Report published following inspection of Flintshire County Council’s Education Services

Leaders at Flintshire County Council are committed to further strengthening the county’s Education Services following the publication of a new Estyn report.

Estyn, the education and training inspectorate for Wales, inspected the Council’s Education and Youth Services in July and has today (August 24) published its findings.

The report says Flintshire’s Education Services are led by committed officers who understand the challenges facing their services and have implemented “purposeful changes” to support schools and vulnerable learners during a period of considerable financial and organisational pressure.

However, inspectors concluded that the Council causes significant concern.

The Council accepts the report’s findings and is working to strengthen services in the areas of concern identified.

The report makes five recommendations:

·       Address the safeguarding concerns identified during the inspection at both a corporate and service level

·       Strengthen strategic planning to address the risks posed by school deficits and improve the financial sustainability of schools

·       Improve the effectiveness of scrutiny so that elected members focus consistently on strategic risks, learner outcomes and the long-term      improvement of education services

·       Strengthen strategic leadership and improve the quality and consistency of self-evaluation and improvement planning

·       Strengthen collaborative working across portfolio and service areas to ensure more effective support and challenge for schools

While the report identifies several areas requiring urgent improvement, it also recognises a number of strengths within the Education Service.

Inspectors acknowledge there is a “strong commitment” among senior leaders to improve services.

The Council’s recently established School Improvement Service is said to be building strong relationships with schools, providing increasingly effective support and quality assurance, which is already having a positive impact.

The report also recognises the Council’s approach to supporting and challenging schools that are causing concern, saying there are several examples where this has contributed to improvements, particularly in the primary sector.

The report says that addressing the impact of poverty on learners’ well-being is a Council-wide priority, adding that staff’s strong ambition to improve the welfare and well-being of children and their families is a “notable strength”.

Inspectors also observed that the Council promotes a positive safeguarding culture across all services, and this has been further strengthened by recent leadership changes.

The report goes on to say the Council has invested appropriately in expanding support for neurodivergent pupils in response to increased demand. It praises the work of Plas Derwen PRU in sharing expertise with mainstream settings through effective outreach and collaboration work.

A separate report into Flintshire’s Youth Services has also been published today, which says the service provides a wide range of valuable opportunities that support young people’s personal, social and emotional development well, benefits from strong leadership, enthusiastic and experienced staff and highlights two areas of particularly strong practice.

Chief Executive Neal Cockerton said:

“Both reports acknowledge the enthusiastic and positive work of the teams within the Education and Youth Service.

“The Estyn report on the Council’s Education Service specifically makes five recommendations, acknowledges the pressurised environment the service is working in and the steps being taken to continue to deliver high quality education services to our schools. 

“The five recommendations set out in the report by Estyn have already started to be built upon and the areas strengthened. I, and officers in the service, take seriously the matters raised in the report and are fully committed to taking action to address them as we work closely with Estyn.

“Staff within both services have and continue to work incredibly hard and this has been noted within both reports. I take this opportunity to thank them for the work they continue to carry out with our children and young people.”

Councillor Dave Hughes, Council Leader, said:

“While the report identifies areas where we need to improve, it also recognises the many strengths within the service which give us a solid foundation on which to build.

“We are committed to learning from these findings and driving forward the changes needed.”

The Council will draw up an action plan setting out how it will address these recommendations, and Estyn will monitor progress against this plan during a series of follow-up visits.

Both reports are available to read on the Estyn website:

http://www.estyn.gov.wales