Agenda item

To consider a report from the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development on the issues raised at the recent briefings relating to the David Young Community Academy.

Appendix 1 and 2 of this report is designated exempt under Access to Information Procedure Rule 10.4 (2).

Further to Minute No. 60, 8^th November 2007, when the Board received a report in relation to how the David Young Community Academy fitted into the provision of children’s services in Leeds, the Board considered issues raised within the various briefings, which had been submitted together with a note of the Board’s discussion in November 2007 and a report produced by Education Leeds.  Ros McMullen, Principal of the David Young Community Academy (DYCA) was in attendance at the meeting to provide information about the DYCA and highlight some of the key issues, which it was intended would address some of the Board’s previous concerns.

The Principal of the Academy informed the Board that the DYCA had ‘started from a blank piece of paper’ and had developed a unique approach to the curriculum, focussing on vocational and academic opportunities and introducing a 3 year Key Stage 4 programme. 

Some of the main issues discussed were as follows:

Admissions

• The Board was informed that DYCA was exempt from accepting

in-year admissions during its first full two years of operation due to the potential de-stabilising effect.  The Board noted that the exemption ceased to apply after 31^st August 2008.  Members also noted that the DYCA had admitted a number of unaccompanied asylum seekers as in-year admissions.

Exclusions

• Members of the Board expressed concern regarding the high number of permanent exclusions and the effect that transferring students had on the other schools in the area.

Support for Learning

• The Board was advised that the DYCA provided a professional pastoral support system, referred to as ‘support for learning’, which considered the whole needs of the students and relied on a dedicated staff of Team Leaders.  Members were interested in the success of this approach compared to those mentoring systems being adopted by other high schools and including all staff.

Supporting students

• The Board acknowledged that DYCA had a large number of challenging students, including many that had been excluded from predecessor schools and some that had not attended school for a long time.

School Year and Timetable

• It was reported that DYCA had introduced a shift in the start of their school year, from September to June, which was different to other schools in the community. 
• The Board considered the effect this had on parents who had children that attended a school with different arrangements. 
• It was acknowledged that free-time was only provided to students when a high level of supervision could be maintained.  

Targets

• The Board considered that DYCA had set some challenging targets, in particular the target for all students to achieve 5 GCSE’s at A*-C (not including Maths and English) by 2011.  The Board also considered interim projections.

Other Issues and Comments

• The Principal of the Academy invited Members of the Board to visit DYCA at the start of the academic year to talk to new pupils about the transition process.

(Councillor Lancaster declared a personal interest in this item due to her being Vice-Chair of Carr Manor High School)