Is Powys council providing the right support for its schools in special measures?
Is “adequate support” being given to help failing secondary schools in Powys improve, a councillor has asked.
At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Learning and Skills scrutiny committee on Wednesday, March 29 members were given a briefing on how the Mid Wales Education Partnership will help schools in Powys.
The partnership sees Powys and Ceredigion county council’s pool resources as well as receive funding from the Welsh Government that will provide support for schools in both counties.
This follows the demise of ERW in 2021.
ERW was the education consortium for created to deliver school improvement services across Mid and South West Wales.
Councillor David Meredith has been the chairman of governors for Brecon High School which along with Gwernyfed High School is in special measures.
Councillor Meredith said: “ERW used to help prepare schools going through (Estyn) inspections, are we confident we’ve got the right people in place to support schools leading up to and post inspection.
“I have been involved with a school for many years, I’m no longer involved in that school but I was really disappointed to see that they are still in special measures.
“I’m really concerned.
“What are we actually doing to make sure those schools are adequately supported.
“Have they been supported sufficiently in the past and where do we go in the future.”
Lynette Lovell, director of education, said: “We recognise in Powys that our areas for improvement is secondary schools and we do have two secondary schools in special measures – the support we give those schools is crucial to ensure they move forward.
“Our secondary school improvement team do need to be able to demonstrate that impact going forward.”
She believed the committee should have “confidence in our officers” to be able to help the schools.
Councillor Meredith said: “It does worry me and it’s absolutely vital we support these headteachers.
“We don’t want a catastrophic incident like we had in England where a headteacher took her own life because of an adverse inspection.”
Anwen Orells, Mid Wales Education Partnership strategic lead officer, added: “Officers will be working really closely on areas of collaboration.”
These are:
Support for curriculum reform
Middle, Senior and Headteacher leadership development
Induction for newly qualified teachers
Support for early career teachers
Development for teaching assistants
Reducing the impact of rural deprivation, ensure equity for all learners and improved well-being.
Late last year two Powys secondary schools, Brecon and Gwernyfed received further disappointing Estyn reports which saw them “placed” in special measures.
Estyn judged that both schools had made “insufficient progress in relation to the recommendations following the most recent core inspection.”
The schools will individually need draw up an action plan to show how they will address several recommendations made by Estyn.
