Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Trey Campbell-Simon.

Nadia Taylor was attending remotely.

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.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2025 be agreed as an accurate record.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an update on the progress of the Family Hubs since its launch in April 2024. It provides an overview of the Family Hub launches, coproduction and marketing, explains the services available through the Family Hub offer and evaluate initial feedback from residents, identifying areas of improvement moving forward.

Peter Haylock (Operational Director for Education and SEND) presented the report.

NOTE: The presentation slides are attached in Appendix A</AI4>

Responding to Councillor Daryl Brown’s question about managing the attendance, Peter Haylock noted that there was a booking system for parents to reserve a visit slot. Referrals were also arranged so that the right staff might provide the support via the hubs for parents in need.

Nandini Ganesh (Parentsactive Representative) asked whether people registering themselves or being part of a case management would be counted as using the Hubs. Peter Haylock noted that for people who had formally registered through the Power App, their activities at the Hubs would be recorded. For unregistered visitors without using formal services, their causal visits might not be captured. He remarked that the Hubs helped create the opportunities for families to access the needed services and support as early as possible. He remarked that this would be an indicator hard to measure, requiring longer running time to generate meaningful data. Replying to Councillor Aliya Afzal-Khan’s question, Peter Haylock said the Power App captured individuals’ registration details and made referrals to the most appropriate service.

Noting that information about most of the Council’s services would be provided at the Hubs, Councillor Mercy Umeh was concerned about the management of the information to meet the needs of families looking for support. Peter Haylock advised that the Hubs acted as an access point whereby the multi-disciplinary team would review the potential services that could meet residents’ needs. Referrals could then be set up for the right people to provide assistance.

Jacqui McShannon (Executive Director of People) added that the services on offer at the Hubs were co-produced with residents, for example, via Family Voices who were heard at regular consultation forums. These services were very dynamic to meet family needs and had been evolving over the last two years to respond to the changing needs. Peter Haylock agreed to share more information about Family Voices after the meeting.

ACTION: Peter Haylock

Considering that services at the Hubs would probably be run on different days, Councillor Afzal-Khan asked whether a timetable was published online for the residents’ reference. Peter Haylock noted that an up-to-date timetable of what’s on at the Hubs was posted at the new Family Hub website.

NOTE:  Below are the online Hub timetables for the three sites:

Family Hub Old Oak Community Centre | LBHF

Family Hub Tudor Rose Community Centre | LBHF

Family Hub Stephen Wiltshire Centre | LBHF

Noting the registrations at the Family Hubs had grown from 371 in 2023/34 to almost three folds of 961 in 2024/25 but the number of ‘children seen’ for the same period only increased twice, the Chair brought this up and discussed with Peter Haylock. Peter clarified after the meeting that registrations were a one-off data entry whereas 'children seen' was the number of times children engaged in activities across the year (this could include the same child accessing multiple times).  The average engagement rate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To receive Virtual School Annual Report 2023/24

Sarah Sanderson (Operational Director, Children and Young People Services) presented the report on behalf of Amelia Steele, Head of Virtual School who had sent her apology.

NOTE: The presentation slides are attached in Appendix B</AI4>

Noting that the percentage achieving grades 5 or above in English and Mathematics for 16 LBHF CLA pupils at Key Stage (KS) 4 was 31.25%, the Chair expressed concern that more than two-third of the cohort did not achieve Grade 5. Peter Haylock referred to the same Grade 5 E&M for all LBHF schools at KS4 with the outcome pitched at 64.4%. He reflected that CLAs at Virtual School were facing significant challenges and the achievements of each student should be celebrated individually.

Councillor Aliya Afzal-Khan appreciated the transformative effect of enrichment activities. She asked if the Virtual School had tracked the uptake of enrichment activities by CLAs at their own schools. Jacqui McShannon (Executive Director of People) advised that this was monitored in a variety of ways through the Personal Education Plan and the Virtual School teacher allocated for a group of children. An independent reviewing officer was also assigned for every child to review the Care Plan twice a year which shall cover enrichment activities both at and outside school.

Councillor Alex Sanderson (Deputy Leader) remarked that the Council also supported CLAs to join extracurricular activities within their own schools including providing funding/ bursaries and other supports.

