Agenda and minutes

Venue: Meeting Room 3 - Town Hall, Huddersfield. View directions

Contact: Jodie Harris  Email: jodie.harris@kirklees.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Membership of the Board/Apologies

To receive apologies for absence from those Members who are unable to attend the meeting.

 

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillor John Lawson, Councillor Richard Smith, Councillor Karen Allison, Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director Learning and Early Support, Vicky Metheringham, Service Director, Child Protection and Family Support, Kieran Lord, Interim Service Director - Resources, Improvements and Partnerships, Ian Mottershaw, Head of Contextual Safeguarding Service and Y.E.S – Family Support and Child Protection and Sara Miles, Head of Safeguarding and Quality Assurance

2.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 545 KB

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Board held on the 12th September 2023.

Minutes:

The Board considered the Minutes of the meeting held on 12th September 2023.

 

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 12th September 2023 be approved as a correct record.

3.

Declaration of Interests pdf icon PDF 20 KB

Members will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have any disclosable pecuniary interests or any other interests, which may prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items.

Minutes:

No interests were declared.

4.

Admission of the Public

Most agenda items take place in public. This only changes where there is a need to consider exempt information, as contained at Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. You will be informed at this point which items are to be recommended for exclusion and to be resolved by the Board.

Minutes:

All Items were held in public session.

5.

Deputations/Petitions

The Board will receive any petitions and/or deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also submit a petition at the meeting relating to a matter on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

 

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Members of the Public must submit a deputation in writing, at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting and shall subsequently be notified if the deputation shall be heard. A maximum of four deputations shall be heard at any one meeting.

Minutes:

There were no deputations or petitions received.

6.

Public Question Time

To receive any public questions.

 

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11, the period for the asking and answering of public questions shall not exceed 15 minutes.

 

Any questions must be submitted in writing at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting

Minutes:

There were no questions received from members of the public.

7.

Children's Performance Highlight Report pdf icon PDF 663 KB

The Board will consider a report giving key highlights from the latest performance monitoring data for the Children’s Service.

 

Contacts:

Ophelia Rix, Head of Service for Children in Care, Care Leavers and Looked After Children

Louise Hallas, Virtual School Headteacher

Gill Addy, Designated Nurse for Looked After Children

Ian Mottershaw, Head of Service –Contextual Safeguarding and Y.E.S, Family Support and Child Protection

 

Minutes:

The Board considered the latest Children’s Performance Highlights Report in respect of the performance monitoring data for Children’s Services.

 

Ophelia Rix, Head of Service for Children Looked After and Care Leavers highlighted the following points in relation to Looked After Children and Care leavers:

 

·         The care planning and decision-making processes for children and young people continued to maintain Senior Manager oversight through the Legal Gateway, Permanence and Children Accessing Service Panel.

·         The Panels provided assurance that management oversight and clear actions and timescales were in place to address practice of concern and highlight evidence of good practice.

·         Weekly Performance meetings were being held and the feedback received showed that young people were satisfied and had a strong relationship with social workers.

·         The work of the Panel helped to increase understanding of young people and their experiences.

·         There had been an increase in number of unaccompanied young people which placed increased workload but there had been timely responses in terms of the allocation of social workers and educational provision. 

·         The ambition was to undertake more work in relation to understanding unaccompanied young people and their experiences to meet their current and future needs.

·         In relation to Care Leavers, there had been an increase in relation to the number of Care Leavers who were in touch.

·         The team continued to work innovatively to keep in touch with all young people and were confident that all post 18 young people were aware of the support offer.

·         There had been an increase in the numbers of young people who had up-to-date pathway plans.

·         Work continued with Social Workers and Personal Advisors to ensure pathway plans were completed in a timely manner to meet targets with a focus going forward on the improvement of the quality of plans.

·         In relation to the number of young people in suitable accommodation, there had been a significant impact on the increasing demands for tenancies.

·         Work continued with housing colleagues who agreed to prioritise properties for young people, and this had helped to improve performance.

·         This work was to continue to ensure that suitable accommodation was available, and strong links with private housing providers were being maintained.

·         Performance in relation to Employment, Education and Training (EET) indicator was a focus for improvement supporting the priority to ensure that young people were afforded the best of opportunities in relation to EET.

·         There was a C&K Careers Advisor in the Leaving Care Service, and there was a pro-active multi-agency group to improve opportunities in partnership working.

·         There had been an increase in the number of young people accessing No11 and No12 and weekly drop-in sessions were held at these hubs.

 

The Board noted the update in respect of Children Looked After and Care leavers and welcomed the information in relation to Children Looked After Review meetings highlighting that they were well attended by a range of committed partner agencies.  During the discussion to follow the Board raised a question in relation to suitable accommodation noting that the target support  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Virtual School Draft Headteacher Report pdf icon PDF 645 KB

The Board will consider the Virtual School Draft Headteacher Report September 2023.

