This meeting of the Scrutiny Performance Panel – Education was scheduled to receive a briefing on the progress on the Vulnerable Learners Service Inclusion Strategy, including an update on the behaviour strategy. Councillors were also scheduled to receive a report on the performance of the Education Directorate against objectives, progress against the Estyn recommendations following the 2022 Estyn inspection of Local Government Education Services, and an update on Elective Home Education in Swansea.

Vulnerable Learners Service Inclusion Strategy

The meeting was scheduled to receive a briefing from officers on the progress of the Vulnerable Learners Service Inclusion Strategy that was agreed by Cabinet in May 2023.

The report to the meeting describes the strategy as bringing together the key priorities across all areas of the Vulnerable Learners Service which will support the council to meet the needs of vulnerable learners and achieve the aims of the Education Directorate and Swansea Council.

These priorities are:

• Promoting attendance
• Promoting inclusion
• Embedding effective universal (whole school) provision while supporting sufficient specialist places
• Embedding a shared inclusion ethos
• Emotional health and psychological wellbeing (EHPW) whole school approach

The report explains that:

Some learners are identified as vulnerable due to a specific additional learning need or personal situation for example children who are looked after. In addition, all children and young people can potentially experience periods of vulnerability at different points in time.

The report goes on to describe the progress made since 2023 against each of these priorities.

Progress on a new behaviour strategy

Work on developing a new behaviour strategy is aligned to the priority of Promoting Inclusion and also incorporates elements of the other priorities.

The report explains that:

It is reported nationally that behaviour in schools is becoming more challenging and this is reflected in Swansea schools and feedback from school-based colleagues.

The increasing trajectory of exclusions indicates that new approaches are required.

The report goes on to list the societal and demographic changes that are thought to be behind the increase in behavioural issues:

• The impact of the pandemic
• Poverty and cost of living crisis
• Social media
• Substance use
• Increase in violent crimes
• Recruitment challenges in schools
• Challenging budget positions

The report goes on to list the issues and approaches needed that were identified in workshops:

Issues:

• Dysregulation and emotional responses
• Increased physicality
• Gap between home and school expectations
• Insufficient resource for LA to provide support
• Children with ‘complex’ needs and ALN
• Issues of respect

Approaches needed:

• Early intervention and support
• Training and development
• Parental involvement and support
• Consistent policies and procedures
• Positive reinforcement and relationships
• Funding and resources
• Specialist support and training
• Parental and community engagement
• Support from external agencies
• Consistent and clear guidelines

Performance Against Education Objectives, Progress Against the Estyn Recommendations Following the 2022 Estyn Inspection of Local Government Education Services and an Update on Elective Home Education

The meeting was scheduled to receive a report from officers about the progress made on the following topics:

• Performance of the Education Directorate against objectives
• Progress against the Estyn recommendations following the 2022 Estyn inspection of Local Government Education Services
• Elective Home Education in Swansea

The report states that:

The Education Scrutiny Performance Panel receives an annual performance report from the statutory chief officer for education.

Education Objectives 2023 - 2028

The report provides an update on the progress made against the education and skills objectives for 2023-2028. These are:

• That all children and young people in Swansea attend school regularly, are included, are resilient and have successful school futures
• That all children and young people have good Welsh language skills
• To support and maintain effective school leadership
• To support and maintain excellent teaching
• That all learners receive their education in environments that are safe and sustainable communities for learning

Progress against the recommendations made by the Estyn inspection of Local Government Education Services in 2022

The report provides an update on the two recommendations that were made following the Estyn inspection of Local Government Education Services in June 2022.

These were to:

• 'review post-16 provision to ensure that it meets the needs of all learners'
• 'strengthen Welsh-medium provision across all ages and areas of the local authority'

Update on Elective Home Education

The report provides an update on Elective Home Education (EHE) in Swansea.

It explains that:

In Wales, education is compulsory but attending school is not. If a child is home educated, there is an obligation on parents to ensure their child receives an ‘efficient’ and ‘suitable’ full-time education, as stated in section 7 of the Education Act 1996.

The report explains that there has been a rise in the number of school-aged children being electively home educated in Swansea. Most families in Swansea gave the following reasons for choosing to home educate their children:

• School-based anxiety
• Attendance / school refusal
• Belief that school was not meeting the needs of their child

The report states that:

A minority of families stated that they did not want their children to participate in the in RSE curriculum.

The report goes on to describe the work that has been done by the EHE team at Swansea Council to ensure that it is able to meet its statutory duty towards electively home educated children.