To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 28 February 2024.

Decision

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 28 February 2024.

To receive a list of all Manchester schools which have been inspected since the last meeting and the judgements awarded and to consider the main themes arising from the inspections.

The Subgroup received a list of all Manchester schools which had been inspected since the last meeting and the judgements awarded. 

The Senior School Quality Assurance Officer provided Members with an overview of the inspections which had taken place since the last meeting.  She highlighted that the monitoring visit to St Matthew’s RC High School had been very positive and that it was likely that it would be judged to be ‘good’ at its next graded inspection.  She reported that 88% of Manchester schools were judged to be good or better, including 89.6% of primary schools and 80.6% of secondary schools.  She highlighted the main themes emerging from the inspections, which included reading for older pupils (Years 5 and 6 and high school pupils who were poorer readers), implementation of the curriculum, attendance (including reducing persistent absenteeism), assessments and the use of these to identify and address precise gaps in knowledge, adaptations for children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and having high ambitions for pupils with SEND and developing pupil vocabulary and speech and language needs.  She reported that these had been shared with Headteachers, who had been signposted to the support available in each of these areas.  She informed Members that there had been an increase in the number of inspections since Easter.  She reported that last year’s webinars on curriculum design had been well-received and that in the next academic year these would be repeated face-to-face, targeting particular schools and providing support on how to make these changes within their school.  She informed Members about a series of eight further webinars which were being planned for delivery between September 2024 and Easter 2025 entitled ‘Moving from Intent to Implementation’.

The Senior School Quality Assurance Officer provided further information in relation to Camberwell Park Specialist Support School, which had been judged as inadequate.  She reported that there had been concerns about the school prior to the inspection and that her team had been working closely with them and brokered support from the Prospere Learning Trust, which the school would be officially joining. She informed Members that Prospere had been leading the school since September 2023 and had been doing an excellent job in making improvements and she advised that, while the school was judged to be inadequate at the time of the inspection in February 2024, the inspectors could see that progress was being made and she reported that significant improvements had been made, and were continuing to be made, since the inspection.  In response to a question from the Chair, she advised that a new process was being put in place from September 2024 to support new Headteachers.  In response to a question from the Chair about Loreto High School, she reported that a lot of support had been put in place and the school leaders were clear on what they needed to do to secure improvements. In response to a further question, she advised that she would check whether Loreto was eligible to join the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.

To receive a list of daycare providers which have been inspected since the last meeting and the judgements awarded and to consider the main themes arising from the inspections.

The Subgroup received a list of all Manchester daycare providers which had been inspected since the last meeting and the judgements awarded.

The Early Years Quality Assurance Lead provided Members with an overview of the inspections which had taken place since the last meeting.  She reported that 97% of settings in Manchester were now judged to be good or outstanding, which was an improvement of 2% since the last meeting.  She highlighted that Happy Kids had maintained their outstanding judgement.  She drew Members’ attention to key points from the inspections of the two settings which had been judged to require improvement, Bubbly Bear and Rainbows Day Nursery, and advised that her team were supporting the settings with these issues.  In response to a question from the Chair, she confirmed that Rainbows Day Nursery had a good out-of-school provision.  The Chair advised that out-of-school provision was important for parents and could improve settings’ viability.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People highlighted issues with sufficiency in the Early Years sector and gaps in eligibility for free childcare. 

The Early Years Quality Assurance Lead advised that childcare funding was complex and difficult for families, providers and local authorities.  She informed Members about the closure of some settings due to staffing issues, while advising that the picture was more positive than the previous year.  She highlighted the main themes from the recent Ofsted reports, advising that, overall, leaders and managers were now better at devising a sequenced curriculum, that curricula were based around language and communication and settings were now generally better at promoting independence for younger children.  She advised that an area for improvement for some settings was implementation of the curriculum and she outlined how this was being addressed, including the production of six videos on specific areas of practice as part of the Kickstarter Project.  She reported that, for settings that were judged to require improvement, there tended to be issues identified with leadership and staffing.  She advised that healthy foods had been identified as an issue in recent reports and this would be addressed through the Forums.  In relation to recruitment and retention, she reported that her service was promoting the low-cost recruitment agency funded through the Greater Manchester Innovation Fund to its providers and that there had been positive feedback regarding this.  She reported that she and another officer had visited the Job Centre in Rusholme to deliver a presentation to Job Centre Advisors on roles in childcare and that they were looking to expand this work.  She also highlighted the national campaign to attract people to the early years sector and strategic work taking place at a Greater Manchester level.  She informed Members that job security, the hours and terms and conditions were issues which affected recruitment and retention.  In response to comments from the Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People about children starting school in nappies, she reported that children’s centres and health visitors did focus on toilet training but  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

To review the Terms of Reference and Work Programme of the Subgroup.

Decision

To note the Terms of Reference and Work Programme.