Agenda and minutes

Mrs S Dudfield

 

Mr I D Ould – Cabinet Lead Member for Children and Young People’s Service, for the following items:

 

• Re-organisation of schools in Melton Mowbray and the Vale of Belvoir; proposals to consult on changes to secondary catchment areas;

 

• Alignment of Extended Services in Leicestershire to the National Children’s Plan: Building Brighter Futures

 

Mr John Dehnel, Chairman of Governors, The Long Field High School

Mr Robert Garratt, Headteacher, The Long Field High School

Mr Andrew Coombs, Headteacher, Redmoor High School

 

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 January 2008 were taken as read, confirmed and signed.

The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 35.

Dr M O’Callaghan CC asked the Chairman a number of questions under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5).  The questions covered the following issues:

 

• School Deficits;
• Future Numbers and Surplus Places;
• Demographics and Catchment Areas for Melton;
•  Demographic data and forecasting

 

Full details of the questions asked by Dr M O’Callaghan CC and the replies given by the Chairman, John Legrys CC, are appended to these minutes.  No supplementary questions were asked.

 

Dr O’Callaghan apologised for the number of questions he had asked but explained that he wanted the information provided to be in the public domain. He thanked the officers for the information they had provided.

 

The Chairman advised the Committee that he proposed to take an item of urgent business requested by Mr P G Lewis CC concerning the Government’s proposal that two young people from every school sixth form should have the opportunity to visit the former concentration camp site at Auschwitz.

 

All members serving on governing bodies of schools and other institutions declared non-prejudicial personal interests in all matters relating to those institutions.

 

Mr I D Ould CC declared a personal and prejudicial interest in the item concerning consultation on changes to secondary school catchment areas, having been present at the Cabinet meeting at which this item was discussed.  He also declared a personal and prejudicial interest in the item concerning extended services in respect of his role as Chairman of the National Employers Committee for Re-modelling of the Children and Young People’s Workforce.

 

Mr E D Snartt declared a personal non-prejudicial interest as a member of the School Funding Forum and the management committee of the Pupil Referral Unit.

 

 Mr P G Lewis CC declared a personal non-prejudicial interest as his wife is a member of the School Funding Forum.

 

There were no declarations made under Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 16.

 

The Chief Executive reported that no petitions had been received under Standing Order 36.

John Dehnel, Chair of the Governors at The Long Field High School, and Robert Garratt, the Headteacher of Long Field, have been invited to attend the meeting as witnesses.  They will be able to provide the Committee with their perspective of the re-organisation of schools in Melton Mowbray and the Vale of Belvoir and the proposal for shared catchment arrangements.

 

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Children and Young People’s Service that sought the Committee’s comments on proposed changes to secondary school catchment areas arising from the re-organisation of schools in Melton Mowbray and the Vale of Belvoir.   On the 15^th January 2008, the Cabinet had resolved to start consultation with all stakeholders on a proposal to merge the existing catchment areas for King Edward VII, John Ferneley High and the Long Field schools to establish one common catchment area for all three schools. A copy of the report marked ‘B’ is filed with these minutes.

 

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting Messrs John Dehnel and Robert Garratt, who had agreed to come to the meeting as witnesses to assist the Committee with its consideration of this item.  Mr Garratt advised the Committee that he chaired the Implementation Committee that had considered the options for proposed catchment areas for the secondary schools in Melton Mowbray and the Vale of Belvoir and that he and Mr Dehnel served on the Programme Implementation Board.  They were, therefore, representing the views of all the schools involved.

 

Issues arising from questioning and discussion with the witnesses

 

• Although the proposed shared catchment area for the Melton schools had emerged as the preferred option, it was accepted that it was not the ideal solution; it appeared to offer more flexibility than the other options that had been considered and was considered to be less divisive than re- defining separate catchment areas for each school;

 

• It was noted that a potential risk of adopting the shared catchment area proposal was that it might serve to further highlight school popularity issues; it was clear that the majority of parents supported smaller 11 to 16 schools and for pupils to have the opportunity to go to one school from age 11 potentially through to age 19; it was unlikely that the pupil intakes at all the schools would achieve a balance until 2013;

