Minutes:
The following questions were put to the
Chairman of the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
Question by Ms. Sue Whiting, resident:
(A) Dyslexia
“1. Now
that the code of practice following the Children and Families Act has come into
force on 1 September and it is a statutory duty of the Local Authority to set
out a local offer of provision, both in the County and out of the County, could
the Chairman please tell me what the local offer is for children with dyslexia?
2. In
view of his answer to my question in March 2014, is there likely to be better
data on co-morbity between dyslexia and anxiety or
other related mental health issues?
3. What
has been done to engage with families where there is a history of dyslexia?
As you will be aware
this is dyslexia awareness week as well as equal opportunities and diversity
and I continue to be contacted by parents who just want to know where a
dyslexia friendly school is in Leicestershire.”
Reply by the Chairman:
“1. Leicestershire’s
Local Offer web page (www.leics.gov.uk/index/children_families/local_offer.htm)
links to the following services which support dyslexia:
·
Learning
Support Service provides bespoke training, assessment and tuition support to
schools;
·
Leicestershire’s
Learning Support Service offers a service to schools where specialist tutors
can meet directly with parents/carers and pupils;
·
Leicestershire’s
Learning Support Service publishes a Dyslexia Friendly Schools Pack freely
available to schools;
·
Leicestershire’s
Learning Support Service web pages include specific pages with downloadable
information and resources for parents/carers and pupils.
Leicestershire Psychology Service (LPS) provides comprehensive
psychological, holistic assessments, commissioned whole school training /
support for teachers of learners with Dyslexia and guidance to schools. Every
school has a link educational psychologist and LPS also offer a duty line
service which means any local parent or grandparent can contact the Duty Line
to speak with a senior educational psychologist if there are concerns about
Dyslexia and how best to support children.
The recently revised LPS web page includes downloadable information
about Dyslexia for families.
It may be of interest to the questioner that LPS, in partnership with
the Learning Support Service - STS, have organised a second regional Dyslexia
Conference for professionals to take place in Spring
2015.
Three eminent Key Note speakers of national repute will be presenting
and a series of workshops, led by local teachers and psychologists, will
illustrate ‘best practice. We are especially pleased to note that the
conference is once again supported by the local branch of the Dyslexia
Association and note that local learners with Dyslexia will be making their
unique contribution to the day.
In line with other special educational needs, Leicestershire Local
Authority also uses independent provision out of the area for a very small minority
of pupils with dyslexia whose needs are deemed to be so significant that
provision over and above what is available locally is required.
2. Leicestershire’s
Learning Support Service or Psychology Service does not hold this data. A
research project along these lines can be commissioned by any interested group.
This question was comprehensively addressed in the previous response – please
refer to the minutes of the meeting held on 24 March 2014 (http://politics.leics.gov.uk/Published/C00001043/M00003906/AI00037681/$ResponsetoQuestionraisedunderSO35.docA.ps.pdf).
3. Please
see above responses to the first part of the question and, in addition:
·
Leicestershire’s
Learning Support Service is holding a family information event on 4 November
during Dyslexia Awareness Week;
·
Leicestershire’s
Learning Support Service is in the process of producing new guidance about The
Graduated Approach in relation to dyslexia, in line with the new Code of
Practice. This will be available to download by 1December;
·
Leicestershire
Psychology Service has recently updated their dyslexia guide for parents and
carers and this is available to download from the web page.”
Mrs.
Whiting asked the following supplementary question on the reply to Question 1:
“How do parents access dyslexia provision?”
The
Director of Children and Family Services, on behalf of the Chairman, undertook
to respond to this question in writing.
Mrs.
Whiting asked the following supplementary question on the reply to Question 2:
“A report on the agenda for today’s meeting states that
“casework experience suggests that there is a strong link between dyslexia and
anxiety”. So would it therefore be advantageous in view of mental health
problems encountered by children and adults to start to collect the data?”
The
Director of Children and Family Services, on behalf of the Chairman, undertook
to respond to this question in writing.
Mrs.
Whiting asked the following supplementary question on the reply to Question 3:
“The question asked what had been done to engage with
families since 2010*. The Act and Code of Practice clearly state “working with
parents” and you do not seem to be aware of Leicestershire Voice, the Parent
Carer Forum or Parent Champions. More parents, children and families would be
contactable if you also consulted them, so will you be acknowledging these
groups in the future?”
* This was the last
time an event was held at County Hall and the special needs teaching Service
was stopped from to the voluntary library groups.
The
Director of Children and Family Services, on behalf of the Chairman, undertook
to respond to this question in writing.
Question by Ms. Marcella Forrest, Chair of
Governors – St. Mary’s Church Of England School, Hinckley:
(B) St. Mary’s Church of England School,
Hinckley Challenge to a Decision Made by the Corporate Schools Group
Introduction
“On 17 October 2014,
the head teacher and three governors of St Mary’s Church of England School in
Hinckley met with Sue Owen, Service Manager for School Organisation at Children
and Family Services. Sue confirmed that
at the Corporate Schools Group meeting of 4 September 2014, a decision was made
to move Holliers Walk School to the Mount Grace School Site and allocate
funding to convert this to a 630 place primary school.
We are writing to
challenge this decision, asking that the decision be withdrawn and that a
process entered into of discussions with all Hinckley Schools and other
stakeholders as described on page 13 of ‘In the Right Place.’
Working in partnership and
effective engagement is considered essential if we are to be successful.
We will do this by:
• Working in a way that is
open and transparent, promoting fairness and equality of opportunity, and
providing integrity and trust.
• Engaging with all schools
within a locality to identify the best solutions where change is necessary.
