Agenda and minutes

To agree to apply the Council’s procedure rules for remote meetings to this meeting.

RESOLVED

THAT the Guidance for Remote Meetings held during the Coronavirus National Emergency be noted.

To Note: All

Councillor Tiwari had given apologies for absence and Councillor McAnena gave apologies for having to leave early.

Councillor Kelly, was welcomed to her first meeting as a new member of the committee.

The Chair also welcomed those attending as part of the deputations being made in relation to agenda Item 8.

No declarations were made

Chair to announce......

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 six months after the meeting. After that time, webcasts are archived and can be made available on DVD 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

Councillor Oliver Lewis, the Chair, announced 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 six months after the meeting. After that time, webcasts are archived and can be made available on DVD 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 deputations (agenda Item 5) would be heard immediately before agenda Item 8.  

Deputations in relation to agenda Item 8 on the agenda were received from the following: 

• Carlton Action Group - Mick Farrant, Susanne Kord, John Landau and Luthfur Rahman,  

• Parents and Carers Action Group at Carlton School -  Sally Kellner, Shoda Rackal, Sajeda Begum and Jusna Begum

• Jessica Wren - Carlton School Chair of Governors

           Peter Ptashko - Carlton School Vice-Chair Governors

In response to questions, the deputations provided the committee with the following information:  

Carlton Action Group

Parents and Carers Action Group at Carlton School

·         Despite requests, no information had been provided about the financial costs of funding the school or to the impact on the wider community of closing the school. There was a lack of financial transparency  

·         Carlton School had played a key role in addressing local drug culture issues and had been a vital link to the voluntary sector in the local community   

·         There were concerns about children without English as a first language and the education they had already lost due to school closures during the pandemic. That these children will have fallen further behind and there was anxiety about how well their parents had been coping.  A delay in the merger would help the local community and provide more time to explore the options for the future of Carlton School    

Carlton School Chair of Governors

·         Consultations about the proposals had not been led by the school, but had been widely advertised and had given the opportunity for discussions about the use of Carlton School as a community hub

·         It was not sustainable to continue trying to run the school with a reduced number of pupils, a falling school roll and decreasing funding. The school would not be able to provide the educational offer the children needed      

·         No decisions about the merger had been made, as yet, but there had been planning discussions between the senior leadership teams at both schools, to gain an understanding of the issues if the merger goes ahead. These discussions had included planning for children with special education needs and children in need. Carlton staff working with vulnerable children would transfer with the children and work with them at Rhyl for an initial period, to support them through the changes

·         Delaying or putting off the decision for a year would not be in the best interest of the children at the school    

In response to points of concern made by the deputations about the consultation process, financial transparency and safety of children, the scrutiny committee was told that:

·         The consultation had been carried out in accordance with statutory guidance for making ‘prescribed alterations’ at maintained schools. This had included all parents at the school, a wide circulation to 30 local voluntary sector organisations, information translated into the three most used local community languages, interpreting and translations services were available, 6 days of face-to-face discussions and online consultation. It had been a thorough process and 47 parents had taken part 

·         It was not financially viable to continue to fund Carlton  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 2 September 2020.     

Consideration was given to the minutes of the last meeting  -

Item 6, Minutes, page 20, first line, after ‘Youth’ insert ‘Offending’ and after ’authority’ insert  ‘in London’     

RESOLVED

THAT, subject to the above amendments, the minutes of the last meeting held on Wednesday 2 September 2020 were agreed as a correct record. 

To Note: All

There was no urgent business

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

All local authorities have a statutory duty to secure sufficient school places within their area, including promoting high standards of education, ensuring fair access and considering the provision for children with special educational needs. In Camden, school leaders also asked the Council to develop, at speed, proposals to increase the long-term sustainability of primary schools.

