APPENDIX 2

Directorate: CHILDREN’S SERVICES

Service Area: LEARNING EFFECTIVENESS AND LIFELONG LEARNING

Produced by: KEITH SIMMONDS

5. TOP PRIORITIES FOR THE ANNUAL ACTION STATEMENT 2005/06

Task	Target/Success Factors
Raising pupil achievement at ages, 7, 11, 14 and 16.	Improved school performance. Meeting of EDP targets. Improved BVPI performance. Implementation of two year Key Stage 3. Implementation Extended School programme.
Implementation of LEA OFSTED Action Plan and with LLSC the 14-19 Area Review OFSTED Action Plan.	Meeting of the target dates and success criteria in each action plan - ref. plans for detail. Improved service function.
Implementation of the 2004/05 Early years and Childcare Development Plan (EYCDP).	Achievement of EYCDP targets and plan success criteria. Children’s Centres in place.
Re-structuring of branch to fully meet the requirements of a directorate of Children's Services.	Structure in place and operating effectively - January 2005.
School organisation – ongoing development work for implementation. Meeting of agreed timeline.	Maintained school confidence and performance.

7. HOW WILL YOUR SERVICE CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS ACHIEVEMENT OF THE FOLLOWING CORPORATE PRIORITIES IN 2005/06?

a) E Government :

· Movement to electronic only communication with schools in line with DfES practice from July 2004. Implementation target January 2005.

· Implementation of online testing structure for agreed Authority standardised testing in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. All middle and high schools from September 2004.

· Continued development of virtual classroom for independent e-learning. 2004/05 year trail with Medina High School.

· Implementation of interactive whiteboard initiative within school clusters.

· E-Learning Conference - summer 2005.

b) Diversity :

· Implementation of mandatory race equality training for Directorate and school senior

· staff.

· Reporting of monitoring outcomes in respect of race equality incidents, ethnic minority pupil performance to the Select Committee.

· Continued development and support to specialist status schools.

c) People Management :

· Maintenance of Investors' in People status.

· Continued development of all branch staff PDP.

· Provision of targeted training to support personal and professional development.

· Maintenance of a healthy work/life balance. Promotion of a healthy workforce.

10. BUDGET BIDS FOR 2005/06

a) Revenue Bids

Reference Number	Description – max 20 words	Financial Implications
		2005/6 £000	2006/7 £000	20078 £000
1	Re-structuring and development of the branch's third tier officers to allow achievement of priorities in the 2005/06 improvement plan (1, 4, 5, 10, and 11). Increased capacity to meet needs identified in the LEA OFSTED Inspection and OFSTED 14-19 Area Review. If capacity not increased then the risk of failing the next OFSTED cycle is high. This development is essential in meeting the Council's priority area of raising pupil achievement.	79,000	52,000	28,000
2	Development of the branch's 14-19 team and overall capacity in this area. Priorities in the 2005/06 improvement plan (2, 5). This development is necessary to meet the outcomes of the OFSTED 14-19 Area Review. Approval of this will also access matched LLSC funding for 20005/06. This development is essential in meeting the Council's priority area of raising pupil achievement.	70,000	70,000	30,000
3	Development of the Family Learning Service to more effectively meet the needs of the LPSA and development of Extended Schools. Provision of a more strategic service, which is not wholly reliant upon short -term grant funding.	50,000	50,000	20,000

11 RISK MANAGEMENT – DESCRIBE ALL SIGNIFICANT RISKS RELATING TO YOUR SERVICE AND HOW YOU INTEND TO MANAGE THEM

Ref	Description of Risk	Risk Score	Corporate or Service
1	Failure of schools to meet annual targets for KS 1, 2, 3 and 4. The standards achieved are, of course, largely dependent on the children in the schools and the quality of the teaching and learning that exists within those schools. The Authority’s role is to support and challenge the schools in the achievement of agreed targets but the latter are very challenging and emanate from regional and national imperatives. There is a strong likelihood that at least some of the targets will not be met. If they are not, then this will affect the evaluation of the Authority’s effectiveness and its future OFSTED scores; these, in turn, affect the Council’s CPA score – the impact is, therefore, judged to be large. A separate and most important impact is on the life chances of children who are under-qualified.	16	Corporate and Service – Links to Risk 2 and 12
2	Supplier/partner failure that impacts on our ability to discharge our obligations. A broad range of functions are affected by this category. Examples include Risk 1 – failure of schools to meet the challenge of raising standards; failure of Governing Bodies to discharge effectively their duty of scrutiny, which can lead to school’s becoming causes for concern.	16	Corporate and Service – link to Risk 1 and 12
3	Impact of service reorganisation This refers to the anticipated merging of Children’s Social Services with the Education Directorate to form a new entity known as Children’s Services. Two different professional cultures will need to be merged and a range of operational matters will need to be resolved e.g. identification, recording and tracking of vulnerable children across compatible ICT systems and the determination of access levels to sensitive data. Overall impacts within this service of the Directorate are lower than the Directorate risk	16	Service
4	Maintenance of service levels during organisational change This risk needs to be considered alongside Risk 4. New structures need to be formed but existing obligations need to be delivered. There is a need to recognise the likelihood that the time, resources and attention given to the creation of new structures may damage the ability to maintain high standards of current delivery. As with Risk 4 the overall impact within this area of service is lower than in the Directorate. However, there is a higher risk of service disruption from limited key professional capacity within this service.	16	Service
5	Impact on CPA and on consequent Council freedoms. The Education Directorate scoring for CPA purposes is a composite of a number of factors; risks 1 and 7 relating to standards achieved within the schools and the financing of the Service impact on 2 of these factors. If they are not resolved favourably they will impact on future scores and, as Education is a highly weighted factor in the Council’s overall CPA score, this could be disadvantageous to the Isle of Wight Council. For this service this Risk links directly to Risks 1 and 2. School pupil performance at the national average or above, identified by the key BUPA’s, would ensure a three star educational rating, which would impact positively on the CPA score.	12	Corporate and Service – link to Risks 1 and 2.
6	Failure to achieve LLSC targets The LLSC has expectations relating to Key Stage 5 participation, retention and performance. Their power to fund and support the post-16 curriculum in schools impacts on the schools’ viability and place within the broader structure of Island education. Failure to meet the expectations has, therefore, potentially far-reaching consequences. DfES/OFSTED approval of the joint LEA/LLSC 14-19 Area Review Action Plan has reduced the rating of this risk overall. However, it ensure that this risk maintains a low rating and that the Council can access matched LLSC funding improved service capacity must be achieved, as outlined in the 2005/06 revenue budget bids 1 and 2 of this service plan.	12	Corporate and Service – links to Risks 1, 2 and 12.