Agenda Document Pack - Executive Sub-Committee of the Learning and Families Committee - 29/08/2022
Perth and Kinross Council · 29 August 2022
Back to Executive Sub-Committee of the Learning and Families Committee — 29 August 2022 and its agenda
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Securing the future… • Improving services • Enhancing quality of life • Making the best use of public resources Council Building 2 High Street Perth PH1 5PH 24/07/2024 A hybrid meeting of the Executive Sub-Committee of the Learning and Families Committee will be held in the Council Chamber on Monday, 29 August 2022 at 10:00. If you have any queries please contact Committee Services on (01738) 475000 or email Committee@pkc.gov.uk. THOMAS GLEN Chief Executive Those attending the meeting are requested to ensure that all notifications are silent on their device and other devices are in silent mode. Please note that the meeting will be broadcast online and recorded. The recording will be publicly available on the Council’s website following the meeting. Members: Councillor John Rebbeck (Convener) Councillor Steven Carr (Vice-Convener) Councillor Michelle Frampton (Vice-Convener) Councillor Liz Barrett Councillor Noah Khogali Provost Xander McDade Councillor Caroline Shiers Page 1 of 102
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Executive Sub-Committee of the Learning and Families Committee Monday, 29 August 2022 AGENDA MEMBERS ARE REMINDED OF THEIR OBLIGATION TO DECLARE ANY FINANCIAL OR NON-FINANCIAL INTEREST WHICH THEY MAY HAVE IN ANY ITEM ON THIS AGENDA IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COUNCILLORS’ CODE OF CONDUCT. 1 WELCOME AND APOLOGIES 2 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST 3 MINUTE OF MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE SUB-COMMITTEE OF LIFELONG LEARNING COMMITTEE OF 21 MARCH 2022 FOR APPROVAL (copy herewith) 5 - 6 4 STANDARDS AND QUALITY IN SCHOOLS, LEARNING COMMUNITIES AND PRE-SCHOOL CENTRES/DAY CARE OF CHILDREN Report by Executive Director (Education and Children's Services) (Copy herewith 22/194) 7 - 32 5 PRESENTATION BY CARE INSPECTORATE 6 SUMMARY REPORT ON CARE INSPECTORATE AND EDUCATION SCOTLAND INSPECTIONS Report by Executive Director (Education and Children's Services) (copy herewith 22/195) 33 - 52 7 INSPECTIONS OF SERVICES FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE BY THE CARE INSPECTORATE Report by Executive Director (Education and Children's Services) (copy herewith 22/196) 53 - 86 8 COLLABORATIVE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME Report by Executive Director (Education and Children's Services) (copy herewith 22/197) 87 - 102 Page 3 of 102
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EXECUTIVE SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE LIFELONG LEARNING COMMITTEE Minute of Meeting of the Executive Sub-Committee of the Lifelong Learning Committee held virtually on Monday 21 March 2022 at 9.30am. Present: Councillors C Shiers, J Duff, J Rebbeck and L Simpson. In Attendance: S Johnston, Head of Education and Learning, A Burns, A Carr, J Chiles, G Doogan, G Knox, D MacLeod, D Macluskey, B Martin-Scott and F Robertson (all Education and Children’s Services) and C Irons (Corporate and Democratic Services). Also in Attendance: A Brown and M Pasternak (all Corporate and Democratic Services) Apologies: Councillor F Sarwar Councillor C Shiers, Convener, Presiding. 1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES The Convener welcomed all those present to the meeting. An apology for absence was noted above. 2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest made in terms of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct. 3. MINUTE OF PREVIOUS MEETING The minute of meeting of the Executive Sub-Committee of the Lifelong Learning Committee of 1 November 2021 was submitted, approved as a correct record and authorised for signature. 4. STANDARDS AND QUALITY IN SCHOOLS, LEARNING COMMUNITIES AND PRE-SCHOOL CENTRES/DAY CARE OF CHILDREN There was submitted a report by the Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (22/58) (1) setting out the key findings following inspections and evaluations of early learning and childcare settings undertaken by Care Inspectorate on the day care of children since the Executive Sub-Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee on 1 November 2021and (2) reporting on follow-through inspections undertaken by Education Scotland in 2021. Resolved: Having heard from the relevant officers on the key findings of the inspection reports and following consideration and questions from the sub-committee, the reports as appended to Report 22/58 be noted as follows: (a) Summary of Care Inspectorate Day Care Inspections (Appendix 1) (b) Perth Grammar School (Appendix 2) (c) North Muirton Primary School (Appendix 3) 3 Page 5 of 102
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PERTH AND KINROSS COUNCIL EXECUTIVE SUB-COMMITTEE OF LEARNING & FAMILIES COMMITTEE 29 AUGUST 2022 STANDARDS AND QUALITY IN SCHOOLS, LEARNING COMMUNITIES AND PRE-SCHOOL CENTRES/DAY CARE OF CHILDREN Report by Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (Report No 22/194) 1. PURPOSE 1.1 This report sets out the key findings following inspections and evaluations of early learning and childcare (ELC) settings undertaken by the Care Inspectorate on the day care of children since the Executive Sub-Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee on 20 January 2022. There are no Education Scotland/Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) inspections of schools or learning communities to report at this time. 2. RECOMMENDATION 2.1 It is recommended that the Executive Sub-Committee of the Learning & Families Committee: • Considers and comments as appropriate on the contents of the report. 3. STRUCTURE OF REPORT 3.1 This report is structured over the following sections: • Section 4: Background • Section 5: Recently Published Reports • Section 6: Performance Summary • Section 7: Conclusion • Appendices 4. BACKGROUND 4.1 This report sets out the key findings and areas for improvement following inspections or evaluations of Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) ELC settings (including funded providers) by the Care Inspectorate. 4.2 Specifically, the report sets out the findings of inspections which have been published by the Care Inspectorate since the Executive Sub-Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee on 20 January 2022. 4 Page 7 of 102
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4.3 Early Learning and Childcare Inspections 4.3.1 ELC settings are subject to inspections from the Care Inspectorate and Education Scotland and can experience joint inspections where both scrutiny bodies evaluate the quality of the provision. 4.3.2 For ELC inspections conducted by Education Scotland, the following How Good Is Our Early Learning and Childcare (HGIOELC) Quality Indicators (QI) are evaluated on a six-point scale: How Good is Our Early Learning and Childcare (HGIOELC) Quality Indicators (QI) ELC Full Model ELC Short Model Evaluated 1.3 Leadership of change √ √ 2.3 Learning, teaching and assessment √ √ √ 3.2 Securing children’s progress √ √ √ 3.1 Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion √ √ 2.2 Curriculum √ 2.7 Partnerships √ Additional QI chosen by ELC setting √ 4.3.3 Regulated care services in Scotland have been inspected using a framework of quality themes, quality statements and the Health and Social Care Standards. Services are visited on an unannounced basis at least every three years. Services are given evaluations based on the findings at each inspection and these are made public via the Care Inspectorate’s website. 4.3.4 Services are measured against the National Care Standards and quality themes: • Quality of Care and Support; • Quality of Environment; • Quality of Staffing; and • Quality of Management and Leadership. 4.3.5 Each quality theme is graded on a 6-point scale in which 1 = unsatisfactory, 2 = weak, 3 = adequate, 4 = good, 5 = very good and 6 = excellent. Following the publication of Funding Follows the Child and the National Standard for Early Learning and Childcare Providers: Principles and Practice, all ELC settings must gain evaluations of good or better to be able to provide funded ELC in partnership with the local authority. 4.3.6 Recommendations and requirements may follow an inspection. • Recommendations: Statements that set out actions the care service provider should take to improve or develop the quality of the service; and • Requirements: Statements which set out what is required of the care service provider to comply with relevant legislation. Page 8 of 102
