Special report by Bill Heaney
Earlier this month The Dumbarton Democrat published an article by Mick Dolan of the Educational Institute of Scotland in which he made clear the desperate situation in West Dunbartonshire’s schools in relation to violence in the classrooms and the urgent need for investment in education services plus the teachers’ trade union’s opposition to budget cuts.
This week, on Wednesday, it will fall to officers in the Education Department to explain to councillors and members of the public the reality – as they see it – of the quality of services provided for Children, Young People and Families.
It appears that teachers and officials are working hard to progress, revise and implement council policies relating to services for children and young people.
Councillors will be told this week that in January 2019 a national review of the implementation of Additional Support for Learning began. The subsequent report and action plan had nine key themes which set standards nationally, locally and at establishment level.
It recommended that local authorities must take account of the findings of the report to review and align their quality assurance processes, and drive improvements in processes, practice and outcomes at all levels in the system.
Members of the council will be asked to commit to ensuring all children and young people are enabled to progress through Early Learning and School with the support they need.
And when this support is more or different to what is generally provided for other children and young people of the same age, then the child or young person will be deemed to have additional needs.
The law lists four inter-related factors which individually or jointly impact on ability to learn:
• Learning Environment
• Family Circumstances
• Disability or Health
• Social or Emotional Factors
Additional support may be required throughout a child or young person’s educational journey; others may only require additional support for a short period of time.
It is generally recognised that children, young people and families are best supported through effective multi-agency planning and delivery of services, which requires assistance support from the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) and “third sector colleagues to support our families”.
This work is being developed via the Whole Family Wellbeing planning, led by Educational Services on behalf of the Community Planning Partnership.
Readers will find it difficult to get their head around the fact that there are currently a remarkable 12, 226 school pupils in West Dunbartonshire Council’s learning establishments and that 5,281 pupils have Additional Support Needs (ASN) (43%), supported mainly in mainstream schools.
Long gone are the days when it was possible to transport special needs pupils to school in a distinctive green and cream single-decker bus and accommodate and teach them at the now redundant Milton Primary School.
Today, approximately 241 pupils are supported in specialist settings as they require a more specific learning environment.
“We also have a small percentage of our children and young people with additional support needs supported by day or residential providers in external placements,” chief education official Laura Mason will tell the education committee, which is chaired by Labour councillor Clare Steel.
These often involve young people separated from their peers and their community and can be expensive in comparison to supporting in-house.
Chief Education Officer Laura Mason and Education convener Cllr Clare Steel.
“These costs have increased significantly over the past few years due to increased salaries and increased charges from partner providers for the range of specialist supports offered. This has resulted in budget overspends and it is anticipated that there might be mitigation of these to some extent by the strategy implementation,” Ms Mason added.
West Dunbartonshire’s assisted needs estate includes primary and secondary bases and work is underway to expand the Kilpatrick School Campus with three additional classrooms.
Ms Mason said: “The provision of temporary modular classrooms has been undertaken and young people have transitioned to these. The planned building extension work due to be undertaken later in the school session 2022/23 has been delayed. Officers are currently exploring costs of potential longer term solutions. “
Plans to re-develop the former Riverside Early Learning and Childcare Centre (ELCC) to create a school for severe and complex learners, are said to be “progressing well”, but there is a delay in progress due to building warrant issues.
Work streams will continue to be underpinned by the National Improvement Framework and focus on developing the capacity of all staff to best meet the needs of individual children and young people.
Ms Mason said: ” We recognise from our survey of parents that they too need help supporting their children. Planned work with our partners in the Health and Social Care Partnership will enhance the programme of parenting supports being established and delivered via the West Dunbartonshire For Family Hubs which are being piloted using funding from Scottish Government.”
Much of what has gone before in this article has merely been noted, but teachers and education department officers are getting their hands dirty implementing policies that were made previously.
Three members of education staff have successfully met the required standard to license as Makaton Tutors. Training will subsequently be rolled ut over the coming months and opportunities to learn Makaton will be offered to staff and Parents.
The Child Inclusion Research Curriculum Learning Education (CIRCLE) Champions continue to lead and drive forward the implementation of the Year 2 CIRCLE Plan. The current focus is on embedding the use of the CIRCLE Inclusive Classroom Scale and the Child Participation Scale in establishments, developing staff knowledge, skills and practice in providing an inclusive environment for all pupils. Work is continuing with the Champions creating resources that will support parental engagement and guidance which will provide a consistent framework for all schools. Continuing focus and support to improve staff skills, understanding and knowledge of responses and supports for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) and trauma informed practice continues to be developed and embedded across our service. A range of professional learning has been delivered in individual settings and has supported staff teams to identify, respond and plan approaches to pupil and family support reflecting the context of each setting. In addition in collaboration with the Health Improvement Team we continue to promote and develop multi-agency opportunities for collaborative planning and learning which will create a trauma informed workforce. This will be reflected in the Nurtured DIG plan.
Wellbeing Hubs
WD for Families Hubs was fully launched in October 2023. From October 2023-December 2023, 47 parent/carers engaged in group work. These sessions supported the themes of Supporting Sleep, Supporting Behaviour, Supporting Toileting, Supporting Stress and Anxiety in Partnership with Soul Therapies as well as Online Safety in partnership with Police Scotland. Group Evaluations are very positive reporting they feel the support they have received has helped they and their children’s wellbeing.
