Agenda item

To receive a written report from the Cabinet Member for Education, Children and Young People and to question the Cabinet Member thereon, provided any such questions are registered in accordance with the timescales and procedures set out in Standing Order 8.2.1.

Council received a written report from Councillor Looker, Cabinet Member for Education, Children and Young People.

 

Notice had been received of fourteen questions on the written report, submitted by Members in accordance with Standing Orders. The first four questions were put and answered as follows and Cllr Looker undertook to provide Members with a written answer to the remaining questions.

 

 (i)    From Cllr Aspden

 

“Can the Cabinet Member explain why nationally the performance gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers at Key Stage 4 is narrowing, but in York it is widening?”

 

The Cabinet Member replied:

 “Nationally the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has remained static over the last three years with the gap remaining at 26% nationally. In York between 2012 and 2013 we were narrowing the gap at a faster rate than national.

In 2014 the gap has widened largely due to contextual issues related to the disadvantaged Year 11 cohort in 2014. This particular cohort  had with many pupils experiencing multiple challenging characteristics – among other factors, three-quarters of them had low prior attainment at the end of Key Stage 2. Thus, in context their outcomes were about in line with reasonable expectation.

Due to the small size of the disadvantaged cohort (288 pupils in the 2014 Y11) the City’s data can see wide fluctuations based on the contextual mix within the cohort. In any year group a higher proportion of disadvantaged pupils in York have special educational needs than is the case nationally and this impacts on the attainment performance indicator, 5A*-C including English and mathematics.

In 2014 the percentage of the disadvantaged cohort achieving 5A*-G was 2 percentage points higher than the national average (York 88%, National 86%) and the gap was the same as the national gap at 9%.”

 

(ii)    From Cllr Brooks

 

“Does the Cabinet Member agree that little or no progress was made under the previous two administrations to narrow the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers?”

 

The Cabinet Member replied:

 “York has historically had wide gaps – these predate the current administration.”

 

(iii)     From Cllr Runciman

 

“The Cabinet Member states that there has been some ‘progress in narrowing the gap’ between disadvantaged pupils and others and mentions new initiatives to achieve further progress. Will she describe those new initiatives and say how and when she feels the gap will narrow further?”

 

The Cabinet Member replied:

 “Initiatives in Early Years to develop speech and language and early literacy eg the FRED initiative (Fathers Reading Every Day) have resulted in the gap narrowing by 8 percentage points in 2014.

The refocusing of the work of the Children’s Centres to focus on improving the engagement with the most disadvantaged families is a key strand within the Childrens Centre transformation.

Detailed analysis of the disadvantaged cohort in the current Year 6 to provide schools with intelligence about the potential barriers to learning experienced by the York 300 cohort. Our schools are working hard to close the gap and in order to help them to target their interventions more precisely we been identifying the characteristics of underperforming groups. We are working with schools to build a clear profile of the pupil groups who are most likely to under achieve.

A cross party scrutiny of the work schools are doing to narrow the gap and a task group of the Learning and Culture scrutiny committee are due to publish their report in to how schools are using the Pupil Premium to close the gaps on 24 February 2015.

On 9 December 2014 we held a Pupil Premium Conference led by Sir John Dunford, the National Pupil Premium Champion. This conference focused on sharing national and local case studies of best practice and encouraged participants to develop an action plan to review and develop their use of the pupil premium. The conference was attended by head teachers, governors and elected members from the Learning and Culture Scrutiny Committee task group.

The six geographical school clusters have been funded to focus their action plans on closing the gap.

Work with schools is taking place to develop a city wide closing the gaps strategy which will incorporate the recommendations from the Learning and Culture Scrutiny Committee Task Group report.

The securest way to narrow the gap is to ensure that gaps are closing in early years and that disadvantaged children are then securely supported at points of transition. The gaps between the disadvantaged cohort and their peers have been a long standing issue in York and pre-date the introduction of national initiatives such as the Pupil Premium. The work that schools, particularly primary schools, are currently doing to narrow the gap are beginning to have an impact as shown by the recent letters to three primary schools highlighting the success of the work they’ve done to narrow gaps. Closing the gaps in early years and primary are crucial to securely closing the gap at KS4.”

 

(iv)    From Cllr Brooks

 

“Was the selling off of Castlegate originally proposed in the Transformation programme influenced by the then ongoing correspondence with York Civic Trust concerning it buying Castlegate?”

