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 meeting of 16 January 2020 for approval.

The Committee resolved:-

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:-

to note the planner.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which provided a summary of the 2018-19 Annual Public Performance (Statutory Performance Indicator) Report outcomes which covered the work of Educational Services over the fiscal period.

The report recommended:-

that Committee scrutinise and provide comment on the content of the report, and the detailed Educational Services 2018-19 Annual Public Performance (Statutory Performance Indicator) outcomes contained within Appendices A and B to the report.

The Committee resolved:-

to note the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which provided an overview of the work being undertaken by the Council in order for Aberdeen to become a Child Friendly City.

The report recommended:-

that Committee

(a)       note the work undertaken to date to become a Child Friendly City; and

(b)       instruct the Chief Education Officer to establish a representative city-wide pupil forum that would meet regularly and support identification and setting of strategic priorities of the service, discuss a range of relevant issues, and influence the recommendations being brought before the Education Operational Delivery Committee.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve recommendations (a) and (b); and

(iii)       to endorse the principles and values of a children's rights-based approach to enable a Child Friendly City with empowered children and young people.

With reference to article 10 of the minute of its meeting of 12 November 2019, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which set out progress on the instruction from Committee that officers work with staff in schools and Trade Unions to address the key themes highlighted in the earlier report, and which took into account the EIS Survey commissioned in May 2019 which surveyed their members around instances of violence and aggression in schools.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

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

(b)       instruct the Programme Manager to report on the programme within three committee cycles.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to note that the clerk would circulate the EIS survey to the External Members who had not been on the Committee at the time of the original circulation;

(ii)        to note the approach being taken and progress to date;

(iii)       to acknowledge reference to the Educational Institute of Scotland survey report at 3.2.19 on Violence and Abusive Behaviour in Schools and agree that any incidents of violent and abusive behaviour are unacceptable whereby the wellbeing of staff in schools within Aberdeen City Council is being negatively impacted, and request that the Service investigates further these findings to identify the root cause(s) of the issue which is putting staff in schools at risk of harm, both physical and psychological, and identifies mitigating actions to address the issues currently being experienced;

(iv)       to instruct the Programme Manager to report on the above and the programme within three committee cycles; and

(v)        to welcome this review and its focus on the risk of exclusion and low attendance to understand better their root causes.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which provided an overview of current proposed approaches to leadership development.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)       note the direction of travel in the development of leadership capacity;

(b)       instruct the Chief Education Officer to implement and continually review the Professional Learning and Leadership Framework (Draft); and

(c)        instruct the Chief Education Officer to develop a visualisation of the Leadership Professional Learning Officer to align Local and National programmes and the ACC Capability Framework in order to clarify routes to leadership.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which provided oversight of Education Scotland and Care Inspectorate inspection reporting since the last Committee cycle.

Contained in the report were updates on inspections of Hazlehead Academy and Harlaw Academy, as well as Culter Primary School, Kittybrewster Primary School and Gilcomstoun Primary School and Nursery Class.  The report also highlighted anticipated return inspections for Orchard Brae, Dyce Primary, Kingsford Primary and Milltimber Primary Schools, and provided an update on inspections of Early Learning and Childcare.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)       note the contents of the report; and

(b)       instruct the Chief Education Officer to continue to support schools to implement improvements in order to address the recommendations made by Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

-     COUNCILLOR JOHN WHEELER, Convener