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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Venue Cymru, The Promenade, Llandudno, Conwy. LL30 1BB. View directions

Contact: Glynda O'Brien  01341 424301

Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Councillor Chris Bithell (Flintshire County Council), Diane Chisholm (Primary Schools Representative), Alison Fisher (Governor representative) and Iwan Evans (Host Authority Head of Legal Services - Cyngor Gwynedd).

 

2.

WELCOME

Minutes:

The Chair extended a welcome to Mrs Rita Price of Wrexham Diocese to her first Joint Committee meeting

 

3.

DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

Minutes:

No declaration of personal interest was received by any Members present

 

4.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING pdf icon PDF 309 KB

(copy enclosed)

Minutes:

The Chair signed the minutes of this meeting, held on 15 July 2015, as a true record. 

 

5.

THE JOINT COMMITTEE'S FINAL ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2015 AND RELEVANT AUDIT pdf icon PDF 142 KB

(copy enclosed)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A report by the Head of Finance, Cyngor Gwynedd outlined a statement of the post-Audit Accounts, a report by the Wales Audit office along with a representation letter            

 

The Wales Audit Office representative reported that the context for the accounts is set out in the report and attention was drawn to a summary of amendments made to the draft financial statements. The attention of the Joint Committee should be drawn to these.   

 

Details were provided on the accounts and Joint Committee Members had an opportunity to ask questions

 

  

It was decided to:                 (a) accept, note and approve the information in the 

 

(i)            ISA260 report by the Wales Audit Office

(ii)          Statement of 2014/15 accounts (post-audit)

           

(b)  ask the Chair and the Cyngor Gwynedd Head of Finance (as the statutory GwE Financial Officer) to certify the Representation Letter

 

6.

GwE PROGRESS REPORT

(oral report)

Minutes:

Statistics were presented to the Joint Committee outlining results, main outcomes and issues for consideration  

 

The GwE Managing Director led the Joint Committee through the report, noting as follows:

 

(a)  Foundation Phase  

 

·         GwE performance is the lowest of all the regional consortia. However, national steer has highlighted the need for a plateau in performance along with a robust process of standardisation and verification across Wales.   

·         teacher assessment continues to be a matter of concern

·         there has been progress in the performance of FSM pupils in 4 authorities since 2014, significantly so in Gwynedd and Môn. 

·         there has been progress in performance since 2014 across all indicators on the higher level. However, regional progress in Welsh is less than national progress.

·         some schools have performed below the median of FSM benchmarks in key indicators over a rolling three year period and these schools need to be robustly challenged

 

In response to a query, it was confirmed that the above issues are expected.

 

(b)  Key Stage 2

 

·         there has been progress in GwE’s performance; however, as in the Foundation Phase, national steer has highlighted the need for a plateau in performance across Wales and a robust process of standardisation and verification

·         teacher assessment continues to be a matter of concern

·         there has been progress in the performance of FSM pupils; however, there was a slight decline in performance in Gwynedd and Môn

·         there has been progress in performance since 2014 across all indicators on the expected level, and progress is above the national average for every core subject

·         the above is in line with expectations, but, again, some schools are performing below the national average and need specific attention as part of the system of challenge

 

The following points were highlighted during the subsequent discussion:

 

(i)         how firm is Welsh Government regarding inconsistency in teacher assessment and do the Teachers’ Unions challenge the Government on this?

 

In response, Mr Geraint Rees, Welsh Government explained that an agreement was put in place for the 4 regions to work together this year as the process is in place for the first time. It was noted there is considerable variance between the 4 regions in Key Stage 2.  With regard to KS4, it was reported that the gap is closing. It was further noted that the categorisation process requires strong implementation and the next step would be to tighten moderation of teacher assessment. The process must take place and, as a result, lack of confidence will have to be eradicated.  

 

(ii)                 Are Unions in agreement and are some Counties facing problems? If so, would a discussion with the Minister for Education be beneficial?

 

In response, it was noted that a meeting with the Trade Unions is imminent so as to gather input on how things are progressing. In addition, there will be an opportunity for the Chair of the Joint Committee to raise the matter with the Minister in a meeting arranged for 16 October.

 

(iii)          Lack of confidence creates uncertainty amongst learners and teachers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

GwE 2015-16 BUDGET REPORT - SUMMER TERM REVIEW 2015 pdf icon PDF 302 KB

(copy enclosed)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A report by the GwE Managing Director and the Host Authority Head of Finance on

the latest financial review of GwE budget for 2015-16 financial year was presented.

 

Reference was made to Appendix 1 of the report that includes full financial

information

 

Attention was drawn to the two underspend headlines:

 

(i)             “building”, which refers to the new GwE offices in Caernarfon and Conwy, due to a change in the date of moving to the new locations; and

(ii)           “travel”, which refers to the decision to reduce the budget for travelling costs to be closer to that of actual expenditure

 

It was noted that the report does not include consideration of possible savings in the management and administration element of some specific grants. 

 

With regard to the underspend fund, the fund total at the start of the 2015/16 financial year was £266,829, with the GwE Joint Committee having already committed £135,000 to specific plans. On adding the 2015/16 underspend of £29,903, the estimated non-committed fund is £161,732.

 

Joint Committee members had an opportunity to question any elements of the report

 

The GwE Managing Director confirmed that the deprivation grant has been allocated to schools

 

It was decided to: Accept and note the report    

 

8.

2015-16 MEETING DATES pdf icon PDF 242 KB

(copy enclosed)

Minutes:

A calendar of GwE 2015-16 Joint Committee meetings was presented

 

Ian Budd (Lead Director – Chair of Management Board) (Flintshire County Council)

noted that the frameworks are operational and there would be further reporting on

feedback and supplying information in the next Joint Committee meeting in

November.  

 

It was decided to:     Approve the following dates for 2015-16:

 

DATE

TIME

LOCATION

 

12 November 2015

 

am

 

Conwy

 

24 February 2016

 

am

 

Conwy

 

6 July 2016

 

am

 

Conwy