This meeting considered the Education Service's performance in achieving the objectives laid out in its 2024-25 Service Plan. The Committee also reviewed its own work programme and the outcomes of its previous recommendations to the council.

Education Service Performance

The Committee received a mid-year report ¹ on the progress the Education service had made towards the objectives in its 2024/25 service plan ².

The service's performance was assessed in relation to five objectives:

Objective 1: School Improvement

This objective aims to improve outcomes for all pupils by ensuring high-quality leadership in schools.

To achieve this objective, the Education Service had taken the following actions:

• Working with the Education Achievement Service (EAS) ³ to improve the quality and impact of its provision on pupil's educational outcomes
• Revising the thematic focus for its 2024-25 evaluation and impact reports in consultation with Headteachers
• Supporting school leaders to ensure that their plans for helping pupils move between schools are effective
• Rolling out bespoke training events to governors across all school clusters

Objective 2: Engagement, Learning and Wellbeing

This objective relates to providing a range of services to support school leaders to ensure equality of opportunity and promote wellbeing and engagement for all pupils.

To achieve this objective, the Education service had taken the following actions:

• Developing an attendance strategy for Newport
• Supporting schools with strategic equality planning, in light of Estyn's recommendation that every school should adopt an effective strategic equality plan
• Addressing the recommendations of the 'Under Reporting of Racism' research paper
• Refining, communicating and embedding the Education service's anti-poverty strategy, in light of Estyn's recommendation that all schools should be able to provide evidence of their actions to develop a tiered approach to tackling poverty
• Identifying a baseline of Community Focused Schools practice at each school, in order to better target support and professional learning
• Establishing a local authority definition of vulnerable learners and supporting schools to monitor the progress these learners are making against a range of indicators
• Strengthening arrangements for learner voice across the city through the introduction of a 'Grand Council' in light of Estyn's recommendation that more schools should engage effectively with opportunities for children and young people to influence decisions that affect them.
• Clearly scoping a wellbeing provision map for the local authority

Objective 3: Inclusion & Additional Learning Needs (ALN)

This objective aims to support school leaders to develop whole-school approaches to ALN and inclusion.

To achieve this objective, the Education Service had taken the following actions:

• Developing robust processes to review and quality assure additional learning provision in non-maintained settings, mainstream schools and specialist provisions
• Developing robust processes to review and quality assure non-maintained settings
• Developing a Behaviour Strategy for Newport to support the inclusion of all pupils and to reduce the number of exclusions
• Developing and implementing a Post-16 strategy to support the transition of pupils into further education
• Embedding the duties set out in the Additional Learning Needs and Educational Tribunal Act 2018 and the Additional Learning Needs Code 2021 in both the local authority and schools
• Reviewing the Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) strategy and rolling out EBSA training to all secondary schools
• Continuing to explore opportunities to extend specialist provision, including Welsh medium provision within the city to accommodate identified need and reduce the dependence on out of county placements

Objective 4: Resources and Planning

This objective is about ensuring sufficient school places across all sectors, that school buildings are able to support pupils to achieve their potential, that capital funding is used appropriately, and that the ambitions set out in the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan are realised. It also aims to support school leaders in all aspects of providing access to education, school organisation and financial management.

To achieve this objective, the Education Service had taken the following actions:

• Completing all of the works in its 2024/25 Education Capital Programme, and ensuring that any new grant funding allocations are targeted and spent appropriately. The report notes that high priority projects in the 2024/25 programme include the delivery of a new sports hall at Ysgol Gyfun Gwent Is Coed ⁴ and the demolition of Millbrook Primary School ⁵
• Ensuring that the remaining projects in the Sustainable Communities for Learning Band B Programme are concluded within the overall programme funding envelope and to agreed timescales. Specifically that the new school buildings at the Whiteheads ⁶ development, and at St Andrews Primary will be occupied from January 2025, and that Ysgol Gymraeg Nant Gwenlli ⁷ will move to its permanent site from April 2025
• Ensuring that the priority projects in the first wave of the new Sustainable Communities for Learning rolling programme are progressed within the overall programme funding envelope and to the agreed timescales. In particular that planned projects to provide new facilities in place of poor-quality facilities at Caerleon Comprehensive ⁸ and Millbrook Primary will be taken forward
• Refreshing the Accessibility Strategy for Schools and progressing agreed works via a phased approach to improve the physical environment within schools
• Implementing the proposals agreed as part of the 2023/24 School Reorganisation Programme, and taking forward the projects identified for progression under the 2024/25 School Reorganisation Programme. The report notes that the two proposals that were progressed as part of the 2023/24 programme - at Malpas Church in Wales Primary School ⁹ and Tredegar Park Primary School ¹⁰ - were both implemented as planned in September 2024. It also notes that a new proposal to expand Ysgol Bryn Derw ¹¹ through use of the building currently used by Ysgol Gymraeg Nant Gwenlli in Caerleon has been launched under the 2024/25 programme
• Encouraging the take up of free school meals and universal free school meals to meet Welsh Government targets. The report notes that a review over the summer term showed that individual schools' positions on the take up of universal primary free school meals ranged from less than 60% to over 80%. It goes on to say that the School Meals Contract Manager has joined a national group to look at new ways of encouraging the take up of free school meals

Objective 5: Leadership and Management

This objective is about developing the council's workforce.

To achieve this objective, the Education Service had taken the following actions:

• Working with local, regional and national partners, including the National Coherence Group, to establish new school improvement arrangements
• Reviewing and refining systems and processes to support schools in their financial management
• Providing further opportunities for key stakeholders to be involved in the service's self-evaluation and improvement planning processes
• Further strengthening leadership at all levels through professional learning and service events

Scrutiny Work Programme

The Committee considered the actions arising from previous meetings. It was provided with an update on the actions that had and had not been completed. It was also asked to consider its forward work programme and note the outcomes of its previous recommendations to the council.