The Children, Young People and Learning Overview and Scrutiny Board have over recent months been looking at the role of the teaching assistant in the primary sector in Swansea.

The Board chose to look at this issue because it has become evident that the numbers of teaching assistants employed across schools in Swansea (and across Wales) had increased substantially over the past ten years along with what we expect of them.  Councillors thought it was time to take stock and look at how the Authority and schools can plan and develop the role of the teaching assistant into the future.

The review is now complete and the Board were very impressed with the dedication, quality and knowledge of those teaching assistants that they met and felt that if this is an indication of the support staff we have in schools it is extremely encouraging.

The Board found some areas for improvement around the role of the teaching assistant particularly in relation to regular appraisals and consistency of training.  Councillor would also like to see teaching assistants used more in the drive to improve oracy,  numeracy and literacy.

The Board made a couple of small amendments at it meeting on 23rd January and have now agreed to forward it to Cabinet on the 8th March.  Click here for a link to the draft report and recommendations arising from the review.

The Children, Young People and Learning Overview and Scrutiny Board completed a review looking at child poverty and its links with educational attainment in July 2010 and have received regular updates on progress since then.  The Board at its meeting on the 23rd January will look at progress to date which will include asking questions on progress with, for example :

• Initiatives that support parents and families to develop the tools for parenting and life skills
• Continuing to work towards breaking the cycle of unemployment in families including supporting NEETs projects and those
  initiatives that raise young people’s aspirations after leaving school
• Using the Children and Young People Plan as a basis to drive commitment and ownership by all those organisations involved with
  children and young people living in poverty
• Develop clear ways to measure progress and monitor the impact of child poverty

Work has already been completed on many areas where recommendations were made including:

• A Web Based Directory of Children and Young People’s Services has  been produced by the Children and Young People Strategy Unit. Just over 700 agencies are currently included in the database.
• The End Child Poverty Network (ECPN) has produced a Good Practice Guide for Schools called “Tackling Child Poverty in Wales”.
  Schools in Swansea receive this guide with a request that they consider using the checklist included. The checklist is a useful tool for schools to evaluate their current practice to identify areas of development.
• The Chief Executive has identified Child Poverty as one of his key priorities and has established a Child Poverty Forum re-affirming the Council’s sign up and commitment to tackling child poverty in Swansea.  The aims of the Forum were to agree a definition of poverty, identify best practice, develop an action plan, make linkages and innovate, develop outcome measures and consider policy proofing. Members of the Forum have undertaken some initial mapping work in relation to existing Council led programmes and projects which are designed to tackle various aspects of poverty.

Photo credit – http://www.flickr.com/photos/gatesfoundation/5485758219

Councillors from the Partnership Overview and Scrutiny Committee visited Hafod Primary School earlier this week.

Welcome to the school!

The purpose of the visit was to follow up their scrutiny of Swansea Local Service Board. Specifically the idea was to test some of the things they had been told about the Local Service Board’s Prevention and Early Intervention Programme by seeing how it actually worked on the ground.  Hafod School was an ideal place to do this as it is involved in a number of initiatives associated with the project including Team around the Family, ‘So to Do’ and Restorative Practice.

The visit, which was hosted by Head Teacher Rachael Webb and Chair of Governors Beverley Hopkins, included the opportunity to meet with children and staff as well as a number of ‘police friends’ who have been working in partnership with the school on a number of projects.

Indian dancing

A special assembly gave the councillors the chance to see the school’s photo story, to hear a presentation by the children on the school’s rights based approach, to take part in what might be the coolest school song ever and to see a display of Indian dancing that even some of the staff spontaneously joined in with!

There is clearly a special atmosphere at this school which has more than its fair share of social challenges. This was evident from arrival when we were greeted by very confident and capable children rather than by the staff. The layout of the school and lively way it has been decorated (by staff in their spare time) all reflected the commitment to a rights based approach and the desire to make the best use of every space.

