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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 5, Guildhall, Swansea. View directions

Contact: Democratic Services - 636824 

Items
No. Item

30.

Disclosures of Personal and Prejudicial Interests.

Minutes:

In accordance with the code of conduct adopted by the City & County of Swansea, no interests were declared.

 

31.

Minutes. pdf icon PDF 213 KB

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

 

Minutes:

Resolved that the minutes of the Education & Skills Policy Development Committee held on 8 January 2020 be agreed as a correct record.

 

32.

Discussion with Schools.

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Mrs Jones to the meeting.

 

Nia Jones, Headteacher at YGG Bryniago outlined her background and experience as a Headteacher in both her current and previous roles.

 

She indicated that her school had been involved in the Pioneer Schools project from its inception and had helped to influence the development of the new curriculum.

 

She outlined the steps taken by her and the staff and referred to the way in which they have developed teaching and learning in the school.

 

She then provided the Committee with a detailed powerpoint presentation which included the following areas and topics:

·         217 pupils in 9 classes, 38% of which are from Welsh speaking backgrounds, 6.8% free school meals;

·         Changing influence of IT and Technology on school, lessons, and life in general;

·         Need for teacher training/retraining to be properly focused and financed, more targeted/smarter use of both finances and time available to teachers – additional funds/grants do assist in providing cover and time for teachers to learn/retrain:

·         Level of support and advice from ERW;

·         4 main purposes of the new curriculum – all link in with improvement to literacy, numeracy and digital skills;

·         Planning & preparation for change – vision for change, expectations, timescales, leadership and support, involvement of staff/parents/pupils, SMART targets, milestones and evaluation/monitoring of change;

·         Changing behaviours and more positive attitude to learning  in school as a result of change in teaching methods;

·         Stage 3 – implementation, rich tasks at KS2, additional support to staff, sharing of good practice;

·         Stage 4 - evaluation/monitoring, classroom observation, learning walks around the school for staff, questionnaire for staff/parents/pupils, professional discussion at term end to review;

·         Ongoing circle/cycle of continuous improvement;

·         Areas of additional learning teams;

·         Pupil voice;

·         Overview of themes to be taught and termly review;

·         Weekly timetable;

·         Theme menu – review & investigation, research, presentation of findings;

·         Theme menu findings – different methods of presentation for different age groups(powerpoint/singing etc);

·         Rich Tasks – linked to a different theme for each year(castles/space/films etc);

·         Planning stages – what matters statements;

·         Multilingualism – Gwyr cluster schools project;

·         Multi strategies for analysing and promoting independent learning;

·         Impact of changes on the whole school – improvement of  literacy/numeracy/digital skills across the school;

·         Improvement in children’s behaviour and engagement in learning;

·         Next Steps – pioneer school influences – continued development of 4 purposes, more reference and influence from new curriculum, staff development, investment in resources & equipment.

 

Members asked various questions of the Headteacher around the topics outlined above and lengthy discussions took place in the meeting, the Headteacher responded accordingly.

 

The Chair and Members thanked the Headteacher for the excellent information provided during her presentation and her attendance at the meeting.

 

33.

Swansea's Skills Partnership Two Work Streams - Support/ Guidance for Vocational and Digital Capacity Sub-Groups - Update from Education Officers.

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed both Chris Rees - Head of Learning for Digital Competence and David Bawden - 14-19 Curriculum Officer to the

meeting.

 

Chris Rees outlined that the Digital Capacity Sub Group had collated a strategy with a series of priority aims.

 

A full list and details would be circulated to Members following the meeting

but the main aims centred around

·       Perception of Digital in Education – do young people have the correct skills and experience for digital work, guidance for schools, gender neutral  aims to encourage female participation, need to promote problem solving ability and critical thinking.

·       Opportunities for Learners through Employer Engagement – employer events, Gower College Swansea digital employers group, liaison with Careers Wales, involvement with DVLA and Ospreys on new projects.

·       Digital Work Based Learning – working with all 6th Forms, FE Colleges.

·       Continued Professional Development of Staff and Recruitment – make enough courses and opportunities for staff to attend engage and upskill, exiting new learning programme being developed with Big Learning Company which will be expanded from the current 20 places to 120 via funding from Welsh Government.

·       Sharing of Good Practices between Phases – sharing between schools and clusters.

 

David Bawden indicated that the Better Support & Advice for Vocational Training & Qualifications sub group has met several times. The group is currently made up from staff from schools & colleges is aiming to get employers involved also. He outlined the work done to date in developing a new App that will aim to signpost in one place all the information young people will need to establish what courses/apprenticeships/jobs are available locally.

 

He also outlined the main priorities of the group are as follows

·       Audit of vocational education offered at pre 16, sixth forms, colleges.

·       Work collaboratively with Careers Wales in providing good quality advice, information and guidance – current strategy and future plans.

·        Develop a web platform to present all opportunities to learners (to replace UCASP)

·       Develop a transition protocol between school (pre16) and post 16 opportunities.

·       Provide opportunities for learners through employer engagement activities.

 

Members discussed the issues raised by the officers and asked various questions around the topics outlined above and discussions took place relating to the issues outlined, particularly around the need to ensure that young people as well as being digitally ready for the jobs of the future, they also have the basic skills for work, such as good numeracy and literacy, time keeping, politeness, basic e mail/letter writing etc, the officers responded accordingly. The need to further develop and expand links with local small businesses particularly in the private sector and business organisations such as the Swansea Bay Business Club and both Universities was outlined. Issues affecting young people such as free school meals, lack of male role models, lack of access to digital services and technology, poverty and deprivation all also need to be considered.

 

The Chair also requested feedback on the Gatsby Benchmarks project that is currently being trialled in RCT to a future meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

34.

Workplan 2017/2018. pdf icon PDF 203 KB

Minutes:

The workplan for the remainder of the Municipal year was noted.

 

The next meeting will review the evidence and issues/topics discussed and submitted to date, prior to the collation of a draft Cabinet report for the committee to review.

 

The meeting will also discuss potential topics for discussion and investigation in the new municipal year.