There was submitted a joint revenue budget monitoring report by the Directors of Finance & Resources and Children's Services for the service for the period 1 April to 14 September 2018.

The report advised that since the last report there had been budget adjustments totalling £264,000 relating to £156,000 of transfers between departments, £75,000 allocated from Tackling Poverty in relation to Cost of School Day and £33,000 allocated to the Corporate Landlord.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a capital budget monitoring report by the Director of Finance & Resources for the service for the period 1 April to 14 September 2018.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the Children’s Services Service Improvement Plan highlighting performance over the period 1 April to 30 September 2018.

The report outlined the key achievements of the Service, detailed future priorities and provided an update on progress to implement the action plan.  A copy of the Children’s Services: Service Improvement Plan 2018/21 Mid-year report was appended to the report.

DECIDED:

(a)  That the content of the report be noted;

(b) That the progress that had been made on service performance be noted;

(c) That the progress that had been made on actions and performance in the action plan be noted;

(d) That it be noted that an out-turn report would be provided to this Board in spring 2019; and

(e) That it be noted that this mid-year report had also been presented to the Communities, Housing and Planning Policy Board which had a remit to approve actions relating to criminal justice social work.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the Education Improvement Plan 2018/19 which was appended to the report.

The report intimated that the Plan set out four priorities to: develop high quality learning and teaching that led to improved levels of attainment and achievement in all of our establishments; reduce inequalities and deliver improved health and wellbeing outcomes for children and young people; develop high quality leadership at all levels; and improve employability skills and support all of our young people to enter positive and sustained post-school destinations.

 DECIDED:  That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to progress and impact on the key improvement priorities set out in the Education Standards and Quality Report which was appended to the report.The Education Standards and Quality report highlighted the effective partnership working across and beyond the directorate, with partners, parents and communities, to raise attainment for all and close the poverty-related attainment gap.

The report intimated that the five key priority areas were to: develop high quality learning and teaching that led to improved levels of attainment and achievement in all of our establishments; reduce inequalities and deliver improved health and wellbeing outcomes for children and young people; support self-evaluation and performance improvements throughout our establishments; develop high quality leadership for staff at all levels; and support high numbers of our young people to enter positive destinations and sustained post-school destinations. 

 DECIDED:  That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to progress towards the Scottish Government’s three long-term outcomes to improve learning and teaching; improve health and well-being; and to close the poverty-related attainment gap.

The report intimated that progress had been made over the last year relative to closing the poverty-related attainment gap in Renfrewshire.  Work-streams continued to deliver high quality, evidence-based approaches and interventions which had a positive impact on the teaching of literacy and numeracy and the health and wellbeing of Renfrewshire pupils.

 DECIDED:  That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to initial plans to utilise Scottish Attainment Challenge funding for care-experienced children and young people in the current financial year.

The report intimated that the initial plans for utilising the fund were focused on literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. The proposals included extending access to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to include children aged birth to 5, who were looked after at home; providing “sleep hygiene” training for staff working directly with children and young people; providing additional support to care-experienced children to improve attendance at school and improve engagement in the curriculum; implementing a mentoring service in partnership with Aberlour Children’s Charity; and staffing to develop the "family firm" model and education support for care-experienced children and young people.  Further reports would be presented to future meetings of this Policy Board on the impact of the care experienced children and young people fund.

DECIDED: That the proposed utilisation of the Scottish Attainment Challenge – Care-experienced Children and Young People Fund be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to key actions identified for Phase 2 of the work of the Glasgow City Region Education Improvement Collaborative.

The report intimated that a key change for Phase 2 was the reconfiguration of themes which saw early learning and childcare absorbed into the other priority areas rather than as a stand-alone theme.  The plan recognised the importance of a joined-up, cohesive approach to all our children and young people.  In addition to the two core themes of improvement and learner journey, two sub-themes, leadership and learning had also been identified.  A copy of the Regional Improvement Plan was appended to the report.

DECIDED:

(a) That the content of the report be noted: and

(b) That it be noted that further updates on the progress made by the regional improvement collaborative would be brought to future meetings of this Policy Board.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to revisions to the early learning and childcare admissions policy and guidance for staff to reflect the commitments outlined in the Scottish Government Blueprint for 2020.

The report intimated that Standard Circular 3a detailed the Early Years Admissions policy statement and provided guidance to staff on the implementation of the policy.  The Scottish Government Blueprint for 2020: The Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, published in 2017, set out the Government’s policy objective that an increase in the hours of free early learning and childcare would give children the best start in life and support closing the poverty related attainment gap.

A short term working group involving officers from children’s services, heads of early years establishments, including local authority and providers on the councils framework to deliver early learning and childcare was established to review and amend the early learning and childcare admission policy and guidance. The revision to the early learning and childcare admissions policy and guidance for staff  reflected the commitments outlined in the Scottish Government Blueprint for 2020 and the report detailed the main changes to the priorities set out in the amended Standard Circular 3a, a copy of which was appended to the report. 

DECIDED:  That the revised Standard Circular 3a: Early Years Admissions Policy to Pre-five Establishments as appended to the report be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the duty placed on local authorities by the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 to consult representative populations of parents and carers on how any mandatory early learning and childcare, day-care and out-of-school care and discretionary services should be made available.

The report intimated that there was a requirement to consult every two years and to publish plans in response to these consultations. The findings of the early learning and childcare consultation carried out during June 2018 were detailed in the report and the consultation report formed the appendix to the report.

