Welcome everyone to this hybrid meeting of executive.
These note, the meeting is being broadcast and recorded.
For clarity voting is only permitted by the members who are present in the room.
Any members joining the meeting are able to participate in the debate but they're not able to vote.
But I don't think there's any members joining online.
Thank you.
Agenda item one, apologies for absence.
Other any apologies?
Yes, thank you, Chair, I've had apologies from Councillors, Neil and Vidwell.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Item three on item two, declaration of interest.
Members are asked to declare a need to disclose what CUNY affected interest in respect of any
matter to be considered at this meeting.
Any member with a disposable CUNY interest in the matter should withdraw from the meeting
when the matter is under consideration and should notify the democratic services officer
in attendance that are drawing as they have such an interest.
If the discloseable pecuniary interest is not entered on the register of members' interest,
the monitoring officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.
Any member with an affected interest in the matter must disclose the interest of the meeting.
There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an unaffected
interest, but the monitoring officer should be notified of the interest if not previously
notified of it within 28 days of the meeting.
Item three, minutes of the meeting, to consider and approve the minutes of the meeting executive
held on the 23rd of April, 2024, our members happy to approve the minutes of this meeting.
OK, thank you, I confirm the minutes, can I have as a true record, can I ask for a second
to please?
Councillor JEFFREY's leader, we'll second that.
Thank you, can I ask all those in favour to raise their hands for voting please?
Thank you, agenda item four, urgent matters of business, are there any urgent matters
of business? No, no, no, if I check, never have any, but, right, item five, this is the
approval of the youth strategy, 2024 to 27, and I'd like to invite, here we are, Audrey
Johnson, thank you very much to speak to this, you're very welcome, so can you present the
item please?
Thank you, Chair, I'm Arts and Executive to note the feedback from young people, families
and professionals on the plan to devise a youth strategy for the next three years, which
provides a clear vision for the future of youth provision within Bracknell Forest.
I'm also asking the Executive to note the plan to revise the operating model of the
target youth support service to facilitate the delivery of the action plan to deliver
the strategy.
In addition, we are the Executive to note the plan to coordinate youth work activity delivered
by partners across the borough, utilising external funding, including 117,000 of time-limited
grant funding, grant-limited funding to create a cohesive youth work offer for Bracknell Forest
young people.
The strategy has been out to consultation with extensive consultation with young people,
a range of young people across the borough, including in schools, within the community,
and youth work and youth justice.
We've also consulted with a range of partners across the borough, the parish council, social
housing providers, internal partners, and a range of external partners, including the
parent carer forum.
I'm asking the Executive to agree the three-year strategy for the youth provision in Bracknell.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you very much.
Can I ask?
Has anyone got any questions?
Councillor PENneal.
Thank you, Chair.
Just a couple of questions, Audrey.
Firstly, will future budgets be able to support the plans once the external funding is used?
And secondly, when can we have the day to celebrate the contributions that young people
make to the borough?
Thank you.
The future budget, we will be working with a range of partners across the whole of the
youth provision.
This delivery of the strategy will not solely be based on the budgets of the local authority
but will be on a range of internal and external partners.
We will also be leveraging external funding.
The aim is, over the time of the strategy, is to build a cohesive offer that leverages
and really draws on the whole range of funding that is available to the youth service.
So it's not just the local authority funding, it's a whole range of funding that's available
to smaller organisations and voluntary sector as well.
In terms of the day to celebrate young people, we will be expecting to have the day within
a school holiday but we will be working with young people to help us determine the best
time to have that day.
We want to avoid times when young people will be studying for exams and days when they may
be under pressure so we will be working with young people to find the right date for that
day.
Thank you.
Can I ask just to follow up on that, that I went to a presentation by the National Youth
Agency and there they said that there was quite a lot of youth work being paid for and supplied
by funding from the health budget, public health.
Are we using that in Bratton Forest, please?
Thank you, Chair.
We are working with colleagues in public health and where we can, we are utilising the public
health grant.
There are a number of areas already being delivered by the youth service that are funded by
public health and we have negotiated some more funding around this, in particular around
young carers.
So where it is possible we are utilising the public health grant.
Good news.
Thank you.
Councillor JEFFREES.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Audrey.
In section 6.7, priority 1, on feedback that we got from the youth.
They said they are worried about being exploited and want to talk to people.
They trust and how to keep safe and manage risk.
My question around that, Audrey, is I can see we have the mitigations on the right column
and the involvement from different organisations within the Council.
My question is, do we have enough dedicated resources for that?
Thank you.
