Agenda item

Cabinet Member – Councillor Cemlyn Williams

To consider a report on the above.

The Education Department’s Annual Report for 2020-21 was presented. 

Before commencing the discussion, the Cabinet Member thanked the schools, headteachers, staff and teachers for maintaining, not only the educational provision, but also provisions such as catering and cleaning during an extremely challenging year. He added that it was also important to recognise the appreciation of the schools and headteachers of the support given by the Education Department during this period, and he was of the view that the relationship between the Department and schools had strengthened during the pandemic.

These comments were supported by the Head of Education and he noted that he also wished to pay a tribute to the Department's officers who supported all the work, and also to the Environment Department's staff for the invaluable advice and support given by health and safety officers and the prompt and effective joint working to keep things going.    He noted that the disruption to the education and welfare of children had been kept as low as possible because of the resilience and perseverance of a great number of Gwynedd residents, and the elected members could be proud of our schools and their role as governors supporting schools across the county.

Members were given an opportunity to ask questions and offer observations.

Individual members submitted the following observations:-

·         The Department was thanked for providing a summary report, that clearly conveyed the messages.

·         Referring to paragraph 3.8 of the pre-report, the fact that the word 'bilingual' had disappeared from the narrative was welcomed, as the emphasis should be on learning through the medium of Welsh, and the hope was expressed that this could be built upon over the years in our schools.

In response to the observations and questions from members, it was noted: 

·         Regarding the current situation in schools, data changed daily, however, it now appeared that the situation had reached a peak in some circumstances, with many staff and children returning to schools. The situation had been incredibly difficult with up to 30% of the staff and children away from school in some classes. In those cases, there had been a move to virtual education and Department officers, together with health and safety officers, had to make very swift and far-reaching decisions at times. The situation by now had stabilised in some pockets, and the Department did everything within its ability to keep the schools open and as safe as possible. It was also noted that headteachers who were off school due to Covid had continued to run those schools from home.

·         The Government had asked the Additional Learning Needs Service to provide a figure of the additional expenditure seen in the field thus far, and where additional expenditure was expected to be in the future. 

·         That some of the discussions regarding post-16 education had not been held as regularly as desired recently due to the pressure on schools to deal with keeping open, however, it was proposed to re-commence the discussion fully in January to move forward as soon as possible to see how the current provision could be improved. 

·         It was agreed that the move towards Welsh medium education was to be welcomed. It was explained that this was mainly a national move, however, the Government had been consulting on this with the Head of Education and officers in Gwynedd as Gwynedd was naturally seen as a county that led nationally on Welsh medium and bilingual education. Under the new system, it would not be possible for schools to remain static for an extended period in terms of the medium of their provision, with the expectation that authorities ensure that schools continue to make progress in terms of their Welsh language provision as soon as possible.

·         The Authority had a responsibility to ensure relevant and specific training for all its staff in schools. The need to undertake this had been escalated even more during the pandemic, due to schools' concern regarding losing the pastoral contact between the most vulnerable children and professional staff, as they did not see those children daily. It was noted that schools were to be commended regarding the contact with vulnerable children throughout the pandemic, and it was suggested that more details about this could be given in a further report to the committee. It was reported to the Strategic Safeguarding Panel and the Operational Panel on the additional training that had been undertaken in this area. The Department's focus was more than ever on well-being and safeguarding, and it was believed that schools had managed to do this very well, with guidance and as a result of the additional training.   

·         Devices for teachers were currently being prepared and the arrangements for maintenance were proceeding. Once this was in place, over 1,000 devices for staff and over 5,000 devices for secondary children would be distributed to schools. It was anticipated that this would happen early in the new year.

·         The aim of the Digital Strategy was to improve the structure surrounding supporting IT in schools. Internet infrastructure, nationally, was currently managed by the Council, with every device in schools being partly managed by the school technician and partly by Cynnal. As part of the strategy of moving to a different maintenance model, it was proposed to internalise the service so that Gwynedd Council could support computers across every school, and would therefore ensure consistency in terms of provision.

·         Regarding additional finance to support pupils due to Covid, this work was on-going, not only on a county basis, but also regionally, to ensure that schools collaborated in leagues to make the best of the resource to rectify the disadvantages children had experienced during the pandemic. The Department would keep an eye on the outcomes of the joint plans with the Schools Improvement Service.