Kirklees Futures
· Natalie McSheffrey & Board Members
· Chris Jessup
Minutes:
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5. 5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.7
5.8
5.9
5.10
5.11
5.12
5.13
5.14
5.15
5.16
5.17
5.18
5.19
5.20
5.21
5.22 |
Kirklees Education Learning Partnership Board (Standing Item) NMcS informed Members that the Education and Learning Partnership Board had met on 22nd September 2021 and 13th October 2021 respectively.
22nd September 2021 NMcS stated that an update on SEND had been given at the meeting by Paul Harris (Children's Improvement and Corporate Relationship Manager) and Tom Brailsford (Service Director – Resources, Improvement and Partnerships), in connection with the imminent Ofsted inspection. The update focused on the SEND SEF and the Kirklees SEND Transformation Plan, which NMcS agreed to share with Members. Action 11: That NMcS circulate copies of the SEND SEF and the Kirklees SEND Transformation Plan to Members.
13th October 2021 NMcS reported that the meeting on 13th October had focused on the Kirklees Families Together, Youth Places to Go initiative, Teaching Hub and Virtual School.
Kirklees Families Together Members were informed that a report had been signed off by Cabinet on 5th October and that work streams had been set up, along with a place based offer. In order to meet requirements, the Council had divided the provision across four geographical areas, which were:
Youth Places to Go NMcS informed the meeting that the ‘Youth Places to Go’ was an initiative identified by the Youth Development Programme Board.
The proposed vision was that all children and young people in Kirklees would be able to access a range of fun, enjoyable and interesting activities and informal learning opportunities. Youth Places to Go services would provide a place where children and young people could talk to people, feel safe and part of an inclusive and supportive environment that supported and encouraged children and young people to be their best. In order for the initiative to come to light, the following would be needed:
Teaching Hub John McNally (CEO/Executive Headteacher – SHARE MAT) had given an update to the ELPB on how the Teaching Hubs were working. Members noted that things were very positive, with 500 plus applicants and mentors signed up over Kirklees and Calderdale areas, which included a good distribution between school sectors.
Virtual School Janet Tolley (Virtual School Head teacher) had given an update to the ELPB about new non statutory guidance she was involved with. This covered all children aged 0 – 18 who were assessed as needing a social worker at any time. Members noted that this cohort had been identified as a group of children who faced significant barriers to education as a result of their experiences. NMcS explained that Virtual Head teachers were increasingly being asked to make visible the disadvantages these children faced, and to promote practice that would support their engagement and help narrow the attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged children.
Kirklees Futures Chris Jessup (CJ) thanked Members for inviting him to the meeting and for giving him the opportunity to speak to them about the ‘Our Kirklees Futures’ strategy.
CJ informed Members that ‘Our Kirklees Futures’ was a long-term strategic ambition. It was not a school improvement plan, or a Local Authority Document. It would be delivered via a collective approach, co-created by many stakeholders in order to improve the lives of learners during their education journey and learning experiences within Kirklees.
The purpose of ‘Our Kirklees Futures’ was that by 2030, Kirklees would be a place where all learners had the best start in life. In order for this to be achieved, they would be:
The Kirklees system would be:
With a key focus on:
In order for this to be achieved, CJ stressed that engagement with all stakeholders was absolutely essential. He added that Cabinet support was also crucial to this, in order to show across the board commitment towards and support for the approach. Following support from Cabinet, a clear timeline and costed plan of next steps would be produced which would set out the short-term priorities. Within the plan both reporting and governance would be clearly identified to ensure that key stakeholders responsible for delivering the strategy recognised their role within it and were held accountable for their actions.
CJ was thanked for his interesting and informative presentation and the Chair invited comments and questions.
Hazel Danson (HD – NEU) praised the partnership approach that Kirklees had taken, which was very strong and demonstrated the strengths of collaborative working across key stakeholders. She added that this vision did not just represent the education of children and young people, but how they their lives could be supported and enhanced within Kirklees. Cllr Pattison (Cllr CP) thanked HD for her comments and reinforced them, stating that Kirklees Council was committed towards working in collaboration with all key stakeholders to improve the outcomes and life chances for children and young people both learning and living within Kirklees.
Members shared the view that the ‘Our Kirklees Futures’ vision was an exciting one which would be beneficial to Kirklees. However, in order for it to succeed it was essential that all key stakeholders bought into the vision, supported it and got behind it. JAS shared this view and stated that in order for this to work, governance would be crucial. All key stakeholders would need to come together and be clear on the objectives to be delivered, along with their role in delivering them. This could only be achieved via strong communications and a robust action plan, which set out clear objectives, actions required to achieve them and timescales/deadlines for their completion.
Members agreed with JAS’s and felt that the involvement of groups such as the Kirklees Primary Heads, Kirklees Secondary Heads, Kirklees Special Heads and hubs could help drive ‘Our Kirklees Futures’ agenda and keep communication channels flowing in relation to progress to date against the aims of the project, along with next steps.
A Member felt that some stakeholders, who were firmly behind the proposal, would need convincing that their involvement in the initial launch of the ‘Our Kirklees Futures’ vision would be beneficial to them. The Member clarified what they meant by this by stating that few stakeholders would disagree with the key messages and desired outcomes of the vision, but in order to fully buy into it they would need to be convinced that there was something they could gain from it, which would fit in with what they do and that they could take back to their school.
The Member was thanked for raising a very pertinent and relevant point. Members agreed that stakeholders had to feel that they were making a positive contribution towards the ‘Our Kirklees Futures’ vision and that it would be beneficial to them being a part of it. It was felt that, initially, a working group could be formed to discuss areas around stakeholder involvement, collaborative working, the sharing of good practice, identifying common themes and future priorities, with ideas from the working group being disseminated and communicated to other stakeholder groups within Kirklees for comment.
The Chair thanked Members for their comments and the high quality discussion which had taken place.
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