Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Education and Schools introduced a covering report and letter relating to the inspection by Ofsted of the arrangements for supporting school improvement, which had been undertaken between 24 - 28 November 2014.  The formal notification from Ofsted, in the form of a letter dated 1 December 2014, had not been received until after the statutory publication of the papers for the meeting and the Chair agreed that it could be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency under the provisions of Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

The Cabinet Member advised that, overall, the report was very positive and acknowledged the excellent working relationship between the Council and school leaders, recognising in particular the autonomy of school leaders to drive through improvements.  Some areas for development had been identified and an action plan was being produced to deal with those issues.  It was noted that had the inspection been carried out under the previous framework, the arrangements would have been judged ‘effective’ which had been afforded to only two of fifteen local authorities inspected since May 2013.

The Cabinet Member for Education and Schools placed on record her appreciation to all involved in the inspection and the Leader of the Council extended his congratulations to the schools, pupils and his Council colleagues for their work which had culminated in such a positive inspection.

Cabinet resolved to note the contents of the inspection report.