Agenda item

Members to note and discuss the Cabinet response to the Commissions review of school exclusions.

8.1  The Commission completed its in-depth review of school exclusions in December 2021.  The Executive responses to the Commission's recommendations were considered and agreed by Cabinet at its meeting on March 14th 2022.  The Cabinet response, including the detailed response to the recommendations reviewed by the Commission noting that  Hackney Education agreed in-full to 17 of the 18 recommendations made.

8.2  The Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Children’s Social Care reiterated that tackling school exclusions and the associated disproportionalities was a priority for the Council and welcomed the recommendations of the Commission.  It was hoped that exclusions should be reduced to below national averages. 

8.3  In relation to recommendation 10 (which was partially agreed) the Chair acknowledged the challenges of supporting what were independent (or free) schools.  It was hoped that an expanded site and new role for the Pupil Referral Unit would reduce the need for children to be placed in other alternative provision (AP).  The Chair noted that within the site visits to AP, it was noted that the standard of facilities at some of these settings fell well below what other secondary schools were offering pupils.  The Commission wanted a commitment that whichever setting children were being placed, be it in maintained or alternative provision sites, that there were clear standards of provision.  The Commission felt that greater assurance was needed in that existing facilities meet the needs of AP attendees.

The Director of Education noted that a dedicated officer was working on developing much closer contact with the AP sector in relation to performance monitoring, quality assurance and support to ensure improvements are delivered. In response to children’s rights and behaviour policies, the Director noted that a Diversity and Inclusion Systems Lead has been appointed to take forward the Diversity & Inclusion Charter.

The Cabinet Member for Families, Early Years, Parks & Play noted that the SEND Green Paper would provide additional status for AP which would assist  developments in this area and that work of the Commission in this area had been welcomed.

8.4  Given the length and detail within the report it was agreed that it would be helpful to develop a summary of the report which could be circulated to more widely.

Agreed: That the Commission develop a short summary of the report which can be disseminated more widely across the Council.

8.5  A member of the Commission suggested that Recommendation 1 (relating to exclusion data monitoring and oversight) might also include some reference to SEND status of children.  It was also noted that UNICEF were operating an education programme in primary schools to ensure that children were more aware of their rights and to encourage schools to develop more inclusive and positive behaviours policies.  The Chair responded by saying it was hoped that the Commission would be able to pick up some of this additional work in this year's work programme.  The Commission would write to the Inclusion Team to ascertain if SEND status can be included within the monitoring report due in October 2022.

Action: To write to the Head of Wellbeing & Education Safeguarding to request that SEND status be included in the Exclusions monitoring report which is due October 31st 2022.

8.6  The recommendations are normally reviewed 6-9 months after agreement by Cabinet which would require the follow up report to come around the end of the year or the beginning of 2022.

Action: To write to Hackney Education to confirm that an update on the recommendations would be taken around December 2022 or January 2023 (depending on work programme commitments).