Following the Cabinet decision on 3 September 2020, officers undertook a detailed first stage consultation between 28 September and 16 November on the future organisation of Rhyl and Carlton Primary schools. This involved the parents, public and all parties interested in the future provision of primary education in the area. The consultation was conducted in accordance with statutory guidance for making ‘prescribed alterations’ at maintained schools. This report provides detail of that consultation and the responses received.

Consultees were asked to consider the following proposal:

·         To merge, Rhyl and Carlton primary schools under the leadership of Rhyl school, with the continuation of education use on the Carlton school site;

·         The merged school would provide 60 places per year (two classes) and have an eventual capacity of 420 pupils from reception through to year 6. This is a reduction, by half, of the current total capacity across the two existing schools;

·         All children currently attending the two schools would be offered a place within the merged school. Bulge classes (additional classes) would be created in year groups where there are more than 60 children across the existing schools; and

·         This change would be achieved by the closure of Carlton School as a legal entity and the expansion of the site of Rhyl Primary School Site to include the Carlton School site.

In total, the Council has received 83 questionnaire responses and met with 85 consultees, during the consultation process. Respondents to the consultation have, in general, recognised that the current position, of a lack of pupils relevant to the schools capacity, is a key issue and that there is a case for change. The Council has been asked to consider alternative options as described within this paper. Additionally, the responses asked that any change is based around ensuring that future provision is designed to address the needs of this unique community.

It is clear from the responses that Carlton School and its staff are highly regarded and play an important part in the community, offering vital links for children and families. There is genuine concern as to the future organisation of school places, the potential impact that this could have on children and a sadness about the circumstances that have brought about the proposal for change.

Officers have considered the outcome of the consultation and developed the proposal further in response which both addresses the Council’s statutory sufficiency duty and responds to the issues raised in the consultation.     

If the proposal is approved the reduction in total potential pupil numbers across the two school sites would mean that Carlton School, in particular,  ...  view the full agenda text for item 8.

Consideration was given to a report of the Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families.

Further to the decisions taken by Cabinet in September, officers had been asked to carry out consultations on proposals to provide a greater balance between the supply and demand of school places. The consultation had been conducted in accordance with statutory guidance for making ‘prescribed alterations’ at maintained schools and the report provided details of that consultation and the responses that had been received.

Taking the report as read, the Chair asked the committee for questions and comments in response to the report and the points that had been raised by the deputations.

The following information and comments were provided in response to  questions from the committee:  

·         With the surplus of school places and the resources required to fund education for children still at the school, it was unsustainable to continue trying to maintain Carlton School with fewer and fewer resources for the children. Income for the school would not be able to  keep pace with the expenditure required for the school to be financially sustainable. Delaying the decision would add to the uncertainty for pupils, their families and staff 

·         The new proposals were supported by the teachers at both schools. The teachers want to plan for the best transitional arrangements in a difficult situation. The bulge class at Rhyl School would be staffed by Carlton staff and human resources colleagues were working on a redeployment plan for Carlton staff in order to protect as many jobs as possible

·         The governing bodies at both schools were aware of their financial positions

·         The consultation had been a thorough process and had it not been for Covid-19 there would have been further work. In addition to what had been described to the Committee earlier (Item 5 above) there had also been the opportunity to telephone in and post in consultation responses.  There had been a wide response to the process which was not reflected in the number of questionnaire responses  

·         The head teachers at both schools had been faced with very difficult decisions about the future of their schools.  Friends, colleagues and  neighbours were sad to lose the school but the child population was falling London wide. Some schools had closed completely but the work of governors and the local community would ensure the retention of the Carlton School building with a use that would still be at the heart of the  community

·         Carlton School was valued by the local community. This role would be continued by the proposals to provide additional services that would be part of the local early help offer for children, parents and services supporting families       

The Chair thanked all those who had contributed to the meeting. Based on the discussions that had taken place and the information provided it was the view of the committee that it would not be in the interest of the schools to delay making a decision about future arrangements. The improvements to nursery  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report of Cabinet Member for Young People, Equalities and Cohesion

Camden 2025 is our communities’ vision for Camden. The Disproportionality in Youth Justice System position statement reflects the council’s commitment to creating a fair borough, with social justice at the heart of what we do. The proposals in this report seek to tackle racial inequalities and disproportionate representation in the youth justice system, in order to create a borough that works for everyone.

