Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

a)  To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 9^th February 2023

b)  Matters Arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 February 2023 were agreed and signed as a true record.

Minute 21 (Coventry Education Performance 2022) – Budgets had been approved in January which would be passed on to schools from April 2023.

A response had not yet been received from the Secretary of State.  This would be followed up.

Report of the Director of Children’s Services

The Board considered a briefing note of the Director of Children’s Services regarding the Early Years Strategy.

In England a child’s progress was reviewed between the age of 2 and 3 and again at the end of the school year in which they turn 5.  The teachers judgement was used to assess the child’s attainment against 17 Early Learning Goals (ELG’s) covering 7 areas of learning.

Achievement of some of the 17 goals at the ‘expected level’, lead to a child meeting an indicator called a ‘Good Level of Development (GLD)’.  This was a national indicator of whether a child was ready for school, even through the assessment took place at the end of the Reception year.

In 2021, the Early Learning goals changed however, they continued to be a measure of attainment, not progress.  Local Authority moderation of the data, was no longer a statutory requirement and along with the impact of Covid-19, the data for 2022 was not comparable with previous datasets.

The changes included:

·  Revisions to strengthen all areas of learning with new educational programmes that set out what children must experience and learn about.

·  Revisions to all 17 ELG’s across the 7 areas of learning to make these more precise.

·  Revised text to make it easier to understand what was required for a child to be working at the expected level of development and to link more closely with Key Stage one curriculum.

·  Removal of ‘exceeding’ assessment band.

The school readiness local position showed that:

·  Overall achievement of a Good Level of Development in Coventry was 61.2% compared to the national average of 65.2%. The higher gap to national for the area of communication and language may suggest children in Coventry had been affected by the impact of Covid-19 to a greater extent than other children nationally.  Compared to the West Midlands, Children in Coventry were not achieving as well as their peers, where achievement of GLD was 63.7%.

·  Data for groups showed the positive impact of approaches to ‘SEND support’ in the early years with outcomes were significantly above national performance.  Children supported by an education and health care plan also achieved slightly above national outcomes.  Those with an identified SEND need related to communication and language need, achieved above average.

·  The outcomes for children looked after by the Local Authority appeared to be of significant strength however, the cohort size was small.

·  Programmes of support were in place to further support disadvantaged groups and White British Boys, where outcomes were lower than national.

·  Outcomes for children for whom English was not their first language, were slightly below national average.

·  Appendix 1 detailed examples of activity in response to data, links to Early Years Strategy and new opportunities to continue to improve School Readiness.

The Coventry Early Years Strategy:  Every Child, Every Chance, Every Day, developed in November 2020 was built around the Marmot Review Priority Objectives for 2020.  Extracts from the Leadsom Report 2021 were also incorporated into the Strategy which was then published  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

Report of the Director of Children’s Services

The Board considered a briefing note of the Director of Children’s Services regarding Children’s Services Ofsted Areas for Development Action Plan Progress.

Children’s Services were re-inspected by Ofsted from 13 June – 1 July 2022.  The report was published on 12 August 2022 and the overall judgement for Children’s Services in Coventry was ‘Good’.

The Ofsted inspection report identified 4 areas for further development:

·  The focus on children’s views and carers capacity to meet children’s needs in private fostering arrangements

·  The response to children aged 16 and 17 who are homeless

·  The mental and emotional wellbeing provision for care leavers

·  The quality of team managers supervision provided to social workers

A Children’s Services Areas for Development Action Plan had been developed in response to the Ofsted recommendations and areas for development and submitted to Ofsted on 18 November 2023.

Progress against the Children’s Services Areas for Development Action Plan was as follows:

Recommendation 1 – the focus on children’s views and carers capacity to meet children’s needs in private fostering arrangements.

A Private Fostering Action Plan was developed and provided to Ofsted.  Progress against actions was monitored monthly.

Two Lead IRO roles had been identified for children who were privately fostered to provide quality assurance around their care arrangements and ensure that their voices and wishes were heard and considered.  As the Private Fostered children were allocated to an IRO, a system was in place to raise any significant concerns in advance.

Recommendation 2 – the response to children aged 16 and 17 who are homeless.

A quality assurance process was undertaken to review and improve the response and practice for 16/17 year olds presenting as homeless.  The process had been incorporated into the Children’s Services Quality Assurance Framework to monitor on a regular basis.

A Youth Hub in the city for young homeless people had been developed to provide a welcoming safe accessible environment to access support, information and guidance.  The project would go live in April 2023.

Recommendation 3 – the mental and emotional wellbeing provision for care leavers

An initial review of LAC CAMHS service had been undertaken to identify what worked and any gaps in service.  The service had been redesigned and would be recommissioned by April 2023.

The funding pathway CAMHS service development for 18-25 years had been identified.

The Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Support service for up to 25 year old care leavers tender for Tier 2 had been awarded and went live in December 2022.

A pilot called ‘Ask Jan’ (a 24/7 telephone counselling and support service for care leavers) was undertaken, with a cohort of care leavers to assess impact and effectiveness which was progressing forward and would be evaluated.

Recommendation 4 – the quality of team managers supervision provided to social workers

Managers had completed a dip sampling exercise of supervision records.  This information was being collated and analysed with findings to report tracking distance travelled and was completed in February 2023.

A range of leadership programmes had been offered  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

Briefing Note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator (attached)

The Board noted the work programme and agreed the inclusion of the items below on the 2023/24 work programme.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Board (2) notes the Work Programme and includes the following on the 2023/24 Work Programme:

• Best Start in life Programme
• Early Years Saplings Programme
• Fostering
• Family Values Project (including Reunification Project)

Any other items of business which the Chair decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

The Board noted the Youth Justice System Ofsted result of Outstanding.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Board (2) send a letter of congratulation to Councillor P Seaman and J Gregg and their team for the Youth Justice System Ofsted result of Outstanding.