 

Contact:

Louise Hallas, Virtual School Headteacher

 

Minutes:

The Board considered the Virtual School Draft Headteacher Report (September 2023) presented by Louise Hallas, Virtual School Headteacher. The draft report outlined the virtual self-evaluation for 2022-23 and the outcome data (to be validated as of September 2024) for 2022-23 as well as the improvement priorities for 2024.    It was highlighted that:

 

  • Under self-evaluation, Kirklees Virtual School rated themselves as good overall with some outstanding features and some areas for development.
  • A Personalised Approach was taken and every young person in care was allocated to a member of the experienced Virtual School Team.
  • This ensured that their attendance, progress and attainment was reviewed to enable challenge and support in a timely manner and for relevant interventions can be put in place.
  • The Virtual School completed 100% of Personalised Education Plans (PEP’s) within the termly timescale.
  • This ensured that every young person’s had at least one PEP each term.
  • In the previous year, 99% of initial PEP’s were completed within timescales.
  • The electronic PEP system enables the Virtual School to monitor the completion and quality assurance of PEPs.
  • This process is used to challenge schools and providers to support pupils’ individual needs and is quality assured by the team managers.
  • Completed PEPs are recorded in Liquid Logic and uploaded to Wisdom.
  • There were robust systems in place to ensure the Internal and External Scrutiny of Data and Systems,
  • A monthly report is produced, analysed and reviewed as a leadership team and presented to Governing Body, Corporate Parenting Board, Scrutiny, Quality Assurance Panel and shared across service
  • This allows us to react quickly to developing patterns of need and work proactively as a team to embed creative solutions
  • or example, we can see every suspension that takes place and ensure that we are working with professionals to prevent any further suspensions and highlight any patterns in the data.
  • This has resulted in a decrease in the number of suspensions this year with the number of days lost reduced from 455.5 to 307, with pupils with more than 1 suspension down from 37 to 29 demonstrating the positive impact of data scrutiny.
  • There is an established Governing Body that meets regularly, with a cross section of representation that holds the Virtual School to account through supportive and challenging meetings.
  • In early years support, the majority of children in care aged 2 to 4-years-old access their entitlement to funded early education and care.
  • Where they are not accessing their entitlement, the reason is known, and the validity checked by a lead social worker.
  • The percentage of young people achieving a Good Level of Development has been consistently strong over the last three years
  • The percentage of KS1 pupils reaching expected or higher standard for Reading, Writing and Maths and RWM combined is above the national average for children and young people in care 2022
  • The progress for those that achieve at least expected at Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2 achievement is good, positive that maintain trajectory of achievement
  • Attainment and Progress at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

9.

Virtual School Governing Body Update

The Board will receive a verbal update in respect of the Virtual School Governing Body.

 

Contact:

Louise Hallas,  Virtual School Headteacher

 

Minutes:

The Board were advised that a meeting of the Governing Body had not yet taken place and that an update would be given at the next meeting of the Board.

 

RESOLVED: The Board noted that an update would be deferred to next meeting of the Board

 

10.

Children's Ambition Board Update

The Board will receive a verbal update in relation to the Children’s Ambition Board.

 

Contacts:

Kieran Lord, Interim Service Director (Resources, Improvement and Partnerships)

Vicky Metheringham, Service Director (Family Support and Child Protection)

Minutes:

No updates from officers due to apologies and it was noted that an update be given at the next meeting of the Board.

 

11.

Updates from Board Members on Interaction with Services

The Board will consider verbal updates from Board Members in relation to progress and key issues following interaction with Services and partners to challenge the role of the Corporate Parent.

 

Contact:

Jodie Harris, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

 

Minutes:

The Board considered verbal updates from Board Members in relation to progress and key issues following interaction with Services and partners to challenge the role of the Corporate Parent.

 

The Chair reported that she had:

 

  • Attended an early years development day alongside Cllr Cooper (Ex-Offcio).
  • Attended a One Adoption West Yorkshire (OAWY) Meeting where a discussion was held around activity days for children awaiting adoption. It was suggested that the Board should attend an upcoming activity day.
  • Chaired a meeting of the Yorkshire and Humber Lead members network.

 

RESOLVED: The Board noted theUpdates from Board Members on Interaction with Services, and it was agreed that the Board give consideration to attending an OAWY activity day.

 

12.

Corporate Parenting Board Agenda Plan pdf icon PDF 552 KB

The Board will consider the agenda plan for 2023/24.

 

Contact:

 

Jodie Harris, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

 

Minutes:

The Board considered the agenda plan for 2023/24.

 

RESOLVED: The Board noted the agenda plan for 2023/24.