Consideration was given a report of the Cabinet Member for Young People, Equalities and Cohesion that sought to tackle racial inequalities and disproportionate representation in the youth justice system, in order to create a borough that worked for everyone. The Disproportionality in Youth Justice System position statement reflected the Council’s commitment to creating a fair borough, with social justice at the heart of what we do. 

The position statement and the Youth Justice Action Plan would address issues of disproportionality in Camden and in the Court system. The Cabinet Member for Young People, Equalities and Cohesion thanked the committee for issues they had raised about structural inequality and asked for their support with this work and the aims of the report. 

Committee members made the following comments during their consideration of the report:   

·         The Youth Offending Service was congratulated on the Ofsted judgement of Outstanding for its work with young people

·         After Stephen Lawrence in 1993 it was disgraceful to still have to discuss these issues in 2020. We should not be complacent about examples of discrimination in the USA, because there were awful problems here in the UK and a government response to the Lammy Review was long overdue

·         The report was helpful, thought provoking and should include more details about the co-production work taking place with young people

·         Future updates on the report should reflect the voices and experiences of women in the Youth Justice System 

·         Full support for the report because as a local authority the council should do all that it could to fight racism 

In response to these points, the committee was told that the council was not complacent about the work that needed to be done and that there would be a further update in six months that would include the details the committee had asked for.

RESOLVED

THAT the report was welcomed and supported by the committee.

To Note: All

Action By: Executive Director Supporting People

Report of the Children, Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee, School Exclusion Scrutiny Panel 

This report contains the findings and recommendations of the School Exclusion Scrutiny Panel, and details of the work completed by the Panel in reaching their conclusions.

Consideration was given to the findings and recommendations of the School Exclusion Scrutiny Panel and the details of the work completed by the Panel in reaching their conclusions.

The Panel had been motivated by the apparent rise in the number of school exclusions in Camden during 2017/18. Although that trend had been reversed in subsequent years, members of the scrutiny committee had remained concerned about the negative consequences of school exclusion for any child and wanted to further investigate the situation in Camden. Councillor Khatoon, Chair of the Panel, spoke about the findings of the report and wanting to ensure that there was alternative education provision for all children and that school exclusion was a last resort.  The Panel thanked the following for their support in completing their task - Councillor Angela Mason, Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families; Martin Pratt, Executive Director Supporting People and James Coumbe for policy support. 

During consideration of the report, the committee mentioned the following as areas of concern:

·         The issue of permanent exclusions and what training was available to those sitting on exclusion panels. Training for exclusion panel members and an understanding of how traumatic the process is for children and parents 

·         What more could be done to support or provide help to pupils before it reached the stage of being considered for exclusion?

·         The concern of parents about the peer group environment at pupil referral units (PRUs) and the preference for pre PRU settings to be based in schools

·         The availabity of resources was a big issue but were schools aware of what support was available to them prior to exclusion and could they make better use of them?

·         Was there enough understanding of the important distinction between  

permanent and fixed term exclusion?

·         Primary schools were very good at managing the needs of younger children but at secondary schools issues with older children became more exposed. Could schools make earlier use of available services?

The report was welcomed by the committee and it was agreed that there would be a report back to scrutiny in response to the panel’s recommendations.

Councillor Angela Mason, Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families also welcomed the report. She was confident that there was already a great deal of work taking place to address the issues that had been raised and would work with Camden Learning to look at what more could be done.

RESOLVED

THAT the report be noted and that there would be a report back to the committee in September in response to the Panel’s recommendations.

To Note: All

Action By: Executive Director Supporting People

To be confirmed in due course

It was noted that members would be advised of future meeting dates in due course.

To Note: All

There was no such business.