Issue - meetings

The Panel considered the report of the Head of Economic Development and Skills providing and overview of post 16 education and training in Southampton.

The details set out in the conclusions and emerging issues were high-lighted to members, especially the progress that had been made in the reduction of NEETS.  However the number of care leaves within the group was disproportionately high and needed to be addressed.

Levels of apprenticeships within the City was high and was an area that had been widely promoted.

Concerns were raised about the overall performance at Key Stage 5 pupils.  It was necessary to understand which students were remaining within the City post 16 and what impact this was having on the data.  There would also be an impact of the students coming in from outside of the City to one of the post 16 provisions.  Comprehensive data relating to post 16s was an issue as this was not information held by local authorities.

Principles from schools and colleges would be attending the next meeting.

Questions were asked about how reliable the indicator was, however it was stated that as this was what was used it was necessary to work with it.

It was reported that there were likely to be many changes to post 16 provision in the near future due to funding cuts, together with encouragement from the Government for colleges to review provisions alongside other establishments.  Southampton colleges currently have a steering group looking at the issues and were likely to report on their findings in April. Government support for any changes was for a very limited period, which was driving providers to make early decisions.

It was agreed that colleges would be requested to provide information relating to results from re-takes of GCSE English and Maths.

As a local authority it was agreed that there was a role to ensure that the City’s children receive the best outcomes. Working with statistical neighbours with good results could help learn lessons on how to achieve this.  Within the City the overall Ofsted grade was good however the outcomes statically were low.

It was agreed that it would be beneficial to have a pre-meeting before the next meeting to ensure that the structure was right in order to get the best from the colleges being in attendance.

NOTE:  Councillor Keogh declared a personal interest in the matters set out in the report, as a college lecturer and remained in the meeting and took part in the discussion and decision.