Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Kauffman, Markham and Radia.

None.

It was confirmed that all items would be considered in public.

Matters outstanding included:

• the Committee’s previous request for clarity around the use of the £2.5m allocation for Youth Services outlined in the budget item considered at the January meeting, and
• the request for detail of CIL use by Ward, (which had since been raised at the Major Applications Planning Committee.)

It was agreed the clerk would look into these matters before reporting back to the Committee.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 February 2020 be approved as a correct record.

Dan Kennedy (Director - Housing, Environment, Education, Performance, Health & Wellbeing), Rani Dady (School Improvement Officer / Governance / Moderation Manager) and Naveed Mohammed (Head of Business Performance and Insight) introduced the annual Standards and Quality in Education in Hillingdon report for the year 2018/19.

Members were informed that within Early Years, attainment was at or above London and national averages. Key Stage 4 outcomes were above the national average, while Key Stage 5 remained challenging but was improving.

Ofsted inspection data showed that school ratings had declined slightly, with 88% of schools now judged good or better, compared to 91.3% of schools during 2017/18. Five schools had been downgraded following the most recent inspections, with one school the subject of intensive intervention.

Of specific cohorts, SEND attainment showed good progress, CLA remained stable, while children with EHCP’s and children with English as a Second Language had done well. White British boys remained an area of focus,

Members asked a number of questions, including:

White boys had struggled for a number of years. How was Hillingdon addressing this?

The attainment of white pupils remained challenging, though this was not unique to Hillingdon. To address this, the School Improvement Team had commissioned a White British disadvantaged project in 2019 to improve outcomes, and next year’s data would measure the impact of that project. Engagement and support was required at an early age, to promote interest and motivation in education. Family support was also key. Targeted intervention was in place for specific individuals.

How was Hillingdon tracking performance against the 9 priorities listed?

A dedicated team who work with only early year’s providers was in place, alongside an assessment framework for each of those individual providers, which allowed the Council to track progress. All providers were currently ‘good’, though further work was required to reach ‘outstanding’. A review was conducted every quarter, broken down by provider, which allowed officers to identify providers who needed additional support to achieve targets.

Were there mechanisms in place to ensure sustainability of improvements?

Officers worked closely with schools to ensure sustainability. Challenges to sustainability included turnover of staff, or occasionally specific cohorts of pupils.

Was there any data regarding permanent exclusions for 2018-19?

The report contained detail of exclusions for the 2017-18 academic year, which was the most recent published data available.

Could the officers comment on the unfilled Year 7 places in the south of the Borough? (The available spaces were predominantly in the north of the Borough)

Officers were attempting to balance the need for places based on the data available, versus the risk of oversupply. It was important to recognise that the placement data was a snapshot in time, and that a clearer picture would emerge once parents confirmed their acceptance of the places offered, as well as completion of processing of late or in-year applications.

Some Members raised concerns that results at Key Stages 1 and 2, and Hillingdon’s performance at these stages versus statistical neighbours and other London boroughs, was disappointing. These  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75.

Dan Kennedy (Director - Housing, Environment, Education, Performance, Health & Wellbeing), provided the Committee with a report relating to Elective Home Education.

A parent’s right to choose Home Education for their child, and the Council’s responsibilities to those children, were set out as per the report. At the time of publication of the report, 240 children were being educated at home. Reasons for parents electing to home educate their children were many, and included a lack of places at their preferred school, issues with teaching staff, or issues with pupils at their last school.

Generally, pupils were split evenly between male and female, though a higher percentage of home schooled students were in the older age brackets. Often, children would be home schooled for a short period of time, as they would return to school once whatever issue they had experienced was resolved.

As of October 2019, Hillingdon Council had introduced a new procedure, aligned with the recent recommendations from the Children’s Commissioner’s report ‘Skipping School’, which now required all schools to provide the Borough’s Elective Home Education Officer with detailed information on pupils now being home schooled, including the reasons for the decision.

Among the actions taken by Hillingdon set out in the report, Hillingdon had contributed to recent DfE consultations, and it was hoped that in the future the DfE would grant local authorities additional powers, including the right to require parents to register their child with their local authority as being home schooled. Currently, parents were not obligated to provide such detail to their local authority.

Members asked a number of questions, including:

How was the Council working to support parents who had chosen to home school their children?

The Council signposted parents to a number of available resources, including learning materials and resource packs that were available through the website, as well as local support groups.

How did the Council work to resolve issues that had resulted in elective home schooling?

The Council would endeavour to understand the reasons for the parent’s choice to home school, though often these reasons were not forthcoming. Where possible, officers would work to overcome the issue(s) through working with parents and schools, e.g. by instigating behaviour management processes to overcome issues of bullying, etc.

Were there any geographical trends to elective home schooling?

Children being home schooled did not appear to be localised within particular areas. However, this picture would change year on year, and within each year. The number of children being home schooled in Hillingdon was not dissimilar to numbers seen nationally or across London.

How did the Council resolve children missing from school? Was any kind of risk assessment in place?

The Council relied on schools notifying the local authority when children were off rolled. It would be incumbent on the original school to then pass the child’s details to their new school. Missing children would be reviewed via a national database, which detailed their off rolling and enrolling at various schools, as well as through contact with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76.

Consideration was given to the revised draft recommendations, circulated prior the meeting.

Members were supportive of the draft recommendations, though made a number of suggestions for the final report, including:

• Highlighting of the most viable ‘suggestions’ for the implementation of recommendations
• Advice for cross departmental communication to ensure roadside beautification is not disrupted by the clearing of shrubbery
• Detail around the collection of refuse from blocks of flats
• Highlighting of plain and easy to understand language and terminology for all communications to the public

It was agreed that the clerk would circulate a draft of the final report at the next available Committee meeting, (or, if meetings continued to be postponed by the Covid19 pandemic, by email), once ready to be shared.

Members requested further clarity on the Douay Martyrs School, Ickenham item due for consideration at the April Cabinet meeting. It was agreed that the clerk would liaise with officers on this matter before feeding back to the Committee.

RESOLVED:  That the Cabinet Forward Plan be noted.

Members were advised that, due to the current Covid19 pandemic, the forthcoming April meeting had been cancelled. All postposed items would be rescheduled to a future meeting.