Agenda and minutes
Venue: Committee Rooms 1 and 2, Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, HA9 9HD. View directions
Contact: Bryony Gibbs, Democratic Services Officer 020 8937 1355 Email: bryony.gibbs@brent.gov.uk
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Declaration of personal and prejudicial interests Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting any relevant financial or other interest in the items on the agenda. Minutes: Councillor Cheese declared that he was a member of the Advisory Board for the Kilburn Locality.
Councillor Pavey advised that he was a governor at Wembley Primary School and was Chair of the Advisory Board for the Wembley Locality.*
* Minute as amended at the Meeting of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 19 July 2012. |
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Deputations (if any) Minutes: There were no deputations. |
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Minutes of the last meeting held on Thursday 29 March 2012 PDF 129 KB Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 29 March 2012 were approved as a correct record. |
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Brent Youth Parliament update A verbal update will be presented to the committee by representatives of Brent Youth Parliament. Minutes: In the absence of the Brent Youth Parliament representatives, the committee did not consider this item. |
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Key Stage 5 Attainment and Key Stage 5 Destinations PDF 198 KB This report comments on education standards achieved by young people in Brent at Key Stage 5 at the end of the academic year 2010/11. Minutes: Rik Boxer (Assistant Director, Achievement and Inclusion) advised that the several reports regarding education attainment submitted to recent meetings of the committee and the current meeting provided a comprehensive and detailed overview of this subject. Further information on London and national averages for education attainment, as had been requested previously by the committee, was tabled for members’ information.
John Galligan (Strategic Lead for 14 – 19 Education and Training) presented the report on the education standards achieved in Brent at Key Stage 5 (KS5) for the academic year 2010/11. There were five key indicators used to measure education attainment at KS5. These included attainment at Level 2 and Level 3 by age 19 and A Level point score per pupil and per entry. There had been sustained improvement in the overall attainment of Brent young people at KS5 over the past five years and Brent had remained above the London and national averages for all key indicators. Furthermore, the attainment gap between those in receipt of free school meals (FSM) and other Brent pupils had continued to narrow.
With regard to the destinations of pupils at the end of KS4, John Galligan highlighted that in 2011, only 1% of Brent pupils in 2011 had left education to start training programmes and enter employment. The National Apprenticeship Service had run several initiatives to increase the number of apprenticeship opportunities available to young people and it was anticipated that this might increase the number of students choosing this option in the future. In contrast, 94% of Brent pupils had continued in education at KS5; this compared to a London average of 92% and a national average of 88%. Members’ attention was drawn to the table provided at paragraph 3.7 of the report which set out the types of courses started by pupils at the end of KS4. Whilst there had been a decline in the proportion of pupils starting Level 3 courses at the age of 16 between 2008 and 2011, there had been a rise in the proportion starting Level 1 and Level 2 courses. John Galligan advised that this reflected the provision of better advice and guidance to Brent pupils. In particular, pupils who needed to address skills gaps prior to engaging in a Level 3 course were choosing to do so via Level 1 and Level 2 courses. As a consequence, those engaging in Level 3 courses were better prepared and the proportion of students successfully completing these courses had increased.
John Galligan explained that the provision of advice and guidance formed one of the key priorities of the 14-19 partnership, along with success rates at Year 12 and retention into Year 13. A further priority of the Partnership was to narrow the gap between the Brent average and the FSM cohort and pupils of Black Caribbean, Somali or White British ethnicity. With reference to the White British ethnic group, John Galligan explained that a higher proportion of young people from this ethnic background were becoming unemployed at age ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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Education achievement in Brent 2011: Analysis by ethnicity PDF 174 KB This report provides a detailed overview of the educational attainment levels of under achieving groups in the borough. Minutes: Naureen Kauser (Strategic Lead for Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement) presented a report to the committee detailing education achievement in Brent in 2011 by ethnicity. 92 % of pupils in Brent were from minority ethnic groups and improving the outcomes of underachieving groups of pupils was a high priority for Services to Schools. The report focussed on five main ethnic groups; Asian Indian, Asian Pakistani, Black African, Black Caribbean and White Other. The Black African group had been further unpicked to focus on Somali pupils who formed the majority of this group in Brent schools; however, it was noted that there was no national data available for the attainment of Somali pupils prior to Key Stage 4 (KS4).
