Apologies for lateness were received from Councillor Abdul Wahid, who joined the meeting virtually due to ill health.

Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest, identified in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine: whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Members are also reminded to declare the nature of the interest at the earliest opportunity and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it is the Members’ responsibility to identify any interests and also update their register of interest form as required by the Code.

If in doubt as to the nature of an interest, you are advised to seek advice prior the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services.

No declarations of pecuniary interests were declared by the members.

To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the held on 13^th October 2022.

The minutes of the previous meeting of 13^th October 2022 were agreed to be an accurate record of the meeting and were approved by the Sub-Committee.

The Sub-Committee also noted the actions recorded in the action log.

The Sub-Committee heard from Ms Brenda Landers, Headteacher at Swanlea School and Mr Kabir Miah, Deputy Headteacher. They reflected on how students from varying backgrounds succeed in attaining a good set of grades.

The main points to note from the presentation of Ms Landers and Mr Miah were:

• The school had a Leadership Development programme, whereby it identified future leaders from its cohort of teachers and worked with THEP (Tower Hamlets Education Partnership) to develop skills of teachers/leaders.
• Children who attend Swanlea School came from a wide range of backgrounds with 5.5% from disadvantage backgrounds, who go on to Russell Group universities.
• The school instils a positive learning attitude to give students social confidence and doesn’t use disadvantage backgrounds as an excuse to success.

In response to comments and questions from members the following was noted:

• Ms Landers confirmed they shared best practice with other secondary schools as well as primary schools, via the THEP partnership.
• Ms Landers said that whilst the school had a traditional academic pathway, it also supported young people via the vocational route. Through its SEND Department it identified young people/carers who may require additional support to learn life skills such as independent living and financial awareness courses. Mr Miah added the arts and crafts faculty at the schools helped to build social confidence of students who had varying needs.
• Ms Landers stated she was incredibly proud of the achievement that her school had made. She said that the bottom 25%, through progress 8, meant that every student counts. She said the intake of the school as a comprehensive school depended on parent choice however 94% of students achieved a grade 4 or above in English. Of the 6% that do not make the grade, she said was important to recognise this and support them through alternative pathways.
• She said it was a laudable objective and aim to get youngsters to think about attending Russell Group Universities however many lack the confidence to think about attending Oxford/Cambridge Universities. She said this attitude needed to change and aspiration to attend university ought to be instilled in youngsters from a primary school age. Ms Landers said she believed it was too late leaving this until a child had entered secondary school education. She said these conversations ought to be happening at an early stage, in order to build confidence in a young person that they are just as able to attend prestigious universities.

The Chair thanked Ms Brenda Landers and Mr Kabir Miah for their presentation.

The Sub-Committee then heard from Councillor Maium Talukdar, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Lead for Education, Youth and Lifelong Learning who introduced the presentation given by Mr Steve Nyakatawa, Director of Education.

Mr Nyakatawa referred members of the Sub-Committee to the presentation in the supplementary pack and said that as part of the Council’s Strategic Plan priorities, the ambition was ‘Every child achieves their best in education.’ Mr Nyakatawa explained the performance tables for each Key Stage and said for KS1 and KS2,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.1

The Sub-Committee heard from Ms Sornnaly Hossain from Our Time Youth Forum. Ms Hossain was supported by Ms Jenny Miller, manager of the Family Information and Support Service.

Ms Hossain gave an account of her experience of the education system in Tower Hamlets as someone with SEND needs. She explained the bullying she had experienced and how the forum had helped her gain confidence to stand up to those who bullied her. She explained how this had affected her mental health. She said she was a member of the SEND Improvement Board and felt it was important to voice her opinions especially to managers responsible, to bring about change.

In response to comments and questions from members the following was noted:

• Bullying should be taken seriously by teachers and parents. There was a lack of acceptance of SEND children and attitudes needed to change.
• In reference to the earlier discussion about where students choose to study for further education, Ms Hossain said she would encourage young people to attended out of borough settings as this built their confidence and independence.
• Members expressed their appreciation for Ms Hossain and her inspiring presentation.

The Chair thanked Ms Hossain for her presentation.

Councillor Maium Talukdar, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Lead for Education, Youth and Lifelong Learning introduced the SEND presentation stating a review of the Council’s progress against the Statement of action in response to the SEND Inspection in 2021 would be presented by Mr Steve Nyakatawa, Head of Education and Mr Lewis Teasdale, SEN Manager.

Mr Lewis Teasdale took members through the presentation outlining the existing priorities for the service and said these had been categorised into priority 1,2, 3,4 and 5. He explained the progress made against each priority and said the feedback from the second formal review with the DfE and NHSE in September and the forthcoming meeting in January 2023 would help build the evidence for the actions listed in the written statement of actions.

In response to comments and questions from members the following was noted:

• Mr Lewis said there had been an increase in demand for SEND services since the pandemic. Each case is assessed on a case-by-case basis.
• Mr Lewis acknowledged provision within the borough was spread out and said they were looking at ways to provide a ‘blended’ service, where a child with mild or lesser autistic needs could be provided with care within a school setting as well as spending half a day at a specialist facility. He said the right balance was required.
• Mr Nyakatawa made reference to the one minute guides and said this provided a useful summary of ECHP plans, education provision and the integrated commissioning arrangements within the borough.

The Chair thanked Mr Nyakatawa and Mr Lewis for their presentation.

The Chair, Councillor Choudhury referred members to the Sub-Committee’s work programme for 2022-23 and asked members if they had any comments or questions relating to the work scheduled for the sub-committee to scrutinise.

·       No comments or questions were asked in relation to the work programme.

The Sub-Committee RESOLVED to:

1.    NOTE and AGREE the work programme for the upcoming meetings for 2022-23.

There was no other business to be discussed.