Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Chair of the Board.

The Chair of the Board introduced the report, which provided an update on the current situation at the Dorset Centre of Excellence (“the Company”) and the Coombe House School (“the School”). The report included progress made in relation to governance, leadership, staffing, estate, community use and finance.

The Managing Director provided an overview of the issues covered in the report, which included an update on GCSE and other qualifications achieved by pupils over the summer and the school’s requirement to balance the needs of pupils attending a special needs school, with the aspiration for pupils to take and achieve qualifications. An update was provided on pupil turnover including transition to post-16 education, some to mainstream settings, and further information and analysis would be available for the next meeting of the shareholder committee. Other areas covered by the report included a note on the participation of the Managing Director at a meeting of the Dorset Inclusive Education Alliance to discuss how the wider educational system could serve all children in Dorset, adventurous experiences offered to pupils and to note that the accounts would be presented to the shareholder committee at the next meeting.

Councillors considered the issues covered by the report and during discussion, points were raised in the following areas:

·       In response to a question relating to pupils transitioning to mainstream education, the Managing Director noted that the single common factor was that this was driven by a high motivation in the young person

·       The school had a rich offer of Key Stage 4 subjects, which included Maths, English and humanities. Where possible, the school would consider the passions of the pupils in determining available courses. The size of cohort in school presented some challenges in this area and there was an aspiration to look at ways to find individual approaches to subject provision

·       A request was made for financial information to be made available as soon as possible

·       The Director of Resources noted that there were ongoing discussions regarding some technical points relating to the wider group structure for council owned companies. Once this had been concluded, the position for the Dorset Centre of Excellence could be confirmed

·       The Chair of the Board confirmed that the draft financial information would be made available to members of the shareholder committee

·       In response to a question regarding the position with NEETs (young people ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’), a programme of check-ins with young people were undertaken to see how they were getting on over time and the school could assist with any queries. The role of other responsible organisations in enabling young people to access post-16 education was also noted

·       In response to a question from D Beer, the Managing Director provided an update on work to look at future options including the potential for progression of community use on site. It was hoped that more clarity could be provided in the next phase of work in this area.

The report was NOTED.