£40k Saving Proposed With Regional School Committee

Wrexham Council is one step closer to getting on board the Regional School Effectiveness and Improvement Service Joint Committee.

In March 2012 the Executive Board approved the full business case , so now the the governance arrangements are being put in place for the committee that will be responsible for delivery. The aim is to establish a ‘joint committee’ with a voting member made up of a portfolio holder from six local authorities. Directors of Eduction, Legal and Finance Officers, Diocesan Directors and Schools will also be represented.

The report to the Executive Board can be viewed here.

The overall aim is to create a ‘consortium’ of the local authorities working together to improve education standards across North Wales, with the following stated aspirations:

• Improved standards in literacy (Welsh/English) and numeracy (Maths) that compare well with the best in other countries.
• A single coherent service for the monitoring, supporting, challenging and intervention within schools across the region.
• Deployment of System Leaders with a consistent approach and recent proven record of school improvement.
• All schools able to access a much broader range of specialist support than that available in individual LAs currently.
• No Local Authorities or schools [learning settings] in any Estyn Inspection category of needing significant improvement or special measures.

Practical examples of this is to send up to thirty ‘System Leaders’ into schools for a few days a year to help improve schools much like current members of advisory services do today. This could include for example, pre inspection pointers and the like.

Wrexham.com was told the current system has “good knowledge but doesn’t cover all areas”.

Dr Helen Paterson said that “Quality is the main aim as well as raising standards”.

One of the benefits highlighted was the cost reduction due to economies of scale, noted as total cost of £644,864 creating a saving of £39,409 – around 6%.

The full business case for North Wales Regional School Effectiveness and Improvement Service (RSIES) from February 2012 can be viewed here as a PDF.