 

• It was noted from the replies given earlier in the meeting to questions asked by Dr M O’Callaghan CC (minute 60 refers) that the Governing Body of King Edward VII School had expressed concern that a separate catchment area was proposed for the Belvoir High School; King Edward VII had expressed a preference for a shared catchment covering all three Melton secondary schools and the Belvoir High School; it was pointed out that in the time available it had not been possible for the Implementation Committee to consider this option

 

• Another potential risk would be the outcome of the appeals procedure for admissions and this could cause difficulties in the short-term.  It would be important to promote the longer-term benefits.  It was essential that there was equity in admission arrangements for children at village primary schools, given that all three secondary schools were close together in Melton Mowbray; school transport arrangements would be a significant issue;

 

• It was noted that the Implementation Committee had not recommended the criteria to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.

Andrew Coombs, Headteacher of Redmoor High School has been invited to attend the meeting as a witness to give the Committee his perspective on the issues for schools providing extended services.

 

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Children and Young People’s Service that explained how the provision of Extended Services in Leicestershire aligned with the roll-out of the National Children’s Plan; Building Brighter Futures.  A copy of the report, marked ‘C’, is filed with these minutes.

 

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting Mr Andrew Coombs, Headteacher of Redmoor High School, who had agreed to come to the meeting as a witness to assist the Committee with its consideration of this item.

 

Issues arising from questioning and discussion with the witness

 

• With the assistance of pilot funding that had been bid for it had been possible to appoint an Extended Services Co-ordinator who had been invaluable; a lot of time had been spent in getting the heads of the other schools in the Redmoor cluster on board with extended services but this had succeeded to the extent that after the initial pilot funding had ended the schools had pooled funding to continue to provide extended services and additional grant funding had been sought;

 

• The enthusiasm for, and involvement with, extended services provision by Governors had been mixed – the Governors of Redmoor had been supportive but some Governors did not really understand the purpose of extended services;

 

• There was no blueprint for or consistency about the development of extended services clusters; it was important that they reflected local needs and were not too big;

 

• Although extended services added to headteachers’ workload, Andrew Coombes considered that the benefits outweighed the additional workload if they were set up properly; they would become an increasingly important issue in Ofsted inspections of schools;

 

• There were concerns about continuity of funding ;

 

• It was possible to measure the impact of extended services in terms of rising levels of achievement and reductions in anti-social behaviour;

 

• The opening of Children’s Centres meant that children beginning at school would make a better start;

 

• Getting Headteachers signed up to extended services was crucial to being able to roll out the programme successfully across the county.

 

Points arising from general discussion

 

• Extended Services were all about partnership working, not only between schools but between schools and other agencies;

 

• The Local Authority could not require schools to provide extended services but could enable, challenge and support schools and promote the benefits;

 

• The National Children’s Plan was largely a synthesis of the Government’s various policies relating to children and young people; an initial analysis by the Children and Young People’s Service suggested that it was generally in step with the plan.  The revised Children and Young People’s Plan for 2008 to 2011 would pick up any further changes required;

 

• The National Children’s Plan did not offer a lot of new money – where new money was mentioned it was for specific purposes;

 

• There were issues to resolve concerning funding for Phase 1 Children’s Centres;

 

RESOLVED:

 

(a)     That the report of the Director of Children and Young People’s Service be noted;

(b)     That the positive approach to developing extended services outlined  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

The Committee’s next meeting will be held on Wednesday 16^th April 2008 at 2pm.

 

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Wednesday 16^th April 2008 at 2pm.

 

The Committee considered this matter, the Chairman having agreed that it was of an urgent nature in view of a request from Mr P G Lewis CC for further information. 

 

Mr P G Lewis CC referred to the recent announcement by the Prime Minister that the Government would provide funding for two sixth form pupils from every school to go to the former concentration camp at Auschwitz in order to understand the holocaust and to be able to share their experiences with other children at their school.  He asked if the Director could advise the Committee whether this funding would be made available to the local authority or direct to schools and if it would be sufficient.

 

The Director of Children and Young People’s Service said that he had not received any information about this proposal at the present time.  He would inform members when more information had been received.