Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies of absence were received from County Borough Councillors Ashford, Emanuel and Smith,Co-opted Member, Mr L Patterson, the Head of Access & Inclusion Services, Ceri Jones, the Cabinet Member for Education, Youth Participation and Welsh Language, Cllr Lewis and the Service Director, Democratic Services and Communications, Christian Hanagan.

To receive disclosures of personal interest from Members in accordance with the Code of Conduct

Note:

1.    Members are requested to identify the item number and subject matter that their interest relates to and signify the nature of the personal interest: and

2.    Where Members withdraw from a meeting as a consequence of the disclosure of a prejudicial interest they must notify the Chairman when they leave.

Agenda item 4 – Consultation on a proposal to develop a new 3-19 special school in Rhondda Cynon Taf

Ø  County Borough Councillor C Preedy - Personal - ‘One of the Schools named in the report, Ysgol Ty Coch, sits in my ward’

Ø  Mr R Lydon, Co-opted Member – Personal – ‘I am Chair of Governor of Park Lane Special School’

Agenda Item 5 - Consultation on the proposals to realign Additional Learning Needs mainstream Learning Support Class provision within Rhondda Cynon Taf

Ø  County Borough Councillor S Evans – Personal – ‘The school that my son attends is named in the report’

Ø  County Borough Councillor C Lisles – Personal – ‘I am Chair of Governors at Hawthorn Primary and Member of the Governing body at Hawthorn Secondary School’

Mr M Veale, Co-opted Member – Personal – ‘I am Governor at Hawthorn Highschool and of the temporary Governing Body for Ysgol Afon Wen’

To approve as an accurate record the minutes of the hybrid meeting of the Education and Inclusion Scrutiny Committee held on the 19^th July 2023.

It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the 19^th July 2023 as an accurate reflection of the meeting subject to the following amendment:-

That the Head of Service Transformance, Admissions and Governance should read Head of Service, Transformation, Admissions & Governance.

Information is provided in respect of relevant consultations for consideration by the Committee.

Members were advised that the latest open consultations being run by Welsh Government, were circulated on the 1st September, and at this time, there are no new relevant Welsh Government consultations to bring to Members attention.

To consider the consultation which proposes to develop a 3-19 new special school in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT), as outlined in the report.

The Senior Democratic & Scrutiny Officer reminded Members that the purpose was for the Committee to formally respond to the Council’s consultation which proposed to develop a 3-19 new special school in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT). The  Service Director of 21st Century Schools and Transformation provided Members with information regarding the proposals to develop a new special school in RCT and took Members through the report.

A Member asked about the parental responses to the consultation, how engaged they were and what the process was for consulting with parents of children with existing needs.

The Service Director of 21st Century Schools and Transformation acknowledged there had been individual meetings with each of the special schools, as part of the school organisation code process, including governors, pupils, school council, and parents. In addition, an open evening was held at Clydach Vale, which was poorly attended. The consultation document had also been sent to schools within RCT for comment.

The 21st Century Schools Business and School Organisation Manager confirmed that all parents with children at special schools were sent the link to the consultation documents and to date, there were 44  responses, with less than half being negative. It was noted that it hadn’t been considered to be a controversial consultation, and the feedback had been positive on the whole. Meetings with existing staff members and the governing bodies at all the schools had seen relatively low attendance.

A Member asked for a summary of response from Menter Iaith, Mudiad Meithrin and the Welsh Language Commissioner.

The 21st Century Schools Business and School Organisation Manager confirmed that to date, no responses had been received. The only statutory consultee response received to date was from Estyn.

The Member asked how many pupils transitioned from a special school to mainstream learning support class and vice versa.

The Head of Learner Support Service explained that in the last five years she had known only one child who had gone from a special school to mainstream. In terms of LSC through to special schools, lots of parents would give the child the opportunity in the safe environment of a primary school, but the step into secondary was just too big.

The Member also asked for clarification about the differences in data.

The 21st Century Schools Business and School Organisation Manager explained that within the Code, the minimum needed to be used was the last 5 years data in terms of attendance, although she acknowledged the other report used 10 years. The Director of Education and Inclusion Services added that the data within the  special school report demonstrated significant growth, in terms of demand.

The Member noted the significant out of county provision and the cost attached to that and sought assurance that this provision may alleviate some of that cost, with the new expanded provision.

The Director of Education and Inclusion Services explained that with regard to out of county provision the Council was good at keeping children within county and  within existing provisions. There  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

Pre-Scrutiny – For Members to scrutinise and make any recommendations to the report before presenting to Cabinet.

The Senior Democratic & Scrutiny Officer reminded Members that the purpose was for the Committee to pre-scrutinise the outcome of the recent consultation in respect of the proposal to realign the mainstream Learning Support Class (LSC) provision within Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT). The Head of Learner Support Service then provided Members with an overview of the decision made by the Council in May 2023 (Appendix A) to give approval to begin formal consultation on the 5 proposals to realign the LSC provision within the County. The Head of Learner support then took Members through the 5 proposals, before continuing through the background at section 4 of the report, and the outcome of the consultations, with respect to the proposals, at section 5, noting the good response. Members were then taken through the remainder of the report.

A Member referring to page 138, table 1, sought clarification, as the majority of the responses disagreed with the proposal, and asked if the reason for this was largely due to the move in location. The Member asked for reassurance  that these concerns were mitigated. The Member also sought reassurance that sufficient support was in place for pupils and parents during the transition, including transport.

The Head of Learner Support Service confirmed this was the reason, and explained that some pre-emptive steps had been taken, with 3 pupils who were due to move at the start of the term, remaining until a decision was made. In addition, by moving the start date, it would only be 5 pupils and staff, who would transfer with them, with lots of the opportunities for visits. In terms of transport, it was unlikely to be any different, with a lot of the children already transported into schools. The LSC had really well-established protocols for liaising with parents.

A member noted the School Council’s response highlighting their sadness at the proposed move and recognised this as a testament to the school’s integration and inclusion of the Learning Support Class, which was to be celebrated.

A Member sought reassurance, that the move in location would not mean a difference in the quality of facilities or experiences received noting from the responses received in the consultation the praise provided for Abercynon Primary School.

The Service Director of 21st Century Schools and Transformation advised that Perthcelyn was one of the newer schools and the facilities were equal to Abercynon.

The Head of Learner Support Service confirmed that all the LSCs ran on the same basis, so there was the same expectations for the delivery of the curriculum, the teachers all had the same support and training, although the way it was going to be delivered was different to capitalise on the opportunities within that school.

The Director of Education and Inclusion Services acknowledged that change was difficult, with the impetus around some of the changes was to  minimise future transitions by developing  all through provisions. If this went ahead, there would be a person-centred approach adopted, in order to mitigate any stress and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

To reflect on the meeting and actions to be taken forward.

The Chair acknowledged there had been excellent engagement from Members and thanked them for coming prepared with their questions. The Chair also thanked Officers for answer questions and the preparatory work and wished them well with their reports to Cabinet.

To consider any items, which the Chairman, by reason of special circumstances, is of the opinion should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

None.