In terms of exploitation, one of the key areas that we do focus on is prevention and that
is a whole system approach and response to prevention.
So that is picking up children, young people at the earliest possible time to prevent harm.
So that means that we would work with a range of partners to identify those children, young
people who are most at risk.
That would be working with our schools, working with our partners in health, working with our
colleagues in the police.
So really, the prevention piece is how we really identify young people early and there
is sufficient resource if it is coordinated robustly to meet that need.
And I would give some reassurance in terms of the borough.
We are aware of the incidence of exploitation and to give some reassurance that we are confident
that it is low.
But we absolutely will work with a range of partners to ensure that we identify those
who are at risk and indeed those who are being exploited and to ensure that there is a robust
response for each one of those individuals.
But also to identify cohorts of young people that may be at risk moving forward.
There is sufficient resource but it is how we harness that resource across the partnership
and that is the key to this is not the responsibility of the local authority but it is how we work
with a range of partners to use all of the resources that are available in the borough.
Thank you, Audrey.
Thank you, Jay.
Thank you.
Right.
Thank you Audrey.
I think you might have already answered my question when you answered to Councillor
please.
My question was when you did the consultation, you weren't able to speak to any youth from
the traveller community and I just wondered if there is anything within the strategy to
reach this hard to reach group.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councillor Wright.
There isn't anything explicitly in the strategy to reach this very vulnerable group.
However, we do have a duty under the new guidance to identify all of the vulnerable groups that
are within our area and to make a concerted effort to not only identify them but to engage
with them.
So we will absolutely ensure that that's one of the things that we do.
We have a statutory obligation and obviously a moral obligation to do that so we will absolutely
do that.
Thank you.
One final question for me, or I don't know if anyone else wants, but one question for
me is that there was a 2023 government refresh statutory guidance and this report as this
as strategy has now come out does our strategy align very well with the government's advice
on their new strategy of 2023, please.
Thank you, Chair.
I have read the statutory guidance for local authorities' youth provision and it's called
the statutory guidance for local authorities on services to improve young people's wellbeing.
And I'm confident that we are fully compliant.
One of the first things that's contained within the strategy, sorry, in within the guidance
is to do a needs assessment before you create your strategy, which is what we did.
We did a needs assessment using a range of different data sets.
We engaged with a number of children and young people, parents, carers and partners to really
understand what the needs were in Backnell Forest and then to create a strategy that met
those needs and also to identify gaps.
Moving forward, in terms of some of the priorities that are contained within the guidance, I've
literally mapped across each of the points in the guidance.
I'm confident that we are fully compliant and aspects of the action plan explicitly match
the statutory guidance, so we will have oversight of the delivery of the action plan to make
sure that we do continue to be compliant with the guidance.
But I am confident that I have kind of matched across the priorities in the strategy, the
rationale behind the strategy, sorry, behind the guidance and I'm confident that we are
fully compliant.
Thank you.
Excellent.
Thank you.
Are there any other questions?
Can I ask somebody to a member to move the recommendations, please?
Councillor Bailie?
Yes, Councillor Bailie, I'm delighted to move this recommendation.
I would like to second the recommendation because I too am fully passionate about this.
I'm very glad to move it.
Councillor Bailie, would you like to speak?
Councillor Bailie, again, this is an important step forward in ensuring the borough is a place
where children, young people and their families can safely thrive.
It is based on feedback from young people, their parents and carers and people who work
with their children and young people.
Over the past six months, the Council has been asking young people, families and practitioners
about what it is important to them and how we can improve the services that we offer.
In the consultation, some teams are identified, including tackling bullying, feeling safe
when moving about the borough, greater access to information on subjects like mental and
sexual health, having space to be young and to do that covet is without being judged,
champion young carers, greater opportunity to get involved in the democratic process,
having greater access to youth workers for support.
It was acknowledged that professionals, young people, were in contact with, were a respectful
understanding and listened to them.
The strategy reflects these comments and the ambitions mentioned during the consultation.
It gives five key areas of focus over the next three years.
We want to keep young people safe and intervene early to prevent and reduce harm.
We will support young people to make informed decisions about the health and well-being.
We will develop a multi-agency offer of support for young carers.
We will create more opportunities for young people to participate in democratic engagement
across their communities.
We will invest in the workforce to support youth workers, professionals and develop a
pathway for young people to have a career in youth and early health work.
Our young people are a really important part of our community, I mean though we must continue
to support them and improve what is available for them locally.
This new youth strategy sets out how we will do that based on what they've told us and
they want us to focus on.
Successful youth work and activities enable young people to develop and thrive.
It helps them to find their voice and their place in society.