Naureen Kauser drew members’ attention to the tables provided for each educational stage. For the Early Years Foundation stage, there had been significant improvement in education attainment for Somali pupils and a steady upward trend for Black Caribbean children, although for 2011 it remained below the Brent and National averages. At Key Stage 1 (KS1), Asian Indian pupils performed above Brent averages and above or in-line with national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. There had been significant improvement in Somali pupils attainment across these subjects. For Black Caribbean pupils however, attainment had been fairly static for the previous five years. Asian Indian pupils similarly outperformed Key Stage 2 (KS2) attainment for the group nationally in 2010 and 2011. Attainment of Black Caribbean pupils declined in 2011, although remained in line with that for all Brent pupils. Achievement of Somali pupils at this stage had declined significantly for 2011. The key measure for Key Stage 4 (KS4) was the attainment of five A* to C grades at GCSE, including English and Mathematics. Against this measure, the low performance of Black Caribbean pupils continued to be a concern. Somali pupils’ attainment however, had improved the most comparatively. The performance of Asian Indian pupils again was significantly above the national average for all students. The attainment for White Other pupils and Asian Pakistani pupils was well below national averages.
Naureen Kauser explained that Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement (EMTA) Team carried out a range of activities to support schools in raising achievement of underperforming groups. The EMTA team analysed data at both Local Authority and individual school level. This information was disseminated widely to schools and officers to enable appropriate challenge and support of schools through the school Link advisers. Via investigative action research projects, the EMTA team also aimed to identify and disseminate good practice to schools in relation to the strategies employed to tackle underperformance. These action research projects have proved very successful. A new audit process has also been established to help schools identify their strengths and areas for development with regard to ethnic minority achievement. The EMTA team has a Refugee Education officer who supported schools in raising attainment of Somali pupils via methods including in-class targeted support, language development, creation of effective induction programmes, and promoting positive home-school links. ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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Update on School Expansion Programme to provide additional school places. PDF 171 KB This report sets out the progress following Brent’s allocation of the best Capital Settlement in the country and includes an update on the two application bids made under the ‘Priority Schools Building Programme’ for Alperton and Copland. Minutes: Rik Boxer (Assistant Director, Achievement and Inclusion) presented a report updating the committee on the School expansion Programme. There remained an acute shortage of school places in Brent, despite the provision of additional places over the past 5 years, including 1800 in the primary sector, and it was expected that this would continue in the medium to long-term. Recent favourable capital settlements received by the council would help to alleviate the situation but were not sufficient to enable demand for school places to be met. In total, the council had received approximately £80m in capital settlements between October 2011 and April 2012. With reference to the table setting out the Capital Programme allocation, Rik Boxer highlighted that the £27m of resources identified for 2011/12 had been or would be spent on existing schemes that have delivered new classroom spaces for the 2011/12 academic year.
At present, the pressure was principally on primary school sector but it was recognised that this would move through the system to come to bear on the secondary sector in the near future. Despite the on-going programme of temporary and permanent expansion, there currently remained a need to create up to 16 additional Reception classes to ensure that every child has a place. This was a London-wide issue and all of the neighbouring boroughs to Brent were opening additional Reception classes for September 2012. In Brent, the expansion programme for September 2012 was largely focussed on temporary projects. The council continued to lobby central government, in conjunction with London Councils, to highlight the school places pressure. Officers in Regeneration and Major Projects were currently undertaking a review of the entire school assets portfolio to ascertain potential for further permanent and temporary expansions across the whole of Brent schools. The results of this would be reported to the Executive in August 2012 alongside plans and priorities for Phase 2 of the expansion of schools in the medium term.
Similar pressures to those faced in the primary sector were also being faced by the SEN sector and an extensive programme to expand in-borough SEN provision had been agreed and was fully incorporated into the overall capital programme.
In the subsequent discussion members raised several issues. Councillor Al-Ebadi noted that the priority must be for a child to be able to receive an education and queried whether the local authority could place pressure on parents who repeatedly refused school places due to their preference for a particular schools place. He further noted that additional pressure on school places was likely to arise as a result of changes to housing benefit which would result in more people moving into Brent. Councillor Pavey queried whether options such as virtual schools had been considered by the council. He further queried whether Section 106 funds could be used for general school expansion and development projects or were limited to use in a particular location. Councillor Choudhary commented that if infant class sizes were expanded over the limit of 30 places per class, this ... view the full minutes text for item 7. |
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The Work Programme is attached. Minutes:
Priya Mistry (Policy and Performance Officer) advised that the Safeguarding and LAC children Action plan and Adoption Inspection update would be on the agenda for the next meeting. In addition the committee made the following suggestions for the committee’s work programme: -
· Councillor Pavey requested a report on the implementation of the Restructure of the Children’s Centres; · Councillor Pavey also requested an update on the outcomes of the suite of One Council Programmes delivering the early intervention initiative;* · Mrs Gouldbourne suggested that the committee consider a report on the educational benefits of all through schools.
The committee was reminded that any further suggestions could be passed to the Chair or to Priya Mistry.
* Minute as amended at the Meeting of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 19 July 2012. |
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Date of next meeting The next meeting of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny meeting is scheduled for 19 July 2012. Minutes: The committee noted that the next meeting was scheduled for 19 July 2012. |
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Any other urgent business Notice of items raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Democratic Services Manager or his representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 64. Minutes: None. |