Issue - meetings

Report ED17010

The Portfolio Holder for Education presented the draft portfolio priorities and aims for the 2016/17 academic year with priority outcomes reflecting the Building a Better Bromley vision for the children and young people within the Borough.  The Plan also set out the direction of travel for education within the Borough.

In considering Priority 3, aim 3f, a Member asked the Portfolio Holder to confirm whether any primary maintained schools would be forced to convert to academy status, either through the principal of ‘critical mass’ or for any other reason.  In response the Portfolio Holder confirmed that he did not foresee any schools within the Borough being forced to convert as the local authority was seeking to work and communicate with schools in order to achieve 100% voluntary conversion.  In response to a question concerning the position of the department in relation to special schools, the Portfolio Holder reported that one such school had already converted.  The Portfolio Holder viewed special schools slightly differently to mainstream schools as it was essential to ensure that all the necessary support mechanisms were in place prior to the schools embarking on academy status.  In response to a question of what would happen in the event that schools did not convert, the Director of Education, acknowledging that there was currently a period of changing Government policy, highlighted that the Education White Paper published by the previous Conservative Government had indicated that once a local authority had reached tipping point schools would be forced to convert as part of a multi academy trust.  The position for special schools was different as these schools worked directly with the Local Authority’s Special Educational Needs department.  It was the intention of the Local Authority to work with all schools to identify the best way forward.

In response to a question concerning any learning that LB Bromley could take from the investigation that had been conducted into test results at Harris Academies in Tottenham, the Director of Education confirmed that within Bromley there were robust moderation processes in place to ensure that test results accurately reflected performance.  The Local Authority was in the process of commissioning a new provider for this moderation but the Director was confident that standards of moderation would remain high.  A number of Headteachers within the Borough had indicated that they felt over moderated this Summer but the Director stressed that this robust process should give the Local Authority, parents, pupils and schools confidence in the Bromley results that had been published.

In response to a question from the Chairman concerning is thoughts on grammar schools, particularly in the North of the Borough, the Portfolio Holder confirmed that he was broadly supportive of grammar schools and would welcome applications for such schools.  The Portfolio Holder reported that he believed that grammar schools would be well received by a number of residents within the Borough.  In making these comments that Portfolio Holder stressed the need to ensure that the was a range of provision across  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17