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4.3.7 Care service providers must submit an action plan to the Care Inspectorate addressing any requirements and recommendations identified. Progress against the action plan is monitored by the Care Inspectorate through annual return and self-assessment forms submitted by the care service provider, and through subsequent inspection. 4.3.8 An updated quality framework for day care of children, childminding and school aged childcare was published by the Care Inspectorate in July 2021 and has been used in test inspections, without published grades, before full implementation. This framework is now in place for inspections carried out since 1 June 2022 and will be evident in future versions of this report. 4.4 HM Inspectors of Education (HMIE) Inspections 4.4.1 Education Scotland’s programme of routine inspections was paused in March 2020 in response to COVID-19. Inspections will resume from 5 September 2022 across all local authorities, selecting settings and schools for inspection on a proportionate basis as previously, using a sampling approach. As required for the National Improvement Framework, HMIE will report on and provide grades for the following QIs as part of full model inspections: • QI 1.3 – Leadership of change; • QI 2.3 – Learning, teaching and assessment; • QI 3.1 – Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion; and • QI 3.2 – Raising attainment and achievement. Short model inspections will continue to focus on QIs 2.3 and 3.2. 5. RECENTLY PUBLISHED REPORTS 5.1 Education Scotland/HMIE Inspections 5.1.1 Since the Executive Sub-Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee on 20 January 2022, there have been no reports published by Education Scotland. 5.1.2 From December 2021, Education Scotland invited schools and ELC settings to take part in ‘Recovery Visits’. In Perth and Kinross, three primary schools (Kinnoull, Auchtergaven and Longforgan) completed the self-selection process to put their schools forward to take part. Also, four ELC settings were visited in June 2022 – FossoPLAY, Morrisons Academy, Bright Starts and Doodlebugs. 5.1.3 At ELC settings, feedback was informal and positive with further areas for development shared with the managers which related to the work which the Early Years Team are currently working on within these settings. All providers who have been visited have felt that the HMIE team have been supportive and have given them further areas of development which they found helpful. Staff had opportunities to engage in professional dialogue which has built on their confidence. Page 9 of 102
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Consistent themes of positive practice include: • Frequent, helpful communication between management, practitioners and families that kept everyone well informed; • Quality mealtime experiences that develop children’s independence and social skills; • Effective collaboration with a range of partner agencies that enable children and families to access appropriate support; • Support for children, families and staff that had a positive impact on their health and wellbeing; and • Many opportunities for physical activity in the outdoors that were of benefit to children. 5.1.4 In schools, the Recovery Visits focused on the ways in which schools responded to the impact of COVID-19, with a particular focus on continuity of learning, the wellbeing of children, young people and staff and their safeguarding and child protection approaches. 5.1.5 No formal reports were published, and no formal evaluations were given, but key areas of strength were discussed with each school, these included: • Strong consultative leadership; • Children being well supported to improve their health and wellbeing; • Empowered teachers who undertook professional learning to ensure they were better placed to meet the needs of all children; • Positive ethos and strong sense of teamwork; • Interventions having a positive impact on closing gaps in learning; and • Children engaged in their learning and able to talk about it. During all three visits the inspection team discussed next steps with each school, in line with their improvement priorities. 5.2 Care Inspectorate Inspections - Day Care of Children 5.2.1 A total of four inspections have been undertaken and published by the Care Inspectorate since the Executive Sub-Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee on 20 January 2022. These are: • Balhousie and North Muirton ELC; • Luncarty Nursery Class and Wrap Around Care; • Milnathort Primary School; and • St. Ninians Episcopal Primary School Nursery. 5.2.2 Of these reports, one required to be reported as an exception (where any grading has been awarded an evaluation of unsatisfactory, weak, or excellent). Balhousie and North Muirton ELC was inspected in March 2022 and awarded ‘excellent’ and ‘very good’ quality gradings. The inspection report is included as Appendix 1. Page 10 of 102
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5.2.3 For the four published inspections in total, of the 16 indicators inspected, 1 received an ‘adequate’ grading, 6 received ‘good’ evaluations, 8 received ‘very good’ evaluations and 1 received an ‘excellent’ evaluation. 5.3 Care Inspectorate Inspections - Childminding Services 5.3.1 From academic year 2019/20, childminders commenced providing funded hours within the Councils ELC expansion plan for 1140 hours. All registered childminders are inspected by the Care Inspectorate and graded on four quality themes: • Quality of Care and Support; • Quality of Environment; • Quality of Staffing; and • Quality of Management and Leadership. 5.3.2 Inspections of those childminders that have funded places in partnership with the Council will be included in this report by exception, as is the case for other childcare settings. No inspections require reporting in this way to date. Performance/benchmarking information will be developed as numbers of these increase. 6. PERFORMANCE SUMMARY 6.1 Inspections: Day Care of Children 6.1.1 This section provides a summary of the performance of ELC settings in inspections carried out by the Care Inspectorate. A total of four, day care services across Perth and Kinross have been inspected by the Care Inspectorate since the Executive Sub-Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee on 20 January 2022. 6.1.2 Table 1 below gives a summary of the evaluations for each quality theme. A summary list of inspections as well as benchmarking over a longer time period (since 2017/18) against national and comparator data can be found in Appendix 2. This also includes an analysis of overall evaluation statistics to give the current position of inspections. Table 1: Number of Day Care of Children evaluations received in PKC from 2022/23 to date. QI Grading Quality of Care & Support Quality of Environment Quality of Staffing Quality of Management & Leadership All QIs Excellent 1 0 0 0 1 Very Good 2 2 3 1 8 Good 1 2 1 2 6 Satisfactory 0 0 0 1 1 Weak 0 0 0 0 0 Unsatisfactory 0 0 0 0 0 Total 4 4 4 4 16 Page 11 of 102
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6.1.3 There is an expectation that ELC providers meet “good” evaluations in all quality indicators. Therefore, where an ELC provider receives less than a “good” evaluation, the Service Manager and Quality Improvement Officer for the ELC establishment works with the Headteacher/Manager/Leader to develop an action plan which will secure improvement in the areas of identified need. 7. CONCLUSION Inspection reports provide further information on the standards and quality in our nurseries. This report sets out the outcomes of Care Inspectorate reports of ELC settings inspected and published since 20 January 2022. Author Name Designation Contact Details Sharon Johnston Head of Education and Learning ECSCommittee@pkc.gov.uk 01738 475000 Approved Name Designation Date Sheena Devlin Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) 29 July 2022 Page 12 of 102
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ANNEX 1. IMPLICATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION Strategic Implications Yes/None Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement None Corporate Plan None Resource Implications Financial None Workforce None Asset Management (land, property, IST) None Assessments Equality Impact Assessment None Strategic Environmental Assessment None Sustainability (community, economic, environmental) None Legal and Governance None Risk None Consultation Internal None External None Communication Communications Plan None 1. Strategic Implications Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement 1.1 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the delivery of the Perth and Kinross Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement in terms of the following priorities: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens; (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy; (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No. (i). Corporate Plan 1.2 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the achievement of the Council’s Corporate Plan Objectives: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens; (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy; Page 13 of 102
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(iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No. (i). 1.3 The report also links to the Education & Children’s Services Vision, Values and Priorities in respect of the following key Priority area: • Best Start 2. Resource Implications Financial 2.1 N/A Workforce 2.2 N/A Asset Management (land, property, IT) 2.3 N/A 3. Assessments Equality Impact Assessment 3.1 Under the Equality Act 2010, the Council is required to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between equality groups. Carrying out Equality Impact Assessments for plans and policies allows the Council to demonstrate that it is meeting these duties. These proposals have been considered under the Corporate Equalities Impact Assessment process (EqIA) with the following outcome: (i) Assessed as not relevant for the purposes of EqIA. Strategic Environmental Assessment 3.2 The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 places a duty on the Council to identify and assess the environmental consequences of its proposals. However, no action is required as the Act does not apply to the matters presented in this report. This is because the Committee are requested to note the contents of the report only and the Committee are not being requested to approve, adopt or agree to an action or to set the framework for future decisions. Sustainability 3.3 N/A Legal and Governance Page 14 of 102
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3.4 N/A 3.5 N/A Risk 3.6 N/A 4. Consultation Internal 4.1 Service Managers within Education and Children’s Services have been consulted in the preparation of this report. External 4.2 N/A 5. Communication 5.1 N/A 2. BACKGROUND PAPERS 2.1 No background papers, as defined by Section 50D of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (and not containing confidential or exempt information) were relied on to a material extent in preparing the above report. 3. APPENDICES 3.1 Appendix 1 - Balhousie and North Muirton ELC - Care Inspectorate Report Appendix 2 - Summary of Care Inspectorate Day Care of Children Inspections Page 15 of 102
