details were circulated at the meeting.

10.15

Rebecca Matthews, Interim Deputy Director, Education & Learning will attend to present the annual report (ESC6) concerning the outcomes for children looked after and those who are care leavers. It focusses on phonics in year 1, key stage 1 & 2 at primary aged pupils and GCSE at key stage 4. It also reports on destinations for those post-16 and on attendance for all pupils in care.

It looks back at the progress against priorities set last year and sets new priorities and targets for 2015-16.

The Education Scrutiny Committee is RECOMMENDED to comment on the annual report attached at Appendix 1.

Rebecca Matthews, Interim Deputy Director, Education & Learning attended for this item, together with Mark Jenner, Improvement & Development Manager for Vulnerable Learners – Education and Learning to present the annual report (ESC6) that concerned the outcomes for children looked after and those who are care leavers. It focussed on phonics in year 1, key stage 1 & 2 at primary aged pupils and GCSE at key stage 4. It also reported on destinations for those post-16 and on attendance for all pupils in care.

The report also looked back at the progress against priorities set last year and the new priorities and targets for 2015-16.

In the temporary absence of the Chairman Councillor Waine was in the Chair for part of this item.

During questions the following points were raised:

1.            The implications for looked after children and care leavers in need of Education & Health Care Plans were considered. Mark Jenner commented that these children often moved around a lot and that the EHCP process was quite lengthy. This put children in care at a disadvantage. As a service they were working hard to flag up the issue and expected that the Placement Strategy would help.

2.            Early identification and intervention for children needing support was important for all children as well as looked after children.

3.            Mark Jenner agreed that attendance was a crucial factor and outlined the work done to gather information, to identify patterns and to address difficult cases. A member flagged concern with the downward trend in attendance.

4.            There was a request that future reports include numbers on asylum seekers.

5.            There was some concern expressed about the use of absence as an unofficial policy of schools. Councillor Waine noted that absence had been considered by the Corporate Parenting Panel.

Members of the Education Scrutiny Committee wished Mark Jenner well in his new role at Ofsted.

The Education Scrutiny Committee received the report and AGREED to request a further report to the Corporate Parenting Panel looking in detail (by schools) at the absence trend. It was necessary to make the link to individual schools and how they dealt with the issue. Reference was also made to the use of restricted timetables. The Committee further agreed that if necessary a further report come back to this Committee.

10.45

Verbal update by Rebecca Matthews, Interim Deputy Director for Education and Learning.

Rebecca Matthews, Interim Deputy Director for Education and Learning gave a verbal update on the position. She advised that officers met regularly and were in contact with Ofsted.

11.00

Rebecca Matthews, Interim Deputy Director for Education & Learning will attend for the discussion around the issue of recruitment and retention of teachers in Oxfordshire.

A background paper by Cllr John Howson is attached (ESC8)

The following people have been invited to address the committee on this topic:

·       Paul James, Cherwell School Headteacher

·       Patrick Garton, Cherwell School Assistant Headteacher

·       Tracey Smith, Headteacher of Tower Hill Primary School

·       Dr Mary Wild, Head of the School of Education, Oxford Brookes University

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)            note the content of this report.

(b)            ask the Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families to report back to this Committee on any actions that have been taken by the various Boards established in Oxfordshire to address recruitment challenges.

(c)            refer the issue of recruitment to the Teachers Joint Committee for discussion at their next meeting.

Rebecca Matthews, Interim Deputy Director for Education & Learning attended for the discussion around the issue of recruitment and retention of teachers in Oxfordshire. The Committee had before them a background paper by Councillor John Howson who declared an interest by reason of being a director of TeachVac, part of the Oxfordshire Teacher Services Group.

The following people also attended to address the committee on this topic:

• Patrick Garton, Cherwell School Assistant Headteacher
• Tracey Smith, Headteacher of Tower Hill Primary School
• Dr Mary Wild, Head of the School of Education, Oxford Brookes University

Councillor Howson introduced the contents of the report highlighting the worsening position with an expected increase in pupil numbers creating greater demand.

Mary Wild spoke about the position with regard to primary schools and referred to there being fewer allocations. This had led to a competitive environment for securing post graduates. They had been allowed to recruit only 75% of primary teachers compared with the previous year.

Patrick Garton outlined the work of the School Direct partnership and noted that all their work was at post graduate level. He had noticed fewer applications for RE, music, drama and IT and drawing and technology where there were fewer incentives to apply. In response to a question he outlined the model of training which was similar to that employed by the University led programme.

Tracey Smith spoke of the particulars difficulties faced by individual schools in recruiting and retaining staff. Her own school with 57% of its children on pupil premium was able to make use of the protocols favouring schools in greatest need. She highlighted the problem of affordable housing that meant that strong newly qualified teachers moved away from Oxford as there were no relevant key worker schemes for them that would allow them to remain.

During discussion Education Scrutiny Committee:

1.         considered the difficulties faced in getting recognition of the problem at government level and suggested a recommendation to ensure that local MPs were lobbied..

2.         noted the problems created by the lack of affordable housing and made recommendations accordingly.

3.         noted that linked to problems of recruitment and retention of new teachers was the increasing numbers of experienced teachers leaving the profession early.

4.         recognised the difficulty of the changing education landscape with schools acting individually. They noted the comments from Patrick Garton that he was involved in various groups and networks seeking to fund recruitment initiatives jointly. Members proposed that the paper be referred to the Schools Forum so that they could take note of the concerns raised.

The Education Scrutiny Committee AGREED:

(a)          Note with concern the contents of the report;

(b)          ask the Cabinet member for CEF to report back to this Committee on any actions that have been taken by the various Boards established in Oxfordshire to address recruitment challenges with specific reference to housing;

(c)          refer the issue of recruitment to the Teachers Joint Committee for discussion at their next meeting;

(d)          recommend the Cabinet member to request  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7/16

12.15

An opportunity to discuss and prioritise future topics for the Committee, potential approaches to its work and to discuss the schedule for future meetings.

Following discussion of the forward plan the following priorities were suggested for future meetings:

·         LAASSI;

·         Scrutiny Annual Report

·         Future Arrangements in education;

·         KS5 report;

·         Children on Edge of Care Schools Response.

It was further agreed that the following be included in future programming:

·         Free School Meals – July

·         Educational Attainment of Vulnerable Learner – bring back to agenda setting meeting

It was noted that the Role of Schools (and particularly school nurses) in smoking cessation should be removed from the forward plan.