Hampshire County Council Education Advisory Panel Meeting

Apologies have been received from;

• Cllr Chadd
• Cllr North
• Dawn Casson (Primary Schools)
• Justin Innes (Special Schools)
• Jeff Williams, Church of England
• Ian Potter (Hampshire Teacher's Liaison Panel)

Cllr Huggins is attending as the Conservative Deputy.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed and agreed.

No deputations were received.

The Chairman had no announcements they wished to make.

With the agreement of the Chairman, this item was deferred to a later date.

The panel received a presentation from the Director of Children’s Services providing an overview on how the department promoted racial equality in schools.

The panel heard that an inquiry into the experiences of the BAME community in Basingstoke was undertaken in June 2020, which noted that schools were often described as ‘weak’ in their handling of racist abuse. There was also instances of schools dismissing verbal abuse, lower expectations and assumptions of students based on race and needing to improve teaching of Black history.

Due to the above the Basingstoke & Deane Inclusion and Diversity Partnership was formed with the aim of improving school’s focus on equality and diversity. This would provide people with a place they genuinely feel they belong and as a result, provide a strong and positive sense of self.

The panel noted the actions already taken by the Partnership, and the importance place on ‘Allyship’. The Panel received an overview of the impact so far of the partnerships and the actions to be take in the future to support schools.

In response to questions members heard that:

·         There is support in place for Russian members of staff in Hampshire schools in case of any abuse, however it is difficult to identify those who have changed their nationality to British. It was noted that there is a relatively small number of affected individuals and anyone from local countries may also be at risk.

·         There are concerns surrounding schools providing ‘nil’ reports on their annual reports.

·         That there are many incidents involving younger children acting naively, in which education is provided to allow them to understand the impact of their words and actions.

·         There is the need for careful consideration of suitable language when discussing issues of equality, equity and diversity.

·         There is a focus on making recruitment more representative of Hampshire and consideration of different backgrounds in various educational systems with their different styles and acronyms etc.

·         There has been good engagement with schools generally, but there is still work to be done to make this universal.

·         There is a focus on ensuring the curriculum’s content is representative and does not reinforce issues, educating young people to live alongside individuals from all backgrounds.

RESOLVED: That the Education Advisory Panel note the presentation on promoting racial equality in Hampshire's schools.

The panel received a presentation from the Director of Children’s Services providing an overview on how the department responded to peer on peer abuse in Hampshire’s schools.

The panel noted the analysis of the information gathered on the ‘Everyone’s Invited’ website which provided a spotlight on the experiences of children and young people both in school and in wider society. The included the strong and rapid response from Children’s Services, the good multi-agency response and engagement from schools and colleges and the importance of hearing the voice of the child in understanding their experiences.

The panel received an overview of the training, resources and other support available to professionals dealing with these issues. This included a school based learning and development exercise involving a good practise review of eight secondary schools, later expanding to a further twenty.

The panel noted the main issues facing the school in relation to peer on peer abuse included the normalisation of behaviour, attitudes and words and the gap between young people and school staff’s perceptions. There is also an issue in relation to education settings under reporting issues and not providing a fully inclusive culture which embraces diversity.

In response to questions members heard that:

·         Staff are not always confident with particular aspects of these issues, such as child exploitation.

·         There is an ever stronger link between Children’s Services and mental health services.

·         The profile of inclusion and diversity is being raised in relation to recruitment and retention.

·         There is a difficulty in getting the culture right in order to allow reporting while working restoratively on elements such as toxic masculinity.

RESOLVED: That the Education Advisory Panel note the presentation on peer on peer abuse in Hampshire's schools.