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Balhousie and NBalhousie and Nortorth Mh Muirtuirton ELon ELCC Day Care of Children Dunkeld Road Perth PH1 5DH Telephone: 01738 472 222 Type of inspection: Unannounced Completed on: 4 March 2022 Service provided by: Service provider number: Perth & Kinross Council SP2003003370 Service no: CS2003016071 4 Page 17 of 102
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About the service Balhousie and North Muirton ELC is in Perth, Tayside. It provides a daycare of children service for a maximum of 82 children aged from two years to those not yet attending primary school. The service is central to Perth city centre and is close to local amenities and local bus routes. Perth and Kinross Council provide the service. This was an unannounced inspection which took place on 02 March 2022 between 09:15 and 16:30. Two early years inspectors carried out the inspection. Feedback to the management team took place 04 March 2022. To prepare for inspection we reviewed information about the service. This included registration information, information submitted by the service and intelligence gathered throughout the inspection year. To inform our evaluations we: • undertook observations in all playrooms to observe practice and children's experiences • spoke with children who experienced care at the service and four of their parents/carers • spoke with the staff and management team • reviewed relevant documentation What people told us Children told us about their experiences of attending the service. They told us they had fun playing with their friends, demonstrated their skills and showed us their favourite activities. One child told us "We have everything in our nursery". As part of the inspection, we received views from four parents and carers of children who attend the service. All parents said that they were very happy with the quality of care their children receive. One parent commented "Staff have been outstanding in their support throughout this time and the commitment from them to help my child to do their best has been incredible". Self assessment The service had not been asked to submit a self-assessment prior to the inspection. As part of the inspection, we reviewed the services quality assurance processes and improvement plan which demonstrated their priorities for improvement. From this inspection we graded this service as: Quality of care and support 6 - Excellent Quality of environment 5 - Very Good Quality of staffing 5 - Very Good Quality of management and leadership 5 - Very Good Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Balhousie and North Muirton ELC page 2 of 9 Page 18 of 102
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Quality of care and support Findings from the inspection We evaluated this quality theme as excellent, where performance is sector leading and supported experiences and outcomes for people which are of an outstandingly high quality. Children consistently received outstanding care and support from kind, caring and nurturing staff who knew them extremely well. This helped children to create strong, trusting relationships with staff. Children were effectively supported through sensitive and thoughtful staff interactions to improve and support their emotional wellbeing. Staff were highly skilled in using the information in children's personal plans to meet their needs. The service had exceptional links with other agencies and worked closely with them to provide highly responsive care and support to children. Strong partnership working enabled staff to gain a clear understanding of strategies to support the holistic needs of each child and their family to improve their wellbeing. Children and their families were valued, included and genuinely cared for by staff. Parents/carers were key partners in supporting children to develop. Excellent engagement supported families to thrive and develop. For example, they were supported to understand more about nurture and how to support their child at home. This enabled families to meaningfully engage in their child's play and learning. A range of strategies and regular opportunities through structured activities and programmes supported children to flourish and achieve. Staff thoughtfully considered the best way to meet each child and their families' individual needs. This significantly contributed to the inclusive ethos of the service. Staff had high aspirations to enable children to be successful. Children's voice was highly valued, and they were empowered to lead their own play and learning. As a result, children were confident, happy and motivated to learn. Highly effective questioning provided an abundance of opportunities for children's thinking, widening their skills and consolidated their learning through play experiences. This supported children to achieve their potential. Children experienced fun, joy and laughter throughout their time at nursery. As a result, a warm, inclusive and nurturing ethos was evident throughout the inspection. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 6 - excellent Quality of environment Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Balhousie and North Muirton ELC page 3 of 9Page 19 of 102
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Findings from the inspection We found significant strengths in aspects of the care provided and how these supported positive outcomes for children, therefore we evaluated this quality theme as very good. Children were highly engaged in their play and learning on the day of inspection. Opportunities across all rooms supported children's curiosity, enquiry, and creativity. Children had very good opportunities to lead their learning through the effective use of floor book planning, talking tubs and staff who confidently scaffolded their learning experiences. This ensured children had stimulating, challenging and meaningful play experiences providing breadth and progression of learning. Children freely accessed toys and resources to extend their play which contributed to them developing a sense of ownership and respect for their environment. Children experienced outdoor play that supported them to problem solve and take exciting risks. The array of loose parts available enabled children to make choices and effectively and confidently lead their play. One child told us 'my nursery has everything'. This supported children to feel empowered and contributed to children who could confidently assess their risky play experiences. Children had free flow access to the outdoors in two of the rooms. Where children were unable to freely access the outdoor area, staff managed this well to ensure all children experienced daily outdoor play. This meant that all children attending the setting accessed high quality outdoor play experiences. Children were supported well by staff during mealtimes. Children were encouraged sensitively to try new food and to be independent. Staff sat with the children and supported conversations and gave the right support at the right time. This contributed to children's engagement during this time and created a positive social experience. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 5 - very good Quality of staffing Findings from the inspection We found significant strengths in aspects of the care provided and how these supported positive outcomes for children, therefore we evaluated this quality theme as very good. Children were cared for by staff who were warm, compassionate and nurturing. Staff provided individualised support by effectively engaging with children throughout the inspection. Staff demonstrated an awareness of when and how to effectively intervene, picking up on cues to support children's wellbeing and extend their play experiences. This resulted in children who felt respected within the service. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Balhousie and North Muirton ELC page 4 of 9 Page 20 of 102
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Staff were welcoming, friendly and respectful in their interactions with each other and appeared to work well as a team. This promoted a happy and secure environment for the children Staff were reflective practitioners. They were keen to take forward current ideas, develop and implement best practice guidance resulting in children receiving high quality interactions and experiences. This created a professional, motivated workforce that were passionate about improving outcomes for all children. Effective staff deployment across the service meant that children's individual needs were being met by the right number of staff, consistently throughout the day. The staff to child ratio allowed staff to be responsive to individual needs which enhanced children's experiences and ensured children had the right support at the right time. Children who required additional support were well supported by staff to feel respected and included in daily experiences. This was enhanced through effective working relationships with families. A thorough and robust induction supported recently appointed staff to meet children's needs. The induction programme supported new staff to settle into their role and become part of the staff team. As a result, they were clear about their roles and responsibilities which supported children's experiences. Staff spoke positively of the support they received from management. This contributed to trusting and respectful working relationships within the team Staff made very good use of professional development opportunities that linked directly to enhanced outcomes for children. Regular team meetings allowed staff to participate in professional discussions and used these to inform practice. This resulted in a staff team who were involved in the improvement journey of the service and worked well together to ensure outcomes for children were of very good quality. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 5 - very good Quality of management and leadership Findings from the inspection We found significant strengths in aspects of the care provided and how these supported positive outcomes for children, therefore we evaluated this quality theme as very good. There was a strong ethos of improvement to support high quality outcomes for all children and families. Staff, families, and children had been involved in creating a shared vision for the setting. This supported effective partnership working where all stakeholders views and contributions were valued and listened to. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Balhousie and North Muirton ELC page 5 of 9Page 21 of 102
