Venue: Committee Room 5, Guildhall, Swansea. View directions
Contact: Scrutiny - 01792 637256
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Disclosure of Personal and Prejudicial Interests. Minutes: None |
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Notes and Conveners Letters PDF 164 KB Additional documents:
Minutes: Notes and letters were received by the Panel. |
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Minutes: Rob Davies, the Challenge Advisor for Bishop Vaughan Catholic Secondary School attended the meeting and discussed progress at the school with panel members. The following main points were noted: ·
In 2016
a number of issues were identified at the school that had caused concern and
needed to be addressed, in particular: the need for stable, strong leadership,
academic data dipping and a large financial deficit. ·
The
school received an ‘Amber’ support package last year and has now been
categorised as ‘Yellow’. The
Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team have welcomed and embraced the support given. ·
A new
acting Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team were appointed in the September
of 2016 and since that time a number of measures have been put in place to
bring about improvements at the school.
This has resulted in stronger and more stable leadership at the school,
an up-lift in academic performance and the managing down of the financial
deficit. · In January the school had an Estyn Inspection which has evidenced a more positive picture and is in line with how the Challenge Advisor had assessed the school had progressed. We heard that Inspection outcome is not yet public but will be published on 4 April. |
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Session with Bishop Vaughan Catholic Comprehensive School PDF 107 KB With Emma Pole, Headteacher and Chair of Governors Additional documents: Minutes: The Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher from Bishop Vaughan Catholic Secondary School attended the Panel meeting to discuss the schools progress and prospects for improvement with the panel. The following main points were noted: ·
The support the school had received from the Local
Authority, ERW and other schools ·
Support for and training of new and aspiring school leaders
and the need to include financial and human resource management in that package
of learning. ·
The work to improve pupil performance and outcomes at the school, the improvements
made and areas still requiring improvement ·
The innovative use of the pupil deprivation grant to
improve eFSM pupil performance ·
The ongoing work to manage down the financial deficit and
the implications of grant reductions. We
heard that this will disproportionally affect the school because they of the
reduction in pupil numbers, imminent changes in support received from the
Ethnic Minority and Achievement Service and the post 16 budget reductions. ·
Attendance and exclusions ·
The condition of some of the school buildings at the school
and the need for some major maintenance or replacement of some aspects. From this discussion
with the Head and Deputy Headteacher and the Challenge Adviser we concluded
that there is now a much improved picture at the
school as compared to the situation in 2016. We felt that this is mainly due
to: ·
The school now having a new and confident Headteacher and Senior
Leadership Team that are proving to be creative and innovative in driving
improvements at the school. ·
Leaders at all levels in the school, and school staff, having worked
together and responded well to the drive to improve pupil outcomes. ·
The school having welcomed support and challenge from the Local
Authority, the Challenge Advisor and accessed school to school support ·
The school is working with the Challenge Advisor to develop its
self-evaluation processes. ·
A much improved financial situation at the school and clear plan to come
out of deficit. ·
The school has well considered plans in place to support pupils from
vulnerable backgrounds. Using their
Pupil Deprivation Grant, the school focuses on improving pupils’ outcomes in
literacy and numeracy and breaking the link between disadvantage and
educational attainment. This has shown
positive impacts in pupil performance for eFSM
pupils. This has been identified by
Estyn as good practice and worthy of sharing with other schools. The Panel did recognise, however, that some of the
areas of particular improvements are required and these are being addressed
through the school continuing to seek ‘school to school’ support and assistance
from the challenge advisor and subject specialists including for its
self-evaluation processes, mathematics and science and outcomes in 6th
Form. The Panel did feel that the
appointment of a permanent Headteacher should made be made soon to ensure
stability moving forward. Councillors congratulated the Headteacher and school staff, the
challenge advisor and the governing body at the school for the improvements
made at the school since 2016 and look forward to seeing this continue from a
now strong base. Overall, we are pleased
to see the new strong leadership team at the school taking the school forward
and would particularly celebrate the use of the innovative thinking the school
is using to solve the challenges that it faces.
The Panel will ask the Cabinet Member to respond to the following
points.
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Minutes: The next two panel meeting have been arranged as follows: 17 May 2018 – Overview of key issues facing Education and planning
the work of the coming municipal year 7 June 2018 – Science in Schools in Swansea |
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For Information Item PDF 97 KB
Minutes: This information was noted by the panel. |
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