Agenda and minutes

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosureofinterests

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

To approve and sign the Minutes of the previous meeting(s) as a correct record.

Resolved that the minutes of the Education & Skills Policy Development & Delivery Committee held on 14 February 2018 be approved as a correct record.

The Chair, Chief Education Officer and Members of the Committee welcomed the young people and teachers from both Cefn Hengoed Comprehensive and Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr to the meeting.

The Chief Education Officer indicated that he had recently visited both schools and spoke with their respective school councils, and had been so impressed by the young people, he had invited to the meeting to outline their views.

In response to questions from Members the young people and teachers from both schools responded, and outlined the following subject areas at their respective schools:

·       Provision and benefits of both after school and lunchtime clubs particularly for subjects like science/computing etc;

·       Input of both teachers and careers advisors when choosing subjects at GCSE option and at A level choice time;

·       Good information available linking subjects to potential job/career opportunities;

·       Importance of IT and new technology going forward;

·       Further expansion of IT provision, ie Coding;

·       Young people’s attitudes to future studies, particularly the STEM subjects;

·       Embedding of “employability skills” as part of the Welsh Bac course

·       Need to further develop and expand links with local businesses, in particular the Welsh language provision;

·       Welcome development of the use of Webinars via Careers Wales;

The Chair thanked the young people and teachers for their attendance and input.

Members discussed the topics and issues raised during their discussion with the young people and referred to the following areas for further information/investigation:

·       What provision is available to engage and develop the skills and knowledge of the less academic pupils;

·       Parental involvement;

·       Issues around provision of transport home for pupils following after school clubs;

·       Possible use of regional skills partnership to develop links with Welsh speaking businesses.

Mark Jones gave an overview presentation to Members outlining the following areas of Gower College Swansea:

·       Context and background to provision of current college courses;

·       1500+ students;

·       45 different A levels, apprenticeships, vocational and higher level courses available;

·       Curriculum planning exercise undertaken;

·       Annual curriculum review and evaluation procedures in place;

·       Information gathering undertaken from various sources and use of market intelligence;

·       Engagement with stakeholders & employers;

·       New additions to courses on offer -  bricklaying, carpentry, cyber security, hybrid vehicle maintenance etc;

·       Different start date for courses – September/January;

·       Current links with local universities, employers and industry;

·       Need to further expand and improve links with businesses and employers in the area:

·       Good links with both Neath Port Talbot College and Coleg Sir Gar;

·       Recent development of links and provision of courses at Morriston Comprehensive, and potential to roll out in other schools;

·       Happy to share and exchange information with Council/Schools etc;

·       Ongoing issues with levels of literacy and numeracy levels of young people entering college.

The Chair thanked Mr Jones for his informative presentation.

Nick Williams presented a report which summarised the details of the numbers of students attending the various STEM subject courses in Swansea schools at both GSCE and A level.

Mark Jones indicated he would be able to provide the statistics for the college relating to A level provision there.

Members requested further information and statistics on the non STEM subjects.

Resolved that further figures as outlined above be presented to the next meeting.

Nick Williams outlined and presented the draft terms of reference for the newly established Partnership group.

The formation of the group had been highlighted as an area for development in the committee’s city deal report last year as a conduit between the Authority and the RLSP.

Resolved that the draft terms of reference be approved and the Chief Education Officer report back later in the year on the progress made by the new group

The Chair reported that he had requested updated figures on the number of apprentices currently employed by the Authority.

The information should hopefully be available at the next meeting and could be linked with the information to be supplied from Gower College Swansea.

Councillor L R Jones reported on several ideas he had researched from Authorities in England such as a “festival of learning”, “coding club” and a “mentoring scheme with local businesses”.

He indicated he was awaiting written correspondence on the issues.

Councillor M Durke referred to a IT project undertaken by UWTSD which worked with schools and involved lego and the theme of “learning through enjoyment”.

Mark Jones outlined the science/engineering event held recently at the college and the various projects that the college is involved in with local schools, he indicated he would liaise with the Chief Education Officer on these.

The Chair outlined the Workplan for the Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year 2017/2018.

The need for further data to be provided to the next meeting on the GSCE/A level courses available was outlined.

A review of the Committees work over the municipal year and planning for next year’s topics would also be needed,

Resolved that the Workplan as outlined, subject to the comments above be noted.