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Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Simon Trevaskis
02087266000  Email: simon.trevaskis@croydon.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

10/22

Disclosures of interest

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to register disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and gifts and hospitality to the value of which exceeds £50 or multiple gifts and/or instances of hospitality with a cumulative value of £50 or more when received from a single donor within a rolling twelve month period. In addition, Members and co-opted Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose those disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting. This should be done by completing the Disclosure of Interest form and handing it to the Democratic Services representative at the start of the meeting. The Chair will then invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3. Completed disclosure forms will be provided to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion on the Register of Members’ Interests.

 

Minutes:

There were no disclosures of interest made at the meeting.

 

11/22

Urgent Business (if any)

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There were no urgent items for the Sub-Committee to consider at this meeting.

The Chair advised the Sub-Committee that it was likely an additional meeting would be held on 22 March 2022, to consider the issues raised about the work of the Croydon Safeguarding Children Partnership from the recent report on the death of a child in the borough.

12/22

Task and Finish Group Final Report: Exclusions and Off-rolling in Croydon Schools pdf icon PDF 456 KB

The Children & Young People Sub-Committee is ask to:-

1.    To receive Part Two of the final report- Inclusion and Exclusion in the London Borough of Croydon.

2.    To consider the recommendations as directed by the report.

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee considered a report set out in the supplement to the main agenda, which detailed the final findings from the Task and Finish Group set up by the Sub-Committee to review the issues of exclusions and off-rolling in Croydon schools. This was the second part of the report, with the first part being approved by the Sub-Committee on 18 January and subsequently endorsed by the Cabinet.

The Chair of the Sub-Committee thanked all the members of the Task and Finish Group for the significant amount of time and effort they had invested in producing their reports, which was extremely comprehensive.

The report was introduced by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group, Councillor Jerry Fitzpatrick, also thanked the other members of the group for their support in the preparation of the report. During the introduction provided by Councillor Fitzpatrick, the following was noted.

·       There was a huge number of competing demands on school leaders, including the need to be inclusive and keep children in schools. Conversely, market demand required the delivery of good exam results to ensure the high placing of a school’s position in league tables, pulling demand in the other direction.

·       Ofsted had previously highlighted concern nationally that some schools may be gaming the system through off-rolling pupils that may lower scores. It was understood that there may have been instances of this in some Croydon schools.

·       The review undertaken by the Task and Finish Group had identified nine key findings, which were outlined on pages 3 & 4 of the report.

·       These included the finding that there was an increased number of children attending schools with significant additional need.

·       There was a piecemeal system of schools across the borough which had been exacerbated by academisation, which made it more challenging for schools to cooperate.

·       The key to ensuring inclusion was to get to the root of the problem, which required early diagnosis.

·       Additional support was required to help manage the transition process between schools at the earliest possible stage.

·       It could be challenging for parents who wanted to have their autistic child educated in mainstream education as a proportion of schools were not equipped or able to provide for the needs of these pupils.

·       The Group had found examples of schools refusing unannounced visits from the Council, which raised questions about what was happening in these schools.

·       Elective home education was an area of concern for the Group, which questioned whether the Council had sufficient policy to deliver it. There was also a huge backlog in reviewing home education provision which needed to be addressed. The need to have an increased focus on elective home education had increased following the Government’s recent announcement of local authorities needing to maintain a log of home schools and to ensure these pupils were being suitably educated.

·       There was a concern that the part of the elective home education policy that fell onto social care colleagues had not been taken on board, which may result in future safeguarding issues.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12/22