Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mercy Umeh.

Apologies for lateness were received from Councillor Alex Sanderson (Cabinet Member for Children and Education).

Councillor Daryl Brown and Eleanor Allen joined the meeting online.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter.  The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as an accurate record and note any outstanding actions.

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 January 2023 were agreed as an accurate record.

This item gives an overview of how the Council works in partnership with the Integrated Care Board and the West London Trust to develop and improve mental health services for children and young people, including Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, through co-production with young people.

Henry Leak (NHS North West London) presented the report that set out the range of co-production activity undertaken in relation to developing emotional wellbeing and mental health provision for young people and how that feedback was reflected in the way services were delivered

Councillor Lucy Richardson asked different services and organisations like MIND, CAMHS, and schools communicated to avoid repetition. Henry Leak said the mental health partnership group brought all partners together to create relationships, facilitate information sharing, and ensure alignment on service creation and delivery.

Councillor Richardson asked if all of the available services were clearly set out online. Henry Leak said they were, but they were testing a new template, similar to the Local Offer, with Parentsactive and other service users.

Councillor Daryl Brown asked if schools taught children about emotional intelligence and how to regulate their emotions. Peter Haylock (Operational Director for Education and SEND) explained that most schools would have Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) classes. There was also a traded offer of additional support that schools could buy into. Amana Gordon (Operational Director, Children and Young People’s Service) noted that the Attachment Aware Schools Programme had launched recently, which aimed to ensure schools created the right environment for children to self-regulate. Members requested more information and she agreed to share an article from the staff newsletter covering the programme.

ACTION: Amana Gordon

Councillor Aliya Afzal-Khan asked how the effectiveness of mental health provision was measured and what mechanisms were in place to drive improvement. Henry Leak said they monitored uptake of services. Councillor Afzal-Khan said it would be useful to see data on how many people were being helped and the measurements for effectiveness.

Nandini Ganesh asked if the providers listed in Appendix 1 of the report were also suitable for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and if they dealt with behaviour issues. Henry Leak said not all of the providers did. They would look for support from the inclusion service and CAHMS where necessary. Nandini Ganesh asked if special schools had access to mental health services. Peter Haylock said they had the same opportunities and used the services most effective to them.

Eleanor Allen asked to what degree mental health affected poor attendance at school. Henry Leak said mental health did have an impact on school attendance and they had an attendance team that worked with schools on that. There was also a toolkit for schools around emotionally based reasons for not attending.

Nadia Taylor noted she was involved in an applied research project on mental health and neurodiversity at Imperial, and asked if schools would be willing to engage with the project. Peter Haylock said he thought schools would be keen to be involved. They agreed to discuss it further after the meeting.

ACTION: Nadia Taylor / Peter Haylock

Nandini Ganesh asked about emergency mental health support which was a common problem for Parentsactive parents. Henry Leak said emergency support was a complex area. There was a dynamic  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

This is the annual school performance report to inform the Committee of the provisional outcomes of the Summer 2022 assessments and examinations in Hammersmith and Fulham’s schools, and an update on Ofsted inspections. The report provides an overview of the outcomes and how they compare with the national picture.

Peter Haylock (Operational Director for Education and SEND) presented the report with support from Georgina Herry (Lead Adviser for School Improvement).

Peter Haylock said he was very pleased with how schools have performed and published outcomes continued to be above national averages at EYFS, Primary, KS4 and KS5. The proportion of schools rated good or outstanding had also improved since the report was published and now stood at 100%.

Councillor Lucy Richardson asked if the Council could do something to celebrate the results with the borough’s Headteachers. Peter Haylock said the team were planning an event in the summer.

Councillor Richardson noted the borough’s impressive figures for persistent non-attendance, particularly against the national figure which had doubled since the pandemic. She said it was worth looking into the reasons for this and spread practice to other areas. Peter Haylock said the team had made funding available to support schools and put systems in place to ensure children were in school.

The Chair said she hoped that national Government were looking to the borough and the Education team as examples of good practice. Jacqui McShannon (Strategic Director of Children’s Services) said officers met regularly with the Department for Education and they did promote the borough and volunteer where appropriate. Officers also liked the opportunity to learn from other Local Authorities.

Councillor Aliya Afzal-Khan congratulated the borough’s schools and the Education team on such positive results. She highlighted the success of the Learning Partnership and asked if it could offer support to struggling schools. Peter Haylock said the Learning Partnership only ran in primary schools at present, though once the partnership was more developed it may expand. He noted that there were secondary headteacher meetings and other collaboration forums in place. He also explained that secondary schools were all Academies and they tended to work together in their Trusts.

Nadia Taylor asked if the move to Academies had improved schools. And if so, which of them were better in the current arrangements. Jacqui McShannon said the borough had a rich landscape of school provision and it was too complex to generalise. One of hallmarks of Hammersmith & Fulham was the way that schools worked together, both formally and informally to achieve the best results for the borough’s children and young people.

Nandini Ganesh asked if the NEET (young people who were Not in Education,

Employment or Training) figures in the report included SEND pupils. Peter Haylock said they did – they were tracked through the Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) casework team and other colleagues in the borough’s institutions.

Nandini Ganesh asked if falling rolls was still an issue for schools in the borough. Peter Haylock said it was a concern for some schools as there had been a decrease in the birth rate across London.

The Chair asked if there was learning to be taken from the impressive SEND performance. Peter Haylock said the credit should go to schools and the work they had put in behind the scenes including putting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To note the following dates of future meetings:

·       3 Jul 2023

·       13 Nov 2023

·       29 Jan 2024

·       25 Mar 2024

The Committee noted the following dates of future meetings:

• 3 July 2023
• 13 November 2023
• 29 January 2024
• 25 March 2024