This is an exciting plan to help all our young people reach their full potential and feel
safe, secure and valued in the hometown.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councillor Baillie.
The second thing, I would just like to say that this is a really thorough piece of work
involving so much cooperation and so much co-production involving particularly youth.
And I believe this is an investor save in every way.
I particularly like the idea of supporting youth workers, professionals and developed
pathways for young people to have a career in youth work so really we be growing our own.
So I think this is really, really a good piece of work and thank you for producing
it.
I also would like to speak.
Councillor Baillie would like to wind up.
Chair, I think I've said all that needs to be said, I endorse what the leader has said.
Really imagine this piece of work, it's thorough going and rigorous and I'm really delighted
to support it and thank you.
Can I ask all those in favour of this pass in these recommendations to raise their
hand, please?
Thank you.
Item five, item six is the outcome of the College Hall Pupil referral unit conflict.
I think it's Duane Chapel to present this, are you there, Duane?
Yes, I'm here.
Can you see me?
Yes, we can.
Yes, we can.
Very welcome.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay, so the recommendation for the executive today is to agree the closure of College Hall
Pupil referral unit which is included as part of the Councillor's safety valve proposals.
In July of last year, 2023, detailed analysis into the dedicated schools grant was undertaken
which includes the high needs block.
In terms of the potential closure of College Hall removed as an option for the Council to
consider and a sort of consultation was undertaken with both the school staff and the public.
In addition to the consultation and the management committee also wrote in the Department for
Education and suggested that the Council, the College Hall was no longer financially valuable
in terms of operation.
In part of the public consultation, we received 57 responses to the consultation, 19 of those
responses agreed with a proposal to clause 35 disagreed, one negative agreed or disagreed
and two were I don't know.
Of the 35 that disagreed to the submission to the closure, one of the sort of main theme
that was prevalent amongst them disagreements were actually the need for more specialist
provision within Bracken and Forest which I'm pleased to say this is already in the plan
and we are going ahead with building new provision for our children.
So in terms of the closure, we are looking to clause College Hall as of the 31st of August
this year and I'm happy to take any questions around that.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Are there any questions?
Can Council for now?
Thank you Chair.
I see a lot of talk on social media regarding the, regarding this closure, potential closure
and one of the main themes of that is what about the children that are current pupils.
Then you just confirm what will be happening with those currently at the school.
Thank you.
Yes.
So there's been extensive work done with the children, young people at College Hall.
Currently the U11s are sitting in the exam and when they finish they will go on to their
Paul 16 provision.
The U10s, we have put packages in for some of the children there and at the moment there
is only one child in U10 that we need to put a package in and the other children have
gone back to mainstream schools through the process or the fair access protocol.
So at the moment there is only one child and what we will be putting in place is yield
test education otherwise in a school provision which will be a bespoke package for that child.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
Councillor Gill be.
Thank you for that summary.
Noting the inadequate rating received of its last inspection, should we as the executive
agreed to close the unit?
What lessons nevertheless will we learn from that inspection report and carry over?
Yes.
I mean, in terms of that inspection report and the outcome from the inspection, we have,
in terms of college hall, we had provided quite a lot of support.
There was a lot of change in management over the period of three years and I think that's
something we have noted.
We are going to do a reflective piece of work once the college hall has been agreed to
close.
In terms of our steps, our school improvement standards team, they have worked closely with
college hall over the years and we will continue to work with our schools as and when we close
the college hall so, you know, we are going to spend a session to get with the team at
college hall, the management team, as well as local authority officers to look at lessons
learnt in terms of we could have perhaps supported in a different way.
Thank you.
Are there any other questions?
No more questions?
Thank you.
Oh, sorry.
If I don't be like that tonight, thank you for the answer to that question.
My last question is, can you please describe the differences in the teaching approach between
the PRU and the post-SEMH school?
Thank you.
Yes.
So a people referral unit is necessary for children with special education and needs.
The provision normally with the PRU is offered children that have been permanently excluded
from school, albeit we do know that the vast majority of children that do attend people
referral units may have an unidentified special education needs.
So the difference between the SMH school, which the council have funded, is that that
will be a specialist school for children with SMH, social, emotional, mental health needs
and there will be specialist staff there to teach these children.
Additionally, the children to access the SMH school will be those that are in receipt
of an education health and care plan.
So we'll have an actual identified need and a high level need.
So it will be more of a specialist provision rather than a revolving door intervention
for children and people.
Thank you.
Councillor Gestries.
Thank you, Chair.
My question is also, I suppose, safeguarding around the staff.
