Issue - meetings

Mark Ryder (Strategic Director – Communities) introduced the item and raised the following points:

·       Equality in schools includes encouraging schools to increase the participation of pupils with protected characteristics when it is disproportionately low so these students who are not participating as well on any part of the curriculum or school activities

·       A lot of school resources were used to mitigate Covid-19 problems

·       WCC must support schools to make sure they fulfil their duty in supporting these students and have all the information needed to develop skills to eliminate discrimination to promote equality of opportunity amongst all students. These resources were available on council webpages for school which were updated in July 2021 and this update had over 2000 views

·       Most schools used the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policy for schools and guidance on collecting diversity information

·       Feedback was obtained on these tools to see how successful these tools were

·       Mental health and race training was delivered in 2021 to 81 people; these sessions included looking at the impact of mental health through different characteristics and what might could be considered to resolve these issues

·       EDI content was regularly provided into education forums to help head teachers develop their school agendas around supporting inclusion

·       Department for Education (DFE) funding was used to pay for the commissioning of attendance service to support vulnerable students who had poor outcomes from equalities to support improving attendance at schools so as extra resource

·       Data was collected on educational attainment which cut across various ethnic groups but this was halted due to Covid-19 so no information was collected in Key Stage 2 and the data was not comparable to previous years. When possible, this work would be picked up again when possible

·       One of the key challenges moving forward is to understand the impacts that Covid-19 had on education equality, this work would be done with health colleagues, the economy and EDI teams across Warwickshire to decide on what these impacts are and what we could be addressed

In response to Councillor Fradlgey, Mark Ryder agreed to get an update on the Pupil Premium Project. Following a supplementary from Councillor Fradgley, Mark Ryder confirmed that these resources were accessed by academies as well as primary and secondary schools.

Councillor Bell raised concerns with autism waiting lists and schools needing support with children on a ‘managed move’, especially if they have moved school multiple times. Mark Ryder concurred that support with this would be sought.

In response to Councillor Sinclair, Mark Ryder stated that the data looked at outcomes across different ethnic groups and this could be used to look at measures to encourage participation in these groups. Following a supplementary from Councillor Sinclair, Mark Ryder confirmed that this data meant that they needed to decide if a future strategy was needed.

Mark Ryder (Strategic Director – Communities) introduced the item and raised the following points:

• Equality in schools includes encouraging schools to increase the participation of pupils with protected characteristics when it is disproportionately low so these students who are not participating as well on any part of the curriculum or school activities
• A lot of school resources were used to mitigate Covid-19 problems
• WCC must support schools to make sure they fulfil their duty in supporting these students and have all the information needed to develop skills to eliminate discrimination to promote equality of opportunity amongst all students. These resources were available on council webpages for school which were updated in July 2021 and this update had over 2000 views
• Most schools used the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policy for schools and guidance on collecting diversity information
• Feedback was obtained on these tools to see how successful these tools were
• Mental health and race training was delivered in 2021 to 81 people; these sessions included looking at the impact of mental health through different characteristics and what might could be considered to resolve these issues
• EDI content was regularly provided into education forums to help head teachers develop their school agendas around supporting inclusion
• Department for Education (DFE) funding was used to pay for the commissioning of attendance service to support vulnerable students who had poor outcomes from equalities to support improving attendance at schools so as extra resource
• Data was collected on educational attainment which cut across various ethnic groups but this was halted due to Covid-19 so no information was collected in Key Stage 2 and the data was not comparable to previous years. When possible, this work would be picked up again when possible
• One of the key challenges moving forward is to understand the impacts that Covid-19 had on education equality, this work would be done with health colleagues, the economy and EDI teams across Warwickshire to decide on what these impacts are and what we could be addressed

In response to Councillor Fradlgey, Mark Ryder agreed to get an update on the Pupil Premium Project. Following a supplementary from Councillor Fradgley, Mark Ryder confirmed that these resources were accessed by academies as well as primary and secondary schools.

Councillor Bell raised concerns with autism waiting lists and schools needing support with children on a ‘managed move’, especially if they have moved school multiple times. Mark Ryder concurred that support with this would be sought.

In response to Councillor Sinclair, Mark Ryder stated that the data looked at outcomes across different ethnic groups and this could be used to look at measures to encourage participation in these groups. Following a supplementary from Councillor Sinclair, Mark Ryder confirmed that this data meant that they needed to decide if a future strategy was needed.