Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Big plans, bright future

Children & Young People Select Committee Minutes

Date:
Thursday, 20th November, 2014
Time:
4.30PM
Place:
Conference Room 2, Municipal Buildings, Church Road, Stockton, TS18 1LD
 
Please note: all Minutes are subject to approval at the next Meeting

Attendance Details

Present:
Cllr Carol Clark(Chairman), Cllr Norma Stephenson O.B.E(Vice-Chairman), Cllr Ben Houchen, Cllr Barbara Inman, Cllr Elliot Kennedy, Cllr Ken Lupton, Cllr Ross Patterson, Cllr Michael Clark(Vice Cllr Tracey Stott), Cllr Mrs Sylvia Walmsley
Officers:
Simon Willson, David Willingham, Jane Humphreys, Darren Coulton, Jane Wright, Lynda Brown, Shaun McLurg (CESC), Roland Todd, Louise McDonald(DNS), Judith Trainer, Jenna McDonald(LDS)
Apologies for absence:
Cllr Tracey Stott
Item Description Decision
Public
CYP
37/14		 EVACUATION PROCEDURE
Preamble
 
CYP
38/14		 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Preamble
 
CYP
39/14		 MINUTES FOR SIGNATURE - 17TH SEPTEMBER 2014
Preamble
AGREED that the minutes were signed by the Chairman as a correct record.
CYP
40/14		 DRAFT MINUTES - 25TH SEPTEMBER 2014 AND 15TH OCTOBER 2014.
Preamble
AGREED that the minutes be approved.
CYP
41/14		 SCRUTINY REVIEW OF SCHOOL ORGANISATION AND ADMISSION ARRANGEMENTS
Preamble
AGREED that the revised proposals be recommended to Cabinet for inclusion in the statutory consultation.
CYP
42/14		 PERFORMANCE UPDATE QUARTER 2 2014/15
Preamble
AGREED that the information be noted.
CYP
43/14		 PROGRESS UPDATES ON PREVIOUSLY AGREED RECOMMENDATIONS
Preamble
AGREED that the progress updates be noted.
CYP
44/14		 WORK PROGRAMME
Preamble
AGREED that the information be noted.

Preamble

ItemPreamble
CYP
37/14		The evacuation procedure was noted.
CYP
38/14		There were no declarations of interest.
CYP
39/14		The minutes of the meeting held on 17th September 2014 were signed by the Chairman as a correct record.
CYP
40/14		Consideration was given to the draft minutes of the meetings held on 25th September 2014 and 15th October 2014.
CYP
41/14		Members received information regarding the Scrutiny Review of School Organisation and Admission Arrangements.

The Committee heard that priorities which required further work to be considered in 2014 included:
- Ingleby Barwick Primary admission zones
- Secondary admission zone arrangements for south Stockton and Ingleby Barwick(IB)
- Primary places for north/central Stockton
- Increase the number of places at Ash Trees Primary School for September 2015 from 124 to 150 places

Key points were highlighted to Members as follows:

Ingleby Barwick Primary Admission Zones:

- An initial proposal was put forward for formal consultation which suggested that IB was divided into four community admission zones, with St Francis of Assisi and St Therese of Lisieux operation across the whole of Ingleby Barwick through their ecclesiastical zonal arrangements

- The Local Authority(LA) initially met with six Head Teachers in October 2014 to inform them of the proposed changes to the admission zones

- Meetings took place with Head Teachers and Governing bodies of each school in November 2014 which were followed by meetings with parents and a meeting with Ingleby Barwick Members to present the outcome of the initial consultations

- Following the pre-consultation discussions, it was the intention to go out to consultation to re-define zones which included 4 LA maintained, community schools with 2 faith schools operating within their ecclesiastical parish arrangements

Secondary Admission Zones for South Stockton and Ingleby Barwick:

- Following a pre-consultation discussion with all Secondary Head Teachers on 6th November 2014 it was proposed that the LA should not amend any of the admission zones for schools in the south of the borough and Ingleby Barwick for admission year 2016/17

- However, it was proposed that Egglescliffe School would operate with two areas within its current admission zone - 'Zone A' for all residents in the wards of Eaglescliffe and Western Parishes and 'Zone B' for all residents in the Ingleby Barwick villages of the 'Rings' and in part Broom Hill

Primary Places for North/Central Stockton

- With regards to North/Central Stockton, Frederick Natrass Academy was to consult on increasing its Pupil Admission Number(PAN) from 30 to 40

- The new Church of England Free School in Wynyard was to open as early as September 2015 adding a further 60 Reception places

Oversubscription Criteria:

- Following pre consultation discussion with Primary Head teacher/principals, Governing bodies and parents it was proposed that the current 2015 oversubscription policy be retained for primary schools for admissions in 2016

- Following the Secondary Heads meeting it was also agreed not to change the oversubscription criteria for secondary schools for admissions in 2016 but incorporate the proposed admission zonal arrangements for Egglescliffe School only when processing applications for a school place

- The SBC website was to provide a summary of the consultation to members of the public

The Select Committee noted that during the pre-statutory consultation period, the proposals had evolved to take on board feedback from schools and parents. The Select Committee commended officers on the transparency and inclusivity of the pre-statutory consultation process, commenting that the consultation had been a genuine and worthwhile exercise resulting in improved proposals. The Committee were satisfied that the revised proposals as set out in the report for statutory consultation had taken on board comments received and agreed to commend them to Cabinet for inclusion in the statutory consultation.

The Committee also welcomed the inclusion of a summary and highlighted changes in the consultation document and supported the holding of public meetings in January as part of the consultation in addition to consultation with Parish Councils.
CYP
42/14		The Director of Children, Education and Social Care provided further explanation and commentary on the quarter 2 performance report. In particular further more detailed information was presented in relation to performance indicators relating to child protection plan which had been requested by the Committee when they scrutinised the performance report for quarter 1 of the year.

Committee Members asked for further information/ explanation in relation to the following areas of performance:

• Early Years Foundation Stage - Proportion of Children with overall "good" level of development

The Committee noted the significant improvement in performance and asked what factors had led to the improvement.

Officers felt that this was in part due to improvements in settings and more support in schools but recognised that moderation of results may not have been as consistent in the past.

• Proportion of referrals to Children's Social Care with an Active CAF 2

The Committee noted that during Quarter 2, there were early indications that the recent increase in staffing was having a positive impact and asked for an update.

Officers confirmed that the initial positive indications were continuing and they expected to see an improvement in performance at Quarter 3. The Director commented currently nearly 90% of referrals to social care did not have an active CAF and it was imperative that this situation improved in order for early help to be made available.


Members agreed to keep this under review.

- Adoption Timescales - Members commented on the significant gap between Stockton's performance and the national performance threshold and enquired about how other similar Councils were performing against the national target.

Officers stressed that the indicator did not take into account adoption success/failure rates and it was equally important that timescales were not at the expense of the quality of the placement. There were also cases where a child could not be placed due to the courts.

The Committee asked for more information at part of the quarter 3 update in relation to:

- benchmarking against regional performance and direction of travel
- adoption failure/ success rates
- more explanation of the reasons and timescales between the stages
CYP
43/14		Members were presented with progress updates on previously agreed recommendations on the review of Employment and Education.
CYP
44/14		Members gave consideration to the Work Programme.

  • Contact

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    Municipal Buildings
    Church Road
    Stockton-on-Tees
    TS18 1LD

  • 01642 526193 or 01642 528173

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