Venue: Council Chamber, County Hall, Lewes
Contact: Stuart McKeown 01273 481583
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Minutes of the meeting held on 27 November 2017 PDF 195 KB Additional documents: Minutes: 25.1 RESOLVED – to confirm as a correct record the minutes of the last Committee meeting held on 27 November 2017. |
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Apologies for absence Additional documents: Minutes: 26.1 Apologies were received from Councillor Kathryn Field, Mrs Nicola Boulter (Parent Governor Representative) and Mr Simon Parr (Catholic Diocese Representative). |
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Disclosures of interests Disclosures by all members present of personal interests in matters on the agenda, the nature of any interest and whether the member regards the interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct.
Additional documents: Minutes: 27.1 No disclosures were declared. |
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Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources PDF 141 KB Report by the Chief Executive. Additional documents: Minutes: 28.1 The Committee discussed its input into the Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources process and possible future improvements. The Committee’s comments include: that given the increasingly difficult decisions the Council needs to make, it is vital that Members are involved at an early stage with regard to proposals the Department are working on. So as to assist with this, the Committee agreed that ahead of its meeting in June, Members would be invited to suggest specific areas of search which they believe the Committee should consider in more detail as part of the RPPR process next Autumn. Other comments included that ‘without options’ it is difficult for the Committee to make informed comments; that the Committee should clearly identify particular areas it is interested in and then ‘drill down’ into a level of detail that would help Members play a more effective role.
28.2 RESOLVED - the Committee agreed:
1) to request that its feedback on the RPPR process is put forward for consideration as part of the wider review of the RPPR process 2) that members of the Committee are invited to suggest specific areas of search which they believe the Committee should consider in more detail as part of the RPPR process next autumn; and that these suggested areas are provided to the Department ahead of the Committee’s next meeting in June 2018. 3) to note the Department’s response to the RPPR Board’s comments on the budget.
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Update on the Demand on ISEND Services PDF 448 KB Report by the Director of Children’s Services. Additional documents: Minutes: 29.1 At its meeting in June 2017, the Committee requested that a report which evaluates the impact of the measures set out in the Department’s Action Plan be brought to its March 2018 meeting. A summary of the key points discussed by the Committee and the Department’s responses are set out below:
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Key Stage 4 Review of Educational Attainment PDF 131 KB Report by the Director of Children’s Services. Additional documents:
Minutes: 30.1 The Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee appointed a Scrutiny Review Board to review Educational Attainment at Key Stage 4. The Review Board focused on the issues and challenges that secondary schools and academies face in relation to the recruitment and retention of teachers and the potential impact this has on educational attainment. The report updated the Committee on the Action Plan adopted by the Children’s Services Department following the presentation of its final report to Cabinet in June 2017. 30.2 The Committee welcomed the report and the progress being made. The Committee then discussed a number of questions in relation to the Action Plan (see Appendix 2 of the report) and noted that a revised East Sussex Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy will be available in the autumn. A summary of the key discussion points, together with responses from the Department is set out below:
Department’s ambition is that all children, irrespective of their cognitive ability, achieve at least good levels of progress. So whilst the Department accepted that the variability of outcomes displayed in the table is disappointing, in terms of the review process, it was included so as to provide a factual basis for the Review Board regarding the scope of the attainment challenge in East Sussex. This helped the Board focus on what might be causing the differences in performance at different schools and academies. This in turn, ultimately led to the Board’s development of a number of recommendations relating to teacher recruitment and retention which it hoped would help lead to improved outcomes.
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Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) Annual Report PDF 149 KB Report by the Director of Children’s Services. Additional documents:
Minutes: 31.1 Councillor Roy Galley, as Chair of the Standing Advisory Committee on Religious Education (SACRE), introduced the report and highlighted a number of issues for the attention of the Committee. The key discussion points are summarised below:
In response the Committee were advised that the data contained in the circulated item required careful interpretation as, for example, different schools often use different descriptions for the teaching sessions via which RE is taught. As a result, the data may not provide a complete picture of the levels and status of RE teaching in East Sussex. Mandy Watson also sought to reassure the Committee that from the perspective of the Diocese of Chichester, the Agreed Syllabus for RE in East Sussex does meet relevant requirements and is of a good standard. Furthermore, that the Diocese is pleased that all schools in East Sussex will be using the Church ... view the full minutes text for item 31. |
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Scrutiny committee future work programme PDF 373 KB Additional documents: Minutes: 32.1 The Committee reviewed its future work programme.
32.2 RESOLVED – to update the work programme so as to include the following items:
1) in relation to minute 28.2 (2) that Committee members are invited to consider what specific areas of search they want to discuss as part of the RPPR process for next autumn and that these specific areas are provided to the Department ahead of its next meeting in June 2018. 2) in relation to minute 30.3 that the updated East Sussex Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy is circulated to the Committee in the autumn. 3) in relation to minute 31.2 (4), that SACRE will provide an update to the Committee in the autumn on issues relating to the requirements of the National Curriculum with regard to religious education and secondary schools in East Sussex.
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The Forward Plan for the period to 31 May 2018. The Committee is asked to make comments or request further information. Additional documents: Minutes: 33.1 RESOLVED – to note the Forward Plan for the period to 31 May 2018.
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