·         Cllr Caroline Cooper-Marbiah, Cabinet Member for Education; and

·         Cllr Kelly Braund, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

Cllr Cooper-Marbiah, Cabinet Member for Education, provided members with an overview of her priorities highlighting the following:

·         Raising standards: all of Merton’s secondary schools are judged good or outstanding. This is the same for most of Merton’s primary schools. However, there are some that are judged to require improvement. These are the main focus. The aim is to raise standards. They are being supported and challenged by the school improvement team;

·         Harris Merton: this will open in September 2018 on the temporary site in Whatley Avenue. This year, Merton received an additional 200 applications for secondary school places from within the borough demonstrating the need for this new secondary school. In fact, it is already full with a waiting list. As a result, building of the new, permanent school site on High Path is now a priority;

·         Progress of children with additional needs: whilst Merton is ranked first according to the Progress 8 measure (the progress made between the start of secondary school and the end of Key Stage 4), not all Merton’s students are making the grade. There will be a focus on the progress of those with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs);

·         Cricket Green: following the successful expansion of Perseid, Cricket Green is undergoing a similar expansion to provide additional special school places. This is a priority because of the growth in the number of students with special educational needs;

·         Fair access: making sure that all children in Merton have fair access to the borough’s schools including those are new arrivals to the borough or country. This is crucial in ensuring equality of life chances;

·         Smart Centre: this provision is for those that have been excluded from school. It offers support for reintegration and is of crucial importance to helping young people get their lives back on track;

·         Recruitment and retention of heads: working to support the recruitment and retention of heads. Merton has the advantage of good schools. Currently, exploring a range of ways and means to encourage heads to stay; and

·         All schools to have a full governing body: keen to make sure that Merton’s schools all have a full complement of governors but that these also provide the specific skills needed for effective school governance. Whilst the range of skills needed by governing boards can sometimes make it harder to recruit, these skills are important.

In response to member questions, Cllr Cooper-Marbiah and officers clarified:

·         (Rachael Wardell, Director, Children, Schools & Families) Significant changes to GCSEs mean it is difficult to provide any comparison of achievement year-on-year. In effect, a new baseline is being established;

·         (Rachael Wardell) Will go away and explore the difficulties being experienced with school maintenance contracts (fulfilled by Sodexo). Examples provided included toilet rolls running out, meaning school toilets have to be shut and an alarm going off at Rutlish for over a year. A member expressed concern regarding the additional pressure this is putting on headteachers. The Director committed to report back to the Panel.

Cllr Braund, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, provided members with an overview of her priorities highlighting the following:

·         Mitigating financial strains: need to continue to scrutinise the budget to ensure ongoing delivery of a user focused and first class/high quality service that puts children and families first;

·         Ofsted outcomes: whilst the outcome of last year’s combined inspection was good with outstanding features, need to focus on areas that are not outstanding and look at the timescales for achieving outstanding in all. Will continue to support and challenge areas where an outstanding judgement was achieved as it is important not to be complacent;

·         Transition into adulthood: keen to ensure any unnecessary barriers that are encountered during the transition to adulthood are removed. For example, that there is commonality in the language used by services for children and adults so that there is progression and continuity. This is to prevent young people feeling like they are accessing a completely new service when they make the transition to adult services;

·         Autism strategy: this has just been launched and endorsed by the Health & Wellbeing Board. It reflects the growth in children and adults in Merton who are autistic. Ensuring its delivery including redesigning the diagnostic pathway and making it accessible to parents, those with autism and other stakeholders is key; and

·         Strategic framework for Diabetes: again, this has just been launched and endorsed by the Health & Wellbeing Board. Keen to focus on the education of residents. Additionally, to provide support for those with Type 1 and encourage those with Type 2 to use exercise and other lifestyle choices to achieve better management.