 

The Cabinet Member replied:

 “No, the proposal was focused on developing a more sustainable and holistic model for providing the Castlegate services to young people. It was felt that the model could be enhanced if a range of services for young people could be accessed from one site (West Offices) and that this would mean that young people would have greater direct access to the full range of specialist services provided by CYC and partners eg Housing, Job Centre plus, Citizens Advice etc.”

 

(v)     From Cllr Aspden

 

“After a U-Turn on the plans to close Castlegate as part of the ‘transformation programme’ could the Cabinet Member outline the progress made in securing a future for the services currently offered at Castlegate?” 

Reply:

“A further period of consultation with young people has taken place and the findings from this have been shared with the members of the YorOk board.

A working group of representatives from the YorOK partnership has been formed and has met twice since January to discuss and develop new proposals to secure the future of the services currently offered at Castlegate. This group includes representatives from the 3^rd sector, health and education.

A group of staff from Castlegate are continuing to investigate the mutual/social enterprise model as a possible option.

Discussions with a number of partners, including health, are continuing to take place to inform the development of sustainable model for the services currently offered at Castlegate through developing a partnership delivery model.

Following the next meeting of the working group an options paper will be submitted to the YorOK board.”

 

(vi)    From Cllr Cuthbertson

 

“The report says that schools will take a central role in a sector-led system of school-to-school support. Will the Cabinet Member state how schools involved with these new school-to-school improvement arrangements can be certain that their own school is not disadvantaged whilst they are supporting others?”

 

Reply:

 “There are two Teaching School Alliances in York, five National Leaders of Education, eight Local Leaders of Education and twenty eight Specialist Leaders of Education. This forms part of the national framework for school to school support which has been actively encourages by the Department of Education; research from the National College for Teaching and Leadership also shows that schools involved in school to school support benefit from the experience as it provides the opportunity to share best practice and develop the leadership skills of teachers across a school.

 

This practice is already happening in York schools both providing support within York and also in other Local Authorities, this has not had any adverse impact on the school; most Head teachers and teachers are very positive about the opportunities it provides to support professional development across the school from the Head teachers themselves, through middle managers to and classroom teachers.

 

Clusters are already leading on this approach and seeing real improvements in the quality of teaching. The work is school led and has involved and has involved the development and delivery of coaching programmes to move schools requiring improvement to good.

 

These schemes are always developed after an analysis of risk and importantly only those schools that have the secure capacity to provide school to school support are commissioned to be providers of support.”

 

(vii)    From Cllr Orrell

 

“How much success has the Cabinet Member had in working together with the Youth Offending Team (YOT) and the police to reduce the number of first time entrants to the criminal justice system?”

 

Reply:

 “As Cabinet Member I meet regularly with the YOT Manager to discuss the youth justice and prevention services. I have regular access to all YOT Management Board strategic meetings and performance data. I have included the YOT Manager as a full member of the YorOK Board and first time entrants are a key indicator on the Children and Young Person’s Plan and reported and monitored regularly by the YorOK Board, which I chair.

 

The YOT has developed a Triage and Diversion Scheme with the police to offer alternatives to entering the formal criminal justice system, and this began in November 2013.Initial indications of the scheme’s effectiveness show reoffending rates are less than 10% of the cohort.

 

Between April 2011 and March 2012 there were 122 first time entrants to the youth justice system in York. Between January and December 2014 this had fallen to 64. This is effectively a 47.5% reduction, and puts York on a par with the latest England average.”

 

(viii)   From Cllr Runciman

 

“Will the Cabinet Member give the reasons for the widening gap at Key Stage 4 compared to the narrowing gap at Key Stage 2 and state what one key stage can gain from the experience of the other?”

 

Reply:

 “As mentioned in my first answer to Cllr. Aspden the disadvantaged cohort in York is small (288 pupils in the 2014 Year 11). So the City’s data can see wide fluctuations based on the contextual mix within the cohort. As I also mentioned before in any year group York has a higher proportion of disadvantaged pupils who also have Special Education Needs than is the case nationally and this obviously impacts on the attainment performance indicator of 5A* -C including English and Mathematics.

 

The 2014 cohort entered KS4 with wide gaps, and their performance was compounded by the changes to the examination system and performance tables in 2014. The removal of non-GCSE equivalent qualifications and the limited opportunities for high quality vocational learning in KS4 also had an impact on the attainment in particular schools in 2014.

