Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Emma Dent Coad, Cllr David Lindsay, Richard Derecki and Estella Gomez.

Any member of the Council who has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a matter to be considered at the meeting is reminded to disclose the interest to the meeting and to leave the Chamber while any discussion or vote on the matter takes place.

Members are also reminded that if they have any other significant interest in a matter to be considered at the meeting, which they feel should be declared in the public interest, such interests should be declared to the meeting. In such circumstances Members should consider whether their continued participation, in the matter relating to the interest, would be reasonable in the circumstances, particularly if the interest may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interests, or whether they should leave the Chamber while any discussion or vote on the matter takes place.

Declarations of interest were received from:

Cllr Will Pascall – Governor, Colville Primary School and Marlborough Primary School.

Amanda Sayers – Chair, Education Partnership Board

The minutes of the Meeting held on 9^th May 2024 are submitted for confirmation.

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 May 2024 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair introduced the item and invited the Lead Member for Family and Children’s Services and the Head of Commissioning - Children's Services to comment on the report. The Lead Member stated that further engagement with the voluntary sector had been carried out since the Committee discussed the Key Decision in May 2024, with an updated commissioning grant strategy proposed as a result.

The Committee agreed that the changes to the decision did not require any amendment to the Committee’s recommendations to the Leadership Team and committed to scrutinising progress in the implementation of the decision.

The Chair introduced the item and welcomed Wasim Butt, Director of Alternative Provision and Special Educational Needs at Ormiston Academy Trust, to the meeting along with the Lead Member for Family and Children’s Services, the Director of Education and the Head of Early Help and Social Work.

Mr Butt discussed Ormiston Academy Trust’s approach to Alternative Provision, noting that the Trust sought to remove barriers around inclusion to ensure provision for vulnerable children allowed them to develop and secure post-16 education or training. The Trust had invested in outreach to make inclusion placements more attractive and training to better support pupils and classes. Most children moved back to mainstream settings after a short-term placement in alternative provision. Mr Butt highlighted the Trust’s work as the sponsor of Ormiston Latimer Academy in North Kensington where a special resource base within the school was due to open in July 2024. The special resource base was an innovative delivery method of services for children with autism and/or social emotional mental health needs and was unique to RBKC with no other Alternative Provision setting nationally having a comparable offer.

The Lead Member commented on the report and highlighted that the low number of permanent exclusions in RBKC reflected the effective preventative work of the Council in partnership with local schools. Officers noted that the data presented in the report was the latest Department for Education validated data available.

The Chair invited the Committee to comment or ask questions on the report. Members of the Committee:

1.    Discussed the use of validated data in the report, noting that it did not reflect the current exclusions position or how local schools were responding. Members noted individual schools had, and acted on, more recent data; allocating resources and assessing shifting priorities accordingly.

2.    Considered the link between truancy and suspensions and permanent exclusion. Officers advised there was some correlation, but a complex range of issues led to absence and as a result sanctions weren’t always the most appropriate tool to resolve truancy issues.

3.    Noted parents often had concerns about alternative provision, particularly the lack of breadth of GCSE options for pupils, and asked if there were plans to widen the offer in response. Mr Butt responded that OAT supported AP schools had a broad and balanced offer compared to other providers, but accepted there were some limitations due to the fluidity of the pupil population requiring a focus on core subjects. Mr Butt accepted that alternative provision was generally perceived negatively by parents but OAT had invested in outreach to improve those perceptions.

4.    Asked how the risk of pupils falling behind due to a placement in an AP setting was managed. Mr Butt accepted outcomes were sometimes a concern, however, the time away from a mainstream setting allowed time for a reset, and support services to come together to build a support plan for the pupil to ensure a positive outcome from the AP placement.

5.    Noted the promotion of anti-racist practice to tackle the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Chair introduced the report and invited the Lead Member for Family and Children’s Services, the Director of Education and the Head of Early Help and Social Work to the discussion. The Lead Member highlighted the report had been prepared to emphasise the voice of children and young people. Officers added that, with regard to priority seven of the Plan, intensive consultation was underway with families affected by the Grenfell tragedy on how the education and training budget should be spent. This related to Key Decision KD1009861 Future Grenfell Support - Education and training consultation outcome. Officers recommended the Decision report be circulated to Committee members.

The Chair invited the Committee to comment or ask questions on the report, and in particular on the overarching seven priorities of the Plan. Members of the Committee:

1.    Welcomed action taken to address concerns raised by the Family Services Select Committee 2022 working group on Serious Youth Violence.

2.    Requested information on the outcome of the Virtual Reality for Relaxation and Wellbeing pilot undertaken by Westminster City Council to address priority three be shared with the Committee when available.

3.    Heard more detail about initiatives to develop clubs for particular at-risk groups.

4.    Noted reception year obesity rates had decreased by 4% since 2022 in RBKC and requested data be shared on obesity rates for all age groups.

5.    Noted WCC’s Westminster Employment Service was running training programmes to support young people into careers in some sectors, and asked if RBKC had a comparable service. Officers confirmed that RBKC offered a specialist free service in this area via the Targeted Prevention Team, but there was also collaboration across the bi-borough due to the strong links between the two areas.

6.    Discussed the 12-hour school day pilot by All Saints Catholic College in North Kensington and how it could contribute to meeting the priorities of the Plan.

7.    Emphasised the need to balance pathways to higher education with opportunities for vocational training. Officers confirmed schools are required to provided independent guidance on all post-16 pathways, but noted high academic achievement in the borough led to a high number of young people choosing higher education over apprenticeships. The Lead Member added that there was a degree of stigma around apprenticeships and vocational training and accepted that the Council had a large role to play in reducing the stigma and offering local apprenticeships as a large local employer.

8.    With regard to the priority of supporting vulnerable young people into adulthood, asked if additional funding was available to provide bespoke support for children at risk of exclusion into post-16 education. Officers advised that 14-16 provision was particularly challenging and the Council was not funded to provide bespoke support for that cohort.

The Chair summarised the discussion and noted the actions arising from the discussion.

ACTIONS

KD1009861 Future Grenfell Support - Education and training consultation outcome report to be circulated to the Committee.

Action: Governance Officer

Information on the outcome of the Virtual Reality for Relaxation and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Chair introduced the item and invited Select Committee members to discuss the Work Programme to discuss and confirm scrutiny priorities for the municipal year. Members of the Committee:

1.    Suggested a visual aid be produced to show the Child’s timeline from 0-18 including different transition points at ages 0, 5, 11,18 and services available at each stage, to allow the Committee to better understand pressure points and inform its scrutiny throughout the municipal year.

2.    Discussed the addition of looked after children, adoption rates and outcomes for looked after children to the Committee’s priorities. Members opted to request data for those areas be included in the quarterly performance dashboard report.

3.    Discussed examining how Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) were adhered to under the SEND provision priority. Officers advised the Council’s SEN Self-Assessment may be a useful document to consider in this area.

4.    Suggested scheduling scrutiny of priority 4, SEND Provision, and priority 5, mental health, for the same Select Committee meeting due to overlap in areas of interest.

5.    Noted the priority topic area of greening schools overlapped with the Environment Select Committee’s terms of reference. Officers advised the Overview and Scrutiny Committee would make a judgement on the most appropriate forum for scrutiny of the topic area when agreeing the work programme for all Select Committees.

6.    Requested the quarterly performance dashboard report be scheduled for the October 2024 Select Committee meeting.

The Committee AGREED scrutiny priorities for the municipal year as set out in Appendix 1 of the report.