Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Shiva Tiwari and Co-opted Members Aya Elgool, Sarah Jafri and Samir Qurashi.

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’.

Any Other Announcements

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.”

Camden Schools Music Festival – Grant Funding Bid Opportunity

The Camden Schools Music Festival was held biennially at the Royal Albert Hall and was sponsored jointly by the Camden Music Service and the Camden Music Trust. The Councillor Headlam-Wells and Tim Aldridge were in discussions Clothworkers Company, who had a foundation and a large amount of money available for grants for children and young people and particularly disadvantaged children. As a result from the discussions, Camden had been invited to apply for grant funding. There would be a further update in due course.

New Council Officer Appointment - Director of Relational Practice

Tim Aldridge announced the appointment of Nana Bonsou as the new Director of Relational Practice in the Children and Learning Department starting in June 2024. The role would oversee a new centre of relational practice focusing on how Camden wanted to work with families and residents, the workforce development programme, the formation of an academy for learning, and the quality assurance and safeguarding partnership.

Requests to speak at the Committee on a matter within its terms of reference must be made in writing to the clerk named on the front of this agenda by 5pm two working days before the meeting.

There were no deputations.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meetings held on 18 January 2024.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 18 January 2024 be agreed as a correct record.

There was no urgent business.

Report of the Chief Executive Officer, Camden Learning.

A presentation will be given to the committee providing the 2023 end of key stage statutory assessment results from Camden Primary (KS1 & 2) and Secondary (KS4 & 5) schools with analysis of the performance of different key groups including disadvantage, gender, SEND and ethnicity. This data also includes key contextual measures such as Ofsted inspection outcomes, destinations, attendance, exclusions, children missing in education and pupils who are electively home educated.

These outcomes provide an overview of various performance measures related to overall school performance in Camden. Caution is advised when considered trends over time due to the legacy of the pandemic. For secondary schools, the Ofqual announcement of a return to pre-pandemic grading at GCSE and A Level in 2023 meant that national results would be lower than the previous summer.

The report appendix contains the near final draft report of actions related to Year I of the implementation of Building Back Stronger, Camden’s Education Strategy.  It describes actions and progress while also identifying areas for development in 2024.

This report has been commissioned from Camden Learning by Camden Council.

Consideration was given to the report of the Chief Executive Officer, Camden Learning.

Stephen Hall (Chief Executive Officer of Camden Learning), accompanied by DAME Christine Gilbert (Chair of Camden Learning), outlined the report and presentation slides which covered the following areas: Outcomes by Key Stage (KS) [Early Years, Phonics, KS1, KS2 Attainment, KS2 Progress, KS4 Attainment, KS4 Progress, Post-16]; Key groups [Disadvantaged Pupils, Ethnic Groups Summary, Bangladeshi Pupils, Caribbean Pupils, Somali Pupils, Gender, Pupils with SEND, Mobile pupils]; Attendance and Exclusions; Children Missing Education;  Elective Home Education; and the draft Building Back Stronger Annual Report. In addition, it was stated that data should be understood in the current context of falling rolls, which affected some schools more than others. Other pressures on schools included increasing additional needs, reduced budgets, and lasting impacts from the pandemic such as lost learning. In relation to Appendix 3 (year one of the implementation of Building Back Stronger), it was stated that Camden Learning was working with the Education Strategy Board to assess and track activities implemented to review if they were having the desired affect and impact.

The Chair thanked Camden Learning for the report and invited questions and comments from the Committee. The following was discussed:

·       A Member noted the worrying trend of children missing in education, acknowledging that in many cases there were unique circumstances and complex needs, which had also been made more challenging by the pandemic.

·       A Member noted the elective home education (EHE) trends were concerning when observing the rising trend, despite the currently low numbers.  The Council and Camden Learning had to support families who were considering the EHE option and were dissatisfied with their school offer. In response, it was confirmed that whilst concerning, rising EHE was a national trend and impact of the pandemic. Camden had a broad and inclusive offer and waned parents to feel welcomed. Local authorities were restricted by legislation and did not have many legal powers to enforce attendance.

·       A Member asked for data on the child population of refugees in Camden. In response officers confirmed it was difficult to extrapolate that data because there was not census data, nationally or in Camden. It was noted individual schools would have information of how many refugees pupils they had on roll. It was also noted that Camden did have the statistics for the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) who were looked after children in Camden. Officers confirmed they would investigate how to gather data on the number of child refugees in Camden.

Action By – Executive Director for Children and Learning

·       A Member asked what was Camden’s response to the Mayor of London’s Inclusion Charter for schools. It was confirmed that the content of the charter resonated and synchronised with the ongoing work of Camden Learning and Building Back Stronger (Camden’s Education Strategy). Camden was already working with the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) prevention work. There had been opportunities for Camden through the Charter, including the Right Respecting Schools  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Report of the Director of Education and Inclusion.

To ensure we achieve the outcomes in ‘We make Camden’ we work to protect our family of schools and our shared vision of a collaborative local comprehensive education system. We celebrate the ethos of Camden education, rooted in our communities, and seek to help all our children and young people achieve academic excellence and grow up to be active and engaged citizens. Through Camden Learning, the Council’s unique proposition for achieving these aims, schools have taken responsibility for their own and their collective performance, supporting each other to help improve achievement and wellbeing in schools across Camden.

