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 disproportionate representation of specific ethnicities in exclusions data, and asked to what extent racism was leading to suspension or permanent exclusion in RBKC. Mr Butt advised there were no cases at that time where pupils at Ormiston Latimer Academy had been permanently excluded or subject to a managed move as a result of an incident of racial abuse. Officers added that the anti-racist practice and training was delivered to ensure teachers had greater cultural awareness.

6.    Requested more information on how authentic representation in the curriculum was being used to address the disproportionate representation of specific ethnicities in exclusions data.

7.    Asked the extent to which concentrating children with a history of challenging behaviour was a problem at Ormiston Latimer Academy. Mr Butt stated that bringing together children from different backgrounds and parts of the borough was often the biggest challenge, rather than inherent behavioural issues. The school worked to minimise issues by ensuring a wide range of support services was offered via an integrated approach.

8.    Noted the Council commissioned special advice for parents of children at risk of exclusion in collaboration with local charity ClementJames and asked if information could be shared on how many families were accessing the service. Officers advised the information could be shared after the meeting.

The Chair summarised the discussion and noted the below actions.

ACTIONS

Select Committee to receive a briefing paper on the promotion of anti-racist practice and authentic representation through the curriculum and the associated effect on exclusions.

Action: Bi-Borough Director of Education

Information on the independent advocacy service led by The ClementJames Centre to be circulated to the Select Committee.

Action: Head of Early Help and Social Work