Minutes - Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee - 22 March 2011

BOROUGH OF POOLE – CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE – 22 MARCH 2011

BOROUGH OF POOLE

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

22 MARCH 2011

The Meeting commenced at 6:03pm and concluded at 8.34pm

Committee Members Present

Councillor Mrs Evans (Chairman)

Councillors Brooke, Brown, Bulteel, Mrs Lavender, Matthews, Mrs Moore,Wilkins and Woodcock (substitute for Councillor Mrs Dion)

Mr K Newman Diocesan Representative

Also present:

Councillor Mrs Walton - Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People

Members of the Public Present:approximately 10

CYP61.11APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mrs Dion (substituted by Councillor Woodcock).

CYP62.11DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

None

CYP63.11MINUTES

RESOLVEDthat the Minutes of the Meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 31 January 2011, having been previously circulated, be taken as read and confirmed and signed by the Chairman, as a correct record subject to the following amendments:

MCYP56.11- REVIEW OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES CAPITAL STRATEGY 2010-2014 AND AGE OF TRANSER:

Delete ‘Recommendation iii (duplication of ii).

CYP64.11CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S VOICE

The Head of Children and Young People’s Service – Integrated Servicesand the Strategy Manager 13-19 years gave a Power-point presentation on the Children and Young People’s Services Consultation 2010.

In 2010 a wide range of children and young people were asked their views on growing up in Poole and the Services they received. Overall 2,850 participated in the Consultation, which represented12% of 5 – 19 year olds living in Poole.

Workshops and questionnaires were used to explore the following themes:

Positive Activities

Children and Young People: You and your life in Poole

Information, Advice and Support

Transport

Health

Safety

The Priorities identified through the Consultation were as follows:

Acknowledge the importance of parks and open spaces to 5-19 year olds by ensuring children and young people’s views are taken into account in the development of parks and open spaces, and activities provided.
Develop places for young people to meet, including town centre provision and music events.
Ensure that areas of Poole where children and young people walk and/or meet are well lit.
Ensure more opportunities are available for dance, drama, music and arts and for young people to go the gym.
Promote services and activities more effectively through Schools
Explore social network sites as a mechanism for communicating with teenagers and continue to develop the website.
Continuethe development of ways for children and young people to have their voices heard in the planning, delivery and evaluation of services.
Address the issues of young people not feeling valued in Poole.
Develop girl’s project focusing on self esteem, appearance and health with 13-19 year olds and around alcohol use for 12-14 year olds.
Develop projects working with boys aged 11-14 years old around minimising use of alcohol, drugs and smoking and conflict management.
School Nursing Service to explore ways to engage with young men.
Dorset Police to develop ways to engage with teenagers, particularly females.
Schools to continue to develop different ways for young people to ask for support from School Staff.
Review information, advice and support services for those aged 12 plus, with a particular focus on those aged 14.
Focus on promoting and improving road safety, particularly outside Schools.
Work with bus companies to explore bus fares and how to interact with teenagers.
Develop a project to explore the reported changes in young people’s movements across Poole, particularly in the evenings.

The Consultation was to be used by all external and internal partners to enable them to revisetheir own plans. Work was now needed to be undertaken in order that a multi-agency action plan was developed. It was also noted that the Consultation was a sound and robust document that could also be used as evidence in future bids.

The Chairman invited the Representatives of the Children and Young People’s Shadow Board to join the Committee and express their views on the Consultation and how they would like their voices to be heard in the future. The Committee then introduced themselves to the twelve young people.

The Representatives of the Children and Young People’s Shadow Board introduced themselves to the Committee. The Member of Youth Parliament (MYP) and Deputy then introduced the young people in turn, to highlight the work they had carried out during the past year and their priorities for the coming year. The Young People’s Priorities from March 2010 were discussed and it was felt that more work on these should be done in 2011. Other areas of their work presented included the Schools Council and the Anti-Bulling Alliance.

They felt the UK Youth Parliament Electionwas a valued event and that last year approximately 70 young people had attended and 13 candidates stood for Office. The Young people were able chose their own platform for the Election and were given 3 minutes to speak,allowed to design a T-Shirt and present a 6 word manifesto to support their Priorities.Nathan Thompson and Vicky Olive who were present at the Meeting were elected for 2011.

The Priorities to be presented to theMayor’s Debate with Young People on 23 March 2011 were noted as follows:

Opportunities to be made available to develop knowledge of essential life skillsto young people, in the Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) Lessons.
Volunteering opportunities to be made available to young people through a designated website, which young people couldaccess.
Political education lessons to be offered to young people by the Council, its Partners and its Elected Members and political education lessons developed in all Poole Schools.

