draft
Date: / 14 July 2008
Venue: / Committee Room 2, Guildhall 1:30-3:30pm
Attendees or X
Name / /X / /X / /XHywyn Williams (Chair) / / John Roberts (S&S) / Apols / Joyce M’Caw /
John Davies / / Sally Rees / / Carys Gwyn /
John O Roberts / Apols / Sue Aston / x / Pauline Preston /
Hilary Harriman / / Police- to be decided / Lauren Pilling /
Graham Edwards / / Paul Croke / x / Shirley Berry /
Jan Jones / / Phil Bassett / Apols / Andy Hawkins /
Jennifer Treddennick / Apols / Denise Edwards / x / Lesley Taylor /
Tom Davies / / Geoff Moore /
Outcomes
Agenda Item and Details / Actions/WhoResponsible?
1. Apologies as above
- HW welcomed all to the meeting, and introduced Shirley Berry and Andy Hawkins.
2. Minutes and matters arising not on the agenda
- The minutes of 23 April 2008 were confirmed as a correct record of the meeting.
- Matters Arising: Page 5- AOB- SC0Gs:GE queried the role of SCoG and whether the scrutiny role lies with the SCoG or CP/YPP/CYPFWP and also queried whether the SCoGswill be evaluated.
- JD identified the need for clarification on SCoG reporting systems e.g. via a flowchart.
3. Standing items: Group/Board updates
3.1 Anti-bullying TF Group / PP
- Creation of the guidance document for schools was underway and would be presented to the SCoG when completed.The first draft will be consulted on and all responses so far have been positive.
- NSPCC campaign on bullying was positive but needed rolling out universally.
- A 0.5post designated to anti-bullying has been filled and will commence duties in September.
3.2 PASS
- JD confirmed that the licence had been purchased for use of PASS in all schools from September.
- The merits of applying PASS to Year 7 pupils (who were only just entering secondary school) would be debated further with discussions about re-timing PASS slightly.
- All information would be collated at school level rather than on an individual basis to enable trends to be identified across all schools in Wrexham.
3.3 Maximising Achievement – issues surrounding the achievement
of children with EAL / HW/SB
- SB tabled ‘English Language as an Additional Service’ document and gavea PowerPoint presentation, with additionalcomments as follows:
- Slide 2: 6 teaching assistants have been assigned to schools with the highestnumbers of EAL
- Slide 3: Not all of the 800 EAL children in primary and secondary schools are directly supported, but they are all monitored
- Slide 4: The bilingual support provided was for childrenand their parents e.g. when in meetings
- Slide 5.EAL Learners: English was being learnt at school to accessthe curriculum and to use English as a medium to learn
- Slide 6. Languages Spoken in Wrexham:The 29 languages listed here could fluctuate weekly. Some of theselanguages might only be spoken by one family
- Slide 7. Funding:The Minority EthnicAchievement grant wasassessed annually and weighted depending on pupil numbers and levels. It was paid retrospectively which was problematic
- Slide 8. EAL Population Growth: Groups were divided into language stages of which A – B needed considerable to support in order to access the curriculum
- Slide 9. Factors that impact on achievement:These could also be common to indigenouschildren
Life experiences:these might include leaving home or joining a family they were not familiar with
Attendance:this was a big issue - there was no funding for an ESW to address this and the need was identified for a post such as a home / school liaisonofficer
- Slide 10. Language Acquisition:CALP = higher order thinking skills. Effective learning strategies were needed to acquire this, which all schools would benefit from
- Slide 11. Language Acquisition 2: Continuation of the mother tongue – it was proven that this aided overall development
- Slide 12. Challenges for Schools:Increase in numbers; schools were gaining more experience in teaching children with EAL due to this. Somechildren with EAL would also have special educational needsas do 25% of the indigenous population
- Slide 13. Challenges for All: Transition- post 16. Debate took place around supporting childrenwith EAL in Yale. JM’Cwas concerned that the purported number of those ‘whose English was not their first language’ was not reflected in Careers Wales figures – if alerted to this Careers Wales could offer specific assistance. JM’C would liaise with Yale on this in order to link up and improve information sharing. It was raised that ethnicity is picked up at ‘on-entry’ and ‘baseline’ and the benefits of monitoring achievement by ethnicity.
- It was discussed that children with EAL had widespread experienceof racismagainst them, particularly out of school (although there were only 5 reported cases on record in schools).
health issues due to life experiences. HW suggested CAMHS as a
referral point and it was acknowledged that a holistic approach was required by agencies.
