Agenda and minutes

To agree the procedures for the operation of hybrid meetings.

RESOLVED –

THAT the procedures on hybrid meetings be agreed.

Apologies were received from Councillor Lotis Bautista, Reverend Guy Pope and Imogen Sharp.

There were no declarations.

Broadcast of the meeting

The Chair to announce the following: ‘In addition to the rights by law that the public and press have to record this meeting, I would like to remind everyone that this meeting is being broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and can be viewed on our website for twelve months after the meeting. After that time, webcasts are archived and can be made available upon request.

If you have asked to address the meeting, you are deemed to be consenting to having your contributions recorded and broadcast, including video when switched on, and to the use of those sound recordings and images for webcasting and/or training purposes’.

Broadcast of the meeting

The Chair made the following announcement: “In addition to the rights by law that the public and press have to record this meeting, I would like to remind everyone that this meeting is being broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and can be viewed on our website for twelve months after the meeting. After that time, webcasts are archived and can be made available upon request.

If you have asked to address the meeting, you are deemed to be consenting to having your contributions recorded and broadcast, including video when switched on, and to the use of those sound recordings and images for webcasting and/or training purposes.”

The Chair welcomed the new Camden Youth MPs, Aya Elgool and Samir Qurashi, and the new CEO of Camden Learning, Stephen Hall, to their first meeting of the Committee.

A deputation was given by Madeleine Holt, on the subject of declining school roll forecasts for Camden, and the following key points were made in addition to the statement included within the supplementary agenda:

·       The group Meet the Parents brought together families of local schools to speak about their experiences. The group planned events which aimed to fill the information gap between secondary school open days and the rumour in the community for parents.

·       It was known that school rolls were expected to fall dramatically and would continue to fall in primary and secondary over the next decade. There were many positive and unique elements to Camden which if utilised could change the roll trajectory. A coordinated approach was needed to attract aspirational parents to local schools.

·       The number of Camden parents sending their children to private schools was higher than the London average; 38% and 20% respectively. Also to consider, there was a considerable number of parents who sent their children to maintained schools outside of the borough. Meet the Parents wanted to find out why these decisions were being made by parents and then to bring stakeholders together to form initiatives to attract parents to local Camden schools.

·       Factors already known that discouraged parents from sending their children to local maintained schools were:

-       Negative misinformation about comprehensive schools and lack of up-to-date knowledge on provisions.

-       There was no consensus on what a high-quality education should look like. The Camden report card, through Camden Learning, was a crucial tool for parents to understand the stories behind the results and data. This could help unpick and understand the differentiation within schools, as well as between schools. This card could shine light on positive insights into health and wellbeing and inclusion within comprehensives.

·       The following key factors demonstrated it was a good time to act:

-       There was increasing pressure on Oxbridge and Russell Group universities to enrol more state school students.

-       Employers were increasingly recruiting a more diverse workforce.

-       Private schools increasing their fees in the economic climate.

-       The were many smaller independent schools in Camden which may come under financial pressure and were under threat of closing.

The Chair thanked Madeleine Holt for her deputation and opened the Committee to comments and questions. The following was discussed:

·       In response to a Member asking what collaborative working would look like and how the Council could support the coordinated strategy, Madeline Holt suggested the following actions:

-       To deliver a powerful overall marketing message to prospective parents.

-       To employ an outreach officer to work across Camden to build up extracurricular activities between nursery-primary and primary-secondary schools.

-       To support projects that would invite prospective parents into secondary schools (e.g. the Acland Burghley School students dance company).

-       To collect granular data of which schools students enrolled to after primary.

-       To bring stakeholders together to develop the initiatives.

·       A Member stated that there was a history to the issue of falling school roll:

-       He  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

There was no urgent business.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meetings held on 12 October 2021,

1 November 2021 and 19 July 2022.

The following sentence within the 19 July 2022 set of minutes (bullet point 4, page 3) should be corrected to ‘These themes were also now being considered in the context of the cost of living crisis’.

RESOLVED

THAT the minutes of the meetings held on 12 October 2021, 1 November 2021 and 19 July 2022 (as amended) be agreed as a correct record.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families.

This report provides the Committee with an update relating to the portfolio of the Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families.

Consideration was given to the update of the Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families. The update report outlined the following updates:

·       School Results

·       Falling Rolls and Financial Implications

·       School Standards / School Ofsted Inspections

·       Work Around Schools White Paper and Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs)

·       Update on Holiday Activities and Food Programme

·       Diversity in School Governors

·       SEND Consultation

·       Greater health integration into family hubs and children's centres

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for their updates and opened the Committee to comments and questions. The following was discussed:

·       In relation to KS1 results, a Co-opted Member highlighted that grades fell for all subjects. It was explained that a number of families were lacking digital apparatus during the pandemic, she asked how that problem would be mitigated in the future. It was confirmed there was a new Early Years Strategy, as the pandemic begun, and since many four year olds spent a considerable proportion of their life in lockdown. Through the Strategy, there was significant investment into the first 1001 days in a child’s life and the Council had made an application to the Government to fund a family hubs programme to support the transitions for young people from early years to primary education.

