The Area Committee is asked to consider Document “W” which provides information in respect of the Bradford Opportunity Area in Bradford East.

Members are advised that, as an “Opportunity Area”, the DfE funds a small team to work with Bradford to agree and deliver priorities in improving social mobility. Its work is driven by an Opportunity Area board made up of key stakeholders from across Bradford. This group has identified four priority area to work on:-

·         Strengthening school leadership and the quality of teaching

·         Improving literacy and oracy, including a focus on parental engagement

·         Helping young people access rewarding careers

·         Removing health-related barriers to learning

A wide range of activity has been funded and is outlined at Appendix 1 to Document “W”.

Recommended –

That the programme progress be noted for information and the use of the Social Mobility Dashboard (as outlined in Appendix 3 to Document “W”) be endorsed to support the work of the Area Committee.

(Kathryn Loftus – 01274 434590) 

The Area Committee was asked to consider Document “W” which provided information in respect of the Bradford Opportunity Area in Bradford East.

Members were advised that, as an “Opportunity Area”, the DfE funded a small team to work with Bradford to agree and deliver priorities in improving social mobility. Its work was driven by an Opportunity Area board made up of key stakeholders from across Bradford. This group had identified four priority area to work on:-

·         Strengthening school leadership and the quality of teaching

·         Improving literacy and oracy, including a focus on parental engagement

·         Helping young people access rewarding careers

·         Removing health-related barriers to learning

A wide range of activity had been funded and was outlined at Appendix 1 to Document “W”.

It was reported that a wide range of activities which specifically focused on the Bradford East Area was tabled at Appendix 1.

Members were informed that the Department for Education (DfE) published its Bradford Opportunity Area plan in January 2018; with this plan, the DfE committed an extra £6m of funding and a tilting of more national programmes into Bradford until 2020; Bradford had received £4.85m to date with a further £1.4m due before the end of March 2020 (total £6.25m); on top of this, Bradford also received £5.6m in Essential Life Skills funding.

It was reported that by the end of August 2020, Bradford schools would have been direct recipients of over £9m additional funding since the start of the Opportunity Area programme.

Members were informed that the Opportunity Area investment had totalled £12m (from 2017 – 2020) through a grant from the Department for Education; this included in excess of £6m for the main Opportunity Area grant (with an extra £500K committed in summer 2019), in excess of £5.5m for Essential Life skills funding with the remainder made up of support from national partners and prioritised funding for other government initiatives; this investment had been across the entire Education sector in Bradford and not all of the funding had passed through the Council, with grants awarded directly to schools for some activities and programmes. 

Members commented on a number of issues which included:

·                     What measures were in place to assess the outcomes of the various projects and whether the money was being used for what it should be?

·                     What trends in improvements were being seen?

·                     There was a discrepancy in the information presented in Appendix 3; needed up to date local information.

·                     Needed to see information on what was being undertaken to ensure the programmes were sustainable.

·                     It terms of the Essential Life Skills funding it was difficult to see from project to project what the money was being spent on; the allocation to schools was not explained fully.

·                     Don’t feel the projects were targeting the right areas; there were parts of Bradford East that did not have a Youth Centre and young people were meeting in McDonalds; needed to target funding where it was needed.

·                     More could be undertaken in relation to after school support and working with parents.

·                     How did the projects engage with parents where language was a barrier?

·                     In terms of School to School Support the schools that were being funded already had a surplus budget; focus should be on schools and areas that needed support; money was not being targeted to where it should be.

·                     How did the programme engage with parents and specifically with fathers; needed a whole family approach.

In response to Members questions it was reported that:

·         Any funding that was provided had conditions attached to it in terms of how it should be spent.

·         In terms of outcomes each school had targets such as the Ofsted improvements required, improving exam results, confidence in staff, better SEND support etc.

·         Trends varied, school improvement was not a rapid process; 5 schools out of 11 had improved; one school was inspected only a week after the support had been put in place; schools that had been inspected 5 months into the support all improved; some schools were seeing clear improvements while others took longer; the outcomes being seen were positive.

·         Officers were working on a sustainability tracker since the suggestions made at the last Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee of ensuring some activities were sustainable when the Opportunity Area funding finished.

·         A breakdown of where money had been spent in relation to the Essential Life Skills funding could be provided to the Committee.

·         Work was being undertaken with primary schools on how they worked with parents more effectively; Essential Life Skills Funding was available to all schools.

·         Support was provided to 26 schools across Bradford to improve results and support better opportunities for pupils and teachers, the programme did not look at what resources a school had but where they were in terms of level of improvement.

·         There was work being undertaken to engage parents such as the Ravenscliffe Community Association holding a variety of activities to help parents upskill.

·         Funding for Year 4 of the programme had been confirmed.

Resolved –

(1)       That the programme progress be noted.

(2)       That a further report be submitted to this Committee in a years time which includes:

·         evidence of outcomes and steps being taken to make the various projects sustainable

·         how the project engaged with parents where language was a barrier

·         how the programme was engaging and involving fathers

(3)       That future reports include an updated Social Mobility Index.

Action:  Strategic Director, Children’s Services

Overview and Scrutiny Area:  Children’s Services