HW thanked SB for her contribution. She would consult this group again if any multi agency issues needed addressing / JM’C to contact Yale
3.4 Keeping in Touch / JoR/AH
- The possibility of launching a pilot projectin a secondary school in Wrexham is being explored and would include a nominated co-ordinator within the school providing information on potential NEETs to Careers Wales.
3.5 Maximising the Use of School Buildings / TD
- Protocol has been agreed and presented to the Primary Head teachers Federationand WASH and would be circulated to schools in October Two representatives from the Heads Federations have been nominated onto the TF group.
- Protocol to be refined and shared with the SCoG at the next meeting.
3.6 Looked After Children Education Group
- This year’s predicted results were not as positive as last year with 2 or 3 children not entered, yet the results reflect the small cohort this year. Most LAC would receive accreditation.
- 3 or 4 children were placed in out of county placements costing around
provision within Wrexham e.g.GE was liaising with ProspectsSchool to
achieve a reciprocal agreement over placement options.
- Rhian Timms, Education Co-ordinator forLAC was leaving her post, to be replaced by Jackie Huntley(although there was uncertainty over the timescales for this).
3.7 14 – 19 Network / AH/JoR/JM’C
- The consultation document ‘Delivering Skills that Work for Wales’ was discussed. The document focused on the post 16 age group, but the 14-19 response to the consultation would recommend a focus on the pre-16 age group also to correct the balanceand support children earlier.
- Welcomed the need for a common definition across Wales on what is a NEET.
- The correct correlation should be achieved between learning coaching, personal support, careers advice etc. JHJ observed that there were various activities occurring regarding this which needed collating and streamlining.
- Potential NEETs needed to be identified earlier. HWsuggested schools could achieve this regarding their vulnerable pupils via the information they held e.g. PASS, attendance and exclusion data etc
- The appropriate support should be provided to these YP. JM’C cited the liaison between Cardiff YPP and Careers'Wales as a good example of the process of referral of youngpeople to appropriateprovision.
- Protocols should be reviewed and renewed. The response would support this e.g. protocols needed on information sharing regarding data on YP.
- JM’C advised the SCoG that August 11th is the closing date for consultation and although the KIT group would feed into the 14-19 response, additional comments were welcome.
- JM’C would forward PP copy of consultationdocument.
3.8 EYDCP / HH
- Flying Start consultation was discussed with 2 options being consulted on.
- Foundation Phase: The option of deferring roll out to 4 - 5 year olds was being considered but would remain statutory for 3 - 4 year olds from September 2008, with the Framework still being used for delivery.
- EYDCP producing a collaborative response to Core Aim 1 of the CYPP and theChildcare SufficiencyAssessment.
- HW voiced concerns of a possible drain on the under 3s workforceas demand is increased from Foundation Phase settings- HH would have a more comprehensivestudy by the endof term.
3.9 Feedback from Children’s Partnership (CP) /
JHJ/LP
- The CYPP consultation was worked onby the Partnership collaboratively. Many positive and constructive commentswere raised and all would be fed into the current CYPP consultation response system in place.
3.10 Young People’s Partnership (YPP) / JHJ/LP
- The YPP meeting was due to take place July 16th and an update would be provided at the next SCoG in October.
4. Other items tabled
4.1 SCoG Work Programme for 2008-09 (document previously
circulated) /
HW
- LA05 - Mel Morris would lead on PASS when in post in September.
- LA06 - HW emphasised the aim to identify poverty issues in Wrexham and collate information from other authorities on methods to attempt to eradicate the link between poverty and educational underachievement (linked withcore aim 7).
- LP will be researchingwork ofthe Joseph Rowntree Foundation on educational disadvantage and the links with poverty. Other works were suggested to LP including NFER.
4.3 CYPP Update / JHJ/LP
- JHJ updated there had been 12 differentconsultation events with varied attendance rates - the material collected would now be examined.
- The involvement of schools in these consultations needed to be co-ordinated.
5. AOB
- Guidance on the Reintegration of children andYP who have beenabsent from School (document previously circulated) - GE confirmed this document was now finalised and agreed.
- Agenda Items: HW requestedany agenda items required for the next SCoG tobe forwarded to himself or LP - LP would email all relevant bodies regarding this prior to the next meeting.
- School Based Counselling Service
- KIT 9 Project
- JHJ reminded there was a Cross Partnership Event onalcohol issues on the same day as the next meeting of this SCoG. LP would inform if meeting date was tochange.
GE
Careers Wales
LP to inform if
date changes
6. Date and time of next meeting
- 22ndOctober 1:30pm, Committee Room 2, Guildhall
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