Agenda item

To submit a report by the Director of Education, Skills and Young People.

Submitted – the GwE Annual Report for the Isle of Anglesey 2021/2022.

The Leader of the Council, in the absence of the Portfolio Member for Education and the Welsh Language, said that GwE’s Annual Report highlights the work undertaken in 2021/2022.  She also noted that the report refers to the work programme and the support the schools received during the pandemic by the local authority and GwE to reduce the effect on pupils. The Leader wished thank the representatives from GwE for the support and guidance they give the schools on a daily basis. 

The Portfolio Member for Children’s Services (Social Services) and Youth Services said that there is an overlap between the Education Portfolio and the Children’s Services Portfolio as regards to children in care and their educational needs.  He noted that report discusses the awareness of trauma and with three primary schools identified as trauma informed schools.  He further said that there has been a close working relationship with GwE for nearly 10 years and the report highlights not only the education elements but also the welfare issues sustained during the pandemic.

The Director of Education, Skills and Young People reported that the Local Authority works in a close and effective partnership with GwE.  GwE is the regional education consortium for North Wales and works in partnership with Anglesey’s Learning Service in terms of improving schools, sharing good practice, knowledge and skills, increasing strengths and building capacity.  The partnerships working has been highlighted within the Estyn inspection report on the Anglesey County Council’s Learning Service held in June 2022.  He noted that during the inspection, Estyn noted two recommendations for the Local Authority to implement which was to strengthen processes for evaluating the effect of the Learning Service’s work and to develop and strengthen formal scrutiny arrangements.  The Learning Service’s work (including GwE’s work) is regularly scrutinised by the Education Scrutiny Panel.  However, to strengthen the scrutiny process, and to respond to Estyn’s recommendations, the Learning Service and its partners’ work is scrutinised annually through this Committee.  He further reported that the education service is going through a period of substantial changes, with a new Curriculum and the new Additional Learning Needs legislation together with the financial issues, staff recruitment and post-covid response. As part of this reform, the accountability process is evolving, including reporting on and scrutinising education, which includes school performance and effectiveness.  The Director of Education, Skills and Young People further referred to the new School Improvement Guidance published by Welsh Government which will be statutory from September 2024.  The guidance will strengthen accountability systems, with schools being held directly accountable by their governing bodies and Estyn for the quality of provision and the progress of learners.  In addition, the guidance clearly notes that each partner is part of the process, with clear accountability on the support services such as the Learning Service and GwE.  Close collaboration will be required between Anglesey Local Authority and GwE to provide support based on the improvement priorities of each school’s school development plan.  The Scrutiny Committees will be able to scrutinize the effectiveness of collaboration between the Local Authority and GwE and to monitor and improve schools that are causing concerns.

The Managing Director GwE reported that the Annual Report 2021/2022 outlines how GwE staff have repurpose their work appropriately over the last two years to continue to deliver effective services and support schools during the pandemic.  The report also describes how GwE has continued to support schools in their preparations for the Reform Journey and new Curriculum for Wales and in improving the quality of teaching and leadership, wellbeing and the Welsh language.  He noted that it is accepted that the Annual Report by GwE needs to be submitted earlier within the work programme of the Authority’s scrutiny process.

In considering the GwE Annual Report – Isle of Anglesey County Council 2021/22 the Committee discussed the following:-

·      Reference was made to the health and well-being of children and young people.  Questions were raised as to why physical education is not identified as a core subject within the new curriculum. 

The Managing Director GwE responded the aims within the new Curriculum for Wales is for healthy and strong individuals and well-being of children and young people. The local authority and the schools are able to establish a local programme to meet the needs of the individual schools and its pupils.  The Ynys Môn Core Leader GwE said that health and well-being is included within the six learning areas within the new Curriculum and staff within the schools are supported to highlight physical education.  The Director of Education, Skills and Young People said that the Education and Leisure Services work closely to enhance the health and well-being of children and a Sub-Group has been established between both services to promote physical education within the schools across the Island.  He also noted that there are opportunities for pupils to take part in after-school activities which promotes healthy living and there are also local sports facilities i.e. football and rugby clubs who afford pupils the opportunity to play sports. 

·      How do we know what the standards are in Anglesey schools?

