Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Learning Scrutiny Panel held on 13 December 2021 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

The Scrutiny Panel will receive evidence from Middlesbrough College, including:

Identifying SEN

·         An overview of how the college identifies where a student may be having difficulty, which may be because of SEN.

SEND Support

·         An overview of the support that the college provides to those students who have, or may have, SEND.

Partnership Working

·         Information on how the college works with the Local Authority to:

o   meet the needs of students and ensure a successful transition into college life; and

o   ensure appropriate support is in place to enable students with SEND to achieve the best possible outcomes in adult life.

·         Case studies demonstrating the impact of partnership working.

The Vice Principal for Students and Communications, from Middlesbrough College, was in attendance to provide the scrutiny panel with:

Identifying SEN

·         An overview of how the college identified where a student may be having difficulty, which may be because of SEN.

SEND Support

·         An overview of the support that the college provided to those students who have, or may have, SEND.

Partnership Working

·         Information on how the college worked with the Local Authority to:

o      meet the needs of students and ensure a successful transition into college life; and

o      ensure appropriate support was in place to enable students with SEND to achieve the best possible outcomes in adult life.

·         Case studies demonstrating the impact of partnership working.

The Vice Principal advised that there were currently 60 high needs students, at the college, who were studying a range of programmes within the Progression Studies Department. The department delivered programmes that developed life skills and work skills. The department also offered programmes to prepare students for vocational study in areas such as construction, engineering, health and care and digital technologies. There was also 110 high needs students who were studying curriculum courses at the college. In total, 85 high needs students lived in Middlesbrough Local Authority area.

Through transition and multi-agency work, learners had excellent support to choose pathways and accreditations that met their needs. Through enhancing the skills and experience of high needs students, learners were able to progress to further learning, independent living and employment.

In terms of the support process, the scrutiny panel was advised that there were many ways in which a student could inform the college that they had additional needs. The Additional Learning Support (ALS) Team provided opportunities for disclosure at the application stage, departmental interview, enrolment and throughout the course. If a student declared an additional need, they would be invited to a short interview to determine how the ALS Team could best meet their needs. Subsequently, information gathered at the interview would be shared on the college’s system, Pro Solution. The strategies used and shared within the college were based on a short conversation, therefore, the members of staff who worked directly with students regularly updated the system in respect of the level of needs identified and the support required to meet those needs.

The scrutiny panel was shown an image indicating the timeline of the support process. It was commented that the process began with the application stage and ended with the sharing of strategies. The ALS Team shared strategies for individual learners with their curriculum teams.

At the application stage, information was gathered and students were given the opportunity to disclose a specific disability or learning difficulty. There was an option on the application form that read ‘prefer not to say’ and it was indicated that many students selected that option. As a result, the importance of the college identifying those additional support needs was conveyed.

The departmental interview stage provided staff with an excellent opportunity to encourage students to discuss  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/40

The Executive Director of Children’s Services will provide a verbal update.

The Executive Director of Children’s Services advised:

·         Middlesbrough currently had the highest Covid-19 infection rate;

·         Covid-19 rates had impacted on schools in terms of staff availability and pupils contracting the virus;

·         there had been regular communication between the Local Authority and the Department for Education; and

·         Public Health provided weekly data and statistical information on the schools affected by Covid-19.

The Director of Education and Partnerships advised that:

·         in the previous week, there had been a significant decrease in rates, however, there had been a change to recording practices and the impact of that could not be determined;

·         as the Executive Director for Children’s Services had mentioned, Middlesbrough currently had the highest Covid-19 infection rate, however, rates had dropped from approximately 3,300 cases per 100,000 to 1,700;

·         a discussion had been held with secondary head teachers and there was currently significant pressure on staff members to keep schools open;

·         although there had been a number of partial closures (i.e. one or two year groups), there had been no full closures and all schools were currently open;

·         in schools, there were mitigations in place, CO2 monitors had been delivered to schools to check air flow, there was advice on ventilation and broader business continuity plans were in place for all schools; and

·         meetings with schools were being held on a weekly basis.

The scrutiny panel wished to convey its support to schools. The work that schools had undertaken to manage the impact of the pandemic, and the measures that had been put in place to ensure that children and young people continued their learning and education, were commended.

The Director of Education and Partnerships confirmed that the scrutiny panel’s support and thanks would be conveyed to schools and the relevant Local Authority officers and partners, who had worked collectively to manage the impact of Covid-19 on schools.

NOTED

Vice-Chair Vacancy

The Chair commented that Councillor Mason had been appointed as an Executive Member and had subsequently been required to resign from the Children and Young People’s Learning Scrutiny Panel and his role of Vice-Chair. The Chair thanked Councillor Mason for his contribution to the work of the scrutiny panel and wished him well in his new role.

The appointment of Vice-Chair would be made at the next Council meeting, which was scheduled to be held on 26 January 2022.

NOTED

Future Meetings

It was advised that the next meeting was scheduled to be held on Monday 21 February 2022.

In respect of the terms of reference for the review of SEND, there was still a need to receive evidence from schools.

As the next meeting was scheduled to be held during half term, it was suggested that on 21 February, a brief update on Post-16 Education be received. At its meeting on 28 June 2021, when considering its work programme, the scrutiny panel had previously agreed to hold a one-off meeting on that topic.

It was agreed that schools would then be invited to attend the meeting scheduled for 21 March 2022, which planned to provide head teachers with advanced notice.

NOTED