Agenda and minutes
Venue: Committee Rooms 1 and 2, Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, HA9 9HD. View directions
Contact: Toby Howes, Senior Democratic Services Officer 020 8937 1307, Email: toby.howes@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: None declared. |
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Minutes of the last meeting held on 10 February 2011 PDF 132 KB The minutes are attached. Minutes: RESOLVED:-
that the minutes of the last meeting held on 10 February 2011 be agreed as an accurate record of the meeting, subject to the following amendment:-
page 1, under ‘PRESENT’, add ‘Mrs L Gouldbourne’. |
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Matters arising (if any) Minutes: Brent Youth Parliament update
The committee received an update from Brent Youth Parliament representatives. Members heard that following a consultation which included pupils of Brent schools, the next two year project had been chosen and this would focus on increasing political awareness of young people in the borough. This would include issues such as giving young people a voice to be heard and increasing interest and participation in voting and a recent Brent Youth Parliament session had also focused on encouraging young people to register to vote. Brent Youth Parliament representatives had visited the House of Commons on 9 March and had met with the Speaker of the Commons. The event presented the opportunity for Youth Parliaments of London boroughs to share information. Another area of work Brent Youth Parliament was working on was the creation of a Health and Welfare Policy Group that was addressing the issue of smoking, including that of shisha pipes, of young people. A campaign was also focusing on revamping the image of youth provision to encourage uptake of such services. Members heard that there had been a recent question and answer session with councillors on crime in the borough.
The Chair thanked the Brent Youth Parliament representatives for the update and their hard work, which involved the Parliament’s Executive meeting with Renata Chavda (Strategic Youth Engagement Officer, Children and Families) to discuss plans on a weekly basis.
My Place Project
In reply to a query from the Chair, Rick Boxer (Assistant Director – Achievement and Inclusion, Children and Families) advised that final approval from the Department for Education (DfE) was still awaited. The council had provided all the information required and was in frequent dialogue with DfE to progress the project.
Children in care council – Care in Action
The Chair emphasised the importance of the role councillors have as corporate parents and reminded Members that a training session for councillors was taking place with regard to this on 31 March. She also advised of the council’s need to increase the number of foster parents and she asked that Children and Families be contacted if anyone knew of someone who may be interested in becoming a foster parent. |
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Education standards in Brent 2010 PDF 51 KB This report outlines key trends in education standards for 2010 achieved by schools in Brent at the end of each key stage. Additional documents: Minutes: Faira Ellks (Head of School Improvement, Children and Families) introduced the report which set out the education standards achieved in Brent schools at each key stage for 2010. Faira Ellks then provided a brief summary of the results for the early years foundation stage and for each key stage. Members heard that the common trends included the relatively good performance from pupils of Asian/Indian and White British heritage and the underperformance of other groups such as those of Somali heritage, although there had been significant improvements in some areas.
Hilary Bell (School Improvement Services, Children and Families) then covered in some detail the information provided in the report with regard to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EFYS) performance. Amongst the points highlighted included that despite the initiatives introduced, results had been disappointing and were below the national average. The key indicator used by national agencies, the percentage of children scoring 78 points plus across all areas of learning, including in personal, social and emotional development (PSED) and in communication, language, and literacy development (CLLD), had fallen by two points compared to 2009. Girl pupils had continued to outperform boys, with the gap widening by two points in 2010. The performance of Black Caribbean and White British children had improved by two and four points respectively, however the performance of Somali and White Other heritage pupils was particularly low by comparison. The gap between the highest and lowest performing pupils, the second key indicator, had fallen by four points but remained wider than the national gap.
Hilary Bell then explained that the reasons for the performance could be attributed to overly cautious judgements because of the robust systems for completion of the EYFS profile and the moderation of assessments, the strong focus on supporting children working within one to three points and the high mobility of EYFS staff meaning some staff were relatively inexperienced. To address this, the School Improvement Service has established a Quality Improvement Team to identify underachievement and to provide support and challenge according to need. The schools which have the lowest attaining 20% of children had been identified and measures were being taken to ensure the appropriate levels of support are in place. The lowest performing 20% of children in each locality were also analysed by ethnicity and gender in order to facilitate targeting of support. Other measures included increased focus on children attaining 4/5 points, the production of self-evaluation guidance from the Quality Improvement Team, an increase in the number of moderation meetings for practitioners and working with the National Strategies EFYS team to identify good practice and disseminate this more widely. Hilary Bell concluded by stating that there were strong reasons to believe that 2010 represented a blip in performance and standards would rise again in 2011.
