Agenda item

To consider a report on the above (attached)

Submitted - the report of the GwE Core Leaders detailing how the regional consortium, in partnership with Local Authorities, had developed and adapted to support schools during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The members received a detailed slides presentation from GwE officers.  They provided details on:-

·         The content of the main report

·         Their work to support the Welsh language

·         The resources on GwE's Support Centre

·         Learning resources and remote teaching

·         Digital learning

·         Blended learning

·         Accelerated Learning

·         School to School resources library

·         Professional learning opportunities

·         What had happened in terms of the local primary, secondary and specialist sectors

·         The next steps

The Chair thanked everyone for the comprehensive report, which presented a lot of information about GwE's work to support the schools that had had to adapt fully during the last year.

Members were given an opportunity to ask questions and make observations.  During the discussion, the following observations were noted:

·         It was noted that the report had provided a clear picture to members on GwE's recent work of supporting schools, and it was recommended that the report should be forwarded to all Council members.

In response to questions from members, it was noted:-

·         It was accepted that there were supporting and monitoring aspects to GwE's work.  Discussions had been held with the headteachers in terms of their provision, but obviously it had been a greater challenge to evaluate the quality of what had been happening, because of the circumstances.  The work programme for the next two terms would address this, and it was hoped that this could be done jointly with the schools, to assess the quality of the provision and provide them with tailored support.  This had been agreed jointly between the six directors in north Wales in terms of the way forward.

·         It was agreed that the situation was very frustrating for some parents, especially if they were not involved in education. There had been especially outstanding examples of the guidelines provided to parents by schools and GwE had also sought to support this by formulating provision and general guidelines for the schools to use and adapt as they wished.