Education Management, 10/05/00, Agenda Committee Education Day WEDNESDAY Sub-Committee EDUCATION MANAGEMENT Date 10 MAY 2000 Place of Meeting County Hall, Oxford Time 10.00 am A G E N D A Please address any general enquiries on this agenda to Deborah Mitchell, County Hall, Oxford OX1 1ND (Tel: Oxford 815463). Press enquiries should be directed to the Media & Communications Manager on Oxford 815266. 1. Election to Chair (Labour Group) 2. Apologies for Absence and Temporary Appointments 3. Declarations of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests 4. Minutes Minutes of the meeting held on 1 March 2000 (EM4). 5. Matters arising from the Minutes 6. Petitions and Public Address OPERATIONAL ITEMS 7. CAPITAL PROGRAMME UPDATE The Chief Education Officer, County Treasurer and Director of Environmental Services report as follows:- This report provides details of the outcome of Oxfordshire's NDS(4) bid and sets out the further schemes being brought forward into the Capital Programme to utilise these additional resources. The report also contains a revised and updated version of the Preparation Pool that has been to the Strategy & Resources Committee. On 11 April 2000 details were received from the Department for Education & Employment on the outcome of Oxfordshire's NDS(4) bid. The total value of Oxfordshire's allocation is £6,795,970. This funding is phased over the next two financial years. This represents 53% of the Authority's total NDS(4) bid and provides resources for 9 of the 28 schemes bid for. This compares with an allocation for the NDS(3) bid of £2,896,000 (24% of the total). The schemes approved were the top six schemes which will replace the last 3 aluminium buildings in the County and the top three Horsa buildings. In addition to this a separate list of condemned temporary buildings was submitted and three of the top four schemes have been approved. The schemes are highlighted EM7 in Annex 1 and an indication is given where these schemes will now be brought into the Capital Programme. The Preparation Pool has been revised and updated to include all the schemes where some feasibility assessment has been carried out. The Preparation Pool was submitted to the Strategy & Resources Committee but has now been revised to take account of the NDS(4) approved projects. Page 1 EM7 Annex 2 lists the current Preparation Pool. The replacement of Sandhills Primary School is included in the Capital Programme with a start after 2000/01. An outline project submission has been approved but there has not yet been a detailed project appraisal. The City Council refused planning consent for the housing development on part of the site which would provide the funds for the scheme. The Secretary of State then granted consent on appeal but the City Council has challenged that decision in the High Court. That will at least delay the scheme, possibly by up to two years. If the challenge is successful the scheme could not proceed. Even if it is not it is possible that land values will have fallen and building costs increased during the period of delay in which case the feasibility of the project will be reassessed. In the meantime some further preparatory work can be undertaken without committing substantial costs and it will be necessary to continue maintaining the existing buildings. The Sub-Committee are recommended to approve the additions to the firm programme of the schemes listed in Annex 1 subject where necessary to the approval of project appraisals. 8. PROJECT APPRAISALS Outline Project Submissions and Detailed Project Appraisals prepared by the relevant Chief Officers (EM8):- Outline Project Submissions ED488 - Gosford Hill, Kidlington; ED487 - Banbury School – Wykeham Hall; ED482/1 - Bicester Community College. Detailed Project Appraisals ED425/2 - Langtree School, Woodcote; ED471/2 - Oxford School. The Sub-Committee are RECOMMENDED to approve the above Outline Project Submissions and Detailed Project Appraisals. 9. EDUCATION DEPARTMENT POLICY ON COMMUNITY SAFETY Report by Chief Education Officer (EM9). The Crime and Disorder Act (1998) made the involvement of the Education Service in the arena of crime reduction a statutory responsibility. It thus formally acknowledges the important link between educational achievement and the prevention of youth crime. Educational difficulties, including truancy, exclusion and low attainment have long been recognised as contributing to the onset of youth crime. This is made clear in the Audit Commission's 1996 report "Misspent youth: Young People and Crime" which was an important precursor of the Crime & Disorder Act 1998. School improvement and individual achievement can be more successfully developed in crime-free, secure communities. Such communities grow from the active involvement of properly developed and socialised members of society. Recent developments in Citizenship education set out schools' curriculum responsibilities in this regard. However, the duty of the Local Education Authority is Page 2 broader than that and it has seemed helpful and important to set out briefly the policy of the Education Department. The report commends a draft policy to members for approval. The Sub-Committee are recommended to: (a) note and endorse the policy; and (b) encourage officers involved in implementing the policy to ensure that the Education Department plays an appropriate part in the field of Community Safety. 