Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Education and Windsor

To note the report and:

i)               Congratulate local schools on their continued success.

ii)              Endorse the key priorities set out in paragraph 2.85.

AGREED: That Cabinet noted the report and:

i)                 Congratulated local schools, staff and pupils on their continued success.

ii)                Endorsed the key priorities set out in paragraph 2.85.

Councillor Tisi, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Education & Windsor, introduced the report by saying that the report was very detailed and encouraged the Cabinet to give some time to reading it in full. The quality of education in the borough was very high, with 92% of schools being rated good or outstanding by Ofsted. She said that 2022/23 had been the first year since Covid-19 that exams had gone back to their regular practice. She then said that historically, the borough had a large gap between disadvantaged pupils and their non-disadvantaged peers, with the gap having had widened in recent years under the Conservative Government. 80-90% of assessments for Education Health Plans were being achieved within the 20-week target, which compared to some neighbouring authorities who had a figure as low as 16%.

Councillor Price referred to paragraph 2.4 and said that it appeared that schools who previously had not needed to be inspected were now and that they had appeared to of dropped a grade. She asked if this was because the criteria of the inspections themselves had changed or if the standard was no longer as good. Councillor Tisi replied by saying that for some schools, they went for almost a decade without having an inspection. Many things could change with schools all the time, including a change in head teacher, different cohorts or even the pandemic. The Ofsted inspection schedule had also changed, which meant that what was required for a school to be outstanding in 2005 or 2008, was very different to now. 

Councillor Jones asked about table 3 within the report and said that it appeared that there had been a huge increase in the number of children who were now requiring Education Health Care Plans. She asked how the borough was coping with this. Councillor Tisi said that the Council was working very hard with local schools to identify certain needs and understand certain needs, potentially without the need for a plan.

Councillor Wilson, Eton & Castle,  said that a couple of the schools nearest to him in Windsor such as Queen Annes and Windsor Boys, had staff at full stretch in dealing with the challenge of pupils who required additional support. He added that there was also a lack of teaching specialists in schools and asked what more could be done to access further funding from areas such as Central Government. Councillor Tisi said that this was certainly a national issue and referenced a recent experience that she had seen, which showcased a will of the people to help people.

The Chair then mentioned that the People Overview & Scrutiny Panel had recommended to Cabinet that the recommendation be changed to mention congratulating not just schools, but also the staff and pupils too. Councillor Tisi endorsed this.

Councillor Bermange said that the key priorities in table 4 mentioned the transformation of the therapy services, which needed to be done hand in hand with Berkshire Health Foundation. He said that the therapy services played a vital part for the borough’s children with additional needs and disabilities. Councillor Tisi said that one further area that was being worked hard on was pupils who were at risk of exclusion and getting them brought back into school.

AGREED: That Cabinet noted the report and:

i)             Congratulated local schools, staff and pupils on their continued success.

ii)            Endorsed the key priorities set out in paragraph 2.85.