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Extensive and robust quality assurance processes allowed focussed and meaningful opportunities for the management team and staff to review and monitor various aspects of the service. This meant that areas for improvement were identified, shared with staff and actions taken to make positive changes to children's experiences. This resulted in very good outcomes for children and their families. High quality practice and improving outcomes for children is at the forefront of the centre improvement plan. Priorities were measurable, realistic, and resulted in the best outcomes for children attending. Identified areas of development were a standing item on the team meeting agenda. This supported all staff to work towards a common goal, participate in the progress to improve outcomes for all children. This contributed to the shared aspirations of the whole team. Regular support and supervision sessions provided an opportunity for staff to be clear on their responsibilities and accountable for their role. We saw evidence of how staff engaged with the process effectively to reflect on and improve their practice which enabled learning to be identified. This resulted in improved outcomes for children as staff were valued and empowered to participate in change. Staff told us they felt very well supported by the leadership team. This contributed to the ethos of everyone feeling confident to initiate well-informed change and take responsibility for the process. This resulted in high quality play experience and positive outcomes for children and their families. Strong leadership resulted in staff who had high aspirations and confidence in their capacity to support children and families to reach their full potential. There was a clear cycle of reflection and improvement within the service. The management team should continue to embed and sustain the high-quality practices to ensure children and families continue to experience outstanding care. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 5 - very good Previous requirements There are no outstanding requirements. What the service has done to meet any requirements we made at or since the last inspection Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Balhousie and North Muirton ELC page 6 of 9 Page 22 of 102
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Previous recommendations There are no outstanding recommendations. Complaints There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com. Enforcement No enforcement action has been taken against this care service since the last inspection. Inspection and grading history Date Type Gradings 27 Aug 2019 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment 4 - Good Staffing Not assessed Management and leadership Not assessed 25 Apr 2017 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment Not assessed Staffing Not assessed Management and leadership 4 - Good 6 May 2015 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment 5 - Very good Staffing 6 - Excellent Management and leadership 5 - Very good What the service has done to meet any recommendations we made at or since the last inspection Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Balhousie and North Muirton ELC page 7 of 9Page 23 of 102
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Date Type Gradings 9 May 2013 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment 5 - Very good Staffing 5 - Very good Management and leadership 5 - Very good 12 May 2010 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment 5 - Very good Staffing 4 - Good Management and leadership 4 - Good Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Balhousie and North Muirton ELC page 8 of 9 Page 24 of 102
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To find out more This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can download this report and others from our website. Care services in Scotland cannot operate unless they are registered with the Care Inspectorate. We inspect, award grades and help services to improve. We also investigate complaints about care services and can take action when things aren't good enough. Please get in touch with us if you would like more information or have any concerns about a care service. You can also read more about our work online at www.careinspectorate.com Contact us Care Inspectorate Compass House 11 Riverside Drive Dundee DD1 4NY enquiries@careinspectorate.com 0345 600 9527 Find us on Facebook Twitter: @careinspect Other languages and formats This report is available in other languages and formats on request. Tha am foillseachadh seo ri fhaighinn ann an cruthannan is cànain eile ma nithear iarrtas. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Balhousie and North Muirton ELC page 9 of 9Page 25 of 102
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Appendix 2 Summary of Care Inspectorate Day Care of Children Inspections National and Comparator Authority Benchmarking 2017/18 to date (Comparator and National Data as of 30 May 2022) Overall, most ELC settings perform well. PKC perform consistently better than comparator authorities, and at national level when inspected by Care Inspectorate for the ‘Quality of Care and Support’. Almost all inspections show that settings are strong in ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion. Most inspections are good or better for the ‘Quality of Environment ‘and ‘Quality of Staffing’. 4 Page 27 of 102
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The ‘Quality of Environment’ had fallen slightly below our comparators and at national level and as a result there was a renewed focus on staff learning and development regarding quality environments and this has had a positive impact on performance. Due to the rapid increase of staff to meet the demands of the expansion of ELC, a number of initiatives are now in place to improve quality, for example, a new induction programme for staff. The majority of inspections are good or better for the ‘Quality of Management and Leadership’. A new ELC leadership programme has been offered over the last two years to address this and we are now above our comparator authorities and at national level. Overall, whilst most ELC settings perform well, analysis indicates that improvements were required in some settings in three areas: ‘Quality of Environment’, ‘Quality of Staffing’ and ‘Quality of Management and Leadership’. The Early Years Team are currently working with a number of settings to take forward action plans to address the outcomes of these inspections. Where evaluations are satisfactory or weak, a ‘team around the setting’ approach is taken in order to secure improvements. Currently, action plans are in for 4 settings which are supported by relevant officers. These are regularly monitored and reviewed with a final report on improvements being presented to parents. Inspections in Financial Year 2019/20 and Later *New inspections since the last Executive Sub-Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee Local Authority Service Name Inspection Date Quality of Care & Support Quality of Environment Quality of Staffing Quality of Management & Leadership Arngask Primary School 10/12/2019 Very Good Very Good - - Balbeggie Primary School 05/02/2020 Good - Good - Balhousie Primary School 27/08/2019 Very Good Good - - *Balhousie and North Muirton ELC 04/03/2022 Excellent Very Good Very Good Very Good Blair Atholl Primary School 16/09/2019 Very Good Very Good - - Braco Primary School 30/10/2019 Very Good - - Good Breadalbane Academy 29/10/2019 Good Good - - City of Perth Early Childhood Centre 11/11/2019 Adequate Good Adequate Adequate Dunbarney Primary School 11/02/2020 Good Good - - Fossoway Primary School 05/06/2019 Very Good Very Good - - Goodlyburn Primary School 02/05/2019 Good - - Good Guildtown Primary School Nursery 22/11/2021 Very Good Very Good Very Good Good Kinnoull Kids Club 19/12/2019 Good - - Good Page 28 of 102
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Service Name Inspection Date Quality of Care & Support Quality of Environment Quality of Staffing Quality of Management & Leadership Kinross Primary School 25/11/2019 Very Good Very Good - - *Luncarty Nursery Class and Wrap Around Care 28/02/2022 Good Good Good Adequate Letham Kids Club 14/05/2019 Good - - Good Letham Primary School 04/03/2020 Very Good Good Very Good Very Good *Milnathort Primary School 27/04/2022 Very Good Very Good Very Good Good Moncreiffe Primary School 21/01/2020 Good Good - - Newhill Primary School Nursery 10/03/2020 Very Good Very Good Good Good North Muirton Kids Club 01/05/2019 Very Good - - Good North Muirton Primary School 24/03/2020 Good Good Adequate Adequate Oakbank Primary School 20/11/2019 Very Good - - Very Good Pitlochry High School 31/01/2020 Very Good - Very Good - Rattray Primary School 09/12/2019 - - - - Rattray Primary School 24/06/2019 Good Good Good Weak Robert Douglas Memorial Primary School 24/02/2020 Very Good - - Very Good Stanley Primary School 06/09/2019 Good Good - - *St. Ninians Episcopal Primary School Nursery 09/11/2021 Very Good Good Very Good Good Page 29 of 102
