Councillor Wendy Clements welcomed all present to the meeting of the Attainment Sub Committee and noted apologies.

Members are asked to consider whether they have any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or any other relevant interest in connection with any item(s) on this agenda, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

Councillor Paul Hayes declared a non pecuniary interest by virtue that he is a Governor of St Mary’s Catholic College.

Councillor Tony Norbury declared a non pecuniary interest by virtue that his sister is employed in Early Years settings.

Councillor Wendy Clements declared a non pecuniary interest in agenda item 4 (minute 35 refers) by virtue that she is a Governor of Emslie Morgan Alternative Provision School (EMAPS) Special Needs Provision school.

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting held on 1 September, 2014.

Resolved – That the accuracy of the Minutes of the Attainment Sub Committee held on 1 September. 2014 be approved as a correct record.

To receive a verbal presentation.

Sue Talbot, Senior Manager, School Improvement, Targeted Services, Children & Young People’s Department gave an overview of Ofsted inspections since1September, 2014 to 1 December, 2014 and responded to members questions. It was reported that 2 schools were in an Ofsted category (1secondary – serious weaknesses, 1 special school/alternative provision – special measures), 7 secondary schools required improvement (3 academies, 4 maintained) and 13 primary schools required improvement. 86% of primary schools were currently reported as good or better 68% of secondary schools were currently good or better and 92% of special schools / alternative provision were good or better. There had been 17 inspections in this period; 2 schools had been downgraded (2 primary schools - good to requires improvement), 11 schools had stayed the same grade (9 good; 2 requires improvement) and 4 schools have been upgraded (2 primary schools, 1 secondary school, 1 special school.

Members considered the published results relating to Bidston Avenue Primary, Christ the King Catholic Primary School, Eastway Primary School, Egremont Primary School, St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School (W), Leasowe Primary School, Woodslee Primary School, St. Mary’s Catholic College, Lingham Primary School, Pensby High School for Boys, St Josephs’s Catholic School (U),Stanton Road Primary School, Mendell Primary School, St. Alban’s Catholic Primary School and monitoring inspection visits to Bebington High Sports College and Emslie Morgan Alternative Provision School. Sue Talbot also reported upon HMI Monitoring visits since Sept 2014, schools in Special Measures, schools in serious weakness and schools requiring improvement. It was noted that as schools convert to academies that the current status would disappear and in response to questions from members Sue Talbot informed the Sub Committee that support would be ongoing for these schools.

It was reported that two major reforms had been implemented which affected the calculation of Key Stage 4 performance measures data; Professor Alison Wolf’s review of Vocational Education recommendations which would restrict the qualifications counted and prevented any qualification from counting as larger than one GCSE and capped the number of non GCSEs included in performance measures at two per pupil and secondly that an early entry policy should only count a pupil’s first attempt at a qualification. Members also discussed the analysis of FSM Attainment Gap 5A*-C Including English & Maths and the interventions which were in place throughout the country and determined to include this in the Work Programme for future meetings.

Resolved – That;

1  Sue Talbot be thanked for the presentation.

2  the report be noted.

To receive a verbal presentation.

Julia Hassall, Director of Children’s Services, presented a verbal report on the main priorities for the Council with schools 2014-15 and beyond. The presentation had been given to Primary and Secondary Headteachers. The Director of Children & Young Persons reported on the LGA – role of Councils in relation to schools and the role of the Director of Children’s Services. The Director also provided members with outcomes from the ADCS Conference in July 2014 that examined the evolving education system in England: a “temperature check” - DfE July 2014 – which was a study of 10 local education systems that referred to the evolution of the three key functions of a local education system - school improvement and intervention, school place – planning and supporting vulnerable children. The presentation also included an outline of supporting vulnerable children – national “temperature check”, school improvement locally, place planning, and supporting vulnerable children. Members were also given an update on evolving local systems – Wirral / Cheshire West and Chester - shared service and shared service development. It was reported that both Cabinet’s had made the decision to proceed in November and were now moving forward to set the company up from April 2015.

Resolved – That ;

1  the Director of Children’s Services be thanked for the presentation.

2  the presentation be noted.

Members considered a report of the Director of Children’s Services that informed members about the work of two primary schools in Wirral, which had received investment from the Council to develop innovative approaches to tackling child poverty. The report evidenced the impact and added value of working in this way to improve outcomes for children, families and their communities. Examples included programmes of activity to engage children educationally during school holidays, support for parents to get into work and further training, and ways of engaging the whole community in a positive way. An appendix to the report provided details of the commissioning process for the projects.

The report set out the background and underpinning reasons for the project and informed the Sub Committee that 25% of Wirral children lived in poverty as determined by the income deprivation indicator for child poverty. It was reported there were acute inequalities in Wirral with levels as low as 1% in some areas and as high as 70% in others, where long-standing issues of deprivation and disadvantage prevented families from escaping poverty.  Feedback from local agencies suggested that the financial climate and changes to the benefits system were having a combined impact on children and families in poverty.  In June 2013 Cabinet had approved the Working Group’s child poverty pilot project.  The proposal was based on the evidence and research of the 2010 Marmot Review and Wirral’s Child and Family Poverty Working Group. The proposal had invited those schools, where the majority (i.e. 51% or above) of pupils on roll lived in an area where child poverty and deprivation levels were in the highest 20% of areas nationally, to express an interest in working with the Council to pilot a primary ‘school community Hub’. The Hub acted as a central place for people to work together and access resources available in the school and in the community and offered a focused approach to children, young people and families to have their needs met as early as possible. It was reported that In January 2014, Holy Spirit Primary School, Leasowe and Fender Primary School, Woodchurch (the Community Hub) had been awarded £50,000 each to develop and implement a ‘School’ Community Hub. Upon allocation of the money the hubs had begun work immediately and had been active since that time.

The report informed the Sub- Committee that the objectives of the Hubs dovetailed with the Council’s Corporate Priorities; Local Decisions; Local Solutions; Driving Growth and Promoting Independence. Translating these priorities into tangible objectives for the Hubs, were as follows:

·  Increase family and children’s wellbeing;

·  Increase capacity in the community to tackle poverty;

·  Create greater awareness of support available to parents in the local area;

·  Increase desire of parents to move into work, and with a clear understanding of how to pursue this goal;

·  Increase engagement of parents with existing employment and enterprise;

·  Improve aspirations of children due to rising parental aspirations.

It was reported that the ultimate function of the Hubs was to create a web  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

Members considered a report that provided information about how the Council would be taking forward its provision for alternative education (AP).  The report outlined the outcome of a review of alternative education provision, its recommendations and outlined the details of a further consultation about options for the future provision of alternative education provision at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.

Members considered suggestions to be included in the Work Programme for future meetings and agreed that future areas for consideration should include;

1  interventions aimed at closing the attainment gap between pupils in receipt of free schools meals and other pupils and:

2  provision for disruptive (EBD) pupils and whether this was up to standard.

The next meeting of the Attainment Sub Committee will be held on 4 March, 2015 in at 6 pm, Committee Room 1, Town Hall, Wallasey.