 

We are very much focusing on transitions between primary and secondary schools for all our pupils and it is increasingly a focus of the work taking place in clusters. Developing and strengthening cross phase links are a key driver for the more formal partnerships which are currently being explored by some schools.”

 

(ix)    From Cllr Runciman

 

“The Cabinet Member claims that existing children’s centre sites are being retained. Could she outline how the services within them are to be retained also or enhanced?”

 

Reply:

 “The Children’s Centre workforce has now been restructured focusing on retaining the skills needed to support the statutory offer from Children’s Centres. We are focusing the work ever more closely on improving the outcomes for disadvantaged children and their families. All 9 Children’s Centres are remaining open and are developing service delivery models more closely aligned to the needs of their localities.

 

Key to this is working ever more closely with key partners – schools, health and the third sector – so that we can enhance the offer from each Children’s Centre.”

 

 (x)    From Cllr Cuthbertson

 

“In terms of the skills agenda, what is the Cabinet Member doing to work with employers to promote learning in the workplace as an alternative to school, college or apprenticeships?”

 

Reply:

 “Work currently taking place to develop the City’s economic strategy is involving engagement with employers and providers of skills training. This is informing the analysis of the City’s future skills needs. This takes alongside the working taking place in the regional LEPs.

 

We are seeking to influence schools and colleges to better align the curriculum with the needs of the local economy and to encourage links between schools and employers in key industries such as construction and rail”.

 

(xi)    From Cllr Runciman

 

“What is the Cabinet Member doing to work with employers to promote learning in the workplace as an alternative to school, college or apprenticeships?”

 

Reply:

 “There is an identified priority within our Local Area Statement of Need around the development of traineeships and have formed a project group with the major providers of work based training opportunities to develop traineeships and other work based learning routes for young people particularly those not qualified to Level 2 at age 16.

 

It should be noted that 16-19 study programme principles require that all young people taking vocational programmes undertake substantial work experience and also encourage its inclusion in the programmes of academic learners. The national policy focus on work experience and work related learning is now firmly centred within post 16 and not at Key Stage 4.”

(xii)    From Cllr Runciman

 

“ Will the Cabinet Member describe the work that is being undertaken to raise’ the aspirations of girls who are struggling’ as mentioned in her report?”

 

Reply:

 “Girls mentoring schemes are in place in a number of secondary schools. The work taking placed to further develop the CEIAG offer across the city and in particular to develop girls understanding of the opportunities offered by apprenticeships are also a key strand in the work.

 

The development of the emotional and mental health pilots in two clusters in the city will also be used to focus on developing a clearer understanding of the emotional health and well being needs of girls which impact on their aspirations and achievement.

 

Higher York has secured funding for some HEFCE outreach work which will provide support for groups of young people under-represented in HE.

It must be noted that the move away from course work and a greater requirement for the one exam at the end of the year does not help girls in the assessment of their overall achievements.”

 

(xiii)   From Cllr Runciman

 

“The Cabinet Member reports that 170 Early Help Assessments have been made. How can she assure council that these have led to tangible and sustainable outcomes for the families concerned?”

 

Reply:

 “The City’s refreshed Early Help Strategy provides for a range of early assessment tools to be in place. These will deployed, depending on the context, nature and extent of the issues children/young people and their families are facing. The Early Help Offer for the City is a collaborative venture with a wide range of partner agencies including colleagues from the Local Authority, Health, the Police, Schools and the Voluntary Sector.

 

As a very high level indicator of success it is fair to report that the significant and sustained reduction in the number of children and young people entering care in York is in part attributable to the effectiveness of the City’s preventative and Early Help strategy.

 

The Children’s Safeguarding Board has final responsibility for ensuring these arrangements are safe and effective and the Board receives regular reports on this activity.”

 

(xiv)  From Cllr Runciman

 

“Several members attended the meeting with some of the city’s children who are looked after. Can the Cabinet Member tell us what has happened to address the issues and concerns brought up at that meeting and how that will be fed back to the young people concerned?”

 

Reply:

 “There is extensive ongoing consultation and engagement with our looked after children and young people in relation to every aspect of their care.

 

The Show me that I Matter Panel, and I Matter Too group’s views and concerns are at the heart of the refreshed Looked After Children’s strategy for the City that is currently being developed.

 

The issues raised at the useful and innovative meeting between Corporate Parenting Board and Show me that I Matter Panel is one part of this consultation. There will be specific feedback to the young people as things move on and when appropriate the Corporate Parenting Board will also receive a report.”