Agenda and minutes

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosuresofinterests

Personal Interest declared by Cllr S M Jones and Cllr B Hopkins.

None

The Minutes of the meeting on the 14 December 2023 were agreed by the Panel.

The letter to the Cabinet Member following the Panel meetings on the 23 November 2023 and 14 December 2023 was noted.

Questions can be submitted in writing to scrutiny@swansea.gov.uk up until noon on the working day prior to the meeting. Written questions take precedence. Public may attend and ask questions in person if time allows. Questions must relate to items on the open part of the agenda and will be dealt with in a 10 minute period.

No public questions were received.

A meeting with Gowerton Secondary School and its cluster of Primary Schools.

The Panel welcomed the Dave Bradley who is the link officer for the cluster from Partneriaeth.  He gave an overview of the support provided to the cluster and then outlined progress.  He said that the North Gower Partnership is a strong partnership, which has a long history of working together even before the introduction of the Curriculum for Wales. They are and have been making very good progress with its introduction.  Partneriaeth work in partnership with them as equals because Partneriaeth gain as much from the relationship and learning as the schools.

The Panel welcomed Headteachers and Chairs of Governors from across the North Gower Partnership. The Panel sent them a set of questions, relating to the introduction of the Curriculum for Wales, in advance of the meeting and the Partnership provided a presentation outlining the work of the partnership and addressing those questions.  This included:

a)    How is it going so far?

b)    What are you finding most challenging?

c)     How are you supporting your teachers and school staff to transition to the new curriculum?

d)    How are you working together as a cluster to ensure a consistency of approach?

e)    How do you know how effectively you are implementing the Curriculum for Wales in the Gowerton cluster?

f)      How are you taking learners along with you on this journey?

How is information about the curriculum being shared with the learners?  How are the learners responding to the curriculum, particularly those who have had experience of both systems? 

g)    How do you feel about the support you have received from the local authority and Partneriaeth?

The presentation by the Partnership gave an overview of progress, including:

·       How the partnership looks the consistency of principle rather than practice.

·       The makeup of the partnership including schools involved, numbers of pupils etc.

·       The history of the partnership

·       Looking at: key recommendations from Successful Futures, the 12 Pedagogical Principles.

·       The cluster has three recent headteachers who are leaders of learning

·       Introduction of ‘can do attitude’ ‘kanga’ kangaroo branding across the cluster, showing consistent approach.

·       Working with the local authority and Partneriaeth

·       Siarter Iaith progress

·       The North Gower Partnership progression plan, progress and future plans

·       Development of the North Gower Partnership website and its contents

·       The consistent use of researched principles and policies across the partnership including Safeguarding Manual and Attendance policy.

·       Supporting staff across the cluster using those principles and policies

The Panel at the meeting also asked:

·       What are the deprivation levels across the cluster area

·       How are the cluster funding the North Gower Partnership and other resources being used, do they use a common or shared budget.

·       What do you think are the key factors to your success as a cluster in taking forward the Curriculum for Wales.

·       What are the opportunities for learning used.

·       The use of consistency in for example Kanga and policies etc - does this help pupils when transitioning from Primary to Secondary School in the cluster.

·       What have been the attendance rates particularly for comprehensive

A summary of the Panels views on progress and the responses to those questions asked will form part of the letter to the Cabinet Member following the meeting.

The Work Plan for 2023/2024 was noted.