Agenda item

Cabinet Member – Councillor Beca Brown

 

To submit a report on the above.

To accept the report and to note the observations.

 

 

The Assistant Head: Primary was welcomed to the meeting for this item.

 

Submitted - the report of the Cabinet Member for Education, at the request of the committee members, and members were asked to submit observations on the vision and objectives of the Education Department noted in the draft Education Strategy towards 2032 and beyond, and also submit observations on the Equality and Well-being Impact Assessments.

 

The Cabinet Member set out the context and the members were then given an opportunity to ask questions and offer observations. 

 

With regard to the comment in the report that the document was a living one that could be visited regularly over the period of the Strategy, it was asked how easy it would be, and what the timetable would be for introducing any changes, because if it was a matter of years, or even a matter of months, it could not actually be called a living document.  In response, it was noted that:

 

·         The document would be reviewed internally on a regular basis.

·         As education was an area where policies could change quite quickly in different areas, the Department would respond positively to any change by having the document evolve and change as necessary.

 

It was noted that the report did not contain much mention of additional learning needs, apart from a reference to the Additional Learning Needs Act, and concern was expressed regarding three specific issues, namely:

 

·         Gwynedd's education strategy on ALN in the mainstream for the next 10 years.

·         Overcrowding in the two ALN schools in Gwynedd. 

·         The number of children in the mainstream who could not cope with the mainstream education system.

 

In response, it was noted that:

 

·         The Education Strategy was a high-level education strategy for all children in the county and that the comment regarding special education children who had additional and inclusion needs was implicit in Objective 3 - learner health and well-being, which referred to all learners.

·         The Strategy also referred to the duty the Authority had to review the school stock in the context of special schools, should it be necessary to do so.

·         Under the high-level strategy, the Authority had a Schools Modernisation Strategy for Band C which would be submitted to the Welsh Government in due course.

·         There were a number of policies and strategies in the layers below the high-level strategy, and that was where the detail would be.

 

The opinion was expressed that the Strategy, possibly, did not take into account the work of the Gwynedd Category 3 Schools Scrutiny Investigation (item 6 above), as the members of the Investigation emphasised the difficulties that arose as a result of the emphasis on bilingualism.  It was noted that the second objective of the Strategy was to 'Extend and strengthen our Welsh-medium and bilingual provision', but that 'bilingual' could not mean anything other English-medium provision in this context, as Welsh had already been addressed within the objective.  Therefore, it was recommended that the Education Strategy should be re-examined in the light of the scrutiny Investigation report, and specifically in terms of how bilingualism was dealt with.  In response, it was noted that:

 

·         This was a great example of how the Strategy was a living and evolving document.

·         The objective in the context of the Welsh language and bilingualism was a reflection of the situation as it was at present.

·         There was already a commitment to review the Education Language Policy, and the outcome of that would then inform this document.

 

It was suggested that deleting every example of 'bilingualism' and 'bilingual' from the document was a convenient way of ensuring that the document said what it was expected to do and corresponded to some of the Council's other objectives and strategies.

 

It was noted that one of the values that was stated in the columns on the second page of the document, as a basis for the way we would set about shaping the education system in Gwynedd for the future, was to prepare young people for the world of work.  Although that was very commendable and to be expected, there was also a wish to see a reference here to preparing young people to be citizens.  In response, it was noted that the comment was very much welcomed, and that it was probably implicit in the first column in terms of the curriculum and learning experiences, but it was agreed that it should be clearer in the document.

 

It was enquired whether it would be possible to remove the references to 'bilingualism' and 'bilingual' from the objectives in the report, as it was clear that the aim was to increase the Welsh-medium provision.

 

It was noted that there was not much reference in the Strategy to responding to the change in demographics, although the Cabinet Member noted, in response to a recent question in the full Council, that the Strategy stated how we would develop the system to the future and responded to the demographic challenges.  There was mention of the need to ensure that we were ready to respond to demographic changes, but no explanation as to how that was intended to be achieved.  It was noted that the question was asked in the context of the closure, or the possibility of the closure of Ysgol Felinwnda.  That was a matter of concern, not only about closing a school, but concern in the catchment area overall about schools and rural communities in general, and the feeling that a clear strategy was needed from the Council so that parents and people in the community knew, and to some extent understood the Council's mindset, if small schools had to close because of demographics.  In response, it was noted that:

 

·         The Authority was committed to looking at demography and the problems it caused in some communities.

·         This was, probably, implicit in column 5 of the values, which mentioned the development of the right type of educational establishments in moving forward.

·         As already stated in response to other comments, there were a number of very detailed strategies in the layers below this high-level strategy.

·         We were very much aware of the problem we already had, but even more so on the horizon, in terms of demography, and therefore the Department's work and strategies in relation to reorganising our system would focus on what was noted in the fifth column of the values as a sub-strategy to be able to achieve that.

 

The concerns expressed earlier in the discussion regarding special education provision were reiterated.  It was noted that there was a desire for the Strategy to include a specific section regarding the special education schools as the difficulty of gaining admission to those schools meant that children with profound needs had to remain in the mainstream schools, which were completely unsuitable for their needs.  In response, it was noted that:

 

·         As already stated, this was a high-level strategy, and the Authority had a strategy for moving forward to look at this.

·         A satellite unit had been opened in order to expand the provision.

·         The challenges facing the special education sector were not confined to Gwynedd, and there were a number of factors behind that.

·         Before the new school in Hafod Lon was built, there were a number of children with very intense needs attending mainstream schools, possibly due to parents' perception of the old resource.  More wanted to send their children to the new school, and that was to be welcomed.

·         As medical techniques and medical care evolved over recent years, many children and young people were surviving who would not have done so previously.  That was excellent and something to be extremely grateful for, but it was not without its pressure on the sector.

·         The Department would carry out a piece of work to look at the special education strategy in order to make sure that we had sufficient space, and that the resources were there.

·         The commitment of the staff of the two special schools to the care, well-being and education of the children with profound needs was totally extraordinary.

 

It was questioned whether the use of the words 'more able and talented' in relation to the Seren Network was suitable in this context as all learners were talented and had different strengths.  In response, it was noted that there was no disagreement with that, but that this was a recognised national term for a cohort or group of children.

 

It was noted that the Strategy specified a commitment to reduce the impact of poverty on the progress and achievements of learners, and it was asked how it was intended to do this.  In response, it was noted that:

 

·         This was an obvious priority and that the Cabinet Member had already committed in the Council's Plan to carry out a piece of work to look at the cost of the school day.

·         There was a need to think sophisticatedly about poverty, as poverty was more extensive than financial poverty alone.

·         The purpose of the piece of work was to look at the barriers that prevented children from reaching their educational potential, and to do whatever could be done to remove these.

 

It was asked whether we knew anything about the social background of the 'more able and talented' children in general.  In response, it was noted that:

 

·         We were talking about 'more able and talented' in an academic context in the case in question, but that able and talented was wider than that, and according to Welsh Government guidance, was more than just an academic measure. 

·         Seren had been challenged on the question of attracting a wide enough social cross-section, and had taken steps to ensure they were more open.

 

Concern was expressed at the significant increase over the summer in school transport costs for families who were not eligible for free transport for their children.  In response, it was noted that the Authority was unfortunately bound by the policy, but that it would be interesting to look at this in the context of the Cabinet Member's piece of work on the cost of the school day.

 

RESOLVED to accept the report and to note the observations.