Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence received.

Apologies had been received from:

• Cllr Meenaghan
• Jeff Williams, Church of England
• Julie Kelly, Hampshire Teachers’ Liaison Panel
• Amanda Mullett, Hampshire Primary Schools
• Justin Innes, Hampshire Special Schools

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members’ Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore all Members with a Personal Interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider, having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 4 of the Code, whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, consider whether it is appropriate to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Personal interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

No declarations were made.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the previous meeting were reviewed and agreed.

To receive any deputations.

No deputations were received.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman made no announcements.

To receive a presentation from the Director of Children’s Services providing an overview of the specialist provision provided for Hampshire’s schools and the SEN support on offer.

The Education Advisory Panel received a presentation from the Director of Children’s Services providing at overview of Specialist Provision in Schools and SEN Support.

Officers set out a summary of the ordinarily available provision for SEND in Hampshire’s Schools including the SEND Advisor phoneline, e-learning modules, the SEN Toolkit and the Parents’ Guides. This was followed by a overview of the 65 Resourced Provisions within Hampshire, with details of the need they provided support for. Members noted that there were currently 651 Children supported by Resourced Provisions in Hampshire.

Officers explained that a Resourced Provision provided additional specialist facilities on a mainstream school site for a small number of pupils who have EHC plans. They tend to provide for a specific need such as speech, language, and communication needs, hearing or visual impairment or autism.

The sufficiency strategy for Resourced Provisions was set out alongside their key performance indicators and quality assurance processes.

In response to questions Members found that:

• Resourced Provisions attract additional funding for the school they are based in, and the cost of establishment is covered by developer contributions for new builds, the Department for Education and/or Hampshire County Council.
• There is long term forecasting for specialist places to ensure Resourced Provisions are set up to meet the future needs of the County.

RESOLVED:

That the Education Advisory Panel note the update on specialist provision in schools and SEN support.

To receive a presentation from the Director of Children’s Services providing an update on pupil attendance rates within Hampshire’s schools.

The Education Advisory Panel received a presentation from the Director of Children’s Services providing an update on attendance in Hampshire’s Schools.

Officers set out the new requirements coming into effect from August 2024 titled ‘Working Together to Improve School Attendance’ These new requirements place responsibilities on local authorities in line with the Government’s mandate to improve school attendance for all children and young people, with an emphasis on those cohorts experiencing vulnerability whose attendance is typically low.

It was noted that there is an emphasis on persistent absenteeism (90% attendance or less) and the relatively new category of severe absenteeism

(50% attendance or less). Members noted an overview of Hampshire’s figures in comparison to the national average on attendance and the number of children within the persistent or severe categories.

Members noted the actions being undertaken to communicate and to provide support to schools in relation to these new requirements including the Inclusion and Educational Engagement Hubs.

In response to questions Members found that:

• Attendance figures tend to deteriorate in later years, with secondary schools tending to have lower rates than primary schools.
• Best practice to tackle absenteeism involves a holistic approach for the child and family while working with other agencies and pastoral care as required.
• There is a direct correlation between disadvantage and attendance.
• There is a central theme surrounding removing barriers to attending school on site, to encourage greater attendance and for those home schooled to return to school when not done for ideological reasons.
• Schools face a financial impact of the time spent on attendance.

RESOLVED:

That the Education Advisory Panel note the update on attendance.

To receive a presentation from the Director of Children’s Services providing an overview of the #BeeWell programme.

The Education Advisory Panel received a presentation from the Director of Children’s Services providing an overview of the #BeeWell programme.

Officers explained that #BeeWell is a youth centred wellbeing programme, launched in 2019. #BeeWell believes that young people’s wellbeing is as important as their academic attainment. Following the success of the programme in Greater Manchester, the programme expanded into Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton in 2023. Members noted that while it started as a co-created survey in secondary schools, #BeeWell seeks to understand what factors influence young people’s wellbeing and what makes them thrive.

Officers explained that the first wave of the survey was completed by Year 8 and Year 10 pupils in Autumn 2023. Young people in non-mainstream schools were able to complete a short version of the survey and a symbol-based version of the survey was also created for young people with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities.

Schools receive private, bespoke data dashboards giving insights into their students’ wellbeing with anonymous disaggregated results.

Members received an overview of the findings in various different categories and noted how this information would be used to work to improve the wellbeing of young people.

In response to questions Members found that:

• The definition for mental health was one created by young people, but questions focused on specific questions which would indicate their level of wellbeing, such as asking if they had cried etc. in set timeframes.
• The questions in relation to feeling safe were centred around the area in which they lived, rather than the area that the school was located in.
• This was a small starting position and it was hoped that Department for Education funding would be made available to role this out further.

RESOLVED:

That the Education Advisory Panel note the update on #BeeWell.