Issue - meetings

Cabinet Member – Councillor Beca Brown

To submit a report on the above.

To accept the report and to note the observations.

The Assistant Head: Special Educational Needs and Inclusion and the Education Department Inclusion Manager were welcomed to the meeting in addition for this item.

The report of the Cabinet Member for Education was presented providing information on attendance levels and exclusions across Gwynedd schools, including an outline of the main reasons for absences and exclusions.  Committee members were asked to consider whether any other aspect of attendance and exclusions needed to be scrutinised, along with the impact of the provision offered to encourage improvement in the attendance and behaviour of Gwynedd pupils.

The Cabinet Member provided the context, the Inclusion Manager detailed the content of the report and then the members were given the opportunity to ask questions and offer observations.

It was asked what accounted for the fact that behaviour and attendance problems following the COVID-19 pandemic continued, as you would have expected the children to become re-accustomed to going to school as time progressed, and for the figures to decrease.  In response, it was noted that:

·         Several of the exclusions related to violence against peers and members of school staff. 

·         There was also a significant increase in drug use, with many children now carrying drugs into school to sell, or for their own use.  It was noted that there was a case at the moment where the Service was very concerned about one pupil in Year 6.

·         Everyone expected the first year following the pandemic to be challenging, but unfortunately, things had deteriorated since then.

It was asked whether children with additional learning needs were more likely to be affected by this, and if so, to what extent.  In response, it was noted that:

·         Data was collected monthly, with an officer recording each exclusion and noting whether they were children with additional needs, whether they had an individual development plan and whether they were children who received free school meals.

·         There was no definite pattern of children in these categories, and some of the children also came from backgrounds that we would not have expected to manifest as problematic within the schools.

It was asked whether there was evidence that efforts to improve attendance, by writing to parents and making threats, etc., led pupils to disengage from the system altogether.  In response, it was noted that:

·         The number of children who were de-registered had increased, and that, in itself, was a concern for the Service.

·         The Service had welfare officers who supported families.

·         The Authority fined or prosecuted parents only as a last resort as there was no desire to lead to a greater increase in the number of pupils being home educated.

·         The Service had a specific team within the Department that looked at home educating and checked settings and the progress and standard of the education the children received.

It was noted that Gwynedd's permanent exclusions figure for 2022/23, i.e. 48, was alarming and it was asked what exactly the Authority intended to do differently from what it had done in the past, and what  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8