DCSF Review of School Improvement and Childrens Social Care

1
AGENDA

• Welcome
• Children and Young Peoples Agenda Sharon Scott
  (Interim Director of Childrens Services)
• Community Cohesion Kewal Goel
• Succession Planning for School Leaders Trisha
  Wright
• Feedback on DCSF Review of Local Authority
  David Gamble
• Update on Budget and Services for Schools David
  Gamble
• Managing Allegations Against Staff Jayne
  Murphy/David Howe

2
Children and Young Peoples Agenda

• Sharon Scott (Interim Director of Childrens
  Services)

3
Community Cohesion

• Kewal Goel

4
Community Cohesion
What is community cohesion?
Diversity appreciated and valued
Common values
Sense of belonging
Strong and positive relationships
Equal life opportunities
Knowing rights and responsibilities
Trusting each other and local institutions
Shared vision for community
Shared access to English
Many definitions are being produced
5
What is community cohesion?
Community cohesion is what must happen in
all communities to enable different groups of
people to get on well together. A key
contributer to community cohesion is integration
which is what must happen to enable new residents
and existing residents to adjust to one another.
In February 2008 the Government adopted a new
definition of Community Cohesion
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• Difference between
• race equality
• community cohesion
• preventing violent extremism

7
Race equality

• Race equality is about building an equally free
  and fair society for all people regardless of
  their racial or ethnic background.
• It focuses on narrowing gaps in outcomes for
  different groups.
• This will help promote cohesion and tackle
  extremism, but it is not enough on its own, and
  there are other, wider, motivations for promoting
  race equality.

8
Building community cohesion

• Building community cohesion is about building
  better relationships between people from
  different backgrounds including those from new
  and settled communities. Experience has shown
  that violent extremism can emerge from even the
  most cohesive communities, but that extremist
  messages are less likely to find support in the
  environment.
• So work to build cohesion can help prevent
  violent extremism but will not be enough on its
  own.

9
Preventing violent extremism

• To prevent violent extremism we often need a
  targeted approach which deals with the specific
  threat, builds resilience to extremist messages
  at a community level but also works to counter
  the global terrorist ideology.
• At the same time a community in which extremism
  is minimised is likely to be one where people
  have more confidence to build relationships with
  one another and so increase community cohesion
  and race equality.

10
Community Cohesion
We can inspect these through the schools duty to
promote community cohesion
The six Equalities Strands have a narrower,
sharper focus and are inspected through the
equalities and discrimination judgement

Socio-economic
Religion and non-religion
Ethnicity and Culture
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Community Cohesion
The different social dimensions of community
Ethnicity and culture
Religious and non-religious
Engagement Ethos
Socio-economic
Equality Excellence
The Global Community
Teaching, Learning Curriculum
UK Community
Community in which school is located
The schools contribution can be grouped under
these headings.
School Community
The different scales or geographical dimensions
of community
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The duty on schools is to promote community
cohesion

• The duty must be linked to the leadership of the
  school, as it is on the governing body
• This duty is linked to the effectiveness of the
  schools provision what it is doing about it
• The school should not be judged according to the
  local community, but according to what it is
  contributing

13
Inspecting community cohesion

• Inspection can be built around three key
• questions
• 1. What does the school know about the
• communities it serves?
• 2. How has it used that knowledge to
• promote community cohesion and serve the needs
  of its users?
• How does it know whether its strategy is
• successful?

14
Inspecting community cohesion

• Inspectors will look at data from the SEF,
  RAISEonline etc to identify issues about
  ethnicity, deprivation etc.
• Inspectors will engage with school leaders about
  their understanding, strategies and evaluation of
  impact
• Inspectors will examine schools own evidence
• Inspectors will talk with learners and observe
  them

15

• Succession Planning for School Leaders
• Trisha Wright
• School Improvement Adviser
• Leadership and Management

16
Succession planning

• The range of activities and approaches
  employed to ensure a sufficient quantity of
  engaged and talented school leaders.

17
Recruitment challenge
18
A drawn-out apprenticeship
19
Perceptions and realities of Headteacher role
20
Succession planning

• Systematic approach to leadership recruitment and
  development
• System wide challenge
• Local issues need local solutions
• Need to plan

21
MK Succession Planning Strategy

• To develop effective and innovative local
  solutions to secure a sufficient long term supply
  of talented, committed and engaged leaders at all
  levels in our schools.

22
NCSL guidance
23
NCSL guidance
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MK - Summer Term 2008

• Steering group set up to oversee development of
  strategy and action planning
• Succession planning officer headteacher
  secondment for part of Summer Term
• Future Leaders conference 17.6.08 Local launch
  for Heads, Deputy / Assistant Heads and Chairs of
  Governors to raise awareness, gather views ,
  suggest possible actions
• Deputy / assistant headteacher session with NCSL
  succession planning consultant - 5.6.08
• Potential NPQH applicants workshop session
  20.5.08
• Aspiring leaders workshops jointly being
  planned with Bucks
• Questionnaires will be coming out to schools to
  obtain views

25
Contacts

• Karen Kilshaw, Succession Planning Officer,
  01908 254091
• Trisha Wright, School Improvement Adviser,
  Leadership and Management
• 01908 253972
• Sheila Ellis, Admin Assistant
• 01908 253881

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Reflections

• What implications does this have for you and your
  school?
• What do you think are the local issues in Milton
  Keynes?

