Agenda item

To take evidence from the following witnesses:

Ø      Sue O’Brien – Schools Improvement Officer for Inclusion

Ø      Steve Foot – Head of Minet Junior School

Ø      Clive Neathy – Head Teacher of Rosedale college 

Ø      Charlie Taylor – Head Teacher of The Willows School.

The Chairman welcomed all of the witnesses to the meeting, and asked Sue O’Brien (Schools Improvements Officer for Inclusion) to begin her presentation. The witness said:

• The last local strategy was completed in 2003. A representative group of stakeholders are meeting under the joint chairmanship of Pauline Nixon, Head of Access & Inclusion and Sue O’Brien to write a new strategy. Step one of the strategy has been out for initial consultation and step two will be in place for consultation at the beginning of the next academic year. The aim is to review current inclusion provision and to formulate strategic direction across schools and the local authority.
• Creating the post of Principal School Improvement Officer for Inclusion has raised the awareness of what should be seen in schools as “universal” and “targeted” when considering pupils with additional needs. It is only when this level of support is considered insufficient to narrow the progress gap between a pupil and its peers should wave 2 or 3 be deemed necessary:
  • Wave 1 - Inclusive quality first teaching for all;
  • Wave 2 - Additional interventions to enable children to work at age related expectation or above;
  • Wave 3 - Additional, highly personalised interventions

• The Inclusion development programme (IDP) is 3 year programme with
  •  Year 1 focusing on Speech Language and Communication Dyslexia;
  • Year 2 focused on Autism;
  • Year 3 focusing on Behaviour.
• IDP  is based on Quality First Teaching which are Organised into three areas:
  • Understanding the area of difficulty
  • Being able to identify the barriers to learning for children having difficulties
  • Knowing how to overcome these barriers
• All schools were offered IDP training centrally and at these sessions the school-based training materials were distributed. Schools have been given support in delivery through whole staff sessions. An audit of “take-up” has just been completed and the results will be available in the autumn.
• In 2007, 1.5m children were identified as having SEN in England– 19.2% of all pupils. In 2007, £2.5 billion spent on delegated and retained SEN budgets. Schools determine the use of delegated SEN budgets, providing opportunities to use funding flexibly to be more effective. Many schools have developed holistic and strategic approaches to planning provision and monitoring impact.

The Chairman opened the floor to questions. Members asked the witness whether the needs of the children in these schools were being met. The witness said the whole strategy is based on meeting the needs of the children and accommodating their varying needs.

Members asked the witness what steps were being taken to ensure school attendance was being kept on a high level. The witness said that there is an attendance monitor at every school. The attitude of the child is monitored to uncover any underlying issues beneath their truancy. The attendance monitors work in coalition with the education welfare officers, and are able to enforce the law in order to tackle parents who support the act of truancy. Officers said that there is a very effective Education Welfare Service in Hillingdon, and the secondary and primary attendance has surpassed its target the past few years. Members requested more data on this and Officers said that they would provide this information to Democratic Services.

Members asked the witness whether the idea of ‘virtual schooling’ had been developed any further. The witness said that this idea was in its infancy, with a pilot scheme being built at the moment. Officers said that Hillingdon is part of a consortium with Hounslow and Buckinghamshire, which is working on developing this idea.

The Chairman thanked the witness, and asked Steve Foot (Head of Minet Junior School) and Gerry Foot (Minet School Language Manager) to begin their presentation. The witnesses said:

• The school has an attendance rate of 94.7%
• The school develops good parental links with children at risk and positive dialogue and with external agencies e.g. SEN
• The school has strong links with The Meadows and The Willows special schools.
• Intervention Groups are pupil driven for those with special needs e.g. sensory difficulties.
• Exclusion and attendance - the school is committed to the principle of No Fixed Term Exclusions, and exclusion rates are rapidly improving.
• New arrivals at the school are assessed, with their parents, at an initial interview and given an Evaluation Assurance Level. Information such as home language, country of origin, last place of residence, previous schooling and history, parental preferred language of communication  to include reading and writing, ethnic group, religion, date of arrival, position in family, SEN concerns, assessments in listening/speaking, reading/writing in first language, English and other languages is gathered. New pupils are “buddied up” with other students and their behaviour is closely observed.

