Children and Families news archive

This page provides an archive of news from the Children and Families department. Also see the Latest News page for the most recent updates.

• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008

April 2008

Cross Party Forum on rationalisation - 22 April 2008

Gillian Tee, Director of Children and Families, the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “At today's meeting the group discussed population projections, the effect of immigration on school rolls and the Scottish Government's request that local authorities work towards having primary class sizes of 18. The Group also took on board feedback from the Consultative Committee for Parents and School Councils on the criteria for evaluating the school estate.

"We are still discussing the primary estate and my officers have been asked to come back to the next meeting of the Forum with more detailed information. I am absolutely clear that the Forum is not ready to recommend any school for closure or amalgamation at this stage.”

Education, Children and Families Committee – 15 April 2008

The next meeting of the Education, Children and Families Committee will take place on Tuesday 15 April. A number of key reports will go to this committee including the Children and Families Service Plan, Organisational Review and Attainment Report 2007.

Further information on these reports is included in this update and the full Agenda and Committee papers can be found on Council Papers Online by using the Committee Search button and entering the date and title of the meeting.

Children and Families Service Plan

The draft Children and Families Service Plan is due to go to the Education, Children and Families Committee on Tuesday 15 April.

The department’s vision is for all children and young people in Edinburgh to enjoy their childhood and achieve their full potential.

Our strategic objectives are:

• Children have the best start in life and are ready to succeed
• Children and young people are successful learners, confident individuals, and responsible citizens who make positive contributions to their communities
• Improve life chances, especially for those children, young people and families who are at risk
• Children and young people are physically and emotionally healthy
• Children and young people are protected from harm or fear of harm within their communities
• Children and young people live free from poverty and we reduce inequalities
  Make effective use of resources
• The plan sets out how we aim to achieve these objectives and sets targets and priorities for our service over the next three years. This plan will then feed into the wider multi-agency Children’s Plan for Edinburgh.

Organisational Review of Children and Families

A report on the outcome of the consultation on the Organisational Review of Children and Families will also go to the Education, Children and Families Committee. 137 responses were received that included staff, trade unions, schools, parent councils and other agencies.

There was general support for a number of the proposals including:

• Reducing the six Heads of Service to four and reducing the overall number of management posts
• Bringing together all services for vulnerable children including social work services, under leadership of one Head of Service
• Strengthening leadership of early years, community learning and development and schools under one Head of Service.

As a result of the proposals a number of changes have taken place and these are outlined in the report. In addition a further review of the service providing Support to Children and Families will take place to address the challenges faced by social work teams.

The recommendations put forward to committee will enable the Children and Families Department to address the budget pressures it faces and will result in £2 million savings to be achieved on an annual basis.

Attainment Report 2007

A report on achievement at pre-five and special and attainment in primary and secondary schools in 2007 has also been published and will go to the committee. This report includes information on 5-14 attainment levels for individual primary and secondary schools as well as exam result information for secondary schools.

March 2008

City of Edinburgh Council Meeting - 13 March 2008

Youngedinburgh

Each year at one of the council meetings, young people are invited to attend to provide an update on their involvement in Youngedinburgh during the past year.

The first part of the council meeting on 13 March has been reserved for this purpose. At the meeting, MORI will outline the results of the Viewfinder Survey which is carried out every three years to get the views of young people across the city.

In addition, a number of young people will give a presentation to Councillors and outline their achievements over the past year.

Schools PPP2 Contract Report

A report on the schools PPP project will also go to the council meeting. The report provides an update on recent contract negotiations to address the site issues at Craigroyston Community High School and also includes changes in the proposed opening dates for several of the schools.

* Holy Rood would be complete by Easter break but the move would be delayed until the summer holiday to avoid any disruption close to the main exam period.

Other papers at the meeting include:

• Council Funding to Third Parties
• Scottish Futures Trust – Response to Consultation

View reports in Council Papers Online by using the Committee Search button and entering the date and title of the meeting.

Education, Children and Families Committee - 18 March 2008

Strategic Management of School Provision: Intakes for August 2008

Initial indications are that the number of pupils entering P1 in August 2008 will be higher than the previous year although primary rolls overall continue to fall. In January 2007 there were 3,641 registered catchment pupils whereas comparable date as of 2008 shows 3,771 which is an increase of 130 (3.5%).

By contrast similar date for the secondary school (S1) intake suggests a drop of 114 pupils (3%) compared to 2007. Partly as a consequence of this drop in registrations, all catchment pupils will be accepted at their secondary schools without a need to prioritise out placing requests. There are still localised problems at some primary schools in meeting catchment needs and the report identifies the issues and how they will be managed.

