Agenda, decisions and minutes

The agenda and reports associated with this minute can be located 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.

The Committee had before it an urgent notice of motion by the Convener in the following terms:-

That Committee agrees to receive a verbal update on the situation at Dalguise Adventure in which pupils from city schools experienced illness and were returned home early; and furthermore instructs that a service update is produced in advance of the next scheduled Education and Children’s Services Committee meeting.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the urgent notice of motion.

Further to the decision taken at article 1, the Committee then heard from the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services in relation to six primary schools returning home from Dalguise Adventure Centre following a sickness outbreak.  Ms Sheppard explained that the authority had been assured of a deep clean having been undertaken, and had followed advice from Public Health.  However, after the children had arrived, staff had raised some concerns but had been assured there was nothing to be worried about.  The pond area had been closed off and paper plates and bottled water were in use, however Ms Sheppard advised that there had been no explanation of why these additional mitigations were in place.  By the Wednesday, six children had become ill, and staff had escalated their concerns to their Head Teachers.  Ms Sheppard explained that the authority did not feel that appropriate assurance had been given by the Centre in response to the concerns raised and the decision had therefore been taken to remove the children from the Centre.  37 children had become ill, and 6 adults.  Ms Sheppard advised that she had requested that the Council’s Health and Safety team review the process followed by the Education Service and further information would be provided in the service update which had been requested by the Committee.

Ms Sheppard answered questions from Members.

The following transparency statements were noted:-

·       In relation to the Urgent Notice of Motion moved by the Convener, Mr Crawford advised, for reasons of transparency, that his daughter had attended Dalguise Adventure but he did not consider that this amounted to an interest which would prevent him from participating in the item.

·       In relation to item 10.1 (Consultation Report: Establishment of Catchment Areas for Gaelic Medium Education), the Vice Convener advised, for reasons of transparency, that her daughter would be attending the Gaelic wing of Gilcomstoun School after summer, but she did not consider that this amounted to an interest which would prevent her from participating in the item.

·       Finally, in relation to item 10.8 (Inspection Reporting), Mrs Cardno advised that she had a child at Forehill Primary School, but that as the report was in relation to the Forehill Early Learning and Childcare setting, she did not consider that this amounted to an interest which would prevent her from participating in the item.

The Committee had before it the minute of its meeting of 21 March 2023 for approval.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the minute as a correct record.

The Committee had before it the minute of the Special meeting of 30 March 2023 for approval.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the minute as a correct record.

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

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       in relation to item 31 on the planner (Northfield ASG Primary Schools Excess Capacity - Outline Business Case), to note that the Chief Officer – Corporate Landlord would advise Members when the website had been updated in respect of the school roll data; and

(II)      to otherwise note the planner.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which detailed the status of key performance measures relating to the Children’s and Family Services function, and provided an update in relation to implementation of the Aberdeen City Council National Improvement Framework Plan 2022/23.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the report and provide comments and observations on the information contained in the report Appendices.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services would circulate information on the deadlines for university admissions once this was available; and

(ii)       to otherwise note the report.

With reference to article 14 of the minute of the meeting of the Education Operational Delivery Committee of 8 September 2022, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which detailed the outcome of a recent statutory public consultation on the proposal to create catchment areas for the existing Gaelic Medium Education (GME) provisions at Hazlehead Academy and Gilcomstoun School.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      agree to implement a catchment area for the existing Gaelic Medium Education provision at Hazlehead Academy, as defined within Map A in the consultation report at Appendix 1 of this report, with effect from 1 April 2024;

(b)      agree to implement a catchment area for the existing Gaelic Medium Education provision at Gilcomstoun School, as defined within Map B in the consultation report at Appendix 1 of this report, with effect from 1 April 2024; and

(c)      agree to refer the matter to the budget setting process for 2024/25, for the establishment of a budget to fund the cost of providing free school transport to the Gaelic Medium Education provisions at Hazlehead Academy and Gilcomstoun School, for those pupils eligible to receive it.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to agree in principle to implement a catchment area for the existing Gaelic Medium Education provision at Hazlehead Academy, as defined within Map A in the consultation report at Appendix 1 of this report, with effect from 1 August 2023;

(ii)       to agree in principle to implement a catchment area for the existing Gaelic Medium Education provision at Gilcomstoun School, as defined within Map B in the consultation report at Appendix 1 of this report, with effect from 1 August 2023; and

(iii)      to instruct the Chief Officer – Operations and Protective Services, in conjunction with the Chief Officer - Finance to identify a source of appropriate funding  for the cost of providing free school transport to the Gaelic Medium Education provisions at Hazlehead Academy and Gilcomstoun School for those pupils eligible to receive it, and to report back to the July meeting of this Committee for further consideration of implementation of the catchment areas referred to in recommendations (i) and (ii) above.

