Archived decisions

Item 3

AT A MEETING of the EDUCATION ADVISORY PANEL held at The Castle, Winchester on 23 May 2008.

PRESENT:

Councillors: Mrs P.A. West (Chairman); D.R. Blampied; B.D. Dash; K.D. Evans; K.L. Gill; Jo Kelly; Mrs C.A. Leversha; R.J. Kimber; Mrs S.A. Wheale.

Co-Opted Members: Mr J. Gawthorpe; Hon. Alderman S.W. Juniper; Mr D. Mewes; Mr D. White.

Also in attendance: Councillor D.A. Kirk, Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education)

8 APOLOGIES

    Councillors Dash and Kirk left partway through the meeting. Councillor Mrs S.A. Wheale arrived shortly after the start of the meeting.

9 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should normally at the time of the debate declare their interest, and having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with paragraph 12 of the Code.

There were no declarations of interest made by under this item.

10 MINUTES

    The minutes of the meeting on 16 April 2008 were confirmed as correct and signed by the Chairman.

    Arising from the minutes, Members asked officers to clarify the relationship between the UNICEF report "An Overview of Child Wellbeing in Rich Countries" and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), and the work of the Education Advisory Panel. The Panel noted that the UNICEF report provided a generally valid and useful understanding of childhood in the UK, and provided context and texture that informed the Panel. The Children's Plan provided a framework of future development and provision of Local Authority (LA) services to children and young people. The Panel would be providing some input and advice on fitting of the Children's Plan to Hampshire and, more widely, both documents would inform and assist the Panel's work in advising the Executive Lead Member on school standards and performance.

11 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman welcomed Richard Mitchell, Area Director of South East Hampshire to the meeting. Richard was to retire in August, and the Chairman led Members in thanking him for his service and dedication to the County Council.

12 DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations made under this item.

13 THE CHILDREN'S PLAN - PRESENTATION

The Panel considered the presentation of the Director of Children's Services (included in the Minute Book) introducing Members to the DCSF's Children's Plan. The central aim of the Plan was to, "make this the best place in the world for our children and young people to grow up", focussing extensively on the need to understand and develop collaborative approaches to child wellbeing and achievement, both across professional boundaries and within communities. Critically, the Plan recognised that children are not able to fully achieve at school if issues outside of school are not dealt with. This was interlinked to the concept of the 21st Century School, which was at the heart of the collaborative approach to education. As part of this concept the role of the LA would be to lead and encourage, rather than control.

    Members agreed that collaborative working would be an important step forward, and examples from within Hampshire where collaborative approaches had been used had shown them to be successful in improving outcomes for children and enabling earlier intervention to deal with potential problems before they arose. It was also noted that, whilst a degree of competition between schools was appropriate, competition should not stand in the way of openness and joint working to achieve the best outcomes for children. The Panel recognised that 21st Century Schools could only work if the Governing Body of those schools were engaged with an brought along as part of the implementation of the Plan and the 14-19 Agenda. It was also noted with concern that Headteacher demographics indicated that a significant number of Heads were approaching retirement, resulting in much of the implementation of these changes falling on newer, less experienced Headteachers. The Panel suggested that the Children's Services Department and Executive Member explore ways to provide support to new Headteachers, particularly in deprived areas.

14 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

    RESOLVED:

    That in relation to the following item, the press and public be excluded from the meeting, as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during that item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraphs 1,2 and 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, and further that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons set out in the report.

15 PROGRESS OF SCHOOLS IN SOUTHEAST HAMPSHIRE IN SPECIAL MEASURES OR SERVED WITH A NOTICE TO IMPROVE

    The Panel considered the exempt report of the Director of Children's Services on schools in Southeast Hampshire in Special Measures or that had been served with a Notice to Improve. Members discussed in detail issues relating to these and other schools.

    [SUMMARY OF AN EXEMPT MINUTE]

16 DATE OF NEXT MEETING

    Members noted that the next meeting of the Panel was due to be held at 2.00 p.m. on 24 September 2008 at The Castle, Winchester.

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