Report of the Director of Education

This report provides an overview of the work that has been undertaken during 2022-23 to promote the education, employment and training of the Children and Young People overseen by the Manchester Virtual School. This includes Children and Young People in the care of Manchester, Manchester Care Leavers, Previously Looked After Children who attend education settings within Manchester, Children and Young People with a Manchester Social Worker and Young People supported by the Youth Justice Service.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Education which provided an overview of the work that had been undertaken during 2022-23 to promote the education, employment and training of the Children and Young People overseen by the Manchester Virtual School. The report stated that this included Children and Young People in the care of Manchester, Manchester Care Leavers, Previously Looked After Children who attended education settings within Manchester, Children and Young People with a Manchester Social Worker and Young People supported by the Youth Justice Service.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·       2022-23 success headlines;

·       Virtual School structure, duties, offer and summary of 2022-23;

·       Overview of Children and Young People;

·       Personal Education Plan (PEP) completion;

·       Ofsted judgements of the schools attended by Our Children and Young People;

·       The views, wishes and feelings of Our Children and Young People;

·       The outcomes achieved by Our Children and Young People;

·       The Virtual School work to promote the Education, Employment and Training of the children and young people it oversaw;

·       The Virtual School work to promote inclusion;

·       School attendance;

·       Exclusions and suspensions;

·       Workforce development overview; and

·       Virtual school priorities for 2023-24.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People highlighted the achievements outlined in the report, including significant improvements in examination results and post-16 participation, and he recognised the positive work of the Virtual School team.  He encouraged Members to attend the next Corporate Parenting Panel meeting to consider the new Corporate Parenting Strategy.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

·       To welcome the overall positive picture, in particular the improvement in GCSE results;

·       What was being put in place to support younger children, who were not achieving as well; and

·       Variations in PEP forms and processes between different local authorities, noting that schools and colleges often had children from different local authority areas attending their setting and were having to work with different PEPs.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People reported that a number of discussions had already taken place at previous Committee meetings about the impact of the pandemic on young children more broadly and that for children with any additional challenges the outcomes diverged further, both from where they had been previously and from the rest of the cohort.  He reported that he had written to Government Ministers about this and that the Council was working hard to address this, including setting up a Kickstarter scheme to provide targeted support.

The Chair expressed concern at the impact that the pandemic had had on all babies and young children.  She also highlighted the impact of the forthcoming expansion of the free childcare entitlement.

The Virtual School Deputy Head outlined some of the work taking place to support the progress of their younger children who had been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, working with Early Years and Key Stage 1 providers, closely monitoring progress through the termly PEP process, offering access to Educational Psychologists, ensuring that children were accessing the Kickstarter programme, working with the Speech and Language Team and using Pupil Premium funding for literacy activities.  In response to a Member’s question on pre-pandemic data on Early Years development, reading, writing and mathematics, she advised that this was available in previous reports but that there was no national data on Good Level of Development (GLD) in Early Years prior to the pandemic.

The second Virtual School Deputy Head recognised the Member’s comments about variations in the PEP across different local authorities and reported that this had been raised at a regional level; however, she advised that there were benefits to the secure electronic PEP system used by Manchester and that, while Manchester would be willing to engage in discussions with other Virtual Schools on standardisation of the PEP form, she believed that Manchester’s version provided the level of detail that was needed.

The Chair advised that the Committee should consider an item on Early Years development and the progress of the cohort of young children affected by the pandemic, in relation to all children, as part of a future item.  She shared her experiences as a Regulation 44 visitor, expressing concern about the young people who were not in education.  She highlighted the work that Morgan Sindall had been doing with Care Leavers and advised that other employers could do similar education, employment and training work as part of the Social Value element of Council contracts.  She also reported that Manchester Adult Education Services (MAES) could do more work with this group.

Decision

To consider an item on Early Years development and the progress of the cohort of young children affected by the pandemic as part of a future item.