·       A Member noted that schools were not given funding to mitigate the negative impacts of extreme weather events and stated that schools needed to plan for future events to avoid closures.

·       A Member stated that some children started primary school without a strong background in reading time, and many homes did not have books at all. The reading issue in early years may require a drastic solution. He suggested that by utilising the libraires and the cohort of keen volunteering networks in the borough, an initiative could combine those with the support of the Council to help young people learn to read. It was confirmed by the Executive Director that the Building Back Stronger Education Strategy which included the ambition that every child should be a reader and learner by seven years old. There was a programme planned in response to that ambition and as the year progressed the Committee could be informed of the progress made.

·       In relation to section 3.3 on falling rolls being better than forecast, a Co-opted Member asked whether this was better than predictions, or just the previous year. She secondly asked, who were the unexpected additional pupils; were they pupils who were foregoing the private sector, or new arrivals to the borough. In response, it was confirmed that the position was better than last year. The Annual School Place Planning report would be considered at the next meeting, as per the work programme. Secondly, that there were significant migration factors (Afghan and Homes for Ukraine). It was confirmed for information, that Camden was a net importer or pupils in maintained schools, which reflected the demand for the quality of education on offer in the borough.

·       In relation to section 4 on Ofsted inspections and the single requires improvement school, a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Cabinet Member for Young People and Culture.

This report provides the Committee with an update relating to the portfolio of the Cabinet Member for Young People and Culture.

Consideration was given to the update of Cabinet Member for Cabinet Member for Young People and Culture. The update report outlined the following themes:

·       Youth Review Proposals for a Camden Offer for Young People – Cabinet report

·       Youth Justice Service

·       Visits to youth clubs

·       Community Festival at Regent Park

·       Labtech

·       LaSWAP (Sixth Form Consortium)

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for their updates and opened the Committee to comments and questions. The following was discussed:

·       In relation to youth clubs and the collective desire to keep them form closing, a Member said that the Council should find out how best to achieve that and keep an open dialogue with providers. The Cabinet Member stated that they were looking into ways to better publicise youth club services and as a borough they were dedicated to keeping them open – in order to keep young people active, engaged and away from the criminal justice system and lead them down a better path.

·       In relation to section 6 on Labtech, a Member asked if there were any mechanisms the Council could utilise to ensure they would deliver on their drives to provide spaces for families sand young people. In response, the Cabinet Member stated the meeting meetings with Labtech at this stage evolved around their ambition to become a cultural activities and family destination.

·       In relation to section 3 on the Youth Justice Service (YJS), a Co-opted Member stated that children might be at increased risk to entering the justice system as parents to went back to work and that children were experiencing increased pressures going back to school. In response, it was explained that it would be strong multidisciplinary working that would create the support net to keep young people out of the justice system. Collaboration was incredibly important given the increase of financial challenges for families. The Executive Director stated that the YJS was located in the Integrated Youth Support and was a strong and well targeted service, rated ‘Outstanding’ by inspectors. The 2018 Youth Safety Taskforce sought a public Health approach to reducing the risk of young people being involved in violence and worked to ensure all parts of the system worked collectively. There would be greater pressures going forward; but Camden had a plan, additional resources were allocated to the service and they would work to maintain a strong partnership between services and agencies.

·       A Co-opted Member stated that a survey revealed that some parents were not sending their children to youth clubs because they did not feel their children were safe traveling to venues in the evening. The Cabinet Member stated they were looking to shift provisions to earlier times straight after school, which intended to mitigate those concerns.

RESOLVED -

THAT the Committee noted the update

Report of the Chief Executive Officer of Camden Learning.

A presentation will be given to the committee providing the 2022 provisional early years foundation stage result, plus key stage results from Primary (KS1 & 2) and Secondary (KS4 & 5) that have been released over the summer holidays.

Consideration was given to the report of the Chief Executive Officer of Camden Learning. He was accompanied by the Chair of Camden Learning, DAME Christine Gilbert.

The CEO of Camden Learning presented slides, included within supplementary papers, to the Committee which outlined the provisional attainment headlines. In addition to the presentation, he highlighted the following:

·       At this stage there was no individual school data, where real stories could be traced. The provisional results could inform next actions tneeded to examine certain groups in-depth.

·       Disadvantaged groups had become more disadvantaged since the pandemic.

·       Caution should be taken in comparing 2019 data to 2022 due to methodology in gathering data and differences in teaching and examinations during the pandemic.

·       Early years were the most effected due to communication and language development, which was also more challenges for children if was English not first language or spoken language was not a strength at home.

·       Schools saw improvements in remote teaching and learning.

·       Going forward, Camden Learning would be holding standards meeting with each school individually during September. They would meet the head teacher and the chair of governors to discuss the data range outcomes and actions. Camden Learning would report back to the Committee with stronger analysis on the validated data.

