Agenda item

[NOTE:  Councillors G. Jones and E. Schiavone had earlier declared an interest in this item.]

The Committee received an update on the Modernising Education Programme update to December 2018.

The Head of Access to Education gave a verbal overview of the report and drew members attention to projects in Band A which were close to completion and Band B projects due to commence in April 2019. Recent reconsideration by the Welsh Government of grant intervention rates for Band B have increased the grant rate for capital projects in mainstream schools to 65% and 75% for Special Schools and Pupil Referral Units.

The following observations/questions were raised on the report:

In response to a question on the former site of Ysgol Tregib, Llandeilo, the Executive Board Member for Education advised that a report on the site had been informally considered by the Executive Board ahead of formally presenting the matter to the Executive Board at a later date. The Executive Board Member also addressed the delays to the programme at Ysgol Gymraeg Rhydaman, advising that the purchase of an additional piece of land for a new site had caused delays, but an agreement in principle to purchase additional land had been accepted.

Members raised concerns regarding the lack of information regarding the proposed federation of schools and school closures. The Director of Education and Children’s Services advised that the portfolio of primary schools has been under review since September, and discussions on creating new federations were in their early stages. Discussions were centred on the number of pupils and the locations and size of the unit to be created; it is preferred that a federation has in excess of 100 pupils. It was acknowledged that officers involved in the process of federating required specific leadership skills and relevant training was currently being reviewed. In response to a question on whether headteachers would be open to the prospect of federating schools, the Head of Education Services advised that the Local Authority cannot maintain the current footprint and that there was clear plan in place to strengthen the current service. He underlined that there was no intention to eradicate local provision; however there was a need to be clear in regard to providing the best possible service with the funding available, which may entail federating smaller schools.

The Committee shared examples of community use of local school facilities and agreed that further work was required in order to create a model that would enable local communities to utilise these assets. Members noted that responsibility for damage, supervision, insurance and maintenance were among the issues that constitute barriers to sharing school facilities. The Head of Access to Education advised that the Governing Body had responsibility for the school facilities and any agreement would be between them and the organisation taking responsibility for the facilities outside school hours. In addition, the Committee were informed that there were no known examples of best practice within other Local Authorities or any powers to enforce schools to enter into an agreement to share facilities. Governing Bodies were generally very proactive in wanting to share facilities with their communities.

Concerns were also raised in relation to the long-term maintenance of 3G AstroTurf pitches, which were an example of shared assets between schools and communities. The Director of Education and Children’s Services advised that the development of a corporate strategy in regard to this matter was currently under way. It was considered that the responsibility for covering such maintenance costs should not fall to individual schools but shared between schools and the Local Authority. 

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the MEP Progress report to December 2018 be received.