Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director of Children and Families that provides an update on the trends in relation to elective home education and permanent exclusions in the academic year 2019/20 and to the verified fixed term exclusion data from 2018/19. Also included are the trends seen in autumn term 2019/20.

Further to Minute No. 72, 18^th September 2019, the Director of Children and Families submitted a report which presented the annual update on data and trends regarding Elective Home Education (EHE) and permanent exclusion for 2019/20 from the Local Authority’s direct reporting processes, and to provide the Department for Education (DfE) verified fixed term exclusion data for 2018/19.

Members acknowledged the ongoing inquiry being undertaken by the Scrutiny Board (Children and Families) into such matters.

Also, responding to a Member’s enquiry, clarification was provided that with regard to primary fixed term exclusions, Leeds had moved from Band A to Band B.

RESOLVED – That the following be noted:

(a)  The information contained within the submitted report;

(b)  The recommendations in the Timpson Review (as detailed in Appendix 1 to the submitted report) as outlined in the previous Executive Board report of September 2019;

(c)  That the issues raised by the Children’s Commissioner in her report: “Skipping School: Invisible Children - How children disappear from England’s schools” have not yet led to any significant change in legislation;

(d)  The response of teams to changes in policy and protocol during the Covid-19 pandemic and the trends currently emerging within the new academic year 2020/21;

(e)  That the Children and Families directorate has produced an annual report on the issue of exclusions and elective home education and will continue to provide an updated annual report;

(f)  That the remit for monitoring exclusions and elective home education falls under the responsibility of the Head of Learning Inclusion within Children and Families directorate.