Agenda item

To receive an update from the CEO of CoLAT

The Board received the report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

On the statutory duty of local authorities to provide sufficient school places, a Member asked whether a strategy existed to ensure that duty was fulfilled. The Board heard that the Corporation worked alongside neighbouring local authorities and across the Corporation to ensure children would be provided with a school place within reasonable travelling distance (see action point 1/2023/P).    

The Board noted that two schools would be piloting the new parental toolkit (as discussed in the meeting of 24 April 2023) as of September 2023: Hackney, and Galleywall, and Members commented on the importance of positioning schools as community hubs alongside core drivers such as exam results.

 Members noted that robust financial scrutiny meetings were generating positive outcomes and that 2023-24 was secure - though there were several areas of uncertainty beyond that (teacher pay, political landscape etc) that covered a range of risks covered by the Board including outcomes, safeguarding, and financial stability.

The Board noted that due diligence on a further potential school to join CoLAT had begun.