Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Helal Uddin and Bex White.

Councillor Mohammed Pappu proposed and Councillor Kyrsten Perry seconded the nomination of Councillor Gabriela Salva – Macallan as vice-chair of the sub-committee.

The nomination was unanimously agreed by the members of sub-committee.

The Sub-Committee RESOLVED:

·         To appoint Councillor Gabriela Salva Macallan as vice-chair of the Children and Education Sub-Committee.

To note any declarations of interest made by Members, including those restricting Members from voting on the questions detailed in Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act, 1992.  See attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Dr Phillip Rice declared he was a co-opted member of the sub-committee to represent the interest of the Church of England. However he had no pecuniary interest in item 4.2 relating to the Raines Foundation School.

To note the terms of reference, quorum, membership and dates of meeting for 2019/20

The Chair, Councillor Sufia Alam asked Members to note the Terms of reference, Quorum, Membership and dates of meeting report.

She informed Members the report confirmed the decision made at the Annual General Meeting of the Council held on the 15th May 2019, which approved the proportionality and the establishment of Committees, Sub-Committees and Panels of the Council. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting of 20th May 2019 agreed to set up three sub-committees including the Children and Education Scrutiny Sub-Committee.

Councillor Alam asked Members to agree her list of priorities which she had circulated to Members and stated the work programme for the Sub-Committee would be available on the council website.

Members of the Sub-Committee NOTED the contents of the report and agreed to meet at 6:30 p.m. for the remaining meetings in the municipal calendar.

A presentation by Christine McInnes, Service Head Education & Partnership and Terry Bryan, Head of Pupil Services

The Chair, Councillor Sufia Alam made clear to all present the Sub-Committee would hear from the elected spokesperson for the members’ of public in attendance at the meeting first before receiving the presentation from Ms Christine McInnes, Service Head of Education and Partnership and Mr Terry Bryan, Head of Pupil Services and School Sufficiency.

Councillor Alam stated the spokesperson for the public would have three minutes to present their concerns in relation to the proposed closure of Raines Foundation School.

Mrs Gillespie addressed the Sub-Committee and made the following remarks:

• The timing of the consultation to close Raines Foundation School was unhelpful and created uncertainty for pupils before their exams. No pastoral care had been offered by the Council, after the announcement of the proposed closure, which had impacted on pupils and parents alike.

• The Raines School website automatically forwards parents to the Oaklands School website despite the consultation having not been concluded and in contradiction to the advertising banner on the school railings telling parents to apply for sixth form places at Raines.

• Mrs Gillespie requested Members to give careful consideration to the proposed closure and asked Members to question the validity of the evidence before them. She said the consultation was riddled with inaccuracies and from the paperwork she had seen, it appeared the school was unlawfully run down to make the case that it was not a viable option. Mrs Gillespie said it would be a great shame to close a school with 300 years of history.

Councillor Sufia Alam thanked Mrs Gillespie for her contribution and asked Members if they had any questions for Mrs Gillespie.

In response to questions from Members the following was noted:

• The evidence referred to were the financial accounts published on the school website. Mrs Gillespie said it showed the school was being systematically run down. Mrs Gillespie said she had made a freedom of information request to look at the minute books and was waiting to hear back from the school.

• Mrs Gillespie confirmed the Raines website automatically redirected parents to the Oaklands School website. She said this was her experience when she had applied for a sixth form place for her daughter. Mrs Gillespie continued stating that other parents had also received confusing and contradictory information. For example, parents who had applied for a Year 7 place at the School had initially received acceptance letters to say their child had been offered a place at Raines, only to be told later that this was not the case. At one of the consultation meetings, an independent adjudicator had stated parents had the legal right to accept the place offered.

• In response to what evidence Mrs Gillespie had seen to suggest the Governing Body had been unlawfully constituted, Mrs Gillespie said the statutory instrument required a Trust and Parent representative to be on the board, however no such persons had been appointed.

• Ms McInnes clarified the independent adjudicator referred to, is a retired school’s adjudicator and spoke of his personal experience  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.2

A presentation by Tracy Smith, Chief Executive, Tower Hamlets Education Partnership.

Ms Tracy Smith, Executive Director for Tower Hamlets Education Partnership (THE Partnership) gave a presentation outlining the work of The Partnership and the successes it had achieved.

Ms Smith said the concept of The Partnership came about as a result of changes to school improvement and as a response to the 2016 white paper. Schools in Tower Hamlets have had an incredible improvement journey from a very low point about 20 years ago and this had been achieved through partnership working and collaboration between schools, the council and wider stakeholders.  There had been a very clear vision and exceptional leadership and The Partnership is building in that tradition.

Ms Smith said of the 104 schools in the borough 97 schools were currently members of THEP. The organisation offered a core offer and an additional offer to support school improvement.  Ms Smith cited the Future Headteacher Programme which is focused on developing the next generation of school leaders; 6 of the 30 delegates had been promoted this year to leadership posts within Tower Hamlets. Ms Smith said that whilst the quality and leadership of teachers in Tower Hamlets was of a very high standard one issue faced in relation to recruitment and retention of staff, was the lack of affordable housing for key workers.

In response to questions from Members the following was noted:

• The THEP offer does not include training for governors, although THEP do offer a Governors’ Forum and do work in partnership with Governor Services to offer training at the annual conference.  However the council itself does offer training to anyone looking to be a governor.
• Schools pay a membership fee of £7.00 per pupil which equates to almost half the income THEP receives; the other sources are the Commission from the LA. 
• In response to what had been done to ensure White British boys do not fall behind, Ms Smith said the picture was mixed, with very good outcomes in primary but with a less positive results at secondary school level. THEP is working with schools to ensure additional support is in place and for literacy rates to be maintained.
• Diversity in leadership and headteacher posts is progressing. Some headteachers have been in post for a long time and are close to retirement. As such the THEP have worked with Headteachers in succession planning and the Future Heads Programme has resulted in six promotions.

The Chair thanked Ms Smith for her presentation and summarised the key points of discussion.

• THEP delivers value for money;
• More affordable housing for key workers is needed in the borough;
• Funding is used to support schools, which includes providing essential data;
• Diversity in the workforce is reflective of the population and changes are happening in Leadership roles too.

No other business was discussed at the meeting.

Members were reminded the next meeting of the Children and Education Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committee was scheduled to take place on the 8^th October 2019.