Report of the Acting Strategic Director (Children and Education Services)

This report provides information on the work that has taken place by Manchester Children and Young People’s Board to review the Children & Young People’s Plan 2021-2024 and to refresh the Children & Young People’s Plan for 2024-2027. The Children & Young People’s Plan is the strategic plan of the Children and Young People’s Board, one of the key partnership boards that underpins the Our Manchester Strategy.

The Committee considered a report of the Acting Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) which provided information on the work that had taken place by Manchester Children and Young People’s Board to review the Children & Young People’s Plan 2021-2024 and to refresh the Children & Young People’s Plan for 2024-2027. The Children & Young People’s Plan was the strategic plan of the Children and Young People’s Board, one of the key partnership boards that underpinned the Our Manchester Strategy.

Key points and themes in the report included:

• Contextual information;
• The review of the 2021 - 2024 Plan;
• UNICEF Child Friendly City bid;
• The refresh of the Plan for 2024 - 2027; and
• Next steps.

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

• Ensuring that young people were equipped with the skills that the city needed, in particular young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND);
• The learning from 2021 – 2024 and the data in relation to the priorities, for example, on whether children had a trusted adult and felt happy and safe;
• That there appeared to be less emphasis on climate change in the new priorities, including a suggestion that the wording on this could be strengthened and reference made to the 2038 target; and
• How school exclusions and child obesity would be addressed through the new Plan.

The Director of Education explained that a well-developed approach to skills had been established prior to the pandemic and that work on the Inclusion Strategy and the Education Strategy was reinvigorating this work.  She reported that special schools in the city had embraced the Skills for Life approach and built it into their curriculum and highlighted the high-quality post-16 provision at Manchester’s special schools.  She provided examples of the enterprises that young people at these schools were running, such as cafes and allotments, and encouraged Members to visit.  She reported that a lot of work was taking place on supported internships, with about 100 young people with additional needs currently on one of these internships, and plans to grow this further, including a pilot with the Department for Education (DfE) to extend this to young people who did not have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).  In response to a question about plans for provision for children with SEND, she advised that this level of detail was not included in the Children and Young People’s Plan, which was a high-level document, but that a lot of work was taking place on this and she suggested that officers could bring a specific report on this in the autumn.

The Acting Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) reported that the new priorities were a development from the previous priorities, with many similarities between them.  He informed Members that the learning from 2021 - 2024 had been that the Children’s Board needed to be a dynamic body with a wide range of representatives and broad agenda so that all organisations and professional groups which worked with children and young people could contribute to the Plan and priorities.  He informed Members that the data gathered was both quantitative and qualitative and provided examples of data sources for identifying if children had a trusted adult.  He highlighted the data which would result from the Children’s Social Care National Framework, which was due to be considered as a later item on the agenda.  He advised that information on the progress made in addressing the Climate Emergency would be covered in the report on the Education Climate Change Action Plan which was due to be considered at the Committee’s next meeting.  He highlighted that the Environment had been identified as a cross-cutting theme in the 2024 – 2027 Children and Young People’s Plan, drawing Members’ attention to the graphic at 6.2 in Appendix 1.  In response to a Member’s question about child obesity, he advised that there was a lot of work taking place in relation to this, particularly in schools, and that this would remain an outcome indicator for the Plan in future.  He suggested that the action plan to address this and other indicators of health be considered at a future meeting.

The Director of Education highlighted that Climate Change was being addressed through the work to become a Child Friendly City, which was referenced in the report, and through the Education Strategy.  In response to a Member’s question on active travel, she advised that this would be included in the Education Climate Change Action Plan report being considered at next month’s meeting.  She reported that there had been an increase in fixed-term and permanent school exclusions this year, both locally and nationally.  She informed Members that her service was doing a lot of work in relation to this, highlighting the outreach offer which special schools and the Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) provided to other schools, targeting this support at the children and young people who were most at risk of exclusion, and the SAFE mentoring programme, funded by the DfE, and advised that the impact of this work would be evaluated.  She also informed Members about the Autism in Schools programme and the impact of this in preventing children with autism from being excluded.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People advised that poverty was her number one priority, highlighting practical issues facing many families such as affording heating, food, housing and school uniforms.  She suggested that the Committee could consider having themed meetings based on the overarching themes of the Plan.  She stated that she would be meeting regularly with senior officers to discuss work in relation to these themes and encouraged Members to approach her about issues of concern to them, including problems with their ward.  She highlighted the importance of School Crossing Patrols and safe travel to school.

The Chair welcomed that reducing school exclusions had been identified as a priority and stated that she looked forward to receiving an update on the impact of the work to address this.

Decision

To note the report.

[Councillor Mandongwe declared a personal interest as the founder of the Dimobi Children’s Disability Trust, which partnered with Manchester schools.]