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Kevin McDaniel, Director of Children's Services explained to the Forum that Clive Haines, School Leadership Development Manager would be the lead officer for the School Improvement Forum. He stated that two colleagues, Rita Vasa and Bronwyn Hamilton Brown had left the Borough due to an ending contract and retirement and that that meetings reports were based on the work they had carried out. The School Leadership Development Manager was leading on work on schools for 2017-2018 as there was no longer a need for a large contract focusing on pupil premium. Schools were being invited to the next meeting of the Forum with the School Leadership Development Manager taking the lead on the area covered. The Chairman expressed his thanks and appreciation to Rita Vasa and Bronwyn Hamilton Brown for all their hard work, he commented they spoke with passion and dedication in improving the outcomes for children in the Borough.

The School Leadership Development Manager gave the forum an update on the outcomes of the summer camp that came about following work done by Bronwyn Hamilton Brown. The Borough felt it needed to bring children together to enjoy experiences that they might not have been able to do if the summer camp had not run.

The decision was made not to run a residential summer camp and run the trial in Maidenhead only; 30 children attended over three days. The 30 children attended summer camp and Woodlands and they loved it; it was set up like a forest style school. On the second day, St Edwards School carried out sculpting, spray painting and body casts at the summer camp and on the third day, the children enjoyed an outdoor centre where they took part in canoeing and kayaking. Feedback received from a head teacher on the three days was very positive. The School Leadership Development Manager had also received positive feedback from a parent and child.

The outcome was that 30 children made friends from similar backgrounds away from their own schools. The schools selected the pupil premium children that were likely to most benefit from the summer camp and who would not normally be able to access those activities.

The Chairman stated the summer camp was something concrete that came into fruition following the previous meeting of the School Improvement Forum which took place in June 2017. He added the Forum needed to look at rolling out the activity across the Borough. It sounded like the activity was right and that it was good to have at the start  of the summer holidays but, it could also work later in the holidays too. The Director of Children's Services stated it worked to have it at the start of the school holidays as it fit well with the youth workers. In 2018, his team wanted to build on this year’s successes further and extend the camp to children that were known to Youth Services. Schools were happy for the Borough to lead on the camp but, he wanted to build on the initiative and take it further. The School Leadership Development Manager confirmed that if the camp went wider, smaller groups worked so that would limit the number of children from each school which could take part. The Merry Rixman Charity funded the Maidenhead trial of the summer camp and would be happy to fund again. However, if it was to be opened up in other areas, it would need funding for other areas to be found.

Councillor Mills stated it was very good that the head teacher attended as it was so important for the word to spread. The experience would circulate amongst other head teachers which would then be able to nominate children from their schools too. The Chairman said some of the feedback stated that two of the boys that attended found out they were both moving up to Desborough Boys School so that helped with the transition. The Director of Children's Services stated the team had learnt, when they talked to parents about a holding a three day residential camp, that it would be quite scary for the children to stay away from home. They also recognised that written feedback was not the only form of feedback that should be looked at, verbal feedback was just as important. The next step was to get schools to provide staff, charities to provide grants for transport and equipment and then the Borough could use its resources to get the pupils to attend.

The Director of Children's Services confirmed that there had been no press coverage as he wanted to make sure the summer camp went well, and also there may have been some families that could be sensitive about why their children were attending the camp. The team would be looking at ways to reduce the stigma of being from a pupil premium family. The School Leadership Development Manager stated the summer camp was a big success and some of the children were upset that it only lasted three days.