Cllr Caroline Cooper-Marbiah, Cabinet Member for Education, provided members with an update, highlighting the following:

·         Ofsted inspections: a number of schools have now received the outcome of their Ofsted inspections.  Sherwood, St Marks, St John’s Fisher and Abbotsbury have all retained their good judgements.  Cricket Green has retained its outstanding judgement.  Ricards has moved from good to outstanding and Gorringe Park from requires improvement to good.  As a result, all of the secondary schools supported by the Council are good or outstanding and 91% of all the Council supported schools are good or outstanding.  This means 93% of pupils are at good or outstanding schools in Merton.  The school improvement team is working with those schools where education requires improvement;

·         Secondary school applications: an additional 268 applications have been received this year compared to last for secondary school places.  Of these 209 are from Merton residents and 255 list one of Merton’s schools as their first choice.  This matches the predictions made by officers.  The increased demand will be met by the development of Harris Wimbledon; and

·         Harris Wimbledon: work is currently ongoing with the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and the Harris Federation to ensure the temporary school at Whately Avenue is ready to be opened in September 2018.  However, the focus is also on building the new school on the permanent site in High Path.  One obstacle has been overcome with the completion of the call-in process on the Cabinet’s decision to award the contract for the development of Merton Hall.  The additional obstacles of the application to Historic England to list Merton Hall, the application to have it recognised as an Asset of Community Value and the Judicial Review are all being dealt with as the new school is very much needed as demonstrated by this year’s secondary school application numbers.

In response to member questions, the following clarification was provided:

·         The application for a Judicial Review with regard to Merton Hall has been brought by a resident and relates to the planning consent received to redevelop Merton Hall for use by the Elim Church.  Yvette Stanley, Director for Children, Schools and Families stated that she would brief members as soon as it is possible to make more information available.  (As provided: the Claimant withdrew their Judicial Review.  This followed the Decision of the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport not to add Merton Hall to the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.);

·         The school improvement team works with all the Merton family of schools but increases engagement with those that require improvement.  This involves both support and challenge focused around the issues highlighted by Ofsted and the action detailed in the Ofsted action plan.  This has been shown to work through the example of Gorringe Park which has recently moved from requires improvement to good; and

·         Merton is on par with the rest of England and just behind the rest of London with regard to Ofsted judgements for its schools.  The difference with the rest of London reflects the split between inner and outer London schools and the additional funding received by inner London schools.

Cllr Katy Neep, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, provided members with an update, highlighting the following:

·         Care leaver housing: welcomed that this had been subject to a cross Panel conversation but noted there is more work to do especially as the duty on the Council is increasing and over-crowding is becoming more of an issue.  Highlighted to the link to the Think Family policy, work on which is being accelerated as a result of these changing conditions;

·         Knife crime: highlighted that 20% of knife crime incidents in London have a connection to Merton even though these occur outside the borough.  Highlighted the need to work with adolescents and the importance of contextualised safeguarding;

·         Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs): these continue to be a focus.  Feedback from families about this process is good but they take time which is causing pressure on resources; and

·         Local Government Chronical awards: celebrated that the Children, Schools and Families Department is one of five shortlisted for an award from the Local Government Chronical.  Regardless of the outcome, this is a successful achievement in its own right.