Nandia Taylor expressed her thanks for an excellent presentation on school performance and the enrichment activities for the children in the Virtual School. She asked whether there were any mechanisms to promote and facilitate peer to peer support and encouragement for CLAs whereby they might have ways to connect, given their shared experience, outside of school.

Peter Haylock understood the CLAs connected through the enrichment activities and there were opportunities for conversations to take place as a group at summer trips. Jacqui McShannon added that the Care Leavers’ Hub also encouraged young people to connect with their peers.

Questions from the floor

Benito Brown (Resident) considered more local apprenticeship opportunities should be offered for young people for them to become skilled professionals like plumber.

Councillor Sanderson invited Mr Brown to write to Councillor Zarar Qayyum, Cabinet Member for Enterprise and Skills who shall provide the relevant data.  She added that the Council had done a lot under the Industrial Strategy looking at different pathways including apprenticeship for young people to go into employment.

RESOLVED

That the Committee noted the report.

This annual school performance report is intended to update the Committee on the provisional outcomes of the 2023-2024 academic year’s assessments and examinations across H&F primary and secondary schools. It includes an update on the current status of Ofsted inspections within the borough.

The report also provides a comparative analysis of H&F outcomes against national standards and outlines the key priorities for school improvement that guide the work of our education service

Georgina Herry (Head of School Effectiveness) introduced the report which was a positive picture for outcomes in H&F at every Key Stage (KS), including early years, year 1 phonics, KS2 attainment (expected and greater depth standards), KS2 SEND attainment, KS4 performance (Progress 8, Attainment 8, Grade 5 E&M and EBacc entry), SEND KS4 performance, and KS5 performance (average point score, average grade. She also briefed members on attendance, elective home education (EHE) and children missing in education, exclusions, and priorities for 2024/25.

NOTE: The presentation slides are attached in previous item</AI4>

Georgina Herry took the opportunity to note the work of H&F school leaders and staff in achieving the positive outcomes despite the challenging environment nationally.  Their hard work paid off in ensuring the children thrived in the local area. 

In reply to the questions of the Chair and Councillor Aliya Afzal-Khan, Peter Haylock (Operation Director for Education and SEND) noted that the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) entry was a suite of qualifications ensuring students were covering a broad and balanced curriculum (which was equivalent to 5 GCSEs in English, Maths, Science, Languages and Humanities). Peter stressed that the national data measured the entry not the performance with a view to ensuring students were moving away from a narrowed curriculum.

Responding to the questions of Nandini Ganesh (Parentsactive Representative), Georgina Herry confirmed that the data included those special schools’ pupils who had taken GCSE subjects. As regards H&F schools, Peter Haylock advised that the schools were located within the borough, but the students might be out-of-borough residents.  He also confirmed that falling school rolls was still a problem with significant decrease in the recent two years. 

In this connection, Councillor Alex Sanderson (Deputy Leader) noted this was a nation-wide and global trend due to decreasing birth rates.  There had been a 20% reduction in London’s under 5s in the last decade.  The local authority was commissioning more family homes but there were not enough children to fill the many school places.

Noting the number of known EHE children spiked at summer 2021 likely due to covid-19, Councillor Afzal-Khan queried why there was another spike in summer 2024 and sought reasons for the trend. She was also concerned about the monitoring of the children’s education under EHE.

Peter Haylock remarked that the local authority was not allowed to ask the parents why they had opted EHE. On monitoring, the same safeguarding process used throughout was applicable to EHE children which had been carried out with increased provision.

In terms of EHE, the Chair observed the same trend nationally. Councillor Sanderson noted it could be due to a variety of reasons and the local authority had paid close attention to this cohort’s safeguarding by meeting and working with the families to achieve the best outcomes.

Noting the absence of attainment data for KS3, Councillor Afzal-Khan considered the local authorities could not step in and help pupils during this 5-year period after the baseline testing at KS2 and before  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To note the following dates of future meetings:

·       30 June 2025

·       3 Nov 2025

·       27 Jan 2026

·       15 April 2026

·       29 June 2026

The Committee noted that the next meeting would be held on [enter date].