Education, Children and Young People
Chaired by Cllr Elizabeth Booker
Topics to be reviewed to June 2023:
The Education, Children and Young People’s Commission will continue to ensure progress on the improvement of Children’s Services in Newham. The Children’s Services Directorate is currently undertaking an improvement journey, which the Commission is carefully monitoring and ensuring sustained progress in line with the expectations of the regulator. This involves identifying whether key performance milestones are being met, even under challenging and changing circumstances.
The Commission is also reviewing the required improvements to services for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) following the Ofsted/Care Quality Commission inspection of service and the need to produce a Written Statement of Action in response. The Commission will work to understand the improvement journey of services for children with SEND following the Ofsted/CQC inspection and identify whether key performance milestones are being met, even under challenging and changing circumstances.
In addition to these key areas of focus, the Commission will also review the following areas:
Keeping Children Safe in Newham – the Commission will have worked to assure itself that children are safe from exploitation and harm in the borough and made recommendations on how the Council and its partners can improve upon work undertaken to achieve this.
Children not in Mainstream School in Newham – the Commission aims to have reviewed the number of children outside of education in comparison to previous years and especially pre-Covid. It will also be looking at what schools are doing to engage in children that are on their books but not attending school and looking at the quality of education that is happening.
Children and Adolescent’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Provision – The Commission will have worked to understand the impacts on mental health that are projected for children in the borough, what provision is available, whether this is adequate, and make recommendations based on findings.
This is not an exhaustive list, and the Commission may choose to modify its work programme based on specific needs and requirements.