PAPER A

POLICY COMMISSION MEETING

Meeting	Children and School Results Commission
Ref	CPC 06/09/06
Date	Wednesday, 6 September 2006 18.00 to 19.40
Place	Committee Room 1, County Hall, Newport, Isle of Wight
Purpose of meeting	Formal public meeting
Attendance	Commission members – Cllrs Melanie Swan (Commissioner), Wendy Arnold, George Cameron, Deborah Gardiner, Cllr Lady Pigot Apologies – Cllr Gill Kennett Cabinet members – Cllrs Dawn Cousins, Patrick Joyce Cabinet Secretaries – Cllrs David Pugh Officers – Mr Ian Sandbrook, Mr Keith Simmonds, Mrs Pru Grimshaw; Miss April West, Mr Paul Thistlewood Other members present – Cllrs Geoff Lumley, Andy Sutton
Agenda Items
1. Notes of previous meeting	The notes of the meeting held on 5 July 2006 were agreed.
2. Declarations of interest	There were no interests declared.
3. Joint Area Review	Papers considered :- Ofsted Inspection report published on 14 August 2006 on Review of Services for Children and Young People. General points arising :- i. For local services overall only making a positive contribution was deemed good. Enjoying and achieving was deemed inadequate. ii. Being Healthy; Staying Safe; Achieving Economic Well-being; Service Management and Capacity to Improve were all deemed adequate. iii. In respect of Council services capacity to improve; children’s services and the social care services for children were adequate with the education service inadequate. iv. An action plan was to be considered by Cabinet on 7 November 2006. v. Positive meeting held with DfES that day about support in raising standards in schools which might involve financial assistance. vi. Action already being taken to ensure vulnerable young people are receiving full educational entitlement. vii. Improvements were being made in Child Protection on increased prevention and intervention work. viii. Issues relating to the 14-19 strategy and post 16 education were to be the subject of work by the Policy Commission. ix. Performance management required improvement. x. Concern had been expressed about dental and sexual health matters together with immunisation. Surprisingly no mention had been made about obesity. xi. The large number of children educated other than at school, 340 children, was placing a strain on the Inspection Team who were responsible for monitoring these. xii. Parents moving to the Island with children were not required to notify the Council and therefore unless these were picked up through other partners, ie GP’s, could go undetected. xiii. The Council had improved its leadership, vision and clarity on education and in particular in relation to standards. This needed to be built upon by all partners.
4. School Attainment	Provisional statistics for 2006 circulated and PowerPoint presentation by Mr Keith Simmonds, Head of Learning Effectiveness. General points arising :- i. Final validated data would not be available until November 2006. ii. Data on Looked After Children not available until end of September 2006. iii. Key Stage 1 showed performance ahead of national, regional and statistical neighbours. iv. Although boys were slightly behind girls performance they were above boys nationally and regionally. v. At Key Stage 2 there had been significant overall performance in English and Maths but still slightly below National and Regional averages. In Science the Island was above National and Regional averages. vi. The Key Stage 2 LAA target for 2007 had been met and it was hoped that this could be at least sustained. vii. For Key Stage 3 national data was still awaited for English. Initial data indicated that there had been no overall improvement on 2005 performance and the gap with National average would grow. viii. At Key Stage 4 – GCSE performance showed the first significant improvement in 10 years for pupils achieving 5+ A – C. The gap to the National average was closing but schools were underachieving and there were still weaknesses in core subjects. ix. For post 16 A/AVCE performance was unsatisfactory with the pass rate showing no improvement and the gap to the National average increasing and the A grade pass rate dropping from 2005. This had an overall detrimental effect on the UCAS points score. x. Overall there were many positives from performances in 2006.Of particular note was 140 pupils at Key Stage 2 achieving better than anticipated results. xi. Staff turnover at schools was in line with the national picture although it was accepted that some secondary schools did have a higher than normal turnover and Head Teachers were being consulted on this. xii. School governance arrangements also required improvement as some were not holding the Head Teacher properly to account. Governors required support and in particular it was important for Chairs of Governing Bodies to have the appropriate skills and ability to challenge school performance.
5. Investing in the Island’s Future	Papers considered: - Draft scoping document with invitation to present views and options paper presented by Mr Ian Sandbrook, Strategic Director for Children’s Services. General points arising :- i. The standard of education for 14–19 year olds was highlighted as an area of concern in the JAR. ii. The Council could access Government capital money under the Building Schools for the Future programme. iii. The Learning and Skills Council want to modernise facilities at the Isle of Wight College which could include a sixth form centre. iv. Proposals would lead to a reorganisation of schools across the Island. v. Department for Education and Skills to be advised that Cowes High School should be modernised but no decision yet on provision should be for 11-16 or 13-18. vi. The Policy Commission would be responsible for the consultation exercise leading to a Blue Paper to the Cabinet on the options. Recommendations :- i. The scoping document was agreed subject to the enquiry name being amended to read “Investing in the Island’s Future”. ii. The background paper “Investing in the Island’s future – a new college and a new school” be amended to include the option of a replacement Cowes High School with an 13-18 school.