Issue - meetings
Wirral Schools Strategy
Meeting: 17/07/2017 - Cabinet (Item 23)
23 Wirral Schools Strategy 
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Minutes:
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Councillor Bernie Mooney, Cabinet Member for Children and Families, said:
“We want every child to attend a good school, getting a good education which helps them live positive, happy lives where they achieve their aspirations. This strategy is about every school in Wirral working together, alongside the Council and other agencies, to support each other and improve.
Wirral already performs very well – 9 in 10 of our children already attend a good school. Our ambition is for this number to be 100% by 2020. To get there we will deliver improvements in our early years, school and college education over the coming years to enable Wirral pupils to achieve their full potential.
I am delighted to say our schools, partners and every related agency are fully behind this strategy. Everyone with an interest in improving local education has worked together to create this collective plan. I am incredibly proud of the work which has already been done, and I am excited at the potential for even better performance this strategy brings.” |
Councillor Bernie Mooney introduced a report which informed the Cabinet that, in line with the national agenda, Local Authority School Improvement officers had been working with school leaders to develop a more autonomous and self-improving school system, enabling schools, irrespective of their status, to lead their own improvement. The conversion of schools to academies had resulted in increased autonomy for these schools that were answerable to the Regional Schools Commissioner’s office and the Education Funding Agency. The Cabinet noted that the majority of Wirral secondary schools (76%) were academies and currently only 7% of Wirral primary schools were academies.
The Cabinet was informed that the significant reduction of £3.2 million in the Education Services Grant received by the local authority to undertake statutory duties around school improvement had meant that schools could not rely on the Local Authority to continue with these functions in the way they had previously. Whilst there was now some reduced provision within the Schools Budget and a new grant from September the majority of national school improvement funding available could only be accessed through collaborative bids by Teaching School, Local Authorities and Multi-Agency Trusts (MATs).
Councillor Mooney proposed that the Leader of the Council be requested to write to the Secretary of State for Education expressing extreme concern at the reduction in Wirral’s Education Services Grant because the Council should be investing in young people’s education. Cutting this budget was a huge retrograde step and the Government should reconsider its decision.
Councillor Mooney informed that achieving well at school was fundamental to improving the quality of life for all of the children and young people in Wirral. The strategy aspired for all of education settings to be rated as ”good or outstanding” by 2020, and the Council must deliver improvements in our early years, school and college education over the coming years to enable Wirral pupils to be the best they could be. The strategy aimed to make sure there was ... view the full minutes text for item 23