Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosuresofinterests

None

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

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

Approved

Resolved that the Minutes of the Education & Skills Service Transformation Committee held on 18 September 2024 be approved and signed as a correct record.

For information

Kate Phillips provided the committee with a powerpoint presentation which outlined the current position relating to the development of a policy for Swansea schools.

Contained and detailed within the presentation were the following areas and information:

·       Progress to date – 2 multi-agency workshops held, 5 key questions asked to attendees, questionnaire circulated, feedback collated and themed and results being analysed;

·       5 questions asked - What are the issues you are dealing with in regard to the behaviours of children and young people in your organisation, what approach do we need to support children and young people to manage their behaviour, what do you want to see happen to enable your organisation to manage difficult behaviour among children and young people, what can you offer individually to support behaviour for schools in Swansea and how can we work collectively;

·       Contributors - Over 120 face to face attendees, 22 surveys returned, multi agencies involvement, trade unions, councillors and questionnaire still open till end of term;

·       Main issues identified - dysregulation and emotional responses, increased physicality, gap between home and school expectations, insufficient resource for LA to provide support, children with ‘complex’ needs and ALN and issues around a lack of respect;

·       What approaches are needed - early intervention and support, improved training and development, increased parental involvement and support, more consistent policies and procedures, positive reinforcement and relationships, funding and resources, specialist support and training, parental and community engagement, support from external agencies, consistent and clear guidelines;

·       What can other people/organisations offer the Council - direct support and interventions, specialist knowledge and training, sharing best practice and ideas and improved collaboration and communication;

·       How can we work collectively – better collaboration and shared vision, improved community and parental engagement, more resource sharing and training, increased support from external agencies and greater data sharing and evaluation;

·       “Iceberg” effect of problems and issues affecting young people and the possible options for dealing and helping young people to overcome their issues;

·       Funding context and various pressures and issues affecting and impacting on budgets across the board;

·       Agreeing a vision – collation of the wide breadth of feedback and views, observed extremes which need addressing, the need for collective agreements and to agree visions from feedback;

·       Next steps – collation of findings and resharing of information, production of draft policy and toolkit, sharing best practice, more research, use of expertise and development of a delivery.

The Committee discussed the issues raised above, made various comments relating to the powerpoint presentation and asked questions around the issues and topics detailed within it, particularly around costs/finances within the authority and the impact of increased spending in one area that impacts on other service areas/silo mentality, possible better spending/targeting of resources, long term impact of covid, increased community/parental engagement, role of school governors and delivery plan and toolkit timescales.

Members welcomed and supported the various multi-agency sessions held and the ongoing consultation exercise that is ongoing.

The Cabinet Member thanked the officer for her presentation and overview/update of the ongoing work and outlined and referred to the various factors and influences affecting the significant issues around behaviour in schools including the post covid impact, attendance statistics, poverty and deprivation issues and social and family circumstances.

He referred to the Welsh Governments aims and strategy to improve attendance but outlined that the authority has to listen to teachers and school staff to move forward and deal with the issues affecting young people. Costs and resources are an important issue but need to be potentially better targeted appropriately to improve the outcomes for young people going forward.

The officer responded accordingly to the questions and queries raised by Members.

The Chair thanked the officer for her informative presentation and input into the meeting.

Noted

The Chair outlined the workplan for the committee for the remainder of 2024/2025.