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Partner Providers Service Name Inspection Date Quality of Care & Support Quality of Environment Quality of Staffing Quality of Management & Leadership Apple Tree Nursery 23/07/2019 Good Good - - Busy Bees Nursery 22/11/2021 Very Good Good Very Good Good Cheeky Monkeys 05/04/2019 Very Good - Very Good - Cornerstones Nursery 30/07/2019 Adequate Good Good Adequate Craigie Park Nursery# 17/04/2019 Good Adequate Good Adequate Dunning Stepping Stones# 24/02/2020 Very Good - - Very Good Fair City Munchkins 06/03/2020 Very Good - Very Good - Four Seasons Nursery# 30/08/2019 Adequate Adequate Adequate Adequate Honeypot Children's Nursery - Luncarty 17/02/2020 Very Good Very Good Very Good Very Good Humpty Dumpty Community Nursery - Scone 12/09/2019 Very Good - - Very Good Lauriston Nursery 17/09/2021 Good Good Good Adequate Little Scallywags Nursery 11/09/2021 Very Good Very Good Very Good Very Good Little Steps Childcare 08/08/2019 Good Very Good Good Adequate Muirton Community Nursery 04/09/2019 Adequate Adequate Adequate Adequate Netherton Montessori Nursery 31/01/2019 Very Good Very Good - - Paint Pots Nursery** 11/02/2020 Very Good Good - - Perth College Nursery 05/10/2021 Very Good Good Very Good Good Rosemount Nursery School Ltd 16/08/2019 Good Good Good Adequate Swansacre Playgroup 27/08/2021 Good Very Good Good Very Good The Red Squirrel Children's Nursery 20/06/2019 Very Good - - Very Good The Wendy House 24/09/2019 Very Good - Very Good - Thrive Childcare and Education Corner House Perth 03/06/2021 Weak Weak Weak Weak Village Kids Club 07/05/2019 Good Good - - # - Setting now closed. ** - Paint Pots Nursery now operating as Thrive Childcare and Education. Page 30 of 102
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Current Position The chart shown is an illustration of the individual results of inspections over a five-year period. Some settings will be inspected more than once during this period, and some Quality Indicators are not covered in every inspection. The accumulated result of all these inspections is the position of all Early Learning and Childcare services in Perth & Kinross. This chart summarises the proportion of settings that have a good or better rating, based on the latest inspection for each indicator, and therefore reflects the current gradings of Early Learning and Childcare services in PKC. Page 31 of 102
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PERTH AND KINROSS COUNCIL EXECUTIVE SUB-COMMITTEE OF LEARNING & FAMILIES COMMITTEE 29 AUGUST 2022 SUMMARY REPORT ON CARE INSPECTORATE AND EDUCATION SCOTLAND INSPECTIONS Report by Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (Report No 22/195) 1. PURPOSE 1.1 This report provides an overview of the performance of Education and Children’s Services inspected and reported over the past two years by the Care Inspectorate and Education Scotland, since the previous report of this type in 2020, and sets out the Service’s approach to implementing improvement actions arising out of inspection. A report was not prepared in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic which led to a pause in inspection activity. 2. RECOMMENDATION 2.1 It is recommended that the Executive Sub-Committee of the Learning & Families Committee: • Considers and comments as appropriate on the contents of the report. 3. STRUCTURE OF REPORT 3.1 This report is structured over the following sections: • Section 4: Background • Section 5: Services providing Day Care for Children • Section 6: Support and Residential Care Services • Section 7: ELC Settings and Schools – Education Scotland Inspections • Section 8: Conclusions • Appendices 4. BACKGROUND 4.1 Care Inspectorate 4.1.1 Regulated care services in Scotland are inspected by the Care Inspectorate using a range of quality frameworks, each with key questions and quality indicators. Services are measured against the National Health and Social Care Standards. 6 Page 33 of 102
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Where inspected, each key question and contributing quality indicator is graded on a 6-point scale in which 1 = unsatisfactory, 2 = weak, 3 = adequate, 4 = good, 5 = very good and 6 = excellent. 4.1.2 The Care Inspectorate conducts unannounced inspections for all regulated services as the main inspection method unless there are practical reasons that this is not appropriate. There are longer intervals between inspections for better performing services and a greater focus on risk-based inspections for poorly performing and high-risk services such as those which provide 24-hour residential care. 4.1.3 Following an inspection, the Care Inspectorate may set out a series of: Recommendations: statements that set out actions the care service provider should take to improve or develop the quality of the service. Requirements: statements which set out what is required of the care service provider to comply with relevant legislation. 4.1.4 Care service providers must submit an action plan to the Care Inspectorate addressing any requirements and recommendations identified. Progress against the action plan is monitored by the Care Inspectorate through annual return and self-assessment forms submitted by the care service provider and through subsequent inspection. 4.2 Education Scotland 4.2.1 Education Scotland inspects and reports on the quality of education in Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) settings, primary schools, secondary schools, special schools, community learning and development services, colleges, and residential educational provision. ELC Settings/Schools 4.2.2 For ELC inspections, the How good is our early learning and childcare (HGIOELC) framework is used. For school inspections, a selection of the How good is our school (HGIOS4) Quality Indicators (QI) are evaluated on a six-point scale. 4.2.3 A further QI is negotiated with the school which will enable school staff and inspectors to focus on a particularly challenging issue or new initiative, with the aim of bringing about improvement through professional dialogue. This QI will not be evaluated on the six-point scale. In addition, inspections will incorporate themes from other QIs, and these themes will be reviewed regularly to ensure they remain relevant. 4.2.4 A short letter is provided to report the inspection, highlighting strengths and aspects for development, and includes a table indicating the QI evaluations against the six-point scale. The inspection evidence gathered during the inspection is published online as a document called the Summarised Inspection Findings (SIF). Page 34 of 102
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4.3 Joint Inspections 4.3.1 The Care Inspectorate and Education Scotland undertake joint inspections of nursery classes and ELC settings, reported publicly, in one report produced jointly by both scrutiny bodies. In each report, there will still be separate evaluations of both the QI considered by Education Scotland and the Care Standards considered by the Care Inspectorate. No joint inspections have been published since the previous version of this report. 4.4 Analysis of Inspection Outcomes 4.4.1 There are a number of factors which make the analysis of the inspection gradings complex over this reporting period. These factors include: • Improvements and changes to the inspection models and quality frameworks such that it is not possible to make direct comparisons across each year; • The number of inspections carried out within the local authority area varies from year to year; and • The selection of quality indicators and themes can vary from inspection to inspection. 5. SERVICES PROVIDING DAY CARE FOR CHILDREN 5.1 This section presents an overview of the performance of services providing day care for children inspected over the past two years (2020/21 - 2021/22) where Perth and Kinross Council is the registered provider, and for services registered as funded partners1 . This includes childminders with funded childcare places. The Care Inspectorate Inspection Reports are reported to the Executive Sub-Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee by exception where any grading has been awarded an evaluation of unsatisfactory, weak, or excellent. In the past two years, no services have been reported for receiving excellent gradings. Two services were graded as unsatisfactory or weak. 5.2 All twelve inspections of services providing day care for children in 2020/21 – 2021/22 were unannounced. 5.3 To date, in 2020/21 – 2021/22, 81% of grades awarded were good or better, similar to the previous year and above national and comparator benchmarks. The proportion of excellent and very good grades awarded in 2020/21 – 2021/22 is 46%, an increase from 37% in 2019/20. Appendix A provides further details and interpretation of the overall figures. The current inspection position of all settings indicates a positive picture relative to national and comparator benchmarks, across all Quality Themes. 5.4 Appendix B shows performance from 1 April 2013 to 24 February 2022 by Quality Theme for all inspected services providing day care. Overall, every theme shows consistently high performance. The Quality of Staffing and 1At the time of writing, information available for services inspected and published between 1 April 2020 and 24 February 2022. Page 35 of 102
