Education and Children's Services round-up
Education and Children’s Services Committee chair Cllr David Keating opened the meeting by welcoming former Social Work Service Manager Andrew Dick to his recent interim position as Head of Children’s Services.
His appointment follows the appointment of Leigh Jolly as interim Chief Officer for the Health and Social Care Partnership.
Cllr Keating then bade farewell to Head of Service for Communities, Wellbeing and Partnerships Avril Nicol who is leaving after 15 years.
It was noted that Lead Officer for Developing the Young Workforce Andrew Ritchie was in Holyrood giving evidence on the proposed Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill.
Cllr Keating said: “He was focused on our Foundation Apprenticeship programme. I must admit to being concerned about our highly successful programme, as we are only receiving flat cash, utilising costs, we are having to reduce the number we can offer to only 600 next academic year.
“I hope we can all agree that's intensely frustrating as we can clearly demonstrate the impact that these qualifications are making in closing the poverty related detainment gap.”
Committee also agreed to the chair writing to the Scottish Government supporting a recent North East Scotland College letter which set out its funding pressures. The college provides Foundation Apprenticeships in an Aberdeenshire academy.
Lastly, the chair sent the committee’s best wishes to those sitting, invigilating and marking exams.
Annual Scrutiny and Improvement Report 2024/25
The annual report allows committee to keep track of progress and ensure agreed actions have been implemented. Alongside this, it gives committee the opportunity to reflect on scrutiny undertaken and to agree future scrutiny requirements as part of an annual programme of activity.
Discussion included Additional Support Needs and transformation, cluster reviews and the learning estate strategy.
Members then agreed the proposed programme of scrutiny activity for 2025/26.
Draft Annual Governance Statement 2024/25
The committee agreed and noted the Annual Governance Statement - an accountability statement from the council to stakeholders on how well it has delivered on governance over the course of the previous year.
Education & Children's Services Budget Update 2025-26
Director of Education Laurence Findlay presented the report which sets out the revenue and capital budgets for ECS for the financial year.
The council approved savings earlier this year totalling £15 million in Education and Children’s Services, including a transformation/service efficiency saving of £8.1 million.
Mr Findlay said there was positive progress made on Pupil Equity Fund spend, and noted the challenge with the capital budget position for the year ahead.
Committee discussion included long-term sickness and the correlation with budget savings, teacher numbers, the continued plans for a new children’s home, staff burnout, and the recent collapse of Slains school’s roof.
The committee was asked to note a paper into the decision to mothball/deactivate Crossroads, Sandhaven, Ballogie and Glass ELCs from August.
There was a request to speak to the agenda item, and committee members heard from Birse & Ballogie Community Council’s David Williamson; Mark Ansell from Crathes, Drumoak & Durris Community Council; Gillian Keith and Sarah Stewart from Durris School and Crossroads Nursery Parent Council; Lindsay Love, Petra Pennington, Abby Nicol and Kirsty Barclay.
There was then a lengthy discussion between members of the committee before agreeing, through a vote, that the item should be sent to Full Council.
This will take place at its next meeting in June.
Kinneff School Mothballing Update
The committee noted the school would remain mothballed for the forthcoming year and approved the preparation of an option appraisal and to begin the pre-engagement stages of a statutory consultation on the future of the school.
This will include engagement with the Kinneff School community.
A drop-in session which will take place on June 3 from 6pm until 8pm in Kinneff Village Hall, Kinneff, Montrose, DD10 0TE. People can also email the Learning Estates Team at learningestates@aberdeenshire.gov.uk with any comments or queries.
Following the option appraisal, a report will be presented at Education and Children’s Services Committee, detailing the outcome and the next steps.
The committee noted that Tullynessle School will be mothballed for a further year along with the pre-engagement work carried out with the community as part of preparations for a statutory consultation with regards to the permanent closure of the school.
The committee also heard from Silvia Hufstetler, a parent whose child attended Tullynessle.
The statutory consultation will run from September 1 until October 31. A provisional date for the public meeting to discuss the proposal has been set for September 23.
The committee noted a report into Slains School detailing its ceiling and roof structure collapse in March.
Committee instructed officers to begin the pre-engagement stages as part of the options appraisal concerning the future of Slains School.
Committee Review Process Stage 1: Internal Audit Report 2432 - Children with Disabilities
Committee considered a report which follows an internal audit of care for children with disabilities.
The audit committee referred the matter to Education and Children's Services Committee. The committee heard that the service has been working on taking the necessary actions to meet the recommendations and that all 11 recommendations are now complete.
Transport Transformation Update Report
Committee considered a report that looked at the transport transformation work done over the past year. Two projects were highlighted – the safe routes to school project and the mobility data project. Committee heard that both projects were approved by the Strategic Chamber Change Board in March for development into full business cases.
Committee requested that the service report back in August with an update on the discussions with more details before developing the full business case.
Five further papers were not discussed as the meeting was adjourned as per the council’s standing orders.
You can read all agenda items and watch the committee discussion playback by clicking here.