The schools work in the community and with families is also striking and it here that the whole issue of partnership working comes to the fore. Here is a brief description of the So to Do project (from the CYP website) that is a key part of this:

The ‘So to Do’ part of the project was able to offer immediate responses to some of the community issues – increased policing of parks, joint work with Trading Standards officers to visit shops selling liquor, a police presence at the school enabling young people the opportunity of establishing a rapport with the officer, a youth night, Holiday activities etc

A number of key points about partnership working on the ground emerged during the visit:

• The school had fully embraced the frameworks agreed at strategic partnership level – in particular those agreed by the Children and Young People Partnership
• There was clearly enthusiasm for the partnership project – Head Teacher Rachael Webb described it as ‘the best partnership project I have ever been involved in’
• The role of the Police was clearly critical particularly their willingness to embrace a new way of working. This positive culture change was lead from the top and reflected a willingness to push the decisions made at partnership level down though the organisation
• There was a feeling that the relationship with the strategic level was two way with issues such as information sharing, for example, being taken up and that there was a ‘sea change’ on this issue 
• There were still some difficulties – joint working with social services was not yet all that had been hoped for although this was improving
• There was some anxiety about imminent changes to the current partnership model of working given that the current structure seemed to be working so well
• The desire to always get to the root problems that children faced was likely to generate new work for partner agencies – this was not seen so much as a problem but as an inevitable consequence of ‘doing things the right way’
• The school’s involvement in ‘So to Do’ is part of a pilot – there was a recognition that support might be less if it was rolled out more widely

Everything about Hafod School was certainly impressive and overall the visit confirmed the difference that partnership working, in terms of this project at least, was making on the ground.

Clls Jeff Jones and Janet Thomas with Inspector Mitch Davies and Chair of Governors Beverley Hopkins

The scrutiny councillors reviewing support for carers in Swansea met with the Crossroads Young Carers Project earlier today.  The councillors were impressed by the hard work of the project workers – Donna and Sarah – to reach and support young people who have a caring role. 

The project offers support for young people who find themselves helping to look after a family member who has a long-term illness, disability, suffers from a mental health issue or a problem related to drugs or alcohol.

The Young Carers Project can: find out what the young carer needs; provide counselling, information & support; offer transport to youth clubs & activities; help others like school, understand a young carers’ situation; help with accessing local facilities; give practical support; help develop life skills; give breaks from caring and provide opportunities to meet new friends.

The project is funded in large part by a grant from Children in Need although this funding comes to an end next year.  The Young Carers Project also has  small grants from Neath Port Talbot Cymorth monies and Swansea Council.  The Project also has access to Grants for Young Carers from Swansea Council Social Services which can be used to pay for things equipment, extra tuition and activities.  The project also receives charitable donations.

72 young carers from Swansea are registered with the young carers project but this figure is not a true reflection of the numbers of young people who are in a caring role in the City and County of Swansea.  The 2001 Census identified 800 young carers in Swansea but this did not include in its definition of caring, mental health issues or drug & alcohol problems.

Some recent work has been done on identifying the numbers of young carers in comprehensive schools across Swansea and numbers were estimated at 900.

The project workers told the councillors that they have to use eligibility criteria to assess young carers for specific support like the young carers youth club and that the project runs a waiting list for the youth club.  Expansion of the youth club for young carers is not possible at the moment because of financial constraints. 

The councillors learned though that once a young carer is assessed the Young Carers Project draws up an action plan to help them and to sign post them to other services and support. 

The councillors were pleased to hear that the majority of young carers registered with the project were planning on going onto to further education rather than opting to become full time carers.  The councillors felt that this was such an important project which offered such valuable support services for young carers.

The councillors will meet with the Cabinet Member for Social Services tomorrow and will no doubt raise many of these issues with him.

The Children, Young People and Learning Overview and Scrutiny completed a review of literacy across schools in swansea last year and have,  for their meeting on 23rd January, asked for an update on the progress made in relation to the recommendations that were agreed by Cabinet on  7th April 2011.

The Board will be keen to discuss progress in relation to, for example:

• Developing a broader strategy for literacy that stretches from early years into adulthood
• Improving the standard of literacy teaching across schools by ensuring every teacher is a ‘teacher of literacy’
• Encourage schools to develop partnerships with parents/carers/families by providing information about how they can help to develop their child’s literacy skills.
• Encourage school governing bodies to ensure that all governors in schools are clear of their role and responsibilities for each child in a school in terms of raising standard

This is the first of the progress reports on the literacy recommendation and depending on progress made the Board may wish to ask for a further update in about six months.