The Chair thanked the CEO of Camden Learning for the presentation and opened the Committee to comments and questions. The following was discussed:

·       In response to a Member, it was confirmed that the national picture of results was not yet known. However, it could be drawn that Camden performed well at KS2. Secondly, there were constraints for children where English as a an additional language; it was a slight disadvantage for children in early years, however did not manifest later on when the cognitive benefits developed.

·       In relation to early years and foundation stage results, a Member stated that it was clear there was value added from children attending school. Each key stage benefitted from the success of the previous stage, creating the strong foundations. The drop in early years achievement would impact the later stages with the same cohort.

·       A Member asked if disadvantaged children were attending nurseries and if they could view segmented data or children attending nurseries attached to schools. She stated that Camden was extending the opportunity, but they needed to ensure parents were taking up the offer. The Executive Director stated that Camden Learning did not support early years and foundation stage, but sat with Council services. Data was held and the new approach was focussed on the key pillars of attachment, language acquisition, nutrition and the healthy child programme. The Executive Director said that when the verified results were presented later in the year, they could incorporate that data within the presentation.

·       In response to a Co-opted Member, it was confirmed that Camden Learning did have a focus on the post-16 catch-up offer and ensuring young people had the opportunity to achieve the expected standard in maths and English. In addition, there was a focus  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Report of the Director of Early Intervention and Prevention.

This report outlines the election process of Camden Youth MPs, personal introductions of the newly elected Camden Youth MPs, the priorities for the 2022-2024 term and a summary of the Shout Out event held during Youth Safety Fortnight.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Early Intervention and Prevention.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Early Intervention and Prevention. The Camden Youth MPs, Aya and Samir, presented the update which outlined the election process of Camden Youth MPs, the priorities for the 2022-2024 term and a summary of the Shout Out event held during Youth Safety Fortnight. The priorities for the Youth MPs (including deputies) were as follows:

·       Youth Safety

·       Education and Opportunities

·       Mental Health and Support

·       Environment and Climate Change

The Chair thanked the Camden Youth MPs for their update and opened the Committee to comments and questions. The following was discussed:

·       In response to a Cabinet Member asking how other young people across the borough could be involved in the Camden Youth Council (CYC), it was confirmed, they would be visiting youth centres to spread the word about the role of CYC. There was also an open meeting planned for next week for young people to visit the CYC based at 5PS. If any young people in attendance were keen and wanted to join the CYC, they would be offered an application form.

·       A Member praised the priories on mental health, life skills and making the best use of school facilities to include community use.

·       A Co-opted Member stated the Youth MPs bringing the young persons voice to the Committee was an essential perspective.

The Camden Youth MPs thanked the Committee for their praise and said they hoped they would have support in working towards their priorities.

RESOLVED

THAT the report be noted.

Report of the Executive Director, Supporting People 

The committee has requested an updated report on their future work programme at each meeting. This report sets out the work programme for 2022/2023 for the committee’s consideration.

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Director Supporting People.  He stated that it was clear the Committee was interested in many areas in great depth. The work programme included important set pieces, however it could adapt over the year to incorporate other areas; in a managed way to ensure best use of Committee time.

It was discussed, and a consensus among Committee Members, that a slimmed down work programme would be preferable to enable greater depth on each focus area. It was also raised that the work programme should align to strategically scrutinise the Council’s Building Back Stronger Education Strategy.

A Member raised that over the next few months child poverty would be on the rise given the economic climate, acknowledging this was a cross service concern. In response, the Executive Director Supporting People agreed this was a key issue going forward. He stated there was a Cabinet sub-group looking at how well Camden services and functions were connected, which the Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families sat. He suggested that group could be a pathway for reporting these concerns.

Scrutiny Panel

The Chair told the Committee that at the last meeting it was discussed the theme of a scrutiny panel could be the impact of Covid on speech and language development as a broader piece, and since the last meeting had been refined to be based on early years an KS1 children in Camden. The following points were made:

·       The proposal for the panel could include interviewing a number of practitioners in order to understand what was happening at a grass roots level.

·       The hypothesis for the investigation could be that children’s speech and development had been impacted negatively by the pandemic at early years and KS1 level.

·       The panel would investigate what interventions had been successful in in different circumstances and demographics.

·       The Panel would aim to create recommendations which could form policy for Camden Learning.

It was discussed by the Committee:

·       A Member suggested the interviews should broaden to include families, particularly families who do not speak English at home. This might be older siblings, not just parents. It was additionally noted, families that spoke multiple languages at home and were from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds across the borough.

·       A Member suggested the Panel’s work should investigate best practice from other local authorities.

·       It was confirmed that recommendations from the Panel would mostly be aimed towards Camden Learning, in a spirit of cooperation and openness.

The Chair stated that the proposed membership would be written within the report seeking to establish the Panel the next meeting.

RESOLVED

THAT that the report be noted.

The Children, Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee is

asked to note that the next meeting will take at place at 6.30pm on

14 November 2022 and also note the following schedule of meeting dates:

·       13 December 2022

·       12 January 2023

·       20 February 2023

The following future meeting dates for municipal year 2022-23 were noted:

·       14 November 2022

·       13 December 2022

·       12 January 2023

·       20 February 2023

There was no urgent business.