In December 28 Families attended the Family Festive Fun Sessions delivered by the Outreach Workers, with opportunities for families to participate in Christmas arts and crafts as well as eat together within the Hub setting. A further 12 families attended a similar low sensory and low stimulation Festive Fun session facilitated by the Neurodevelopmental (ND) Team ensuring we were providing opportunities for all. Feedback from the Festive Fun Sessions was very positive and families have asked for similar opportunities to be planned across the year, providing inclusive community opportunities. In addition, the six Outreach Workers currently support 84 Families and since August have discharged a further 76 families after a period of support. To develop our Workforce and Culture a multi-agency professional learning programme has been developed which is open to all staff with the aim of developing a holistic workforce approach to supporting children and families. To date 86 Education and Health staff have engaged in this across WD for Families Hubs. Almost all staff reported an increased understanding of executive difficulties and of knowledge to support these. Almost all attendees reported they were likely to implement this learning in their settings and that they would share the learning with colleagues. We have extended the offer of multi-agency professional learning across the year. From January to June this will include: Understanding Sensory Systems and Use of Strategies to Support. All sessions will include group sessions for parents / carers followed by twilight for staff across all services.
Child Protection
Building on the annual Child Protection (CP) Update refresher for staff, a basic two yearly training for CP coordinators in schools and early years establishments was launched in February 2024 with a further two dates planned for March 2024. Both are aligned to the work of the Child Protection Committee Training subgroup. All establishments have carried out Child Protection and safeguarding self-evaluations in order to establish good practice and identify areas of improvement. Moderation visits using How Good Is Our School Evaluation Framework are underway as part of the self-evaluation process. A number of schools have engaged in a range of pupil and parent internet safety activities in collaboration with partners in order to promote staying safe online.
Gender- based violence
16 days of action activity A range of activity was undertaken to promote the awareness of gender-based violence. Partners from Women’s Aid and Police visited schools, Professional learning and awareness raising of support services was delivered by Girls and Women’s safety team and means of accessing support was shared to over 12000 parents / carers via email, text, social media or website signposting.
Responding to Incidents of Violence or aggression
A working group comprising staff from across the service, including Trade Union (TU) representation has reviewed and revised the existing policy and guidance on this issue. The draft revisions reflect feedback from a range of staff and professional bodies and considers the range of scenarios that staff and pupils could encounter as well as aligning to both local and national legislation and guidance including wellbeing and adversity knowledge.
Appropriate Use Of Technology
A new technologies policy has been produced in response to concerns relating to the mis-use of digital technologies [including mobile telephones]. This will support staff and pupils in the range of issues around these. This has been produced by a group of representative staff including TU representation.
Intruders in School Protocol
In response to a small number of concerning incidents of intruders in school settings, a short-life working group comprising a range of pupils, parents and staff was convened to produce an Intruder Protocol. It supports Education Leadership Teams in devising a bespoke approach to respond to such incidents in a way which reflects the unique nature of their settings. The Protocol reflects best practice and guidance and reflects views of partners such as Trade Unions, WDC Comms team, Health and Safety, BAM and Fire Safety. A pupil group is currently producing Pupil Friendly presentations to support delivery and pupil understanding.
Mentors in Violence Prevention
Aligning with our strategic approach to promoting positive behaviour and relationships, this key peer education programme takes place in all our secondary schools. MVP gives young people the chance to explore and challenge the attitudes, beliefs and cultural norms that underpin gender-based violence, bullying behaviour and other forms of violence. Working closely with Education Scotland’s MVP unit, staff teams have been identified in every High School and additional training provided where required. Senior pupils in each school are trained as peer mentors and deliver MVP sessions to their younger peers exploring issues such as online bullying, domestic abuse, sharing of images and consent. Being taught by older peers about these harmful behaviours, as well as exploring with them how to react to bullying or abuse, enables a shared outlook, with each pupil playing their own part. MVP was also promoted by senior pupils at recent parents’ evenings at Clydebank High with similar plans for other high schools.
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) Act 2024 is now part of Scottish legislation and will come into effect from July 2024. The Act makes it unlawful for public authorities, including the Scottish Government, to act incompatibly with the requirements of The UNCRC. It will also apply to private and third sector organisations who carry out certain functions on behalf of public authorities. It will give children, young people, and their representatives a new ability to use the courts to enforce their rights. Education establishments are being supported to engage and gain accreditation in the Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) which will help develop knowledge and skills at establishment level and support pupil understanding of their Rights. It has Gold, Silver and Bronze levels of accreditation. To date 10 Primaries and 2 Secondaries and Kilpatrick School have gained Bronze.
Holiday hunger programme
In 2023 Council agreed to continue supporting the SHINE Holiday Hunger programme to ensure the provision of free meals and social activities for school children over school holiday periods. £100,000 per annum was committed to enable partnership working with our 3rd sector community partners to address the challenges of holiday hunger and associated increased costs for families. During the Summer and October school holidays – the SHINE programme has supported 21 community organisations to deliver free meals and activities to over 14,700 local children and young people. A further 400 struggling families were assisted during the festive period with the provision of Farmfoods and Lifestyle vouchers. Currently small grants of around £2,000 are be distributed to local groups to enable further free activities and meals during the Easter break. The late provision of a reduced support of £50 000 from Scottish Government funding contributed to some of the offers.