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Leadership and Management shows improvement in the latest year’s inspection. 5.5 It is common for only certain QI to be assessed during an inspection. When looking at individual indicators, care must be used in interpretation as some may be evaluated less frequently than others and therefore subject to greater change from year to year. 5.6 Education and Children’s Services continues to monitor, support, and challenge all centres through a planned programme of improvement visits. 6. SUPPORT AND RESIDENTIAL CARE SERVICES 6.1 Woodlea Cottage 6.1.1 The Care Inspectorate undertook an unannounced inspection of Woodlea Cottage in March 2020. Woodlea Cottage is a care home service providing respite and short breaks for up to five children aged from 7 to 18 with severe, complex, and enduring needs arising from learning and physical disabilities. Children using the service can do so for up to 28 consecutive days. Staff also provide an outreach service to children and their families, although this is not part of the registered care service. 6.1.2 The Care Inspectorate identified a number of strengths and the inspection found, using its new Quality Framework, the key questions “How well do we support children and young people's wellbeing” and the “How well is our care and support planned” to be Very Good. The key questions of “How good is our leadership”, “How good is our staffing” and “How good is our setting” were not inspected. 6.1.3 The findings of this inspection and an update on progress made towards implementing the areas for improvement were reported to the Executive Sub-Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee on 2 November 2020 (Report No. 20/207 refers). Woodlea Cottage was first inspected in November 2010. The grading history for the latest inspections are shown in Appendix C, indicating a change to new quality indicators. This service has received consistently high gradings over this period and is operating at an outstanding level of quality for children and families with complex care and support needs. 7. ELC SETTINGS AND SCHOOLS – EDUCATION SCOTLAND INSPECTIONS 7.1 This section presents an overview of the performance of Perth and Kinross Council’s ELC settings, including partner providers, and schools inspected by Education Scotland and reported to the Executive Sub Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee up to 21 March 2022. 7.2 Education Scotland paused inspection activity from March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They undertook follow-through recovery visits from September to December 2021. For the period 2020/21 – 2021/22, one primary school and one secondary school had very positive follow-through inspections. No further inspections are to take place by Education Scotland Page 36 of 102
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throughout the rest of this academic session, although recovery visits will take place where schools and nurseries request them. A combined summary of achievement (2016/17 to date) is shown in Appendix D. 7.3 Performance against comparator local authorities and Scotland as a whole is shown in Appendix E. Perth and Kinross Council consistently outperforms both the comparator group of local authorities and the Scotland average across both the primary school and ELC sectors, particularly when looking only at indicators graded as Very Good or better. There are insufficient secondary school inspections to allow for comparison. 7.4 Areas for improvement identified during an inspection are addressed through a School Action Plan. Progress against the plan is monitored and a report prepared for parents/carers (and is also shared with the Area Lead Officer) within one year of the report being published. 7.5 Inspection reports are scrutinised by members of the Executive Sub- Committee of the Learning & Families Committee. Thematic Inspections 7.6 In November 2021, Education Scotland carried out three thematic reviews nationally. These were on the themes of outdoor learning, approaches to supporting young people’s wellbeing and local approaches to recovery. A number of PKC schools participated in this process. The Successful Approaches to Learning Outdoors findings were published in February 2022 featuring a PKC case study from FossoPlay Outdoor Nursery. Planning for Improvement 7.7 Over the last two years, while external scrutiny by Education Scotland has been paused, improvement work has continued across all schools and settings. 7.8 All schools fully returned to in-school learning in August 2020. Schools were supported to create recovery plans in line with the Scottish Government’s recommendations and these were discussed during termly meetings with Quality Improvement Officers. School improvement work for session 2020/21 continued with a focus on the core areas of literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. Termly quality improvement meetings were held with all school management teams. Schools adapted and adjusted plans in line with changes to Scottish Government guidance and moved to remote learning from January 2021 until the phased return between February and April 2021. Guidance was produced to support all schools to create remote learning plans which included live interaction between pupils and school staff. Planning was also undertaken to ensure that, where required, remote learning could be delivered after pupils returned to school buildings. 7.9 The in-person programme of school improvement visits ceased over the period of 2020/21 due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, quality improvement discussions between Quality Improvement Officers and school management teams regarding curriculum, attainment, improvement priorities continued on a termly basis through virtual interaction with Page 37 of 102
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schools. Surveys of pupils, parents and staff were undertaken. Schools maintained contact with parents remotely and provided regular information updates and met with parents to report on individual pupil progress. Many schools continued to undertake school improvement development work and staff training sessions remotely. 7.10 All schools and ELC settings completed Standards and Quality Reports for session 2020/21, which were published for parents in June 2021. Reports included information about achievement, learner’s experiences and leadership opportunities. Remote learning, progress in digital literacy and the impact of Pupil Equity Funding were outlined and schools evaluated their progress against national quality improvement indicators from within HGIOS4. 7. CONCLUSIONS 7.1 The analysis of the gradings and reports by the Care Inspectorate and Education Scotland provide positive confirmation that the standards and quality in our services remain high and set a clear agenda for continuous improvement. 7.2 Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the way that quality in schools and ELC setting is assured by external bodies and the education authority, performance as indicated by SQA results and Curriculum for Excellence Achievement of Levels indicates that standards have been maintained or improved. Author Name Designation Contact Details Paul Davison Corporate Research and Information Manager ECSCommittee@pkc.gov.uk 01738 475000 Approved Name Designation Date Sheena Devlin Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) 22 March 2022 Page 38 of 102
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ANNEX 1. IMPLICATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION Strategic Implications Yes / None Community Plan / Single Outcome Agreement Yes Corporate Plan Yes Resource Implications Financial None Workforce None Asset Management (land, property, IST) None Assessments Equality Impact Assessment None Strategic Environmental Assessment None Sustainability (community, economic, environmental) None Legal and Governance None Risk None Consultation Internal Yes External None Communication Communications Plan None 1. Strategic Implications Community Plan / Single Outcome Agreement 1.1 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the delivery of the Perth and Kinross Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement in terms of the following priorities: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens; (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy; (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No. (i) and (ii). Corporate Plan 1.2 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the achievement of the Council’s Corporate Plan Objectives: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens; (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy; (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No. (i) and (ii). Page 39 of 102
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1.3 The report also links to the Education & Children’s Services Vision, Values and Priorities in respect of the following key Priority areas: • Best Start • Learning and Achievement 2. Resource Implications Financial 2.1 N/A Workforce 2.2 N/A Asset Management (land, property, IT) 2.3 N/A 3. Assessments Equality Impact Assessment 3.1 Under the Equality Act 2010, the Council is required to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between equality groups. Carrying out Equality Impact Assessments for plans and policies allows the Council to demonstrate that it is meeting these duties. The proposals have been considered under the Corporate Equalities Impact Assessment process (EqIA) with the following outcome: (i) Assessed as not relevant for the purposes of EqIA. Strategic Environmental Assessment 3.2 The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 places a duty on the Council to identify and assess the environmental consequences of its proposals. However, no action is required as the Act does not apply to the matters presented in this report. This is because the Committee are requested to note the contents of the report only and the Committee are not being requested to approve, adopt or agree to an action or to set the framework for future decisions. Sustainability 3.3 Under the provisions of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003, the Council has to discharge its duties in a way which contributes to the achievement of sustainable development. Under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 the Council also has a duty relating to climate change and, in exercising its functions must act: Page 40 of 102