The Chair referred that there is reference within the Annual Report regarding self-assessments within schools but he questioned as to how objective the schools are when they conduct their own self-assessments. The Managing Director GwE responded that representatives from GwE attend the schools regularly across the Island and since September 2022 the re-establishment of procedures within the schools has been undertaken following the pandemic.  He noted that Anglesey has established ‘clusters’ which allow for schools to assess each other and scrutinise the performance within the schools in the specific cluster.   He noted that GwE collaborates the information with the Education Service to assess which schools needs specific support.  He referred to the question as regards to how the standards of schools are assessed and noted that the standards of each individual school is assessed together with data of examination results within secondary schools.  The Deputy Chief Executive said that there is a need for schools to be self-sustainable and support is required for Head Teachers to achieve the best educational experiences.  He said that collaboration with partner organisations and school governors is imperative to raise the standards within the schools.    He further said that he was glad that Estyn has recognised that the collaboration with partner organisations has been seen as a valuable support to the schools on Anglesey and also that the local authority has benefit due to the partnership with GwE to offer specific services and training in response to the needs of individual schools and their priorities. 

·       Reference was made that the schools on Anglesey collate assessment data individually.  Questions were raised whether there should be a standardised procedure undertaken to collect assessment data?

The Managing Director GwE responded that every school sets their own vision with regards to the new Curriculum to meet the needs of the pupils, however there are core assessments that are standardised within each school to monitor academic progress. He noted that the Curriculum range is for 3 – 16 years and the assessment is undertaken with the bridging of pupils from primary to secondary schools.  The Senior Manager (Secondary Sector) said that there was an announcement recently for the creation of an eco-system to collate information in every school.  Discussions are currently been undertaken nationally as regards to the relevant data that needs to be collated and will afford Governors to monitor the progress within schools.

·      Following a negative Estyn report on one Anglesey’s primary school recently regarding concerns to the communication of the Welsh language within this specific school.  Questions were raised as to whether GwE can support this specific school to improve the development of the Welsh language.

The Director of Education, Skills and Young People responded that there is an intervention plan in place as regards to the primary school that has had a negative Estyn report.  Discussions are currently taking place with GwE, the Schools’ Governors and the school staff to support an improvement package within the school.  The School will have to provide progress reports against the specific recommendations to Estyn, the Authority and GwE. 

·      Questions raised as to the support given to schools who have a high percentage of children from deprived background.

The Director of Education, Skills and Young People responded that meetings are undertaken with the Children’s Services on a regular basis and dedicated staff support the schools that have a high percentage of children from deprived background.  He noted that there is a ‘Free School Meals’ programme in schools and this also helps to support families affected by the cost of living crisis. 

·      Reference was made that following the results of the Census published recently there has been a decrease in the number of Welsh speakers on the Island.  Questions were raised as to how GwE is working within the schools in response to the target set by Welsh Government to have a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

The Managing Director GwE responded that the Welsh language is central to the work of GwE.  He noted that due to the pandemic, children who come from English speaking homes and especially the younger children; speaking the  Welsh language has been affected as the children were at home and not hearing the Welsh language spoken on a daily basis.   He said that GwE and the local authority have been working closely with Bangor University with regard to the Llais Ni project.  The first year of the project has been successful with good practices been recognised across North Wales.  Welsh as a second language is also been developed across other regions to respond to the Welsh Governments’ target of 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050. 

·      How can it be assured that each child on Anglesey has the same opportunities and education as other children in different clusters on the Island and in other areas in Wales?

The Managing Director GwE responded that there will be challenges when transferring from a National Curriculum process where there is uniformity in what is been taught to a new Curriculum. He noted that every school will have to publish their standards, provisions and their priorities in order to improve the standards of education afforded to pupils. 

·      In the wake of the new Accountability Framework, what are the best methods of scrutinising education?

The Senior Manager (Secondary Sector) responded that there is a role for School Governors to monitor the accountability of schools and to challenge the Head Teachers’ of the schools.  However, the role of an Elected Member is to challenge the Officers of the Authority, the Portfolio Member and GwE as to the monitoring of the effectiveness of schools within the new Accountability Framework. 

It was RESOLVED to accept the GwE’s Annual Report for the Isle of Anglesey 2021/2022.

ACTION : As noted above.