Other reports going to the committee meeting are:

• School Session Dates 2009/10
• Education (Additional Support for Learning Scotland Act 2004) – Review of progress
• Child Protection Action Plan
• Report concerning the changes introduced by, and council implementation of, the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 and associated regulations, guidance and strategy
• Policy on the placement of children and young people with kinship carers
• Burdiehouse/Southhouse Community Centre
• Performance Report – Children and Families – Dec 2007/Jan 2008-03-11
• 20:20 Vision initiative – update
• Naming of Early Years Centre based at Queensferry Primary School

View the committee reports in Council Papers Online by using the Committee Search button and entering the date of the meeting and the name of the Committee that you are looking for.

February 2008

Organisational Review of Children and Families Department - 29 Feb 2008

A report went to the Council meeting on 21 February informing Councillors that the Director of Children and Families plans to consult with staff and stakeholders on a new management structure for the Children and Families Department.

A number of strengths have been identified in the structure but there are also a number of issues that need to be addressed:

Significant strengths that need to be maintained are:

• Widespread support for integration of education and children’s social care
• Positive feedback from external inspections on early years services, education services and community learning and development
• Staff report significant improvements made to children’s social work services over recent years
• Strong partnership arrangements have been developed with other agencies including the voluntary sector and there is huge potential for the further development of integrated services
  Good progress in developing neighbourhood teams and local coordination

At the same time, there are a number of issues that need to be addressed:

• The current management structure is expensive with more managers than other similar sized authorities
• A clear lack of accountability for city-wide strategic functions within the authority and a number of mangers with overlapping or similar responsibilities
• Key leaders, such as Head Teachers feel over-managed and distant from the Director and strategic decision making
• The recent Child Protection inspection report identified significant weaknesses in child protection arrangements
• The service faces significant financial pressures including a £2.5 million shortfall in funding to meet current staffing levels

The new management structure aims to address the issues identified above, improve service delivery and reduce management costs. It will help to:

• Clarify roles, responsibilities and accountabilities
• Improve strategic leadership and capacity
• Strengthen devolved management and empower staff at all levels
• Reduce bureaucracy and micro management
• Strengthen support to schools at the heart of their communities
• Strengthen support to vulnerable children and families; including a particular focus on strengthening children’s social work services
• Provide a balance of central and local delivery
• Coordinate and strengthen our neighbourhood arrangements
• Create more integrated services on the ground for children, families and schools building on the team around the child model
• Ensure that the service operates on a sustainable financial basis

What will the new structure look like?

The new structure proposes four heads of service with clear accountabilities:

• Head of Schools and Community Services (schools, early years, community learning)
• Head of Services for Vulnerable Children (children’s social work, children with additional support needs, youth justice)
• Head of Resources (finance, human resources, communications, ICT, asset planning, facilities management)
• Head of Planning Performance and Quality

Further information on the proposed structure can be found in the consultation paper. See the Organisational Review page of the Edinburgh Grid for Learning for all the documents.

Cross Party Forum on rationalisation - 29 Feb 2008

The Cross Party Forum set up to review the Children and Families estate met for the third time today (Friday 29 February). The group's recommendations will ultimately be fed back to the Education, Children and Families Committee at the City of Edinburgh Council.

At today’s meeting the group decided to prioritise the primary school estate. Pupil numbers have already fallen significantly in primary schools across the city. Primary schools will be reviewed in the light of the criteria developed by the Forum and informed by feedback from parents, head teachers and other stakeholders. The group decided to recommend a delay in looking again at the secondary school sector.

Gillian Tee, Director of Children and Families, the City of Edinburgh Council, said:

"We have listened to parents and from that discussion we have identified educational reasons for not going ahead with the secondary sector at this stage. While we are confident that secondary school rolls are going to fall, in line with that already experienced in the primary sector, the impact of this fall is only just starting to be evident. The Council is currently building six new secondary schools which are due to open in the next three years. It will be important to analyse the impact of these new schools on parental choice before reviewing the secondary sector. Any further review would coincide with the new schools opening in 2010/11 so that, if there are changes, children can move straight into new buildings.

For now we need to concentrate on primary schools where pupil numbers have already fallen sharply.”

January 2008

Cross Party Forum on rationalisation - 31 Jan 2008

The cross party forum set up to review the children and families estate has met for the second time (Thursday 31 January). The group's recommendations will be fed back to the Education, Children and Families committee at the City of Edinburgh Council.

At the meeting stakeholders gave the group their views on the review.

Commenting on the meeting, Gillian Tee, Director of Children and Families, the City of Edinbugh Council, said: “Today’s meeting was extremely productive and I am very encouraged that all of the stakeholders invited attended today’s meeting to offer their valuable input to this process.