DECIDED: That the findings of the early years and childcare consultation be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the need to undertake a strategic review of educational services and support for children with additional support needs in mainstream education in view of the increasing number of children with additional support needs and the location of authority-wide bases.

The report outlined proposals to deliver educational provision and approaches to children and young people with additional support needs by reorganising existing provision and staffing into a locality model in line with the principles of school empowerment, as well as ensuring best practice and best value.

The report intimated that the review would focus on ensuring that additional support needs were identified as early in a child’s educational journey as possible, that supports were provided in the child’s mainstream school where possible and that where a child needed support from outwith their mainstream school, this was provided as close to home as possible.

It was noted that Wallace Primary School should have been placed in the locality D cluster and not the locality B cluster as intimated in Appendix 1 to the report.

DECIDED:

(a)  That it be agreed that the revised locality model for the delivery of additional support needs support and services as outlined in the report be further developed and implemented from August 2019 onwards; and

(b)  That it be agreed that a further report providing fuller detail of the operation of the approach be submitted to this Policy Board in due course.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to Renfrewshire schools’ attainment in the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) examinations in 2018.

The report intimated that schools had been engaging with a performance evaluation tool know as Insight which was provided to schools and education authorities by the Scottish Government as a way of benchmarking performance in relation to four key measures: literacy and numeracy; improving attainment for all; attainment versus deprivation; and leavers’ destinations. The report provided data on the first three of these four measures for years S4, S5 and S6 for the last three years and set this data against Renfrewshire’s comparator authorities. Leavers’ destinations would become available in February 2019 and would form part of the report to this Policy Board in spring 2019.

DECIDED:

(a) That the content of the report be noted;

(b) That the efforts of pupils and the school communities in bringing about these results be noted; and

(c) That it be agreed that a further report be brought to this Policy Board in spring 2019.

Under reference to item 22 of the Minute of the meeting of Renfrewshire Council held on 27 September 2018, there was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to primary provision in Bishopton and Dargavel.

The report provided information regarding the current proposal to build a new primary school to accommodate the number of pupils generated by the Dargavel development.  The report detailed the arrangements which would be developed to ensure that the public was consulted on any proposals taken forward, compliant with the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.  The report also detailed the educational benefits and detriments assessment of schools with around 430 pupils and 740 pupils respectively.  The report also considered the cost implications of building a single school for around 740 pupils for the whole of Bishopton including the Dargavel development.

 It was noted that the revision to the number of houses being built was approved by Council in March 2018 and not June 2018 as detailed in paragraph 3.3 of the report.

DECIDED:

(a) That the current proposal to build a school for around 430 pupils to accommodate the estimated number of primary school pupils living in Dargavel Village be approved; and

(b) That a further report seeking permission to consult on the establishment of a new primary school in Dargavel and to create a catchment area for this school be brought forward in due course.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to a revised site proposal for the new Spateston Early Learning and Childcare Centre.  The report identified challenges to the development of the project if the new centre was to be built on the site originally agreed in January 2016.  A review of the location had been undertaken, and an alternative location was found within the immediate area which was identified as more suitable and cost effective.  This report detailed the rationale for the revised proposal and a copy of the plan showing the revised site was appended to the report.

DECIDED:

(a) That the construction of a new Spateston Early Learning and Childcare Centre on the revised site as appended to the report, located to the south-east of the existing building be approved;  and

(b) That the revised delivery date of spring 2020 be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the production of a revised model of inspection by the Care Inspectorate, ‘joint inspection of services for children and young people in need of care and protection’, which focussed on children and young people in need of protection and those who were subject to corporate parenting responsibilities.

The report intimated that the Care Inspectorate had agreed with Scottish Minsters to carry out a minimum of five joint inspections across the country each year, reporting publicly on the findings for each community planning partnership area.  The approach continued to be based on self-evaluation and the Inspectorate remained committed to using the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model.

Each inspection would produce a published report answering five key questions: how good was the partnership at recognising and responding when children and young people needed protection?; how good was the partnership at helping children and young people who had experienced abuse and neglect stay safe, healthy and well and recover from their experiences?; how good was the partnership at maximising the wellbeing of children and young people who were looked after?; how good was the partnership at enabling care experienced young people to succeed in their transition to adulthood?; and how good was collaborative leadership?  The revised quality indicators and the revised inspection process were appended to the report.

DECIDED:  That the content of the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to a randomised controlled trial being led by the University of Glasgow and delivered in partnership with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) to learn how to best support the development and wellbeing of young children who came into local authority care. The trial commenced in Renfrewshire in October 2018 and was scheduled to conclude in 2021.

The trial would compare two approaches: service (i.e parenting capacity assessment undertaken by the Council’s social work team); and an evidence-based infant mental health intervention called Glasgow Infant and Family Team (GIFT) which was being delivered by the NSPCC.   All families who had a child under the age of 60 months accommodated for reasons of maltreatment would be invited to participate in the Best Services Trial on a wholly voluntary basis.

DECIDED:  That the involvement of children’s social work in the Best Services Trial be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the inspection of St Fergus’ Primary School, Paisley by Education Scotland.

The report intimated that the purpose of the inspection was to evaluate the quality of education, with the assessment focussing on four quality indicators: leadership of change; learning, teaching and assessment; raising attainment and achievement; and ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion.

The letter to parents, appended to the report, identified four key strengths and three areas for further improvement.  Children’s Services would continue to monitor the improvement in the school and the inspection report would be used by the school and service to support and develop the quality of educational provision.

DECIDED:  That the key strengths and the areas for improvement in the Education Scotland report on St Fergus’ Primary School, Paisley be noted.