Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made at this meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public or the press.

The next meeting of the Youth Cabinet would be taking place at the Town Hall, Rotherham on Tuesday, 10^th March, 2009.

(1) The Mayor thanked everyone for attending this Scrutiny Panel meeting, which had been re-arranged as a consequence of the disruption caused by ice and snow on the scheduled meeting date of Friday, 6^th February 2009;

(2) Road Safety and the Levels of Motor Traffic outside Schools – there had been a very good meeting of this Scrutiny Review Group on Friday, 23^rd January, 2009;

(3) Regional Health Scrutiny Event – this event, scheduled to take place on Thursday, 12^th February, 2009 had been postponed to a later date.

FOR DISCUSSION

Resolved:- That the appointment of the following persons as co-opted members of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel be confirmed:-

Mrs. Kate Muscroft, Mrs. Lindsay Pitchley and Mr. Clinton Marvin.

Consideration was given to a report presented by the Director of Learning Services concerning the Barnardo’s Young Carers Service, the direct service provider for young carers within Rotherham. The report stated that the actual numbers of young carers are difficult to identify, although the last census had indicated that there might be around 800 young carers in Rotherham who are largely unrecognised. The number accessing the Barnardo’s Young Carers Service remained low, there being 31 young people who had accessed the service during the past year. The service was well publicised, but was essentially dependent upon referrals from agencies and professionals within Children and Young People’s Services. A renewed programme of awareness raising was required to coincide with the updating of the current policy and procedures document, originally written during 2003.

The Scrutiny Panel welcomed Mrs. Lindsey Hallett and Mr. Peter Rutherford (representatives of Barnardo’s) who answered questions about this service provision for young carers.

The Scrutiny Panel’s discussion of this subject included reference to the following issues:-

- advertising and publicising the Young Carers;

- the need for an increased level of referrals to the Service, especially from professional agencies (schools provided most referrals);

- the quality and value for money of the Young Carers Service and the need to benchmark the service against other local authorities’ provision;

- family circumstances and the possible reasons why more young carers did not access the service;

- funding of the service (allocation from the National Carers Grant), with the Barnardo’s current contract ending on 31^st March, 2010;

- the Rotherham Young Carers Service was one of the charities chosen to receive funding this year by Her Worship The Mayor of Rotherham.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services be asked to consider the following issues relating to the Young Carers Service:-

- the requirement to update the current  policy and procedures document;

- to refresh the membership and terms of reference of the Young Carers Stakeholder Group, in order to promote the service more effectively;

- to invite the Barnardo’s Young Carers Service to give a presentation to Locality Managers on identifying young carers and the service available;

- to ask the Barnardo’s Young Carers Service to submit a briefing paper to primary and secondary school head teachers on identifying young carers and the service available;

- to approve that the in-house multi-agency young carers training package for professionals shall be incorporated in the Children and Young People’s Services Workforce Development Programme and delivered on an annual basis;

- to approve that specific steps be taken to raise awareness of young carers within the black and minority ethnic community.

(3) That a progress report about the Rotherham Young Carers Service be submitted to a future meeting of this Scrutiny Panel, within the next twelve months, such report to include details of the long-term planning and funding for the service.

Further to Minute No. 95 of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 7^th March, 2008, consideration was given to a report presented by the Director of Learning Services about the Imagination Library, a literacy scheme for under fives through which children receive one high quality age appropriate book each month, delivered to them personally through the post. The report stated that advice for parents/carers on how to read with children is being developed and the programme can be supported by a range of family learning programmes and events. By the age of five, if the child is registered at birth, each child will have built a library of 60 books. The report described how the scheme was now working in Rotherham, including the key developments of the scheme from April 2008 to date. The Scrutiny Panel’s debate of this item included the following salient issues:-

- the recent appointment of Ms. Alison Lilburn as Co-ordinator of the Imagination Library;

- the number of new registrations into the scheme each month;

- a full list of the books being provided;

- establishment of support programmes, through the Family Learning programmes;

- Yorkshire Forward funding to develop literacy and communication skills across Rotherham; this work will include the Imagination Library, but the funding cannot be used for the Imagination Library book-gifting programme;

- strict adherence to the budget of the Imagination Library;

- monitoring and measurement of the outcomes of the Imagination Library; maintenance of database of registered children;

- emphasis upon areas of most deprivation and hard-to-reach groups; noting the reluctance of some people to sign up to a scheme, for their own reasons;

- support for people whose first language is not English;

- other local authorities joining the Imagination Library (eg: Wigtown in Scotland; also, Sheffield is considering the introduction of the scheme on an area-by-area basis);

- role of the panel of experts – choice of books;

- a suggestion of the establishment of a local sub-group to try and obtain future funding for the scheme and to help increase the level of registration of children; possibility of engaging assistance from community and voluntary organisations;

- a timescale would be prepared for the key areas of scheme yet to be developed;

- preparation of the annual reports for submission to the Board of the Imagination Library scheme, each April.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and the progress of the Imagination Library be noted.

(2) That, in order to facilitate regular scrutiny of the scheme, the annual report about the Imagination Library, to be submitted to the meeting of the scheme’s Board during April 2010, be also submitted to the next following meeting of this Scrutiny Panel.

(3) That details of the membership of the Board of the Imagination Library and of the panel of experts which chooses the books for the scheme, be provided for members of this Scrutiny Panel.

