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Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: Council Chamber - Muriel Matters House, Breeds Place, Hastings TN34 3UY. View directions
Contact: Jenny Ling tel: 01424 451844 email: jling@hastings.gov.uk
Items No. Item Declarations of Interest
Minutes:
Steve Manwaring declared his position on the Hastings Academies Trust, Education Futures Trust and the Sea Change Sussex Board.
Minutes and Matters Arising PDF 80 KB
· Minutes from the last LSP meeting on 20th July 2015 to approve
· Matters arising
Minutes:
The minutes of the July Board meeting were noted with no matters arising.
Education
Fiona Wright, ESCC
Minutes:
Presentations were received from Fiona Wright from East Sussex County Council, Paul Griffiths from the Hastings Academies and Mark Phillips from Ark Secondary Academies.
Fiona gave an update on the results achieved within Hastings schools and academies this year. The results in key stages 1, 2 and 4 are very encouraging with initial indications that Hastings is making gains against the County and national averages as well as narrowing the gap between disadvantaged children and their peers.
Paul also reported an overall trend of improvement at both primary and secondary academies in the town with only Hastings Academy seeing a fall in results.
He also reported that Deborah Humphries will be new vice chancellor at the University of Brighton, replacing Julian Crampton.
Mark Philips reported that the Ark Academies are now fully staffed after the restructure and are expecting a 'good' judgement at the next Ofsted inspection, 12 months since they were judged as 'requiring improvement'. Results show an improvement for both Helenswood and William Parker but the real challenge will be to maintain this standard in future years.
Discussion.
The Board welcomed the indicative improved results and recognised the overarching issue of making Hastings an attractive place to come to live and work to address recruitment problems. A common framework between schools is required to address this.
Additional data was requested regarding:
· ‘In year’ admissions as this is a key factor impacting on performance
· Exclusion figures
· Children within the town who are educated elsewhere
· Children who may only be attending school on a part time basis as a result of special needs
Fiona, Mark and Paul assured the Board that they are working together to address recruitment and retention issues by sharing resources, considering national and international opportunities for recruitment as well as developing and promoting existing staff. This is a problem facing schools across the country.
County and head teachers have been working with excluded children to help them return with the minimum delays as well as identifying those at risk. Parents are dissuaded from moving children within the academic year wherever possible. There is less capacity to do this at the moment as local schools are currently fully subscribed. Jenny Jones added that with only 4 secondary schools in the town this adds to our vulnerability in regard to with recruitment and any growth in special needs numbers.
Mark reported that regular meetings with the SEN team are held to improve delivery for pupils with special educational needs but Hastings does have a high proportion of such children so we do need additional resources in order to address this.
Fiona committed to consider if the requested data can be provided and report back. Action: Fiona Wright.
Seawater Bathing Quality Update PDF 57 KB
Steve Manwaring, Hastings Voluntary Action
Minutes:
Steve Manwaring gave an update on the seawater bathing quality improvements. We are still awaiting the official results from Defra but our own interim sampling has shown that we have made some progress in addressing the problems. As a result, Hastings has been identified as best practice model. If Defra award us ‘sufficient’ or above there will still be work to be done to maintain and continue improvement.
Syrian Refugees Update
Simon Hubbard
Minutes:
Simon reported that the borough council is supportive of taking a share of the Syrian refugees requiring resettlement. How this will be coordinated with County Council and how support will be provided from central government is still unclear. Discussions with the home office continue; we do not expect to know the details until the New Year. Further updates will follow as appropriate.
The Board supported the Council’s stance in welcoming refugees to the town and noted that the resettled communities will include a number of families who will need a range of services for support and integration into the local community. Schools may see a rise in pupils with English as a second language and we need to monitor this to ensure adequate provision is available.
Although allocations are currently on a voluntary basis the situation should be closely monitored as the situation is constantly changing.
Minutes:
The Board noted the standing items reports for Anti-Poverty, Regeneration and Family Keywork and the notes of the last EDG and ESSP meetings.
Any other business
Minutes:
Simon reported that the new Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) has been released. Hastings is currently rated as the 20th most deprived town in the Country; in the last IMD we were 19th. However the data is very complex and further analysis is being undertaken to clarify the precise nature of any changes at super outlook area level as these pockets of deprivation can impact on our overall rating.
Hastings and Bexhill are submitting a first stage application in November to become a Community Led Local Development (CLLD) area.
Resolved: The Board supported this application and noted that it may enable us to address some of this directly.
Paul Phelps reported that a home office peer review re gangs and violence will be carried out on the local force in early December. Partners should be aware that they may be contacted to be interviewed to inform this process.
Next Meeting Date: Monday 25th January 2016 10am (Venue to be confirmed)
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