Faira Ellks then drew Members’ attention to performance at Key Stage 1. Overall, attainment at the Level 2+ key national benchmark remained below the national average at all levels and all subjects, with standards rising in reading and ... view the full minutes text for item 4. |
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Update on implementing the new policy for allocation of early years full time places PDF 89 KB This report includes two relevant reports that were considered by the Executive on 15 February 2010 and 18 October 2010 respectively. Additional documents:
Minutes: Sue Gates (Head of Integrated and Extended Services) introduced the report and explained that the council only received funding for part time early years places for up to 15 hours through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). Historically, the council had always provided full time early years places with the additional £2 million required taken from the overall DSG which meant less funding to distribute to schools through the schools funding formula. As a result of budgetary pressures, the Executive had made a decision to implement a new policy for the allocation of early years full time places based on need. The new policy would only offer full time places based on need and economic disadvantage rather than a ‘first come’ basis. However, as the admissions process for implementation would have needed to commence in September 2010, prior to the completion of a parental or provider assessment and consultation, implementation of the new policy was now to be undertaken in September 2012 following a decision by the Executive in October 2010 to extend the implementation period. Sue Gates drew Members’ attention to the rising number of three and four year olds in Brent and the numbers occupying part and full time places. A significant proportion of children were not obtaining places, including vulnerable children and the hard to reach. Pressure on places was likely to increase as the Government wished to expand places to all disadvantaged two year olds in 2013 and a large number of two year olds in Brent would fit this criteria. Members noted that consideration may need to be given to offering only free places on a part time basis after September 2015.
During discussion, Councillor Harrison sought further information as to how additional early years places could be provided to match increasing demand. The Chair asked what further steps were being considered and when would consultation with parents take place. She also asked when the outcome of the council’s recent bid for an additional 100 funded places for 2011/12 was due.
In reply, Sue Gates advised that additional places would be provided through the PVI sector and nursery centres, however the challenge of providing places could not be underestimated in the present circumstances, although there would be enough places for at least the most vulnerable children. The next steps involved gathering evidence to be presented to the Executive and the Schools Forum. In respect of full time places, continuing to provide these in the longer term would be especially challenging and once more information had been collected and a clearer picture had emerged, parents would be consulted. Members noted that the application for funding of 100 additional places would be determined in approximately four weeks. |
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Restructuring of Children's Centre buildings and provision in Brent PDF 51 KB This report was presented to the Executive in January 2011 and the recommendations were accepted. Additional documents: Minutes: Sue Gates introduced this item, stating that in January the Executive had considered how provision of children’s centres would continue in the future in light of the financial pressures and as a result three proposed new children’s centres would not be built. However, the remaining 17 children’s centres would continue to operate, with two in temporary buildings until May. Although staffing was to be reduced, two teams would serve across the locality and continue to offer a universal service and every family with a child under five years old were entitled to the service. Support would also be received from mid wives, there would be more shared information and support across service areas and a more targeted intervention approach taken with regard to vulnerable children.
During discussion, it was commented that less staff would impact upon service and that the voluntary sector should play a role in working with children’s centres. The Chair sought clarification with regard to any financial claw back from the Government.
In reply, Sue Gates advised that it was intended that voluntary sector organisations work with children’s centres and it was important that the centres were fully utilised. Governance issues were being considered and advisory boards would have voluntary sector representatives by the second stage of the restructuring once the initial changes had been embedded from the first stage. The committee heard that the council would need to return the funds to the Government that were to be used to help build the new children’s centres.
The Chair stated that anyone interest in joining the children’s centres advisory boards should contact Children and Families. |
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Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme PDF 64 KB The Work Programme is attached. Minutes: Andrew Davies (Policy Officer, Strategy, Partnerships and Improvement) drew Members’ attention to the work programme and confirmed that the Youth Offending task group would be submitting a final report to the committee for approval. He advised that the Welsh Harp Education Centre was to remain open and that an update on this could be provided should Members wished. He welcomed any suggestions for other items to be added to the work programme.
The Chair added that the Youth Offending task group had involved a considerable piece of work aimed at prevention of youth offending. |
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Date of next meeting The next meeting of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny meeting will be determined at the Council meeting in May 2011. Minutes: It was noted that the next meeting of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee was to be determined at the Annual Council meeting on 11 May 2011. |
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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: School places
Rik Boxer advised that there was an acute lack of places for Reception, Year One and Year Two, although some additional school places had been provided by the Ashleigh Gardens Early Learning Centre. The problem was compounded by a greater number of new children arriving in Brent than expected and at present there were 270 children without places, with only 52 places available for these school years. The Executive had agreed places for three additional classrooms at Brentfield, Newfield and Preston Manor primary schools and these would be in place in time for the new school year in September 2011. Temporary expansions equating to six forms of entry at various sites had also been agreed. Overall, school places continued to be at a premium at most schools.
Rik Boxer explained that there were presently 154 more applications for primary school places than there was at the same stage last year, above the Greater London Authority projection and as a result there was likely to be a shortfall of places. Pressure on secondary school places was not so acute, however the rising number of primary school pupils would filter through to demand on secondary school places in subsequent years. Members noted that just under 80% of parents had had their children placed in their first or second preference schools at secondary school level. Rik Boxer concluded that the issue of school places would continue to be a main priority. |