27
DCSF Review of Local Authority
David Gamble
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Reasons for the Review

• DCSF concerns about strategic capacity at LA
  level
• Part of National Strategies programme of LA
  reviews of LA School Improvement services
• Low standards at KS2 and KS4 and low CVAs

29
Key Foci

• School Improvement
• The LAs capacity for School Improvement
• The LAs intervention in schools to secure
  improvement
• The collection and use of data
• Social Care
• The capacity of childrens social care
• The collection and use of data
• Safeguarding capability, inc children in care
• Suitability and structure of the service

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Methodology

• 7 DCSF/National Strategies officers
• Normal inspection processes over 4 days
• Visits to 6 schools

31
Context of Milton Keynes

• Unusual growth and development
• Increasingly diverse population
• Above average proportion live in low income
  households
• School population unusually mobile

32
Summary and Recommendations

• School Improvement
• Good support for weakest schools (ISP) better
  capacity at primary level
• Effective pupil tracking systems developed
• Positive responses from headteachers to the
  quality of many LA staff
• Positive outcomes of DCSF funded Intervention
  Programme (SITU project)
• Need for significant improvement in capacity of
  LA to improve schools particularly at secondary
  level

33
Summary and Recommendations

• Need for clearer school improvement strategy
  generated with partners
• Better early warning systems to intervene before
  schools decline
• Better engagement of secondary schools in
  collaboration work
• Better sharing of good practice including use of
  ASTs and Leading Teachers
• Recognised SIP implementation in April 08 more
  serving heads

34
Summary and Recommendations

• Childrens Social Services
• Recognised improvements made
• No unallocated work or waiting lists
• No evidence of children at risk due to low
  numbers on CP register
• Weak outcomes for Children in Care

35
Summary and Recommendations

• Use of Data
• More strategic approach to the availability and
  use of data across Childrens Services
• More central analysis of data available to
  schools and benchmarking against other schools
• More challenge in target setting process and
  follow up by SIPs

36
Summary and Recommendations

• General
• More meetings between DCS and headteachers to
  drive forward ECM agenda
• More awareness needed for CAF, Lead Professional,
  integration of service delivery, locality working
• More pace, fewer interim roles

37
What has happened?

• Strategy and Improvement Board set up
• Monthly meetings
• Action Plan agreed
• Monitoring meetings (progress RAG rated)
• Productive link with Tower Hamlets
• Good progress

38
What has happened?

• Structural changes being implemented plus extra
  capacity
• More capacity for performance and data
  management, agreeing data set timetable
• Interim AD Secondary School Improvement appointed
• Restructuring of School Improvement Team for
  September 2008
• Increasing pace of implementation
• Childrens Trust
• Locality working
• New vision more strongly communicated
• Wide ranging School Improvement Strategy
• Strategy for Children in Care

39
What has happened?

• Using successful schools more within SI Strategy
• Closer partnership between schools and LA (new
  expectations and accountabilities)
• Launch conference

40

• Update on Budget and Services for Schools
• David Gamble

41
Issues

• Changes to funding formulae after much work and
  consultation
• Some turbulence, some budget difficulties
• Impact of formula changes
• MFG issues
• Tighter budgets for schools with low deprivation,
  increased charges

42
Review of new funding formulae

• EAL allocations
• Small schools threshold allocation
• Early years single pupil count
• Impact of increased charges
• New school allocations
• Schools with deficit budgets
• 52 week residential provision

43
Formal processes in place

• Working group reports to Schools Forum
• Autumn term consultation on any proposed changes
  April 2009
• Meeting schools with difficulties
• Reviewing Services to Schools packages and charges

44
Managing Allegations Against Staff

• LADO
• Local Authority Designated Officer

45
ECM Five Outcomes

• Be Healthy
• Stay Safe
• Enjoy and Achieve
• Make a Positive Contribution
• Achieve Economic Well-Being

46
Named Senior Manager

• Every agency with contact with children
• Liaison with LADO

47
Named Senior Officer

• Strategic overview

48
Procedures need to be applied with common sense
and judgement. Some allegations are so serious as
to require immediate referral to social care and
the police for investigation. Others are much
less serious, and at first sight may not seem to
warrant consideration of a police investigation
or enquiries by childrens social care. However,
it is important to ensure that even apparently
less serious allegations are seen to be followed
up, and that they are examined objectively by
someone independent of the organisation
concerned. Consequently, the LADO should be
informed of all allegations that come to the
employers attention and appear to meet the
appropriate criteria, so that s/he can consult
police and social care colleagues as appropriate.
49
When does LADO need to know ?

• behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may
  have harmed a child
• possibly committed a criminal offence against or
  related to a child or
• behaved towards a child or children in a way that
  indicates s/he is unsuitable to work with children

50
Process

• Allegation/concern raised
• Reported to NSM
• Contact with LADO
• Discussion/agreement on action
• Possible strategy meeting
• Sharing all relevant information re victim and
  staff member concerned
• Action agreed e.g. S47, criminal investigation
  and/or internal investigation
• Review strategy meeting, final outcome recorded

51
The Three Strands

• An allegation may require consideration from any
  of the following three inter-related
  perspectives
• Enquiries and assessment by Childrens Social
  Care about whether a child is in need of
  protection or in need of services
• Criminal investigation by the police
• Staff disciplinary procedures of employing agency

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July Dec 2007

• Education 13
• Oakhill STC 21
• Foster carers 7
• Other 5
• Total 46

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Categories of Allegations

• Physical 33
• Sexual 10
• Emotional 0
• Neglect 0
• Other 3
• Total 46

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Section 12 Allegations against staff, carers and
volunteers

• Milton keynes Guidance based on
• Working together to Safeguard Children 2006

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LADO

• Safer recruitment
• Safe working Practices

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Central direction
Universal safeguarding
Targeted safeguarding
Public awareness
Local delivery
Responsive safeguarding
Ref Staying Safe Action Plan
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LADO

• David Howe
• 01908 254306