CABINET MEMBER REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

Posted By: Irene Davidson
Date Posted: 01/05/2009

ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

CABINET MEMBER REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE CABINET MEMBER FOR CHILDREN, SCHOOLS & FAMILIES TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON 29th APRIL 2009


Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Children, Schools & Families Portfolio.

SCHOOLS SERVICE

Ofsted School Inspections
We are very pleased that when Ofsted visited Balderstone Technology it was judged to no longer require Special Measures. The school has come out of this category earlier than anticipated. This now means that we have no Secondary Schools in Special Measures. This is very good news.

Middleton Technology School is highlighted as one of the 12 outstanding secondary schools in the country.

We are also pleased to say that Heap Bridge School has improved significantly and is now out of the Ofsted category.

Since September 2008 of the 16 schools inspected, 8 were judged to be outstanding (50%). This shows that our investment in children’s futures is recognised and our schools are providing better and better quality education.

However Hollin Primary School in Middleton was placed in Special Measures when it was inspected recently. An Interim Executive Board has been established in order to support the school coming out of Special Measures as speedily as possible.

Building Schools for the Future
The £200 million BSF Secondary Schools Procurement remains on timetable. Since the last Council meeting another milestone has been reached with the announcement of the two bidders selected to engage in the final stages of dialogue. These are Galliford Try and Inspiredspaces.

Preparations are underway for implementation of the first parts of the programme. A Temporary Governing Body has now been established for the new school to replace Balderstone Technology College & Springhill High School. They will be responsible for the setting up of the new Foundation School in September 2010.


The Schools Personnel Team are supporting the Temporary Governing Body in the recruitment of the Headteacher and in establishing the staffing structure.

Sixth Form College
The LSC have confirmed, in writing, their agreement to provide Capital Grant Support to RVIC of up to £25,113,226 to meet the capital costs of the project and work has now started on preparing the site for Rochdale’s VI College which will co-exist next to Hopwood Hall College, Rochdale Campus, at St Mary’s Gate. Students currently in Year 10 will be amongst the first people to use this facility when it opens in September 2010.

“The tall, imposing modern building that is planned will be a striking feature at a key gateway into Rochdale. An end elevation will be highly visible on the long downhill approach along Manchester Road. There will be a positive first impression of the town.”

A scale model of the College will be displayed at the Town Hall during the following events to further publicise and inform the general public:

o “Adult Learners Week” taking place from Monday 18th May until Tuesday 2nd June
o “Future First 2009” taking place on 15th and 16th October

Healthy Schools
We now have 84% of schools with the National Healthy School Status and are on track to reach the stretch target of 85%.


LEARNERS & YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICE

We have made good progress with the Play Pathfinder capital works. Bringing in £2 million over two years, I am pleased to say that we are on target with our first year’s developments. New or refurbished play areas are now open in Milnrow Memorial Park, Hare Hill Park, at Cloverhall, in Ashbrook Hey Lane, Stoneyfield Park, Chesham Avenue, Denehurst Park, Springfield Park, South Street, at the King George V site, at Kirkway Stocks and the playable open space at Tintern Road. They provide exciting places for the children of the Borough to get out and about and play safely.

We have also been successful in our bid for the Youth Crime Action Plan initiative. This has brought an extra £700,000 to the Borough over two years to extend the joint working between the Council and the Police, for example through detached multi-agency teams led by the Youth Service and through additional police patrols after school. Information from Townships feeds into the Partnership Business Group which identifies hotspots for anti-social behaviour and this additional resource helps address the problems identified. There is also funding to extend the work of the Family Intervention Project to focus on those families where anti-social behaviour is causing problems.
The Youth Offending Team has continued to lead reparation work with young people. The winter period limits some of the outdoor work but a recent success has been the preparation of meals for residents on Freehold – shepherd’s pie and apple crumble have been well received. Now that the weather is improving, if there are local projects where young people could undertake work, Members are invited to contact the Youth Offending Team.

One of the most important measures of success for our young people is whether they are able to go into further education, training or employment when they reach school leaving age. This year, based on the figures for the November-January period, we have done better than our target; just 8.1% of the young people who left Year 11 and who live in Rochdale were not in education, employment or training. It is also an improvement on last year’s figure and, given the current economic difficulties, is a testament to the good work in schools and by the Connexions Service.

Youth Offending Team
Young people continue to participate in reparation schemes across the Borough. Just over 300 young people have been involved in reparation as part of their court orders and under the prevention agenda and these have included Rochdale Cemetery, Firgrove Playing Fields, litter picks in Milnrow Precinct, Oldham Rd and Heywood and continued work at St Thomas’s.

We have extended this scheme under the Youth Crime Action Plan to include projects on a Friday evening and Saturday.

This has resulted in removing and making good property damaged by graffiti on Langley, Lunch club for elderly and infirm on Freehold, decorating for the elderly on Freehold and clearing snow on Kirkholt.

Young people have made items to be sold for charities including arts and crafts materials, bird boxes, window boxes and greetings cards.

Future projects will include growing vegetables on an allotment we have acquired, work at Healey Primary school, work at St Andrew’s Church in the town centre and work with the Victim Support agency.

We will also be working with Milnrow Housing Office to help clear gardens in preparation for the Council to erect new fences.


CHILDREN’S SOCIAL CARE

Numbers of children in care continue to rise. On the 31st March 2009 the figure was 413, whereas it was 350 on the 31st March 08 (18% increase). This is placing significant pressures on the service. Some additional resources are being allocated to respond to these extra demands. Recruiting even more RMBC foster carers is a key priority for 2009/2010 and beyond. Service demands in other parts of the service, eg front line teams working with children at risk at home, have also increased significantly.
Following the Haringey tragedy the independent practice review into safeguarding practice within children’s social care has commenced and is expected to be completed in May 2009. Elected members will be advised of the outcome of this review via the Corporate Parent’s Forum and I would ask Members of Council to make every effort to attend these meetings.

Retention and recruitment of social workers is at a high level at the moment with very few vacancies in the front line teams. It is essential that we maintain this position given the service pressures referred to above.

Our RMBC residential children’s homes continue to achieve good inspection ratings from OFSTED as a result of unannounced inspection visits. This is very impressive.

COUNCILLOR IRENE DAVIDSON
29 APRIL 2009

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Children, Schools & Families Portfolio.