10. SCHOOL STUDENT COUNCILS IN OXFORDSHIRE Report by the Chief Education Officer (EM10). The report describes how School Student Councils in Oxfordshire have been supported through a series of collaborative conferences over the last 18 months. The role that School Student Councils can play in supporting the new citizenship curriculum, in giving voice to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and increasing the participation of young people is explored. The Sub-Committee are asked to comment on the further development of School Student Councils, to request that officers advise school Governing Bodies of the advantages of inviting students (via School Student Councils) to observe their meetings and to bring forward a further report on developing a Children's Parliament for Oxfordshire. 11. PROPOSED INCREASES IN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT ESTABLISHMENT The Chief Education Officer reports as follows:- The Education Department increasingly needs to appoint staff to the central establishment at short notice, often on a temporary basis, because of successful bids for external funding such as Department for Education & Employment Standards Fund grants. In addition, the ability to help schools under special measures or with serious weaknesses may require additional posts funded via the Schools Requiring Additional Support (SRAS) budget. Set out below are increases in establishment which arise from these pressures, and which need Committee approval as they will not be funded from within the departmental budget. Advisory & Inspection Service: 0.6 Primary Consultant to help meet EDP 1.0 Schools Adviser (Key Stage 2/3 Specialist) priorities in Schools of Concern and Primary Soulbury Scale Management Temporary 1 September 2000 to 31 August 2002 Soulbury Scale (point 18) Funding: SRAS budget plus other existing Temporary 1 May 2000 to 31 August 2001 resources; Funding: AIS consultancy contracts with Ofsted and other national bodies plus existing resources; 0.5 Early Years Consultant to focus 1.0 Clerical Officer (Early Years) to work with the particularly on the needs of 3 year old Consultant and the rest of the Early Years team children and the adults who live and work Scale 1/3 with them Temporary for 2 years Soulbury Scale Funding: Standards Fund. Temporary for 1 year Funding: Standards Fund; Page 3 Schools Branch: 1.0 Administrative Officer to administer Standards Fund grants for Teaching Assistants, Small School Support, Administration Support for Small Schools, and Class Sizes. Scale 5 Temporary for four terms to 31 August 2001 Funding: Standards Fund. Services to Pupils Branch: 1.0 Senior Educational Psychologist to 0.6 Parent Partnership Officer to encourage release time for the Principal Educational partnership between parents, Local Education Psychologist and other Psychologists to Authority, schools and voluntary bodies in identifying develop integrated support services for and meeting special educational needs. children with SEN and behaviour/attendance PR range problems in schools of concern. Temporary for 2 years Soulbury Scale Funding: Standards Fund; Permanent post Funding: Standards Fund and EAZ funding initially; then from within existing resources; 0.3 Administrative Officer (Parent 1.3 Teachers in Pupil Referral Units to provide full Partnership) time education for excluded pupils Scale 4/5 Teachers' Pay Spine Other details as for Parent Partnership Temporary for 1 year Officer Funding: Standards Fund; 0.4 Emotional and Behavioural 0.6 Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties Difficulties Outreach Teacher to support Outreach Teacher to implement the behaviour primary schools in early intervention with support strategy agreed with all schools in the behaviour problems Drayton partnership Teachers' Pay Spine Teachers' Pay Spine Temporary for 1 year Temporary for 2 years Funding: Standards Fund; Funding: Standards Fund; 0.6 Educational Psychologist to implement1.0 SEN Teacher to work on the reintegration of the behaviour support strategy agreed with children with behavioural difficulties from Northern all schools in the Drayton partnership House Soulbury Scale Teachers' Pay Spine Temporary