Agenda item

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

Members considered a report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services concerning a proposal of a summer enrichment pilot tackling summer learning loss and summer hunger for pupils and young people during August 2019.

The Sub-Committee was very supportive of the proposal but agreed that the Policy Initiatives Fund was not the correct source of funding and it should be recommended to Policy & Resources that this should be funded from a contingency budget.

There was some general feedback that the activities should be age appropriate and what was interesting to a 10 year old, for example, would be different for an 18 year old. It was confirmed to Members that officers were liaising with the provider and being guided by them on the appropriate age range, looking at gaps in current provision.

The Policy Chair informed Members that the Sutton Trust’s report, Chain Effects 2018, ranked the City Corporation’s sponsored academies as the top performing schools in the country in terms of Attainment 8 and Progress 8 at GCSE level, which track pupil achievement and progress. Members asked the Media Team to undertake a proactive communications approach on this news.

Another Member asked whether the budget, as suggested in the report, could allow for other schools to take part such as the City of London Academy Hackney and asked for more transparency on reasons behind the choosing of City of London Academy Highbury Grove. Members heard how it was envisaged that focusing the pilot in Islington would contribute evidence to existing research in this borough.

Members requested for a report back to this Sub-Committee on the pilot, acknowledging that this work was accountable to the Education Board.

RESOLVED, that:

·         It be recommended to the Policy & Resources Committee that the proposal outlined in this report be approved, subject to finding a suitable budget for this pilot, such as a contingency budget.