In response to Members’ questions the Representatives of the Children and Young People’s Shadow Board advised the Committee that

there was no school rivalry between those involved in the Youth Parliament or the Mayor’s Debate. Two of the young people who had been engagedwith the Mayor’s Debate with Young People in 2010 had been acting as mentors for those wishing to speak at the Mayor’s Debate with Young People on 23 March 2011.
Three topics were to be discussed at their next Governance Board Meeting; employment, travel and self confidence, with employment being their highest priority.At their Workforce Development Meeting the young people felt that adults were skilled in their job roles but their communication with young people needed to be improved.
During a safeguarding training session the young people used drama and self made cards for a game to engage with teachers and youth workers, to see how they would deal with certain situations such as bullying (the cards used in these games were tabled for Committee Members to view).
The opportunities for youth in Poole were very good and through an

on-line forum they hoped to bridge the gap between engagement with

adults and the Council.

The Secondary Schools Forum involved all schools and had worked on improving the lives of all school children. An Anti-bulling Alliance had been set up, and to date 4 schools had signed up. Through the Youth Forum, Youth Parliament and Governance Board Meetings etc. It was

hoped that the Anti-Bulling Alliance would be supported by all of Poole’s Schools.

Some young people felt there was too much information on the types of drugs and alcohol available, but not enough data on the reasons why people abused, or the consequences of their misuse. They felt there was a culture that it was ‘cool’ to drink and that certain TV programmes and media coverage appeared to promote the sociable aspects of drinking with scenes of youngsters getting drunk, but rarely highlighted the extent of the consequences of such actions.
they agreed bullying was no longer acceptable but did not feel it had necessarily increased over the years but it was more a case of being easily recognisedand labelled.
Some Schools had given its pupils the opportunity to undertake voluntary work instead of Physical Education (P.E.) during their 6th Form period and to those involved in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. They did however feel that there needed to be an increase in the number and choice of opportunities available. To help promote such opportunities and advertise projects they hoped to get an on-line forum and Facebook page set up.
They also hoped that attitudes between older people and the young would continue to improve through integrated events and more publicity and would like to have a regular piece in the Poole News.

Note: Councillor Mrs Moore declared a personal interest as an Additional Governor of AshdownTechnology College.

Councillor Mrs Moore praised the Young People for their Presentation and advised the Committee that as an Additional Governor of AshdownTechnology College she would be willing to promote the Anti-Bulling Alliance at the College’s next Governors Meeting.

Some Members suggested that a half page in Poole News be dedicated to the Young People’s Shadow Board.

The Strategic Director advised the Committee of the difficulties with securing advertisements in Poole News due to financial constraints and the need to book space in advance.

Councillor Woodcock proposed the following:

“That Cabinet be recommended to approve that a section of Poole News be dedicated to the Young People’s Shadow Board”.

The Proposal was moved and seconded

Vote:

FOR - UNANIMOUS

The Proposal was CARRIED

RECOMMENDED that Cabinet approve that a section of Poole News be dedicated to the Young People’s Shadow Board.

Councillor Brooke enquired as to the level of outside support and guidance the young people had received in tackling bullying and advised them of a local Minister who would be willing to provide support and guidance. He also suggested that an on-line forum would need to be monitored to reduce the possibility of it being abused.

In response the Representatives of the Children and Young People’s Shadow Board advised the Committee that they had received some outside support and guidance but were willing to work with others. Through the Anti-Bulling Alliance they believed there would be more external and internal support and guidance opportunities available to them. The proposed on-line forum was to be policed and Facebook already had installed a ‘panic button’, to report abuse to the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and Facebook.

In response to further questions from Membersthe Representatives of theChildren and Young People’s Shadow Boardadvised the Committee of the following:

they felt they had not been consulted enough about the changes relating to ‘Academy’ status within Schools. They felt Head Teachers needed to be accountable to the children and teachers within its School and thought some Schools had felt pressured to go down the ‘Academy’ status route to ensure they were not financially disadvantaged.
They had not pursued their discussions with the Bus Companies to reduce Bus Fares for School Children because the Bus Companies had increased the age limit of it Adult Fares to 18 years old. They felt there were more important issues that needed to be addressed and the Bus Companies had probably done as much as they were willing to do to address their bus fare concerns.
The reason there were few young men involved in the Young People’s Shadow Board was probably down to the fact that they preferred to participate in physical activities and
few young men saw the School Nurse as they found it easier to communicate with male nurses.
In order that their voices are heard they asked that they be invited to more meetings and consultations.