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• In the way best calculated to delivery of the Act’s emissions reduction targets. • In the way best calculated to deliver any statutory adaption programmes. • In a way that it considers most sustainable. The proposals have been considered but are not applicable for this report. Legal and Governance 3.4 N/A 3.5 N/A Risk 3.6 N/A 4. Consultation Internal 4.1 Relevant Heads of Service and Service Managers within Education and Children’s Services have been consulted in the preparation of this report. External 4.2 N/A 5. Communication 5.1 In the case of an initial Education Scotland inspection of a school, a public meeting is held after the publication of the inspection report with invitations going to parents, the local elected members, and members of the Lifelong Learning Committee. These meetings give parents, carers, and other members of the community the opportunity to discuss the findings of the inspection and to be consulted on the areas for improvement to be taken forward. Where further inspection activity is carried out, Education Scotland will report publicly to parents and stakeholders. Other continuing engagement activities undertaken by Perth and Kinross Council will also be reported to parents and stakeholders. This includes the publication of reports to parents on Extended Learning and Achievement Visits and follow-up reports on the school’s website and on each school’s page on www.pkc.gov.uk. 2. BACKGROUND PAPERS The following background papers, as defined by Section 50D of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (and not containing confidential or exempt information) were relied on to a material extent in preparing the above report: • Education Scotland Inspection reports, published by Education Scotland. • Care Inspectorate Inspection reports, published by the Care Inspectorate. Page 41 of 102
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• Standards and Quality in Schools, Learning Communities and Pre-School Centres/Day Care of Children, Executive Sub-Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee, 2 November 2020 (Report No. 20/205 refers & Report No. 20/206 refers) and 1 November 2021 (Report No. 21/200 refers) and 21 March 2022 (Report No. 22/58 refers). • Care Inspectorate Inspections of Support and Residential Care Services for Children and Young People, Executive Sub-Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee, 2 November 2020 (Report No. 20/207 refers). 3. APPENDICES 3.1 Appendix A: Summary of performance, services providing day care of children inspected by the Care Inspectorate Appendix B: Grading History, services providing day care of children inspected and published by the Care Inspectorate, 2013/14 onwards Appendix C: Grading History Woodlea Cottage Appendix D: Cumulative Overview of Education Scotland Inspections in 2016/17 - 2021/22 by Performance Indicator Appendix E: Cumulative ELC Settings and Primary School Inspection Performance relative to Comparator Authorities, by Education Scotland Quality Indicator, Academic Years 2016/17 – 2021/22 Page 42 of 102
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Appendix A Summary of performance1, services providing day care of children inspected by the Care Inspectorate2 3 Table A1: Summary of performance – 2021/22(to date)4 Number of services inspected = 12 Quality Themes Excell -ent Very Good Good Adequ -ate Weak Unsatis -factory Indicators inspected Care and Support 0 7 3 0 2 0 12 Environment 0 4 6 0 1 1 12 Staffing 0 7 3 0 2 0 12 Management and Leadership 0 4 5 1 1 1 12 Total 0 22 17 1 6 2 48 - 46% 35% 2% 13% 4% Table A2: Summary of performance – 2020/215 No performance to report CHART A1: Performance 2016/17 to 2021/22: PKC, Comparator Authorities and Scotland Note: Vertical axis adjusted to emphasise differences 1 Note that rounding of percentage figures may mean totals reported elsewhere do differ. 2 Note that comparator and national proportions include all services for day care of children whereas Perth and Kinross figures only represent local authority and partner provider services. It also restates previous gradings when quality themes are not assessed. 3 Comparator local authorities are Argyll and Bute, Aberdeenshire, Stirling, Scottish Borders and Highland Council. Comparator and national proportions currently available until December 2021 4 Inspected, published and reported to Lifelong Learning Executive Sub Committee by 21 March 2022. 5 There is no performance to report for the year 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. Commentary: The national trend down is linked to higher expectations from Care Inspectorate inspections and introduction of the National Standard for ELC. National and comparator figures are now available for 2021/22 which show PKC out-performing comparator and national benchmarks. 6 Page 43 of 102
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Chart A2: National and Comparator Authority Benchmarking 2017/18 to date (Comparator and National Data as of 31 December 2021) Current Position The chart above illustrates the aggregated individual results of inspections over a five year period. Some settings will be inspected more than once during this period, and some Quality Indicators are not covered in every inspection. The accumulated result of all these inspections is the current position of all Early Learning and Childcare services in Perth & Kinross - shown in these charts. This summarises the proportion of settings that currently have a Good or better rating, based on the latest inspection for each indicator. Page 44 of 102
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Commentary: Performance over 6 years has been generally high and steady when looking at both ‘Good or better’ and Very good or better’ ratings. A recent decrease is linked to higher expectations from Care Inspectorate inspections and introduction of the National Standard for ELC. Appendix B Grading History, services providing day care of children inspected and published by the Care Inspectorate, 2013/14 onwards1 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2021/22 Number of Inspections 29 34 42 42 36 50 36 12 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2021/22 Number of Inspections 29 34 42 23 17 36 22 12 1 Inspected, published and reported to Lifelong Learning Executive Sub Committee by 21 March 2022. Note the smaller number of inspections reported in 2021/22 (and none in 2020/21) Commentary: Performance over 6 years has been high and steady when looking at ‘Good or better’ ratings. Performance is linked to higher expectations from Care Inspectorate inspections. This indicator has been recognised in the Service’s own quality assurance of establishments, with the intention of improving performance in this area. 6 Page 45 of 102
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2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2021/22 Number of Inspections 29 34 42 28 12 20 15 12 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2021/22 Number of Inspections 29 34 42 26 23 16 19 12 Commentary: Performance over 6 years has been high and steady when looking at ‘Good or better’ ratings. When tightening to ‘Very good or better’ the overall trend is similar, and has shown recent improvement. Lower performance is linked to higher expectations from Care Inspectorate inspections. There has also been a marked increase in the ELC workforce introduced at pace during expansion, and this is expected to affect this evaluation in the short term. Commentary: Performance over 6 years has been generally high when looking at Good or better ratings. Turnover of management staff from partner providers to other positions has partly contributed to a reduction from ‘Very Good’ in 18/19. ‘Good’ evaluations remain high. The Service has a development programme to upskill existing Early Childhood Practitioners (ECPs) to undertake management posts as well as a new Leadership Programme for those in existing leadership positions. Page 46 of 102
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Appendix C Grading History, Woodlea Cottage – Previous Quality Framework Grading History, Woodlea Cottage – New Quality Framework 6 Page 47 of 102
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Appendix D Cumulative Overview of Education Scotland Inspections in 2016/17 – 2021/22 by Performance Indicator Table D1: ELC Settings Overview by Performance Indicator Number of Pre-Schools inspected = 18 (1 Follow Through, 13 Full and 4 Short Inspections) QI Grading Leadership of change Learning, teaching & assessment Securing Children's Progress Ensuring wellbeing, equality & inclusion Self- evaluation for self- improvement All Quality Indicators Excellent - - - - - - Very Good 4 5 5 6 - 20 Good 5 6 9 6 1 27 Satisfactory 4 3 2 1 1 11 Weak - 1 1 - - 2 Unsatisfactory - - - - - - Table D2: Primary Overview by Performance Indicator Number of Primary Schools inspected = 21 (1 Follow Through, 11 Full and 9 Short Inspections) QI Grading Leadership of change Learning, teaching & assessment Raising attainment & achievement Ensuring wellbeing, equality & inclusion Self- evaluation for self- improvement All Quality Indicators Excellent 1 - - 1 - 2 Very Good 3 5 9 5 3 25 Good 5 8 6 5 - 24 Satisfactory 2 3 4 - 1 10 Weak - - 1 - - 1 Unsatisfactory - - - - - - Table D3: Secondary Overview by Performance Indicator Number of Secondary Schools inspected = 2 (1 Full and 1 Short Inspection) QI Grading Leadership of change Learning, teaching & assessment Raising attainment & achievement Ensuring wellbeing, equality & inclusion Self- evaluation for self- improvement All Quality Indicators Excellent - - - - - - Very Good - - - - - - Good - - - - - - Satisfactory 1 2 1 1 - 5 Weak - - 1 - - 1 Unsatisfactory - - - - - - 6 Page 49 of 102