Head Teachers from across the sectors recognise that we owe it to families across Edinburgh to carry out this review to allow us to continually improve the education we provide to children. They stressed the need for this review to benefit all children across the city. Head teachers also said they feel that we need to move toward sustainable fully compehensive schools. They said at today’s meeting that we need close consultation with parents and other stakeholders and a transparent process with clear criteria for all schools. ”

Statements from stakeholders following today’s meeting.

Statement from EIS

“The Teachers’ Unions recognise that sustaining excess places in CEC schools is wasteful of resources which naturally impacts on the quality of education across the Council. Consequently we are supportive of this process of evaluation which should lead to a more cost effective service to the benefit of all.

Of vital importance is the means to achieving a positive outcome. The Teachers’ Unions are committed stakeholders to the delivery of education in Edinburgh, and as such support collegiate and consensual decision making processes. Much of our submission to the evaluation committee is not only about the criteria for evaluation, but also about the evaluation process itself which requires dialogue between stakeholders to ensure joint ownership of, and commitment to, the outcomes.”

Statement from Church representatives

“We can all appreciate that the school estate must be rationalised, but it is not possible for the Catholic Church to comment on any proposals at the moment.

Little is known yet of the criteria which will be used in formulating the rationale for individual schools inclusion in any consideration for closure. It would be expected, however that all school communities who may be considered for review by the Council be involved in the consultations at the earliest possible opportunity.

All such engagement should be transparent, comprehensive and just, to avoid unnecessary public confusion and hurt in a situation which will always be difficult for the communities involved.”

Statement from parents groups represented on Forum

“Parents welcome their chance to engage in the process of the estate review.
They want to be involved in detailed discussions on the criteria and would be keen to extend direct representation on the Forum.
They look forward to a constructive and open dialogue at all stages in the process.”

Organisational Review of Children and Families Department - 11 Jan 2008

An Organisational Review of the Children and Families Department is currently taking place. Consultation has begun on the Community Learning and Development Proposals.

Anyone wishing to comment on these proposals should send their comments to Gillian MacKenzie, 1/9 Waverley Court, Council Headquarters, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh EH8 8 BG by 11 February.

The options for Departmental Management arrangements, Neighbourhood Services Management arrangements, Working Together Management and Services, Youth Services and Discretionary Services are still under consideration and will go to the Council on 21 February prior to consultation with staff. A final decision on these proposals is likely to be taken at a Council Meeting in March.

Forum on Children and Families Estate Evaluation - 11 Jan 2008

The new cross party forum set up to review the children and families estate has met for the first time. The group’s recommendations will be fed back to the Education, Children and Families Committee.

The initial meeting of the group considered its remit and also started looking at the criteria for reviewing the estate.

The membership of the group is:

• Councillor Mrs MacLaren
• Councillor Beckett
• Councillor Balfour
• Councillor Burns
• Councillor Johnstone
• Mr A C Duncan, Religious Representative
• Mrs M Bryce-Stafford, Teaching Representative
• Linda Anderton, Parent Representative (NS)
• Lynda Flex, Parent Representative (SS)
  Martin Southern, Parent Representative (PS)

The parent representatives will be ratified at the next meeting of the Consultative Committee with Parents

Commenting on the first meeting, that took place on 10 January, Gillian Tee, Director of Children and Families, said: "I am delighted that the first meeting of the Forum was productive and that we agreed a set of broad criteria to be used in evaluating the school estate. The criteria come under three main headings; educational outcomes, value for money and school rolls. It was also agreed that use of the criteria would be a guide and that the Forum would take account of wider qualitative information when detailed proposals are being discussed. I will be inviting key stakeholders to give their views at the next meeting of the Forum on 31 January."

Education, Children and Families Committee - 15 Jan 2008

The following reports are on the agenda for the Education, Children and Families Committee meeting on 15 January:

• Home based education – Policy and Procedure
• YoungEdinburgh
• 20:20 Vision Initiative – Progress Report
• Closing the Gap Strategy for Children and Families
• Mainstreaming ‘Communities that Care’

View the committee reports in Council Papers Online by using the Committee Search button and entering the date of the meeting and the name of the Committee you are looking for.

Stockbridge Primary School Catchment Review - 15 Jan 2008

Officers from the Children and Families Department have met with Stockbridge Primary School to informally discuss the process for the catchment review. The next step is to meet with neighbouring schools which could be affected by the review before drawing up a formal proposal that will be presented to the Education, Children and Families Committee. The committee will be asked to give permission for statutory consultation on the proposals to commence and a further report on the outcome of the consultation will go back to the committee, probably in the second quarter of 2008.

December 2007

20 December 2007 – The City of Edinburgh Council - 20 Dec 2007

The following reports were on the agenda for the Council Meeting on 20 December 2007:

• Schools PPP2 Progress Report
• Child Protection Improvement Project
• Child and Adult Protection Gov
• Children and Families/Fit for Future 2 Property Strategy