Agenda item

This is a short report to update on the OFSTED categorisations of schools prior to the pandemic and the ‘Safe return to school’ for the September / October half term. The report also highlights the priorities for school effectiveness in H&F that inform the work of officers in our education service.

Jan Parnell, Director of Education, presented the report that provided an update on the OFSTED categorisations of schools prior to the pandemic and the ‘Safe return to school’ for the September / October half term. She highlighted some of the Educations service’s key priorities and progress against those areas, including:

·       Peer to peer reviews

·       Development of the Learning Partnership

·       Supporting children with SEN

·       Curriculum development

Matt Jenkins asked if the peer-to-peer work currently in primary schools would be extended to secondary and further education. Jan Parnell said she wanted to move in that direction because the outcomes were good, but the Council would need to ensure academies were willing to pay for the support.

Councillor Lucy Richardson asked if there were awards or badges that could be adopted to show what schools were doing around the environment and recycling. She also asked if the Council had external partners for outdoor learning.

Jan Parnell said the Council had partnered with local partners like Urbanwise on the climate education programme and partners like Hammersmith Urban Garden Association on environmental education. Regarding accreditation, she noted that the Council had been working with the UN through Educate Global. Jan Parnell said she could provide a briefing note on their work with the UN.

ACTION: Jan Parnell

Committee members asked if there had been any change in numbers of parents and children taking up elective home education during the pandemic.

Jan Parnell said there had been a spike in elective home education since the Covid pandemic began. Since August 2020 there had been 97 new referrals compared with just 38 in the previous year’s entire autumn term. But that spike had calmed since the half term. Officers were monitoring the situation and working to ensure that schools spoke to parents about the benefits of school education.

Councillor Alexandra Sanderson asked if the Council had to maintain a register of home-schooled children. Jan Parnell said it was recommended and H&F had a robust register. Schools notified the Council when children came off their registers and officers followed up on any children missing from education. H&F had lobbied the Government to strengthen the law around elective home education.

Councillor Sanderson asked if officers expected a similar surge in the number of unregistered schools. Jan Parnell said the Council had a duty to report unregistered schools and had recently received some additional funding to investigate out of school settings. An evaluated report on this project was expected at the beginning of next term.

Councillor Sanderson asked if the Council could ensure home-schooled children were being fed. Jan Parnell said it was an area that should be looked at – when children were taken out of school, they were effectively opted out of any schools meals programmes.

Councillor Sanderson asked if there were routine checks in care homes and how often they were done. Mandy Lawson said Ofsted usually visited twice a year unannounced but not during lockdown. Officers also carry out regular visits during the year. Councillor Sanderson requested a report on Covid and care leavers at the next meeting.

ACTION: Mandy Lawson

The Chair thanked Jan Parnell and the officers in the Education team for their help in keeping the borough’s schools open.