Agenda, decisions and minutes

The agenda and reports associated with this minute can be found here.

Please note that if any changes are made to this minute at the point of approval, these will be outlined in the subsequent minute and this document will not be retrospectively altered.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 25 November 2021 for approval.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       in relation to article 13 (Campus Model for School Provision) and the request that officers would circulate the weblink to the revised school forecast data to Members once it was available, to note that officers had now received the data and were currently working through it, and it would therefore be issued to Members once available; and

(ii)       to approve the minute as a correct record.

The Committee had before it the committee business planner as prepared by the Chief Officer – Governance. 

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that item 7 (Performance Management Framework – Education Operations) had been removed from the agenda for the reasons outlined in the planner in relation to availability of data; and

(ii)       to otherwise note the planner.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which provided an update on Education Scotland and Care Inspectorate inspection reporting.  The report advised that school and Early Learning and Childcare inspections had been suspended as a result of COVID-19 however the inspection regime had resumed in October 2021 for settings and schools where a return inspection had been planned.

The report stated that six Aberdeen City schools had participated in full inspection activity with inspectors over late October through to early December 2021 and the inspection results for Harlaw Academy, Dyce School and Loirston School were presented to Committee.  It was noted that those still to be published would be shared with Members through a service update when available.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)      note the content of the report for assurance; and

(b)      instruct the Chief Officer – Education to continue to support Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) settings and schools to implement improvements in keeping with the Quality Frameworks.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

With reference to article 7 of the minute of its meeting of 20 January 2021, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which presented an evaluation of the Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare Programme and sought agreement for the development of an Early Learning and Childcare Delivery Plan for 2022-2024 based on the evaluation.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)      approve the Evaluation of the Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare

available in Appendix A and B;

(b)      instruct the Chief Officer - Education to prepare a new Early Learning and Childcare Delivery Plan for 2022-24 based on the findings of this evaluation for presentation at the next meeting of this Committee; and

(c)      note the reduction of £4.6m in ring-fenced grant funding for the Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare next year and instruct the Chief Officer – Finance to include details of the impact, alongside the other implications of the 2022/23 financial settlement, in the budget report to be presented to the Council on 7 March 2022.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that officers would provide further detail to Members via service update in relation to (a) the number of children entitled to 1140 hours who were not receiving 1140 hours; and (b) the number of children attending who received free school meals;

(ii)       to note that officers would ensure that there was communication with the External Members in relation to any education budget matters considered at the Council Budget meeting in March;

(iii)      agree that the cornerstone of our investment had been our expenditure in outdoor learning, this being reflected in the establishment of two outdoor nurseries at Hazlehead Park and Duthie Park;

(iv)      to note the Hazlehead Park and Duthie Park Outdoor Nursery provision would see Aberdeen City being the only Local Authority to offer two all year round outdoor nurseries, which were local authority run and based in urban parks, and agree the establishment of these two outdoor nurseries was a pioneering provision for the Early Years sector which the Council had made happen;

(v)      to approve the recommendations contained in the report.

With reference to article 5 of the minute of its meeting of 23 September 2021, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which presented the outcome of work undertaken with children and young people in city schools to capture their ideas to help address climate change.  A survey had been undertaken with pupil groups and school leaders and the results were presented to Committee for consideration.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)      note the work already being undertaken in schools to address climate change;

(b)      instruct the Chief Officer – Education and Chief Officer – City Growth to

progress the development of accessible information for children and young people relating to Net Zero; and

(c)      consider the suggestions on how to address climate change from our children and young people and decide which can be taken forward to be looked at in more detail.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to request that officers circulate an annual service update to provide Members with detail on progress made with the climate change initiatives work both ongoing and outlined in the report;

(ii)       to note the work already being undertaken in schools to address climate change;

(iii)      to instruct the Chief Officer – Education and Chief Officer – City Growth to progress the development of accessible information for children and young people relating to Net Zero;

(iv)      to note the suggestions on how to address climate change from our children and young people;

(v)      to instruct the Chief Officer – Education and Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning to organise an adapted child friendly version of COP26 for climate change pupil champions from Aberdeen City Schools to take place on 3 March 2022 in the Town House;

(vi)      to agree that Aberdeen City Council Schools should appoint a President from a secondary school to preside over the Child friendly COP26 event held in the Town House with appropriate support from officers; and

(vii)     to instruct the Chief Officer – Education, in consultation with the Convener of the Education Operational Delivery Committee, to liaise with the Aberdeen City Schools child friendly COP26 version event President to present the findings of this event to a special meeting of this Committee on Thursday 14 April 2022. 

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which provided an update on progress with the work undertaken in respect of Supporting Learners in Aberdeen City.  The report advised that information was included about the work undertaken to promote the Early Intervention Consultation option offered by the Educational Psychology Service, as requested by Committee at its meeting of 3 June 2021.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)      note the approach being taken and progress made to date with the programme; and

(b)      instruct the Chief Officer – Education to report on the programme within one calendar year.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to request that officers include data in relation to highly gifted children and young people in the service update due to be circulated in relation to the Early Learning and Childcare data (article 5 refers); and

(ii)       to approve the recommendations.

With reference to article 7 of the minute of its meeting of 3 June 2021, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which presented the outcomes of a statutory consultation, on a proposal to introduce school catchment areas for the existing Gaelic Medium Education provision in Aberdeen City.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)      agree to establish a catchment area for Gaelic Medium Education provision at Hazlehead Academy, to overlay the existing English medium catchment areas for Hazlehead Academy, Northfield Academy and Aberdeen Grammar School, with effect from 1 August 2022; and

(b)      agree to establish a catchment area for the existing Gaelic Medium Education provision at Gilcomstoun School, to overlay the existing English medium catchment areas for Gilcomstoun School, Ashley Road School, Mile End School and Skene Square School, with effect from 1 August 2022.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that the majority of respondents to the consultation were not supportive of the proposals; and to further note the report from Education Scotland addressing aspects of the proposal which highlighted a number of unaddressed concerns which could unintentionally have a significant impact on the learning opportunities and equity of access of GME provision for children across Aberdeen City;

(ii)       to acknowledge that Aberdeen was not in line with the national trend of increasing uptake for GME provision across Scotland and instruct the Chief Officer – Education to undertake an evaluation of how we can improve uptake in the city and report back to Committee; and

(iii)      to agree to take no action on the current proposals and instruct the Chief Officer – Corporate Landlord to consider and address the concerns from all consultees and stakeholders and further engage to explore all options for consideration and report back to Committee.

The Convener noted that it was the final meeting of the Committee prior to the local government elections and stated that he therefore wished to give his sincere thanks to the Chief Officer – Education and her team; the Committee Clerk; and the other officers who attended the Committee for their work and support throughout his time as Convener.  He thanked the Vice Convener, Councillor Imrie, for her support and placed on record his thanks to both their predecessors, Councillors Wheeler and Lesley Dunbar.  He further thanked the External Members and other Elected Members on the Committee for their helpful contributions to meetings, noting that the Committee had always worked together to achieve the best outcomes for Education, and that he was proud of the position of the service at the end of the current Council term.

The Depute Provost, Councillor Greig and Councillor Cameron also put their thanks on record, thanking the Convener for how he had conducted the meetings during his time in the chair.

-      COUNCILLOR M. TAUQEER MALIK, Convener