The York Council is set to allocate £2.3 million to repair schools in the City.
Among the scheme recommended for approval at a meeting next week are:
The full list is:
The governments OFSTED inspecting body has released a damming report into teaching standards at York High school. The inspectorate has leaked the report to the media before posting it on their web site. This is hardly the behaviour of a responsible organisation and an action which will frustrate both teachers and parents as they seek to learn more about the “failings”.
In reality several pupils at the school have done remarkably well in recent years and the denigrating comments in The Press about the Westfield community are both ill informed and prejudiced. Unfortunately open media comments pages often provide a channel for the bigoted who usually hide behind a cloak of anonymity.
The school is judged by OFSTED to be “coasting” having received a “good” assessment from the same Inspectors as recently as 2012.
Still, recent poor exam results – particularly in science and languages – have cast a shadow on a school which started in 2009 with an impressive record of innovation and achievement.
The head teacher has already announced his resignation paving the way for a fresh start.
The government will give the school no option but to change to “Academy” status. It is looking to form a link with a group which includes Millthorpe This means a new governing body will be appointed. It may not include community representatives while even parents may lose their voice.
Academies have been criticised in the past for paying high wages to senior administrators and some teachers. On a split campus, which also includes the Energise leisure centre, good relations with neighbours are even more important.
So a sorry saga. The sooner the school is able to move on the better for all concerned.
In April 2016, the York Council considered a major shake-up in its housing support programme. The service had been costing York taxpayers over £2.5 million a year.
The users of this support programmes short term services include the homeless, young people at risk (16-25 year olds including care leavers and teenage parents) offenders, mental health, substance misuse and domestic violence.
Long term services support residents with permanent needs including older people; learning disabilities and mental health.
A report to the Council’s Executive last April said,
“The approach is one of “co-design” with the Council setting some minimum requirements but requesting providers to submit proposals that identify the added value that can be provided and setting out a five-year vision for service delivery which will further enhance provision across the City”
It was expected the the new approach would save taxpayers around £750,000 a year. The new approach anticipated an increase in activity by volunteers.
At about the same time the government announced a cap on the total amount of housing benefit payable to social housing tenants. At the time this was expected to impact heavily on supported accommodation services like hostels.
The 2016 report said,
“There is however apprehension amongst providers and partners regarding the significant service change that will take place and any resulting reductions in capacity. Some customers have also expressed anxiety over potential change of providers but this will not be known until after the outcome of the proposed “tender” exercise”.
The services put out to tender were Community Wellbeing and Support Services for:
The expected total cost of providing these services was £1.27 million (a saving of £750,000)
It had been anticipated that the contract would be awarded in September 2016 with implementation from 1st February 201
7.
It appears that the contracts have only recently been authorised although they were implemented at the beginning of the month. (There is a suspicion that the responsible Council official actually agreed the contract in December).
Papers were published on the Council’s web site on Friday but reveal very little either about the cost of the new contracts or their specifications (i.e. targets, outcomes).
September 2017 specification promise
There will be a suspicion that these have only been made public as an afterthought and were possibly prompted by last week’s revelations about previous contract failures.
The three contacts awarded were:
So, substantial contracts have been let apparently without the involvement of the responsible Councillors, with no visibility of the “vision”, the number of tenders received haven’t been reported, nor has the value of the individual contracts or the expected outcome specification/targets.
Some further explanations are needed we think!
*Bizarrely the report claims that the specification for this service will not be agreed until “Sept 2017”
Young people will be able to find out about over 100 apprenticeship vacancies across the city at the latest York apprenticeship recruitment event on 2 March 2017.The event is coordinated by City of York Council’s York Apprenticeship Hub team.
The recruitment event, which takes place at West Offices between 4.00pm and 7.00pm, looks to highlight both the individual benefits of pursuing an apprenticeship job with training and the business benefits of hiring apprentices.
The event will provide an opportunity for young people aged 16-24 and their parents or carers, to meet with recruiting employers and to find out about alternative routes to Level 3 qualifications and university.
