Agenda item

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

The Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families here provides the Committee with their annual report for discussion, including updates on Camden Learning, free school meals, support for students with special education needs and disabilities (SEND) and our other children and family health support initiatives.

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

The Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families summarised their annual report, which covered the following areas in detail: schools and Camden Learning; improving the health of children and families (including school meals, physical fitness and activities); adult community learning and the virtual school; children’s services and safeguarding; mental health of children and families; support for students with SEND and the Children and Young People with Disabilities Service (CYPDS); corporate parenting and voices of families and children; Early Years; special update on Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC); and the formal major decisions taken (in the last 12 months) and available forthcoming decisions. The Cabinet Member presented particular focus on the following areas: increasing school governor and school leadership diversity; falling school rolls; digital learning; post pandemic results and the disadvantage gap; social work; the Ofsted visit; RAAC; youth service plan; improving the offer to care leavers; healthy living in schools offer; and the SEND strategy.

The Cabinet Member thanked their Cabinet Officer, Nathan Koskella, for their support in preparing the portfolio report, and thanked the Committee for their vital ongoing input to the scrutiny process.

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

-       In relation to attendance, a Member asked if the school attendance campaign was improving, which was a local and national priority. The Cabinet Member stated that school attendance was a priority and a part of the youth mission; currently there were 4,000 persistent absentees in Camden. As part of the work there was a back-to-school media campaign using the tagline ‘Every School Day Counts’. This involved posters in schools, leaflets for parents, bus stop posters and social media posts.  Parents attitudes towards attendance were eroded during the pandemic and the Council would be continuing to work in this area. Camden Learning has appointed three new officers who would work with schools to support them, with some schools funding those roles themselves.

-       In relation to Camden’s attendance campaign, a Co-opted Member stated that national research showed that the tagline ‘Every School Day Counts’ was not working, because parents perceived is as a hollow message, and asked why Camden was continuing to push the message despite the research. The Co-opted Member stated that they knew many parents who wanted nothing more than to send their children to school but needed support with their children’s SEND needs. In response, it was confirmed there were family support workers enlisted who would be providing proactive outreach to building relationships with families to address school absenteeism. It was noted this was a resource intensive approach, therefore wider campaigns had to form a large part of the attendance strategy; if there were more resources, additional money would be channelled into pastoral care. Officers stated that the Council recognised there were some families who faced significant challenges, where young people’s mental health and wellbeing issues were prevalent post-Covid. There was great work taking place in schools and early help in linking the system together and developing a local practice framework for a holistic view of persistent absenteeism, which was also a national priority. To follow, a Member praised the great work of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS).

-       In relation to Ofsted ratings, a Member asked what the Council was doing to support schools who were not achieving the expected level. In response, it was confirmed that there were Learning Hubs, professional partner programmes for schools, and project boards for senior leadership teams. The Cabinet Member stated that improvement of underachieving schools was important to prevent young people moving into private sector education. In response to a query on head teacher involvement, it was confirmed teachers responded well to support and outside programmes. All primary schools were rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’, and secondary schools existed in a system of peer support and planning.

-       Officers confirmed they would provide the Committee with a written response setting out what Camden Learning was doing support schools who were underachieving.

Action By – CEO Camden Learning

-       A Members asked what areas the Council would like to spend money on if more government funding was available. The Cabinet Member replied they would look to improving the school estate and building conditions, roll out of more family support workers, and expand the pastoral care offer in secondary schools beyond tutor group and PSHE classes.

-       In relation to elective home education (EHE), a Member asked how Camden was responding to the increasing trend of home schooling. The Cabinet Member stated that EHE was a challenge for local authorities, with 300-330 EHE children in the borough currently known to the Council. The Council sent out surveys to parents to ask them why they opted for EHE, to find out the more granular reasons, but many parents did not respond, and others reported that it was a lifestyle choice. Some families used the materials provided by the Council and could demonstrate their ability to provide EHE, however there were also families of concern who did not interact with the Council leading to potential safeguarding fears. The Council needed to make additional checks on some families to ensure there were appropriate arrangements for the child. There had been plans for new legislation as part of the Schools Bill to strengthen local authorities powers in overseeing arrangements, however it did not end up coming into force.

-       In relation to EHE, a Co-opted Member asked if children in EHE could access the same benefits they would if the attended school. It was confirmed that children off-roll and could not claim benefits such as free school meals. It was noted that there were groups of parents who shared home schooling resources. A Co-opted Member stated that EHE parents may have incentives to engage with the Council if they had access to the same benefits as children on-roll.

-       In relation to private section education, a Member asked how Council was progressing in attracting more children to Camden schools from the private sector. It was confirmed that was an area of focus and there had been progress since the pandemic, seen by the proportion of pupils attending private school provision reducing from the Covid peak of 38% towards the pre-Covid levels of 32%. There was more work to do in this area and Camden Learning had recruited a digital officer to support online campaigning; recently there was a successful Moving On event held at the Francis Crick Institute, which was hugely oversubscribed; and some schools were taking it upon themselves to advertise their schools, with once example of a school using impressive drone footage. It was noted that Camden was a net importer of pupils. A Member commented that Camden Learning should have a marketing budget and assign marketing experts to schools in order to compete with the private sector.

-       A Member raised the issue of schools having barriers in rebranding if they had a historically lower reputation to other schools. They also noted that there were differences in the reputation of boys and girls schools had in Camden. The Cabinet Member responded that sometimes parents read a simplified Ofsted judgement which did not account for the complexities of the inspection. Parents were now able to use the internet and social media to do their own research and understand a richer idea of a school. In addition, the power of a school visit was effective in capturing the interest of children and parents. Meet the Parents was an initiative which ran events where prospective families met with parents and students who attended their local schools to speak about their experiences.

-       A Member stated there was disparity between the south and the north of the borough of children being able to access Camden schools, where children in the south often had to enrol schools in other boroughs. The Member suggested that successful secondary schools should extend their provision and expand to new sites in the south.

-       In response to a Co-opted Member, the Cabinet Member agreed to the present comparable London boroughs disadvantage gap in future reports, in additional to national and regional differences. It was noted that the disadvantage gap was narrower in Camden compared to nationally, however the Council would benefit from more granular reporting as the disadvantage gap for primary was increasing in Camden.

-       In relation to section 5.4, Early Help Family Support, it was confirmed that Camden’s figure of 54% of all children’s front door contacts being passed to early help last year was higher compared to other authorities. Officers confirmed they would provide statistics and trends on how Camden compared to other London boroughs on the number of family contacts who are referred to Early Help Family Support.

Action By - Director of Children's Prevention, Family Help and Safeguarding

-       A Co-opted Member asked if there were the right school places for the number of SEND children in the borough, stating that the Royal Free School which had special provision did not have enough places to meet demand. In response, it was confirmed that SEND place planning and HNB provision work was taking place, whilst considering the JSNA.

-       In relation to section 8.2, Our Thorough Review of Offer for Care-Experienced Young People, it was confirmed that this was an area of continued focus, and the Council would build on the current offer, as part of the youth mission. Care experienced people were proven to have disproportionately worse outcomes later in life. Camden offered care leavers council tax exemption and ring-fenced apprenticeships, but they wanted to go further by, as part of the review and amongst other initiatives, making care status a protected characteristic.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.