The Committee thanked the Representatives of the Children and Young People’s Shadow Board for their positive work and their excellent responses to questions.

(Note: The Representatives of the Children and Young People’s Shadow Board left the Meeting at 7:20pm and were not present for the remainder of this discussion or the Meeting).

In response to a Member’s question regarding how Poole compared against other Local Authorities Nationally,in its engagement with young people, the Strategy Manager 13-19 years advised the Committee that it was very difficult to make such comparisons. The Strategic Director advised that previous comparisons were not effective because organisations such as Ofsted regularly changed the way this was judged.

In response to other Members’ questionsthe Head of Children and Young People’s Service – Integrated Services and the Strategy Manager 13-19 yearsadvised the Committee that the use of the porta-cabin previously hosted by the Gaff, in Hamworthy was still under discussion. The Priority to ‘acknowledge the importance of parks and open spaces to 5-19 year olds’identified through the Consultation were being investigated with a particular focus on the Town Centre’s Open Spaces. After the annual Beach Polo event the infrastructure was used for other sports such as volley ball for the youth. Work with the Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for the Arts, was also being carried out.

A Member advised the Committee that at a Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) Meeting in Canford Heath local children were invited to discuss their views and in conjunction with ‘Limelights’ were also able to speak to Members privately about their concerns. The Member felt the SNT was more informative and constructive with the young people’s input and would like to see this concept rolled out in all SNT Meetings.

The Strategy Manager 13-19 years advised the Committee that further work was required to ensure that there is a good support mechanism in place when all age groups came together and that adults take responsibility and value the views of its young people.

A Member suggested that Representatives of the Young People’s Shadow Board be considered as Co-opted Representatives to the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Membership.

RECOMMENDED that

the outcomes and recommendations arising from the Children and Young People’s Consultation in 2010 be noted.
Young People be invited to future Meetings in order that their voices can be heard.
Council considers adding 2 representatives from the Children and Young People’s Shadow Board as Co-opted Representatives to the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Membership.

FOR - UNANIMOUS

CYP65.11CONSULTATION ON ADMISSION ARRANGEMENTS RE: PROPOSED INCREASES IN PUBLISHED ADMISSION NUMBERS (PANs)

The Head of Children and Young People’s Integrated Services and the Borough of Poole’s Education Officer advised the Committee of the Consultation Outcomes on the Proposed Admission Arrangements for Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools for 2012/13.

The Committee was reminded that following its Recommendations on 16 November 2010, Cabinet on December 7 2010 approved:

the following unchanged matters for 2013/13 Admission Arrangements:

Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme,
Supplementary Information Form (SIF) for Primary Schools,
Admission Policies for maintained Nursery and Secondary Schools, and
Published Admissions Numbers, and

Consultation being carried out on the Proposed Admission Arrangements for Community and Voluntary Controlled First, Primary, Combined and Middle Schools, and the increase in Published Admission Numbers for Baden Powell & St. Peters Middle School (additional 30 places) and Hamworthy First and Nursery (additional 30 places).

It was noted that although the SIF had originally been approved unchanged, discussions had been held between the Local Authority and Voluntary Aided Primary Schoolsconcerning clarification of the wording. The Head of St. Aldhelm's C.E. V.A. Combined School and the Diocese were thanked for their support and it was considered that the Revised SIF would enable decisions to be made easier and quicker by both parents and admission authorities.

The Diocesan Representative advised the Committee that the Heads of the Voluntary Controlled Schools had suggested that a ‘skeleton layer’ be applied to theirAdmission Policiesso that everyone knew where to expect certain items. The Borough of Poole’s Admission Policy would be used as a template.

In response to Member’s question regarding the pupils being moved either forward and backward in class years, the Head of Children and Young People’s Integrated Services advised the Committee that movement usually occurred if there were medical grounds forcing a pupil to move backwards and it was rare for pupils to be advanced a year.

A Member requested that the Committee be reminded as to the reasons why it was necessary to increase the Published Admissions Numbers (PANs) in the two Schools. In response the Head of Children and Young People’s Integrated Services advised the Committee that the PAN of Lilliput First School had increased by 30 in 2009 and it was necessary to increase the PAN at Baden Powell & St Peters Middle School to accommodate additional pupils in the area. In regard to the proposed increase at Hamworthy First School, pupil projections showed an increase in the number of pupils in this area, which were based on live birth figures. Both schools had been involved in the discussions concerning the increase in their respective PANs.