The Committee had before it a report by the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services which detailed a high-level evaluation of the Easter in the City programme and sought delegated authority to design and deliver a programme for the upcoming school holiday periods (summer and autumn 2023 and spring 2024).

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the high-level evaluation of the Easter in the City programme;

(b)      instruct the Chief Officer – Education to design and deliver a programme for the summer, autumn (2023) and spring (2024) holiday periods using the budget allocated by Council, in line with the recommendation (option 3) as laid out within the options appraisal, Appendix B; and

(c)      instruct the Chief Officer – Education to report to Committee on the impact of the summer, autumn (2023) and spring (2024) programmes following delivery.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

The Committee received a presentation from Mr Mark Jones, Quality Improvement Manager, in relation to ABZ Campus before considering a report by the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services which provided additional detail on the progress made to date in establishing ABZ Campus in order to broaden the senior phase curriculum and align it with growth and volume sector industries.

Members thanked Mr Jones for his informative presentation and the vast amount of work which had been undertaken and asked a number of questions.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the progress made in preparing for the launch of the first phase of ABZ Campus;

(b)      instruct the Chief Officer – Education to launch Phase 1 of ABZ Campus in June 2023;

(c)      instruct the Chief Officer – Education to prepare Phase 2 of ABZ Campus for launch in June 2024; and

(d)      instruct the Chief Officer – Education to report back on progress within one calendar year.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

The Committee received a presentation from Mr Charlie Love, Quality Improvement Officer, on the Aberdeen Computing Collaborative, prior to consideration of a report by the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services which provided an overview of the Collaborative and its progress, and detailed next steps to take forward the education recommendations of the Scottish Technology Ecosystem: Review, with a specific emphasis on improving the delivery of Computing Science from ages 3 to 18 and beyond.

Members thanked Mr Love for his informative presentation and asked a number of questions.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the progress made by the Aberdeen Computing Collaborative and its contributions to computing science education in Aberdeen City; and

(b)      instruct the Chief Officer – Education to continue support for this initiative.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it a report by the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services which provided an update on the findings of the Health & Wellbeing surveys undertaken within Aberdeen City Schools in November and December 2022 and the current support in place for wellbeing, both physical and mental.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the content of the report and the data shared within Appendix A;

(b)      instruct the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services to consider the findings of the report and plan next steps as part of work being taken forward through the Children’s Services Plan and associated National Improvement Framework Plan; and

(c)      instruct the Chief Officer – Education to report the findings of the next Health and Wellbeing surveys to Committee within one calendar year.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

With reference to article 8 of the minute of its previous meeting, the Committee had before it a report by the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services which detailed the outcome of the consultation process for the new school building in Torry and sought formal endorsement of the new name.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the outcome of the consultation process and formally endorse the name of the new school as Greyhope School, to take effect immediately in preparation for the opening of the new school building, anticipated to be in Autumn 2023.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendation.

With reference to article 2 of the minute of its special meeting of 30 March 2023, the Committee had before it a report by the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services which provided an update on the progress made in establishing the Northfield Advisory Group, as instructed with the approval of the governance framework for Northfield Academy at the special meeting of the Committee.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note that the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services would liaise with the Council’s communications team to ensure that the positive work being done at Northfield Academy was communicated to external media sources;

(b)      endorse the proposed membership of the Advisory Group as outlined in the report; and

(c)      instruct the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services to routinely report the outputs of each meeting of the Advisory Group to the next scheduled meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it a report by the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services which detailed how Aberdeen City schools and Early Learning and Childcare settings had engaged with His Majesty’s Inspectors of Education

(HMIe) and The Care Inspectorate since March 2023.

The report provided updates on the following:-

Harlaw Academy

Dyce Academy

Broomhill ELC

Rocking Horse Nursery

Kirkhill ELC

Abbotswell ELC

Forehill ELC

Flexible Childcare Services (Tillydrone)

Orchard Brae ELC

Heathryburn ELC

Bruce Nursery

Marchburn Children’s Home

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the content of the report; and

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

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to congratulate staff at Marchburn Children’s Home on the positive inspection following the unannounced visit; and

(ii)       to approve the recommendation.

At this juncture, the External Members of the Committee departed the meeting.

The Committee had before it a report by the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services which presented an annual report on the progress of the Council’s Corporate Parenting responsibilities outlined in Part 9 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014; and also presented the refreshed Corporate Parenting Plan 2023-2026 (Appendix 2) to the Committee for endorsement.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the Corporate Parenting Annual Report 2022 (Appendix 1) detailing progress and activities against key Corporate Parenting duties; and

(b)      note and endorse the Corporate Parenting Plan 2023 -2026 (Appendix 2) and delegate authority to the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services to submit the Plan to the Children’s Services Board for approval.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services could share the MCR Pathways evaluation with Members when it was available; and

(ii)       to approve the recommendations.

-      COUNCILLOR MARTIN GREIG, Convener