Consideration was given to a report presented by the Director of Learning Services and the Assistant Head of School Effectiveness containing information about the results of the statutory assessment at the end of the Foundation Key Stage in 2008. The report stated that schools are required to assess the attainment of all pupils in each of the National Curriculum subjects at the end of each key stage at age 5 (Foundation Stage), age 7 (Key Stage 1), age 11 (Key Stage 2) and at age 14 (Key Stage 3).

The report stated that the Foundation Stage Profile is assessed when children reach the end of Foundation Stage (age 5) through continuing and summative teacher assessment. The national assessment profile for pupils at the end of the Foundation Stage (Foundation Stage Profile) has been in place for six years. Increased confidence and security in the assessments made has meant that, over recent years, the Foundation Stage Profile is judged to be a more valid and reliable indicator than those undertaken in 2003 and 2004. This has been achieved by extensive moderation activities undertaken by the majority of schools across Rotherham and led by members of the School Effectiveness Consultant workforce.

Assessments continue to be made against the thirteen assessment scales that cover the strands of the five Areas of Learning. New national measures, referred to as Early Years Outcome Duties (EYOD), have been introduced and each local authority is required to set targets against the EYOD, which now form the key reporting indicators both locally and nationally.

The particular features of the new Early Years Outcome Duty (EYOD) measures, place an emphasis on pupils reaching the national expected level of point 6 and their development in these key aspects:-

: Personal Social and Emotional Development (6+ PSED), 

: Communication, Language and Literacy (6+ CLLD)

: All Areas of Learning (78 points and above)

: Both Personal Social and Emotional Development and Communication, Language and Literacy (6+ PSED and CLLD)

: All Areas of Learning, plus both Personal Social and Emotional Development and  Communication, Language and Literacy (78 points and 6+ in both PSED and CLLD).

The various tables appended to the report detailed the performance trends for each of the Early Years Outcome Duties over the last 3 years for boys, girls and for all pupils.

Reference was made to Rotherham’s comparative performance levels against the best performing schools in the country and also to the methods of teacher assessments and the system of moderation within schools.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That this Scrutiny Panel continue to receive reports about the school pupils’ Key Stage Assessment Results each year.

Consideration was given to a report presented by the Director of Learning Services and the Assistant Head of School Effectiveness containing information about the results of the statutory assessment at the end of Key Stage 1 (pupils aged seven). The report included:-

- statistical tables showing the performance trends over the last four years, against the three key measures of level 2+, level 2B+ and level 3 for Rotherham and the national trends in reading, writing and mathematics;

- summary of Key Stage 1 performance;

- actions being taken and development activities, to raise standards;

- priorities for improvement.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That future reports to this Scrutiny Panel detail the outcome of the various actions and development activities being undertaken to raise pupil achievement levels.

(3) That the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel continue to receive reports about the school pupils’ Key Stage Assessment Results each year.

Consideration was given to a report presented by the Director of Learning Services and the Assistant Head of School Effectiveness which provided an overview of the Ofsted inspection profile of Rotherham schools during the period September 2005 to July 2008. The report stated that Ofsted had introduced a new inspection framework in September 2005 based on a three year cycle which, by the end of the 2007/2008 school year, had included the inspection of all except two Rotherham schools. The most important feature of the new framework has been the centrality of the school’s self-evaluation in the assessment process and the influence of the analysis of performance data, using the national Raise on Line intelligence system, on inspection outcomes.

The Scrutiny Panel noted that schools are inspected across a range of indicators, of which the most important are:-

-                Standards and Achievement

-                Pupil Personal Development and Wellbeing

-                Quality of Provision, including Teaching and Learning and Curriculum

-                Leadership and Management

The Scrutiny Panel noted that pupil attendance at school was one of the priorities for further improvement.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That a report be submitted to a future meeting of this Scrutiny Panel about pupil attendance at school.

(3) That Helen Rogers, the Assistant Head of School Effectiveness, be thanked for her excellent services to this Authority and wished every success in her new career with Sheffield City Council.

MINUTES

Consideration was given to a report of the Assistant Chief Executive concerning the findings of the OFSTED 2008 annual performance assessment for this Authority’s Children and Young People’s Services. The overall judgement has been reduced from 3 (Good) to 2 (Adequate). A copy of the OFSTED letter dated 17^th December, 2008, was appended to the report.

The report stated that, in order to provide an objective assessment of Children and Young People’s Services, both the Council and NHS Rotherham had decided to commission an independent assessment and review. Using the Department for Children Schools and Families’ Children’s Services Improvement Framework as a basis to procure a high quality, tailored package of support, there would be a full scale management review of the whole Service which will provide a ‘health check’ on whether the Service has appropriate capacity to improve longer term.

Resolved:- (1) That the outcome from the 2008 Annual Performance Assessment, as now reported, be noted.

(2) That a report on the outcome of the independent assessment and review of Children and Young People’s Services be submitted to a future meeting of this Scrutiny Panel.

Resolved:- That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel held on 12th January, 2009 be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chairman.

Resolved:- (1) That the contents of the minutes of the meetings of the Children’s Board held on 10th December, 2008 and on 16^th January, 2009, be noted.

(2) That it be noted that reports are to be submitted to future meetings of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel about:-

-          Joint Procedures for Case Work Supervision (Minute No. 153 of 10^th December, 2008, refers); and

-          Integration of Children’s Services (Minute No. 170 of 16^th January, 2009 refers)

Resolved:- That the contents of the minutes of the meetings of the Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee held on 19th December, 2008 and on 16th January, 2009 be noted.