The Chairman thanked the witnesses and opened the floor to questions. Members asked what interventions are in place for those children who like to begin their school say at 7.30 am. The witness said that when children start wanting to come to school earlier, there is usually an underlying issue and therefore their behaviour is monitored to uncover this issue. There are nurture groups which tend to those pupils who would rather be at school than at home.

Members asked about the layout of classrooms. The witness said that Inclusion is about dealing with disruptive children at all ages and in all schools. The layout of the room should not matter, but the teacher should be able to engage and control the class.

The Chairman thanked the witnesses and offered them the opportunity to leave. Clive Neathy (Executive Principle of Rosedale College), Joanne Harper (Associate Principle) and Heenal Oza (Children’s Services Practitioner) were invited to begin their presentation. The witnesses said:

·        Rosedale College focuses on raising the issues of quality learning, vocational qualifications availability and workforce remodelling. Specialists are bought in for children who have fallen through the net and need extra help. 71.5% of the children at the school are from ethnic minorities, and 25% of the children have special education needs.

·        Nurturing a child with special education needs is of utmost importance. In usual circumstances, this child will be accustomed to being nurtured at primary school level and this should continue into their secondary education. A balance and consistency needs to be struck to enable the child to be comfortable in their surroundings.

·        Inclusion is based on understanding the child, their parents and their situation very well. It also concerns the community where the children are from and their school community.

·        The Senior Management Team meets every morning to discuss individual children, day to day tasks and arising situations. Some staff attend forums with other schools to share best practice and ideas.

·        The school is open 50 weeks of the year, which means children are not forced to take holiday periods, as many of them prefer being at school.

The Chairman opened the floor to questions from the Committee.

Members asked the witnesses about opening hours. The witnesses said the school is open on weekends, late evening during the week and during holiday periods. Activity clubs are held after hours, as well as a six hours teaching day. Learning sessions are broken down into 2 hour periods. Sixth form students are invited to take part in Community Leadership Programmes, where they are paid to take care of younger children, having completed the required training.

Members asked witnesses what information regarding the child’s situation can be shared with other organisations. The witnesses said all information can be transferred, with sensitive cases being the anomaly. In cases where child protection is a cause for concern, the child is assessed using the Common Assessment Framework, and is then passed on to Social Services if deemed necessary.

Members asked the witnesses about staff and funding. The witness said most of the funding the school receives is used for teaching and learning. Teachers are contracted to work 1265 hours in 165 days a year. The teacher’s associates are mainly graduate students who wish to gain experience in this area, and usually move on to become teachers. Most teachers stay at the school for 3 to 4 years and then move on. Members requested further information on staff: pupil ratio. The witness said all staff have a contribution to make to the school; staff understand that the number one priority of the school is their children. Staff are taught that their job is to deliver a bespoke service using creative solutions. The witness said Rosedale College incorporates a distributed leadership model

Members enquired about the acceleration of children who are learning faster than others. The witnesses said that children are moved into the next class up if they show signs of fast learning and capability to deal with more work. Children are never demoted.

The Chairman thanked the witnesses and offered them the opportunity to leave. The Chairman invited Charlie Taylor (Head Teacher of The Willows school) to begin his presentation. The witness said:

• The school exercises a ‘First Steps’ class for children aged 3yrs to 5yrs who have shown clear signs of needing special education or nurturing.
• The school performs a lot of outreach work with mainstream schools in the borough. This is to ensure that children who have left The Willows are able to settle back into mainstream education and the chance of them returning is decreased.
• The Willows is able to keep up an interface with mainstream schools while a child is making the transition between the two, which allows the school to monitor the child’s behaviour and keep up consistent nurturing of the child.

The Chairman opened the floor to questions. Members asked whether there was a waiting list to join the school. The witness said The Willows is made aware of children who are on their way to them by the mainstream school. Currently there is no waiting list and the school is matching demand levels. The witness said many cases could be solved within mainstream schools if they had the skills and capacity to deal with them. However, because they do not have these skills the children join The Willows.

The Chairman thanked the final witness and gave them the opportunity to leave.