Report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services

This report provides a further update on the Manchester Inclusion Strategy which was formally launched in November 2019. The report provides a brief overview of activities to implement the strategy and provides a more detail on the Every Child Project which is working with nine Secondary Schools. The report provides information about the Strategy Steering Group and key areas of work going forward. 

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services which provided a further update on the Manchester Inclusion Strategy which was formally launched in November 2019. The report provided a brief overview of activities to implement the strategy and provided more detail on the Every Child Project. The report also provided information about the Strategy Steering Group and key areas of work going forward.

Officers referred to the main points and themes within the report which included:

·         Strategy Launch Event;

·         Inclusion Strategy Implementation Plan and Steering Group; and

·         The Every Child Project.

John Rowlands from the Greater Manchester Academies Trust provided the Committee with further information on the Every Child Project, which was one of the strands of the Manchester Inclusion Strategy implementation plan and was initially focusing on growing the understanding and meeting the capability needs of all Year 7 pupils across nine secondary schools in the city.

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

·         That the reduction in exclusions in Manchester, while exclusions nationally were increasing, demonstrated that the strategy was already having a positive effect;

·         What was new in this strategy that was not being done before;

·         The positive impact of the UNICEF Rights Respecting Award;

·         Behaviour management issues in primary schools, the need to support children through the transition from primary school to secondary school and whether primary schools should be involved in the Every Child Project;

·         The importance of supporting young people post-16 in order to prevent them from becoming Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET); and

·         To welcome that academies, as well as maintained schools, were engaging in this work.

The Executive Member for Children and Schools informed Members that the Inclusion Strategy was not just a Council Strategy and was not a single piece of work.  He advised that what was new about the strategy was that it brought together all the different work which was taking place to address this issue.  John Rowlands reported that schools were not just looking at the data but were now talking about the broader context, including what had led to a child’s previous exclusions, what strategies could be put in place to support the child and what could be learnt and improved from looking at earlier behaviours.

The Virtual School Head advised Members that the Every Child Project was one element of a multi-faceted strategy which was building on excellent work which was already taking place within Manchester.  She informed the Committee that work was taking place to look at the primary sector and the transition from primary to secondary school.  She acknowledged the importance of supporting young people post-16, reporting that the Virtual School was already working to address this for Our Young People (Looked After Children and Care Leavers).  She highlighted that the Inclusion Strategy steering group included representatives of post-16 institutions.

John Rowlands advised Members that the Inclusion Strategy considered the whole of the child’s life rather than taking their behaviour in school in isolation and looked at what could be done to address any issues the child’s family were experiencing.  He reported that this involved identifying assets in, for example, the community, primary schools and the child’s family and how these could be used, such as utilising parents’ knowledge of their child and treating them as an equal partner.  He recognised the importance of work in primary schools, for example, in addressing the impact of poverty and deprivation on literacy levels, and advised that he welcomed the opportunity for further work with primary schools and work to improve the transition from primary school to high school.  He also outlined how his school, Manchester Communication Academy, was working with local feeder primary schools through their Family Zone, tracking pupils from age 5 to 16, sharing resources and intelligence and taking a co-ordinated approach, for example, where siblings were in different schools.  The Director of Education outlined how locality working would be used to promote inclusion, with a range of agencies working together to address the issues within their area.  In response to a Member’s question, the Strategic Director of Education and Children’s Services reported that a future report on locality working would provide further information on how the work of services such as Early Help and Early Years and other agencies would be brought together.

The Chair encouraged Members to attend the briefing on the new Ofsted Framework which was due to take place on 22 January 2020.

Decisions

1.            To receive a further report in 12 months’ time on how this work is progressing, linked in with the 2019/2020 figures on the number of permanent and fixed-term exclusions.

2.            To invite a representative from the primary sector next time the Inclusion Strategy is considered.