As a result of these principles Camden has unique education architecture characterised by high levels of cooperation and low levels of Academisation. To protect this position and in response to a changing national policy framework the Council, throughout the last academic year, commissioned a piece of work focusing on one of the four foundations for success of Building Back Stronger, Camden’s Education Strategy– a Collaborative and Federating system.

This item introduces that work and resultant report alongside the suite of materials produced to support schools in their engagement with this agenda.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Education and Inclusion.

Vikram Hansrani, Director of Education and Inclusion, summarised the report which outlined Camden’s school future options work and the range of support available for Camden Schools to explore partnership and collaborative arrangements.

The Chair thanked officers for the report and invited questions and comments from the Committee. The following was discussed:

·       It was confirmed that the threat of academisation had reduced, and the scope of the school future options work had evolved into structural education partnerships across Camden and facilitating engagement between schools. Schools were targeted through a number of metrics, including falling rolls, finances, staff changes. There was learning for Camden from the already federated schools.

·       In response to a Co-opted Member noting there was not a strong focus on SEND in the report, it was confirmed that SEND provision was a standing item on the School Place Planning Group, which also linked to the High Needs Subgroup. The Council was working with school leaders to see what provisions were specifically needed for Camden. Work was focussing on how to measure what success looked like for children with additional needs and what a nuanced model would look like. The Council would be commissioning a review of the High Needs Block with Peter Grey (independent expert) to explore the models and outcomes of high needs provision, and how to strengthen the mainstream school offer for children with EHCPs.

·       Following the deputation from Netley School at a previous Committee meeting which related to their current challenges in increasing SEND demand and falling rolls, it was confirmed that conversations were taking place directly between the Council and the school. It was confirmed that at this time of year the Council was speaking to schools about the needs and profile of children they were anticipating for September admission and how the school would meet those needs. Currently there was wider and strategic work taking place looking into the parity of the offer across the borough.

·       It was confirmed the diocese schools had a good relationship with Camden Leaning, however the future options of their schools and if they were to academise was a diocese decision.

RESOLVED –

THAT the Committee note the content of the School Future Options Report and range of support available for Camden Schools to explore partnership and collaborative arrangements.

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

The Cabinet Member updated the Committee on the following areas relating to their portfolio: Youth Mission, Youth Justice Plan, and the Holiday Activity Fund.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for their update paper.

The Committee noted the update.

Report of the Director for Health and Wellbeing.

Directors of Public Health in England have a statutory duty to write an Annual Public Health Report (APHR) to consider the state of health within their communities. Camden’s 2023 APHR focuses on adolescent health and wellbeing.

Appendix A contains the full Annual Public Health Report (APHR) 2023.

Appendix B contains Step into our Shoes – the report Coproduced by young people’s group Camden Youth Tell Them in response to the APHR 2023 findings.

Appendix C contains a summary slide set prepared presentation to the Committee.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director for Health and Wellbeing.

Manuj Sharma, Public Health Consultant, summarised the Annual Public Health Report (APHR) and presentation slides which covered the following areas: key findings, young people’s voices, key statistics, co-production, graphic novel, Step into Our Shoes event launch, Event evaluation, Programme evaluation by Camden Youth: Tell Them, Next steps for APHR 2023, and Next steps for Camden Youth: Tell Them.

The Chair thanked officers for the report and invited questions and comments from the Committee. The following was discussed:

·       A Member noted that the report stated the prevalence of asthma in white British children was higher than ethnic minority groups. The Member also noted that Camden had a lower prevalence of asthma than average comparisons pan-London and national. The Member asked if these trends were due to underreporting. In response, it was stated that in Camden there was a lot of work taking place in the asthma space and there were a few factors to consider such as greater awareness and early years engagement, however there may be an element of children not getting diagnosed. The Member noted that a number of political decisions that were good for asthmatic people and prevention were unpopular, such as ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zones), LTNs (Low Traffic Neighbourhoods) and parking fees.

·       A Member noted that poor mental health presented differently in different demographics, and a resulting trend of this saw a disproportionate number of ethnic minorities being admitted into psyche wards due to them experiencing barriers in seeking help early enough. Officers stated that initiatives to tackle outreach issues in the mental health space were co-production and ensuring messaging was amplified in the right spaces.

·       A co-opted Member stated that the report did not mention self-harm or suicide. In response, officers acknowledged that there were parts of the wide-ranging report that could have had more focus and detail. Officers confirmed there was a separate stream of work in the suicide prevention space which sat with the Health and Wellbeing Team. The Team could bring a report on adolescent suicide prevention, or any other specific area in greater detail, at request of the Committee.

·       A Co-opted Member stated that it was unclear who would be following up and who was accountable for the vast number of recommendations within the APHR. In response, it was confirmed that the work intended to produce recommendations for the whole system, because services responsible for the health and wellbeing of adolescents was cross-departmental and multiagency. It was confirmed that the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goal framework had not been used because there were a host of different actions that could be adopted and there should be flexibility in the system to address them.

·       It was confirmed by officers that the paper was aimed at a wider audience. The recommendations had been worked and were owned by departments across the Council and the report was an opportunity to open up the agenda for more  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Report of the Executive Director Children and Learning.

This report provides an outline of the 2023/24 work programme (Appendix 1) and provides an update on actions requested at previous meetings (Appendix 2).

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Director Children and Learning.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

The final meeting date of the 2023/24 municipal year is on 13 March 2024.

The final meeting date of the 2023/24 municipal year would be on 13 March 2024.

There was no urgent business.