Apologies were received from Cllr Williscroft and Cllr Kirby, with Cllr Mundy as substitute.

Apologies were received from Cllr Kaweesa (Cabinet Member for Children’s Services).

Cllr Aidan Mundy is a Local Authority Governor at Sherwood Primary School in Pollards Hill.

Cllr Billy Hayes is a Local Authority Governor at Gorringe Park Primary School.

Cllr Michael Butcher is a Local Authority Governor at St Peter and St Paul CE Primary School.

There were no other declarations of pecuniary interest.

Panel members confirmed that these were a true and accurate record of the previous meeting.

Bev Hendricks introduced the report which provides information on the latest Ofsted outcomes, EHCP plans, SEND strategy, Safety Valve programme and new special school, U-Turn Project and a new initiative with ‘My Ends’. The report also covers work completed to celebrate Young Carers Day, an update on the child and adolescent toward parent harmful abuse project and a summary of the LADO annual report.

100% of Merton schools have now been judged as either ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. Bev Hendricks thanked the school community and everyone’s concerted efforts to achieve this. Work must now continue to ensure schools are a reason why people want to live and work in Merton.

Feedback from the DfE is that Merton is overdelivering on objectives to ensure children with complex needs have those met in an educational setting. For example, work is being completed on short breaks provisions. The LGA were invited to do a SEND peer review which found that there were good partnerships in place and raised 5 key areas for Merton to consider progressing. In the calendar year 2025 Merton have discontinued 46 EHCPs. Merton are on track to open the Chaucer Centre in September 2025 to be a satellite intermediary site while dialogue with the DfE around building a new special school in Merton are ongoing. 

The Turnaround Project aims to work with young people on the fringes of the Criminal Justice System and divert them away from negative behaviour, towards positive community engagement. The project offers spaces for 48 young people over a three-year period. The project has been commended and only 2 have gone on to re-offend.

‘My Ends’ provision brings networks of local people together to deliver meaningful change where they live and work. Data on this project can be brought to a future panel.

Young carers day took place today (12/03/2025). Feedback on this will also be provided to members. 

The Child and Adolescent towards Parent Harmful Abuse (CAPHB) project is delivered by Merton. The CAPHB practitioner has supported 16 children across 14 families. This project requires time to build up professional trust and Merton would like to see the numbers supported increased.

John Shelley (Local Authority Designated Officer) explained that the LADO is responsible for receiving allegations and concerns about staff members and volunteers who work with children. The aim is to reduce risk and oversee responses to the allegations and make a decision about whether threshold for harm has been met based on the balance of probability.

The LADO annual report sets out trends, priorities for the year ahead and experiences of those who have had contact with the LADO. Most referrals received in 2023/2024 were received from schools and most concerns were around physical harm. Children with additional needs are disproportionally affected most by this.

If the allegation doesn’t meet the threshold, it can be dealt with by the employer, although the LADO can still provide oversight. The LADO process can sometimes act as a deterrent itself. 95% of referrals  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Rosemary Frimpong introduced the report which details how the area performed in 2023/2024. The overall number of children in care remained steady and remains well below the London and National averages. However, absent parenting, the category for recording unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, is a significant category in Merton. This is due to the support all authorities offered to Kent with their Emergency Response Plan (ERP) to accommodate the influx of children at the border with an agreement to take children beyond their quotas.

In Merton, 20% of the children in care are Black, African, Caribbean, or Black British, which is lower than London's 27%. In the reporting year, 15 sets of legal proceedings involving 19 children were concluded. The average length of proceedings was 48 weeks, which is consistent with the previous year.

Children have continued to have the opportunity to express their opinions and take part in their Children in Care Reviews allowing their voices to be heard. There are 5 children with placement orders waiting to be adopted.

There were a lot of foster care enquires this year. An officer has been employed to work with on enquires to ensure there are enough foster careers for children in care. The Mockingbird Family Model is flourishing and plays a vital role in attracting new foster carers to Merton. Some children aged 17 years or above live in semi semi-independent accommodation supported by key workers.

Rosemary Frimpong noted that Merton is performing well regarding children living locally within the borough. However, Merton have experienced more fluctuations in the percentage of children with three or more placements.

In response to questions:

-Getting children stable in one home is a challenge but remains the priority. Stability meetings, care planning and life story work takes place to minimise instability. It was noted that numbers are relatively low which can cause a large spike in percentages when a placement is changed.

-The legal status of unaccompanied asylum seekers is set out in the children’s act. The vast majority are over 16 and brought into care with consent. It was noted that they are treated like any other child in the care system. Merton have a connection with the South London Refuge Association to ensure they have legal representation.

-There is a gap between the number of fostering enquires and home visits because an enquiry could just be asking for information without providing personal details. This means there is a fairly long process until a home visit would take place.

-If a child is accepted into university but doesn’t have the legal right to remain in country Merton can support them through university. The team work to ensure their legal status is confirmed by the age of 21.

-Merton have a good rate of retention of foster carers in comparison to other local authorities.  

-The London Pledge is in place to ensure care leavers know they can get council tax relief. The participation team also run workshops for young people. For example, through the care leavers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Elizabeth Fitzpatrick introduced the report which discusses standards in schools and academic outcomes as well as attendance, exclusion and suspension rates. The report benchmarks Merton with national averages and statistical neighbours and shows how Merton plan to have continuous improvement.

Clare Dudman noted that at the point of writing the report 95% of Merton schools were judged as good or outstanding, however this is now 100%. In addition, the Progress 8 score in Merton is well above the national average and ranks the Borough 3rd in the country while the Good Level of Development (GLD) in 2024 is 2.2 percentage points above the national average.

85% of pupils reached the expected standard for phonics decoding in Merton. At Key Stage 2 (KS2), attainment in reading and mathematics is significantly above the national averages. Although writing attainment is above national averages there is a relative underperformance in comparison with reading and writing which Merton is aiming to improve. In KS5 Merton remains above London averages for Tech Level and Applied General qualifications, where the average grade is a distinction, in comparison with a Merit nationally and in London.

Elizabeth Fitzpatrick explained that the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training has risen slightly in comparison with the previous year which is in line with national rises. However, Merton is still significantly lower than London and national averages.

Merton are aiming to bring attendance to pre pandemic levels. Improvements have been made but this remains a point of focus. Merton had no primary and only one special school permanent exclusion in 2023-2024 while the number of children who are electively home educated has remained significantly higher post pandemic.

In response to questions:

-There are trends from the pandemic which continue to be monitored. For example, the number of referrals for children to have a needs assessmenthas risen. There is a theory that children who were in year 6 during the first covid lockdown were significantly impacted.

-Merton’s electively home educated processes have been scrutinised by Ofsted. Merton have added additional capacity and reviews to see as many children as possible. It was noted that despite being mindful of the risks, home education is a positive choice for some families.

-Visits to home educated children are done in person and online. For learning to be deemed effective there needs to be a balance including socialisation, art and music. Opportunities involving the borough of sport are also sent to home educated children.

-The government have provided recruitment retention toolkits to reduce workload and ensure good work/life balance for staff. Some schools do have job shares, particularly in Primary schools. However, feedback from school leaders is that this has not been a large issue.

-The red indicators for KS2 reading and writing are about Merton’s performance in comparison to outer London neighbours. In contrast to nation levels, Merton is performing well. The colours are coded according to previous years data.

-The drop in the proportion of 16 – 17-year-olds participating in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Officers were thanked for their continued work.

The work programme was agreed.