As we know last year, we had the unfortunate incident with a headteacher when she received
the negative offset report.
What have we also done to ensure that the staff involved as well are also being looked
after and have been, yeah, looked after, I'll stop there?
Yes.
So in terms of the sort of work that's been done with the school staff, I meet weekly
and have met weekly with the headteacher and with the management committee, and these
are regular meetings that have been taken place in terms of the sort of Council websites
and St. Paul's into Council and services.
Also, our HR department has been involved and James Huward, who's part of that team,
has gone out into the school to support staff as best they can.
In my regular meetings with the headteacher at College Hall, the main theme is the wellbeing
of staff as well, and I have attended College Hall on many occasions over the past moments
as well to ensure I can keep them up to date as best as I've been able to in terms of
where we've been regarding the closure.
HR will continue to work with the staff as we go through the process if sort of exec
agree to the nature of the closure of working with staff around redeployment and around
redundancy packages.
Thank you.
Are there any other questions?
Can I ask a member please to propose these recommendations?
Councillor Vayley, thank you.
Thank you, Leader.
I propose we move these recommendations.
Can I have a seconder?
I will second that.
Thank you.
Councillor Bailie, would you like to speak to the motion?
Yes, thank you, Chair.
Councillor Vayley, the closure of the PRU comes full in College Hall's Management Committee
advising the Department of Education that it considered the school to be no longer financially
viable.
Additionally, College Hall was deemed inadequate by offset during its inspection in July 2023,
citing poor outcomes for children and young people.
A public consultation on the potential closure ran between the 11th of March and 24th of
April.
Following the confirmation of the closure, the Finance is allocated to College Hall's
PRU will be used to enhance the overall educational provision for children in the local area.
This includes a new social, emotional and mental health school.
The Council is investing significantly in new provision that is fit for purpose to create
more local capacity for young people with special educational needs.
It is important to consider the closure of the PRU in the context of the wider plans
to develop and improve specialist provision within the borough.
When closure finances allocated to the PRU will be redirected to the new local SANS provision.
These facilities include a new special SEMH school for secondary pupils and two secondary
special resource provisions for pupils with autism and communication and interaction
needs.
Your 11 students will complete their education at College Hall without disruption with personalized
plans for post 16 education.
Steps will be taken to ensure a smooth education transition for the remaining pupils of the
PRU.
The process will involve working with the young people, their parents and carers and the staff
currently working with them at College Hall.
A personalized approach will be adopted to address individual needs, ensuring a continuation
of education supports tailored to each student's requirements.
The expectation is that these students will be accessing appropriate provision by the beginning
of the new academic year.
Finally, can I thank her Dwayne Chappell for the thorough going and rigorous way that
she's approached this.
I've been kept updated to every stage and thank you very much.
Thank you.
Would anyone else like to speak?
Councillor GILBEE?
Thank you, Chair.
To close, the PRU is not a decision to be taken lightly, but what is clear from what
we've heard is that despite the best efforts of staff involved who I commend, what we have
right now isn't working.
Offstead inadequate rating is one thing, but so is its lack of financial viability.
However, what is equally clear is we can do better.
The consultation received widespread support from educators that a changed approach is
best for all involved and offers greater opportunities for our students.
I am excited by the plans for a new SEMH school, and I do that, as well as the other provisions
outlined in the report, and I support the recommendations as written.
Thank you.
Would anyone else like to speak?
As to that, I'd like to speak.
I'd just like to reiterate my support for this.
It's a difficult decision, but in autumn 2023, the headteachers in the workshop conducted
revealed unanimous agreement that college hall through is no longer fit for purpose given
the current needs of our young people in the borough.
And then a letter was sent from all secondary headteachers supporting the closure and advocating
the opening of a new social, emotional, and mental health school.
By the closure and the sale of college hall, the finances will be able to provide this.
There are four provisions proposed for SEMH and send provisions in our borough, keeping
our local provision for local children.
These are Santas, which hopefully will be open in September 24.
I've checked on this, and we're all online, so it's go-go-go in Edgborough, in Warfield,
and in Butler's Park.
So there's rapid pace to place in our local borough provision for the children, so they
do not have to travel outside, but also the sort of provision that will make sure that
they have a positive educational journey.
And I'm sure that it will be successful, and I recommend this recommendation.
I support this recommendation, sorry.
Would the move allow it to speak?
No thank you, Chair.
I've said all that I need to say, thank you.
And all those in favour of these recommendations, 2.1, 2.2, on page 111, please raise your hands.
Thank you.
I confirm that the meeting has ended, and ask the livestream, and it is ending, too.
Thank you for your attendance.
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