• Listening carefully through
consultation and other discussions with pupils, parents, school staff and their
governors, and others with an interest in educational provision to ensure their
views are heard and their needs are fairly represented in decisions taken.
• Working with all
stakeholders in a joined up way, to underpin our emphasis on partnership and
collaborative working.
Grounds for Challenge
Our challenge to
the Corporate Schools Group decision is based on:
1.
The
decision of that meeting lacks openness, transparency and equality of
opportunity.
2.
The
consequences of the decision are a breakdown in trust in schools, amongst
staff, governors, parents and public officials in Hinckley.
3.
Because
of the lack of openness and transparency and the breakdown in trust, there are
reservations as to the integrity of the process. This has been exacerbated by
the press coverage which has highlighted to the public, schools and public
officials that a decision was made prior to the consultation ending and did not
include all interested parties views. Without cancelling the decision and
following the process it may be felt that the local authority has been failing
in its duty to use public funds appropriately and that the ‘alleged’
consultation was at best a poor use of public funds and at worst a flagrant
abuse of the trust placed by the public to spend funds correctly.
4.
Examples
of specific events include:
(a)
Carolyn Lewis, Leicestershire Diocesan Director of Education
and Cath Allison, Head Teacher of Holliers Walk School have let us know they
were informed of the decision approximately at the end of September / start of
October and specifically told not to disclose this to anyone. This is not
transparent, open, equitable or fair.
(b)
Hinckley County Councillor, David Bill, at a similar date,
made enquiries about the process with the County Council and was assured that
no decision had been made regarding the Mount Grace site.
(c)
St Mary’s Church of England School Head Teacher, Nicola
Harwood wrote to the Education Authority in May 2014 introducing herself as a
new head, expressing an interest in being part of the discussions of the future
of places in Hinckley. Replies from David Atterbury on 20 May 2014 and Sue Owen
on 29 May 2014 both stated that no decision had been made and that discussions
would happen in June and then on into the Autumn term.
We believe that the
decision making breaches the integrity of local democracy and the best practice
of good decisions are informed decisions in consultation with the professionals
delivering the service together with all relevant stake holders.
Further, we believe
that this decision indirectly discriminates against the provision of school
places within the distinctive contribution of Church of England Schools. (We
have written to our Roman Catholic colleagues to check if this is their
experience as well.) St Mary’s Church of England School is a popular school. In
September 2014 we admitted 45 children and turned away 23. Additionally, informally,
we highlighted the oversubscription problem to other parents who wanted to
access the school but were unlikely to get a place. By failing to listen to the
voice of the parents of Hinckley wanting this distinctive Church of England
School education for their children, your decision making has indirectly
discriminated against the provision of a Church of England school places.
Concluding Comments
We believe that a
cancelling of the decision and the commencement of the process as set out in
the document ‘In the Right Place’ will
benefit all schools in Hinckley in being able to work together to identify the
best option and possible solutions for the expansion of school places in the
local area.
It may well be the
best solution is for Holliers Walk to move to Mount Grace and we would be
thrilled that a fantastic school site is secured for primary school children in
Hinckley. However, we believe that, if this is the case, it would be far better
for that school and for inter school relations if the decision is arrived at
after the appropriate process has been worked through with equality of
opportunity, openness and transparency.
We also believe
that it is essential that the provision of places for children of parents
wanting a distinctive Church of England School education is taken on in either
the plans for capital spending up to 2017 or between 2017 and 2019. To leave St
Mary’s Church of England School static as a 315 school when total places are
increasing dilutes the provision of Church of England School places in
Hinckley, where there is already over 50% over demand for places.
Questions
1. May
we have a review of the process followed and the decision made by the Corporate
Schools Group for the future use of the Mount Grace site by another Hinckley
school?
2.
Please
can the existing recommendation be cancelled and the decision making process as
outlined in the Leicestershire County Council document ‘In the Right Place’ be
duly followed?”
Reply by the Chairman:
“1. Yes, and the results
of the review will be made available to you within one week from today.
2.
The
reason that the County Council needs a strategy is precisely so that the
process for decision making
regarding school organisation is transparent, inclusive, fair
and aligned to a stated set of priorities. The consultation process has
informed the final draft strategy that will be presented to the Cabinet for
approval on 19 November 2014.In the meantime, whilst developing the draft
strategy and going through consultation, it has been necessary to continue
‘business as usual’ – including the planning required to develop additional
primary places in Hinckley. This
‘business as usual’ has been carried out through the current arrangements in
place for school organisation and it would not be appropriate to change the way
that they operate prior to the approval of the strategy.
However, it must be noted that the process is in keeping with the
requirements of the revised School
Organisation Regulations published by the Department for Education this year,
which mean that schools can make such proposals without the prior approval of
the Local Authority. The process means
that Holliers Walk, having proposed the move, is now required to undertake
consultation with parents and other key stakeholders, before subsequently
seeking a Cabinet decision to proceed further. The consultation to be
undertaken by the school will provide everyone with an opportunity to have
their say.”
Mrs.
Forrest asked the following supplementary question on the reply to Question 1:
“Can you confirm and provide reassurances that this
process will take place and will be open and transparent?”
The
Director of Children and Family Services, on behalf of the Chairman, undertook
to respond to this question in writing.
Mrs.
Forrest asked the following supplementary question on the reply to Question 2:
“What reassurances can you provide that due process and full
consultation with all parties is followed and we are not indirectly
discriminated against as a Church of England school?”
The
Director of Children and Family Services, on behalf of the Chairman, undertook
to respond to this question in writing.