Agenda and minutes

Venue: Town Hall, Moorgate Street, Rotherham.

Items
No. Item

211.

Minutes of previous meetings pdf icon PDF 90 KB

- to receive previous minutes

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of previous meetings held on 12th and 19th April, 2005 were agreed as a correct record.

212.

Education of Looked After Children pdf icon PDF 110 KB

- to receive minutes

Minutes:

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the Education of Looked After Children held on 18th April, 2005 be received.

213.

Organisation of School Terms 2006/07 pdf icon PDF 41 KB

- to consider school term dates for the academic year 2006/07

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report of the Manager, School Organisation, Planning and Development, Resources and Information on the outcome of discussions with the Teaching, and Non-teaching Unions’ Consultative Group in relation to the neighbouring South Yorkshire Authority’s proposed term dates and the Local Government Association’s recommendations for the school year 2006/2007, and to make recommendations for the school term dates for the academic year 2006/07.

 

The LGA proposals were considered by the Consultative Group who had raised concern at some of the LGA proposals.  The concerns centered around (1) the failure to include the five in-service training days (2) the inclusion of two additional days in the October half-term break, which creates a split-week.  There was, however, general support for the return date on 4th September and the dates of the half terms’ breaks which are consistent with the South Yorkshire suggested dates.

 

The recommendations made were:-

 

  • To commence the 2006/07 School Year on the 4th September, 2005
  • To take a week at October half term (this is counter to the LGA proposal, which was to add two days and which would create a split week)
  • The Easter holiday to fall in the middle of the Holiday break, which gives a more even term structure

 

The report contained the principles behind the LGA published guidance for 2006/07.

 

The co-ordination of term dates with neighbouring authorities was seen as a key issue and the Group recommended that the suggested dates for South Yorkshire, as attached at Appendix 1 to the report now submitted, be adopted.

 

Resolved:-  That the proposed term dates, as contained in Annex A now submitted, for 2006/07 be adopted and circulated to all schools.

214.

Budget Monitoring Report as at March, 2005 pdf icon PDF 40 KB

- to note the forecast outturn for 2004/05

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report of the Acting Strategic Leader Resources and Information which contained details of the final Budget Monitoring Report for the Programme Area for 2004/05, with a forecast to overspend against budget for the financial year by £565k (0.35%).

 

This relates to budget pressure in Culture and Leisure Services (£565k), primarily on sport and recreational facility budgets, as experienced in previous years.

 

There was a reduction of £21k against the February forecast which relates to an improvement in the Education Services forecast, which is now in line with budget.

 

A detailed variance analysis was included in the attached appendices.

 

The report set out a number of actions being taken to minimise overspending in the Programme Area.

 

It was also noted that there was likely to be a request to carry forward a deficit balance on the catering trading account into 2005/06.

 

Resolved:-  That the forecast outturn for 2004/05 based on actual costs to 31st March, and forecast costs still to be applied to 2004/05 during the year-end closedown process be noted.

215.

Rotherham Archives and Local Studies Service 2004/05 pdf icon PDF 50 KB

- to receive report

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report of the Libraries, Museums and Arts Manager which gave a brief update on the work of the Archives and Local Studies Service.

 

Rotherham’s Archives and Local Studies Service aims to collect manuscript and printed records of all aspects of life within Rotherham Metropolitan Borough from the earliest times to the present day and to make these available for study by customers of all ages.

 

The number of items provided for customer study increased by 18% from 2003/4, and the average number of enquiries per day rose from 70 in 2003/4 to 75 in 2004/5.

 

These increases were despite the need to close the Service to the public for the equivalent of 26 days following the shortage in staff consequent upon the untimely death of the previous Principal Officer Tony Munford.  The closures meant a slight decrease (of 2.55%) in customer visits from 2003/04.

 

The number of users has increased and continues to do so as a consequence of a growing interest in family history research.

 

The report included a selection of positive comments received from customers during the year and a number of strategic developments which will impact on the service to customers this year.

 

A major impact on the service provided to customers this year will be the appointment of an additional member of searchroom staff in May 2005 which will enable consideration to be given to the extension of opening hours and allow professional staff the equivalent of 2 days a week to undertake tasks essential to the long-term preservation and availability of holdings which will increase accessibility for customers in the longer term.

 

Resolved:-  That the report be received.

216.

LSC commissioned review of the Foundation area of Adult Community Learning pdf icon PDF 58 KB

- to receive the report

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report of the Community Learning Manager on the outcome of the recent LSC commissioned review of the Foundation area of Adult Community Learning in March 2005.

 

The following table reflects the grades awarded at inspection May 2003, at re-inspection May 2004 and from the LSC commissioned review in March 2005.

 

Area of Learning

May 03

May 04

March 05

Family Learning

2

2

 

Information & Communication Technology

3

3

 

Community Learning

3

 

 

Foundation

5

4

3

Leadership and Management

4

3

 

Equality of opportunity

4

3

 

Quality Assurance

4

3

 

 

1 = Outstanding, 2 = Good, 3 = Satisfactory, 4 = Unsatisfactory, 5 = Very Weak

 

In the re-inspection in 2004, two grades were maintained and four had improved since the previous inspection.  The areas of work that had maintained their grades (ICT and Family Learning) were also judged to have improved with the scope of that grade.  However, one area of learning, Foundation, was still considered to be unsatisfactory.  The LSC instructed the service to produce an emergency post inspection action plan to detail how the weaknesses identified in the re-inspection would be addressed to ensure that this curriculum area was of a satisfactory standard.   In addition, the LSC commissioned an Inspector to observe the provision to ensure that the actions reported to the LSC had resulted in improving the learning delivery.

 

If the grade 3 standard had not been achieved in the Foundation area by March 2005 it was possible that the LSC might have withdrawn funding for this area of LA provision.

 

Following the monitoring visit in March 2005, the inspector judged the Foundation area of learning to now be of a grade 3 standard.

 

Resolved:-  That the report be received.