Agenda item

Councillor Ian Gilchrist made a statement to the Panel on the subject of ‘The Shape of Things to Come’ / Schools’ Collaborative Future. A summary is set out below and a copy of the statement can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book.

He stated the he was directly involved in this matter as Chair of Governors at Widcombe Junior School, and would like to bring to the attention of this panel his deep unease at what is going on under this heading.

‘We have for years in B&NES enjoyed a Schools Service which has for the most part worked extremely well. The result has been a set of well-run schools which has delivered good results and has on the whole delivered well-adjusted children who are credit to their parents and to the LA. This does not happen by accident.

However, the prospect in front of us is the gradual disintegration of this beautiful machine principally because of the introduction of academies, where we now have 9 secondaries and 1 primary. This is resulting in the withdrawal of these schools from the LA system and is having the inevitable consequence that quite a number of current LA services (mainly Improvement, Specialist Behaviour, and Inclusion) will not be viable for B&NES to deliver any more. So schools wanting to use these and other services will have to organise themselves to obtain from elsewhere, by one form or another of ‘collaboration’.’

‘My concern arises in that I see no short-term benefits to the children currently in the system, and what is worse there will arguably be a possible long-term decline in standards as school resources are diverted to the effort of making collaborations and then running them. And speaking selfishly from a governor perspective I see a massive rise in work expected of us, as we look at the implications of these changes and then work out how we respond to them.’

‘So what do I ask of this panel? Firstly that you be aware of these changes that are coming in, whether we like them or not, and secondly be willing to take a long-term interest in developments and their aftermath. If in 2 years’ time we discover that B&NES is simply no longer in the business of providing an education service to school, does that mean we can simply wash our hands of responsibility for what may happen to the quality of education and standards in what is geographically our area?’

The Chairman commented that the Panel were expecting to receive an update from the next Headteachers / Chair of Governor Conference at their meeting in January.

Councillor Dine Romero commented that the Panel rarely had the opportunity to hear from school governors and wondered if there was a process whereby they could pass on their comments to the Panel representative.

Sanjeev Chaddha replied that he was not aware of such a process. He added that as a decision was expected by Christmas, additional Governor meetings were being held to gather views.

The People and Communities Strategic Director commented that a strategic briefing for all Chairs of Governors was held every term and he offered to let the Panel and other interested parties when those meetings would take place. He added that the Council was looking for a steer by Christmas, not a decision.

Dawn Harris commented that resources for the Specialist Behaviour Service would not be lost, but become more targeted and better allocated.

Councillor Dine Romero asked if Primary & Secondary Academy Headteachers would still retain involvement in Council wide Headteacher meetings. She added she would also like to see full Governor representation on the Panel.

The Divisional Director for Learning & Inclusion replied that all Academies are required to be represented on the Schools Forum.

The Chairman assured Councillor Gilchrist that the process would be monitored as it was vital to ensure that all children received a fair deal.

Briony Waite, Strategic Planning Officer for the Children's Health & Commissioning Service addressed the Panel on the subject of Young Leaders. She stated that a wide range of young people from many groups had met on Saturday afternoon with a view to establishing priorities and learning more about becoming a Young Leader. She added that she wished to thank Councillors Hardman and Hartley for their attendance as well as the Project Workers who were present.

Luke, one of the young people who attended the meeting stated the group had a discussion on what makes a good leader and decided upon three key themes to pursue in the future (i) Transport, (ii) activities for Young People and (iii) the negative image of young people. He added that the group intends to meet once a month and would hope at some point to have a representative on the Scrutiny Panel.

Briony commented that it had been a very positive first meeting and she hoped that numbers of the group would increase to give young people a true voice.

The Chairman on behalf of the Panel thanked them for making their statement.