Skip to content

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 4, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD. View directions

Contact: Jonathan Moore  0207 527 3308

Items
No. Item

100.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Alice Donovan and Erol Baduna.

101.

Declarations of Interest

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

 

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

 

*(a) Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b)  Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f)   Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

Minutes:

None.

102.

Declaration of Substitute Members

Minutes:

None.

103.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 206 KB

Minutes:

Following a query, the Executive Member for Children and Families advised that there had been no further progress on encouraging the CPS to attend Islington Safeguarding Children Board meetings.

 

It was requested that minute 96 be amended to reference that when pupils entered PRUs they would usually have an individual assessment from which personal targets would be set. These assessments identified the particular needs of pupils and allowed success to be measured on a personal basis, alongside other criteria, such as academic progress and engagement with education. It was suggested that a similar approach should be adopted by all alternative provision providers.

 

RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 January 2015 be confirmed as a correct record and the Chair be authorised to sign them, subject to the following addition at minute 96: ‘It was noted that when pupils entered PRUs they would usually have an individual assessment from which personal targets would be set. These assessments identified the particular needs of pupils and allowed success to be measured on a personal basis, alongside other criteria, such as academic progress and engagement with education. It was suggested that a similar approach should be adopted by all alternative provision providers.’

104.

Chair's Report

Minutes:

The Chair reported that the Policy and Performance Scrutiny Committee would be reviewing the performance of the Youth Offending Service at a future meeting.

 

It was noted that the Policy and Performance Scrutiny Committee had visited the New River College pupil referral unit as part of the Knife Crime scrutiny review. It was reported that this visit was productive and also of relevance to the alternative provision scrutiny.

 

The Chair thanked officers for arranging the scrutiny visit to meet the Alternative Provision service at 222 Upper Street. It was reported that the visit was useful and the evidence gathered would assist the committee in forming robust recommendations.

105.

Items for Call In (if any)

Minutes:

None.

106.

Public Questions

Minutes:

A member of the public asked if a comment could be provided on the exam results of schools in the borough, in particular the results of Highbury Grove school, where 40% of pupils achieved five GCSEs at A* - C including English and Maths in 2015. It was noted that schools achieving below 40% were considered to be failing. In response, it was advised that the council was aware of the performance of local schools and would not be commenting further at present.

107.

Alternative Provision: Witness Evidence pdf icon PDF 243 KB

(a)  Evidence from Schools and New River College

(b)  Briefing Notes (to be circulated)

(c)  Notes of Scrutiny Visit  (to be circulated)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

(a)  Evidence from Schools and New River College

 

The Committee received evidence from Tom Mannion, Head Teacher, and Maria McCarthy, Assistant Head Teacher with responsibility for Alternative Provision, St Aloysius’ College.

 

The following main points were noted in the discussion:

 

·         St Aloysius was satisfied with the council’s alternative provision service. The college valued the information and updates provided on pupil progress and provider quality. The way in which pupil attendance was able to be monitored online was considered useful. 

·         The college was grateful that alternative provision was an option for pupils who may otherwise drop out of the education system. It was noted that St Aloysius pupils had made good progress in alternative provision.

·         One possible service improvement identified by the college was speed of processing. An example was given of a referral to alternative provision which fell through after a delay in processing. It was reported that the referral was made at parental request and contact had been made with the provider, however the referral had taken six weeks to process.

·         The college thought that alternative provision represented good value for money. The referrals made had led to positive outcomes for pupils and the providers offered clear pathways. The college did not consider that the negative connotations associated with alternative provision were justified.   

·         The college could not identify a particular profile of its students referred to alternative provision. It was commented that the ethnicity of those referred varied and there was no correlation to pupils qualifying for free school meals. In general, the more academically able students were not referred to alternative provision; however this was not always the case. The college referred pupils to alternative provision who were likely to benefit from the different style of education available.

·         Following a query, it was advised that the college did not refer many SEN pupils to alternative provision.

·         The college considered that some providers placed an excessive emphasis on pupil behaviour and did not offer a robust enough curriculum.

·         The college did not recognise the need to decrease the number of pupils being referred to alternative provision. It was commented that not all pupils were academic and the pupils referred to alternative provision were on a pathway which was better suited to their strengths. The college did not consider alternative provision to be for vulnerable pupils, but instead for pupils who wished to pursue a more vocational education. The college had referred many pupils to the Building Crafts College in Stratford and commented that this provider had excellent facilities and was able to provide practical apprenticeship-style qualifications not available in mainstream education.

·         The college commented on how pupils could be supported to achieve better outcomes. Whilst some pupils were achieving a grade C GCSE in maths, the college thought that higher aspirations and a greater level of challenge would benefit some pupils. It was commented that too many pupils were studying Level 1 qualifications, equivalent to grade D – G at GCSE. The importance of a C grade or  ...  view the full minutes text for item 107.

108.

Review of Work Programme pdf icon PDF 65 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Noted.