Agenda and minutes

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In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the City and County of Swansea, no interests were declared.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 13 July 2016 be agreed as a correct record

Jo-Ann Walsh indicated that the representative from Careers Wales  – Wendy Williams was unable to attend the meeting, but would be available to attend the meeting on 14 September.

RESOLVED that the item be deferred to the September meeting.

Jo-Ann Walsh presented a verbal report and distributed a series of statistics of NEETs by School & EOTAS for the period 2013-2015.

Included within the paper was information on the following areas:

·       NEET Tracking 16 year olds

·       NEET by school at destinations and 8 months on

·       NEET by School – 3 year trend

·       Overall NEET by status – 3 year trend

·       EOTAS Group by status – 3 year trend

·       EOTAS Pathways

·       Key Stage 4 Education

·       Step Ahead

·       Home Tuition

The Committee discussed in detail the various figures and statistics and asked questions around the following topic areas, to which the Officer responded accordingly:

·       How the figures are compiled, liaison with schools, colleges etc

·       Destination survey carried out on 31 October

·       Fluctuation of figures between 17 and 18 year olds

·       Comparisons and movement of figures within individual schools

·       Careers Wales  involvement

·       Outreach teams and Lead Worker involvement

·       Links with Careers Plus, Job Centre Plus and use of DWP data

·       Issues with young people “slipping through the net” and not being tracked or recorded

·       General downward trend of NEET numbers

·       How Drop Outs from school/college are tracked and additional/alternative courses being provided by colleges to encourage young people to remain in education

·       Additional targeted support for EOTAS children

·       Background and circumstances to the different categories of young people outlined in the data

·       Developing links with Housing Dept

·       Moving Forward Programme from Welsh Government

·       Cynydd Project

·       Recognising that many Young People want to work and not continue with Education

·       The need to get young people in employment with training opportunities through appropriate schemes such as apprentice programmes

Councillor Lewis queried the statistics and raised a specific case of two young people in his ward who he stated had not had any involvement with any of the various bodies or agencies outlined. The Officer agreed to liaise with the Councillor directly and further investigate the individual cases.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

Lindsay Harvey presented a verbal update to Members following his recent end of term meetings with Head teachers from both Primary and Secondary sectors.

He reported that the schools had identified the following six keys areas where the VAP data proves particularly useful for them:

·       Target Setting

·       Intervention  Strategies

·       Safeguarding

·       Parent Liaison

·       Multi Agency Partnerships

·       Transition Support

He also outlined the following areas where Schools had identified as of beneficial use to them:

·       Benefits of moving young people from level five to two

·       Ability to track performance backwards

·       Ability for teachers to group pupils of different abilities into separate streams of learning

He indicated that he following amendments had been outlined by schools as ones which could prove useful, and detailed the amendments to the VAP Data from next term that would be made as a result of the suggestions:

·       SEN Input & Indicators – will now be expanded from 2 to 4

·       Free School Meals Measure – will be extended to include Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation

·       Introduction of Formal Training Sessions for Schools on VAP Data( Members of the CAC could attend if required)

RESOLVED that the feedback from schools and the amendments to the VAP Data be noted.

Members discussed the updates to the draft work programme for the Committee.

Lindsay Harvey indicated he would circulate background information to Members about Pentrehafod School prior to their visit in September.

RESOLVED that the updated work programme be noted