As well as the chance to speak to employers, training providers and current apprentices the event will also offer the opportunity for young people to book one-to-one advice sessions. The guidance sessions can advise people on CVs, job searching, interviews and the different options available to them.
With over 100 apprenticeship vacancies across the city, including accountancy, marketing, engineering and health, the event has lots to offer people who are considering their next step toward a career. Employers, such as Nestlé, Siemens, Portakabin, the Armed services, Marriott Hotel and many more, will be looking to fill vacancies and share information on their apprenticeship schemes. Training providers will also be available to discuss other York based apprenticeship vacancies and training opportunities.
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Eleven inspectors spent four weeks at the city council in November and December, examining all areas of services provided to children in the city. They also spoke with groups of children, young people and their parents and carers.
Their inspection report is published today (7 February 2016).
It concludes “A wide range of effective services are in place to help children and families [in York] to access help and protection when they need it”.
Strong leadership, effective and committed front line staff and a well-established culture of listening to the voice of children and young people are features of York’s services singled out for specific praise by the regulator.
York’s Safeguarding Children Board was judged by Ofsted to be outstanding. It is only the second safeguarding board in the country to be given the highest rating.
The children in care council, ‘Show Me That I Matter’ also gets special mention. The inspectors highlight how it works very hard to influence how children in care are understood.
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Parents and carers of children starting school this September are reminded to apply for a place before 15 January 2017.
Parents may also apply at the same time for free school meals and, if eligible, their child’s school will benefit from additional funding known as the Pupil Premium.
The closing date for applications for children born between 1 September 2012 and 31 August 2013, is Sunday 15 January 2017. For a place in the reception class at their chosen York state primary school, parents and carers can apply online at www.york.gov.uk/schooladmissions
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York Explore Library :
Sun 4 Dec :
11.30 am – 12.30pm
Children’s theatre company Paper Planes and Daisy Chains present beautiful fairy tale The Phoenix in the Carpet.
For more information click here.
All admissions authorities in the City of York area are consulting parents and carers on new policies and the number of places available for the school year starting in September 2018.
The consultation includes all admissions policies for church schools, academies and local authority maintained schools, and includes the planned number of places available at each school in the year of entry to primary, junior, secondary schools and sixth forms. The views of parents, carers, schools as well as governors, teachers and other interested parties are being sought before the closing date of 16 December 2016.
The fairness and accessibility of information available, application processes, planned admission numbers, admission policies and oversubscription criteria are all currently being consulted on. All comments from participants will be forwarded to the relevant admissions authority for their consideration before the arrangements are agreed.
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Of the 150 local authorities across the country, attendance data for the autumn and spring terms 2015-16 show that City of York Council is the ninth best performer of all other local authorities.
Compared nationally, York’s overall attendance level has further improved since 2014-15 when absence was 4.2 per cent. In 2015-16, it improved to 4.0 per cent for same period. York’s performance is better than the national trend which shows that levels of absence fell from 4.5% to 4.4% in the same period. Levels of pupils who are regarded as persistently absent in York – absent for 10 per cent of available sessions – are shown to be the eleventh lowest in the UK with 8.8 per cent for York compared to the national figure of 10.3 per cent.
Compared regionally, York has the second lowest figures for absence in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Regional figures are 4.4 per cent for overall absence and 10.8 per cent persistent absentees respectively.
Absenteeism can be due to a number of factors including parental neglect, truancy, holidays or non-essential appointments. Pupils who miss between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of school tend to have lower attainment levels than average, with only 35 per cent achieving five A* to C GCSEs, including English and maths.
The full data is at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-autumn-2015-and-spring-2016
City of York Council is backing National Adoption Week by encouraging people to consider adopting children who need a loving, secure home and who are struggling to find one.
The week runs until 23 October with aim of raising awareness of adoption and encouraging potential parents to come forward and the theme is embodied by the hashtag #SupportAdoption.
Across the country, there is a shortage of people coming forward to adopt older children or sibling groups or those who have additional needs. That means that these children often wait the longest to be adopted when many are in urgent need of permanent, caring homes.
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