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ITEM CH4
Council,
10 January 2006
White Paper:
Higher Standards, Better Schools for All
Motions referred to the Cabinet via the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committeefor
advice to the Council at its April meeting
MOTION (1)
FROM COUNCILLOR JEAN FOOKS
"This
Council notes the launch of the Government’s Education White Paper on
25 October 2005.
This
Council supports the Government’s wish to improve schools for every child
but has serious doubts that the proposals in the White Paper would achieve
this.
It
believes that:
- The aim of education
is to help every child reach their personal potential in preparation
for a fulfilling adult life
- The best results
are achieved when schools collaborate and the local authority is best
placed to play a co-ordinating role
- Local schools
should be funded locally, with decisions made by elected bodies accountable
to local people, rather than by funding formulas dictated by central
government
- The White Paper
would raise barriers to delivering the Every Child Matters agenda which
sees schools, alongside the Extended Schools initiative, as a key part
of integrated children’s services.
This
Council therefore calls for:
- The restoration
of financial and planning powers to Oxfordshire for 16-19 education
to enable a coherent 14-19 education policy to be developed
- The Leader of
Oxfordshire County Council to lobby local MPs to campaign actively for
education services to remain accountable to local people through local
democracy and to vote for this principle when the White Paper is debated
in Parliament.
This
Council reaffirms its commitment to providing good local schools for every
child and asks the Chief Executive to write to the Secretary of State
for Education and Skills to set out the concerns and proposals in this
Motion."
MOTION (2)
FROM COUNCILLOR JEAN FOOKS
"This
Council has particular concerns that proposals concerning school admissions
in the Government’s White Paper ‘Higher Standards, Better Schools for
all’ would work against the provision of good local schools for every
child. This Council believes that Admissions policies should not encourage
schools to ‘poach’ pupils from each other.
This
Council is concerned that implementing the White Paper would lead to:
- An admissions
‘free for all’ where schools could choose the pupils they want and leave
some parents without the school place they wanted for their child
- School closures
in deprived areas, contrary to the government’s own policies on neighbourhood
regeneration
This
Council therefore wants Oxfordshire to continue to lead and co-ordinate
local admissions to ensure fair access for all, including hard-to-place
children, and asks the Leader to write to the Secretary of State requesting
that this be protected in any new legislation."
MOTION FROM
COUNCILLOR VAL SMITH
"This
Council recognises that the Education White Paper has many strengths including
money for personalised learning, action on behaviour and discipline, and
more challenge for "coasting schools".
However,
there are other issues that cause concern - for example on admissions
policies, the proposed ban on new community schools, the practicalities
of expansion and contraction of schools in response to parental choice,
and the risk that schools serving disadvantaged children may lose out
in a more choice-driven system.
This
Council feels that as an LEA it should also have a say and requests the
Cabinet Member for Schools Improvement to initiate discussions with officers
and members in consultation with school governing bodies and parents with
a view to the Council putting forward its views on the White Paper and
any legislation to follow."
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