Minutes

Resolved:-  That Councillor Boyes be appointed Chairman for the ensuing year.

Resolved:-  That Councillor Kirk be appointed Vice-Chairman for the ensuring year.

(Councillor Kirk in the Chair)

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting held on 17^th May, 2004 be received.

(a)          Minute No. 2(a) – Restructuring of the Team

It was pointed out to the Panel that the allocation of £45,000 from Social Services was for the total Active budget and not set aside for driving lessons as minuted.

(b)     Minute No. 2(c) – Pupils off School Roll

The pupil referred to currently off the school roll had now moved out of the Borough.

Katy Hawkins, Manager of the Get Real Team, gave an update on progress and reported on the following:-

(a)     The Team

The management restructuring of the team had been positive and plans were now moving forward.

From September each area team would have a specific contact from the Get Real Internal Management Team in the North, South and Central areas providing support at team meetings, on a termly basis.

Recruitment had been successful for a part-time teacher, which would provide a range of experience to the team and assist with the development of alternative educational packages.  Also a part-time administrative officer had been recruited, these posts were created from the restructuring of the team.  Due to a resignation a Social Worker vacancy had arisen and was currently being advertised.

The team were also thanked for their hard work and dedication over the last academic year and this was endorsed by officers and elected Members present.

(b)     Pupils off School Roll

There were currently no pupils off school roll.  The team had actively prevented nine permanent exclusions over this academic year.  Work had taken place with two permanently excluded pupils, one of whom had since settled at Whiston Grange; the other subject to a multi-agency meeting in order to consider how best to meeting his needs.

(c)     Personal Educational Plans

82% of the Personal Educational Plans were now complete.  This should be improved upon and the quality monitored carefully.  It would appear that the figures for Rotherham were much higher than compared to others across the Trent Authority and more importantly they were of good quality.

From September Personal Educational Plans would be in place for children in nursery taking up places from 3+ and were based on the foundation stage profiles.

(d)     L.P.S.A. and Best Value Performance Indicators

The Team had worked hard to establish performance action plans for all the targets and the Trent Regional DfES Development Worker had agreed to visit Rotherham to consult on the plans to ensure they were effective.

One area of performance receiving particular attention was school attendance.  A clear action plan had been developed to maintain attendance, but record keeping was always a term behind due to the current paper based system which relied heavily on the team’s administrative officer and it would be the earliest 2005 before the new registering system was up and running via EMS in education.  Links with the Education Welfare Service were also being built so they could provide support in this area.

(e)     SATS Results

There had been an overall improvement in the results at Key Stage 1 from 44% to 46.67%.

At Key Stage 2, received last Friday, the results were not so good with a down turn to 29.8% from 32% reported last year.

Staff had worked hard at Key Stage 2 and one particular student, who was not going to be entered by the school, was entered when staff from the team read for him.

Discussion had also ensued on the numbers of children  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The next meeting of the Panel would take place on Monday, 18^th October, 2004 at 9.30 a.m.

Resolved:-  That the dates indicated below be confirmed for future meetings:-

            Monday, 13^th December, 2004

            Monday, 28^th February, 2005

            Monday, 18^th April, 2005

            Monday, 20^th June, 2005

The Chairman, on behalf of the Panel, paid tribute to Roger Higginbottom, who was leaving the Local Authority, for the work and support he had provided and wished him every success in the future.