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Appendix E Cumulative ELC Settings and Primary School Inspection Performance relative to Comparator Authorities1, by Education Scotland Quality Indicator, Academic Years 2016/17 – 2021/22 Commentary: Performance is consistently good across all quality indicators and well above comparators averages, especially at the higher end of ‘very good or better’. ELC Settings Quality Indictor Leadership of Change Learning, teaching & assessment Securing Children’s Progress Ensuring wellbeing, equality & inclusion Self-evaluation for self-improvement All Quality Indicators No. of Inspections in PKC 15 18 20 15 2 70 1 Argyll and Bute, Aberdeenshire, Stirling, Scottish Borders and Highland Council. Comparator data up to June 20. The number of recent inspections of secondary schools is insufficient for benchmarking. 6 Page 51 of 102
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Primary Schools Quality Indictor Leadership of Change Learning, teaching & assessment Raising attainment & achievement Ensuring wellbeing, equality & inclusion Self-evaluation for self-improvement2 All Quality Indicators No. of Inspections in PKC 13 19 23 13 4 72 2 This indicator is only inspected in the previous ‘Short’ inspection model. Page 52 of 102
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PERTH AND KINROSS COUNCIL EXECUTIVE SUB-COMMITTEE OF LEARNING & FAMILIES COMMITTEE 29 AUGUST 2022 INSPECTIONS OF SERVICES FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE BY THE CARE INSPECTORATE Report by Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (Report No 22/196) 1. PURPOSE 1.1 This report sets out the key findings following inspections and evaluations of Services for Children and Young People undertaken by the Care Inspectorate, namely the Fostering Service, the Adoption Service and the Adult Placement Service. 2. RECOMMENDATION 2.1 It is recommended that the Committee: • Considers and comments as appropriate on the contents of the report. 3. STRUCTURE OF REPORT 3.1 This report is structured over the following sections: • Section 4: Background • Section 5: Recently Published Reports • Section 6: Conclusion • Appendices 4. BACKGROUND 4.1 The Care Inspectorate was created by the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. The Act sets out general principles for the Care Inspectorate’s inspection and improvement functions. These are: • The safety and wellbeing of all persons who use, or are eligible to use, any social service is to be protected and enhanced; • The independence of those persons is to be promoted; • Diversity in the provision of social services is to be promoted with a view to those persons being afforded choice; and • Good practice in the provision of social services is to be identified, promulgated and promoted. 7 Page 53 of 102
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4.2 The Act places duties on the Care Inspectorate to make arrangements which will secure continuous improvement, to ensure user focus, and to co-operate with other specified scrutiny bodies. 4.3 Since 1 April 2018, the Health and Social Care Standards have been used across Scotland to describe what people should experience from a wide range of care and support services. Since then, the Care Inspectorate have been rolling out a revised methodology (quality framework) for inspecting these services. 4.4 The quality framework is framed around six key questions. The first of these is: • How well do we support people’s wellbeing? To try and understand what contributes to wellbeing, there are four further key questions: • How good is our leadership? • How good is our staff team? • How good is our setting? • How well is care and support planned? The final key question is: • What is our overall capacity for improvement? This requires a global judgement based on evidence and evaluations from all other key areas. Under each key question, there are a small number of quality indicators. These have been developed to help answer the key questions. Each quality indicator has a small number of key areas and short bullet points which make clear the areas of practice covered. 4.5 Where appropriate, selected key questions are graded overall on a 6-point scale in which 1 = unsatisfactory, 2 = weak, 3 = adequate, 4 = good, 5 = very good and 6 = excellent. 4.6 Following an inspection, the Care Inspectorate may set out requirements or recommendations. Care service providers must submit an action plan to the Care Inspectorate addressing these. Progress against the action plan is monitored by the Care Inspectorate through annual return and self- assessment forms submitted by the care service provider, and through subsequent inspection. 5. RECENTLY PUBLISHED REPORTS 5.1 This report presents the findings of inspections of the Fostering Service, the Adoption Service and the Adult Placement Service by the Care Inspectorate. Page 54 of 102
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5.2 Fostering Service 5.2.1 The Care Inspectorate carried out an inspection of the Council’s Fostering Services on 31 May 2022. The inspection was announced at short notice. This level of inspection is carried out when the Care Inspectorate is satisfied that services are working hard to provide consistently high standards of care. 5.2.2 The Fostering Service provides a family placement service for children and young people aged 0 to 18 years old who are looked after by the Council and whose needs are best met through foster care. The Service recruits and supports family-based carers within Perth and Kinross and surrounding areas. Foster carers are approved and reviewed by the Fostering and Permanence Panel. They provide respite and short breaks, emergency, temporary and/or permanent care for looked after children and young people. 5.2.3 The Care Inspectorate identified the following important key strengths and highlighted them in the report attached as Appendix 1: • Children and young people in the service experienced positive and enduring relationships with their carers. • Care was seen to be individualised to need and we saw many positive examples of children and young people succeeding in education and living full lives. • Carers felt supported by the service and had positive relationships with their social workers within the family based care team. Carers felt included in service development via a consultation group and had access to regular support groups. • Children and young people benefitted from continuity of short break care. The service was piloting assessments of support carers within caregiver families own network at the time of approval to provide further stability and provide children and young people with a more natural experience of short breaks. • The service was committed to keeping brothers and sisters together and had a steering group to review practice in this area. We saw examples of creative practice to keep brothers and sisters together and a commitment to maintaining relationships. Children and Young People had access to supports from lifelong links with the aim create a connections plan for all looked after children to maintain important relationships. • Young people moving to continuing care and adult services had clear information about their rights and discussions around transition begun at an appropriate stage with engagement from the Throughcare Aftercare service. We saw positive outcomes of young people experiencing continued support from their fostering families after the age of 18. 5.2.4 The inspection evaluated the key questions “How well do we support people's wellbeing?” to be Good and “How well is our care and support planned?” to be Good. The “How good is our leadership?”, “How good is our staff team?” and “How good is our setting” key questions were not evaluated. 5.2.5 The inspection report sets out four Areas for Improvement which relate to further enhancing the quality of performance and practice within the service. A copy of the inspection report is provided in Appendix 1. Page 55 of 102
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5.2.6 The last inspection of the Fostering Service was completed in October 2017 and reported to the Executive Sub-Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee on 29 January 2018 (Report No. 18/19 refers). The Fostering Service was first inspected in September 2008 and Figure 1 below shows the inspection and grading history using the previous inspection model. The most recent inspection cannot be shown here as it was carried out using the new model with new key questions. Figure 1: Grading History, Fostering Service – Sep 2008 to Oct 2017 5.3 Adoption Service 5.3.1 The Care Inspectorate carried out an inspection of the Adoption Service on 31 May 2022. The inspection was announced at short notice. This level of inspection is carried out when the Care Inspectorate is satisfied that services are working hard to provide consistently high standards of care. 5.3.2 The Adoption Service provides a service for children and young people from birth and aims to recruit and support adoptive parents to provide permanent families for children who cannot live with their birth parents or extended family members and whose needs are best met through adoption. 5.3.3 The Care Inspectorate identified the following important key strengths and highlighted them in the report attached as Appendix 2: • Children experienced meaningful and trusting relationships and lived in stable and predictable home environments. • Children were supported to maintain meaningful relationships with extended family members, and significant birth family members. • Caregivers provided nurturing, trauma informed care, supported by staff who were skilled, knowledgeable, and responsive. • Staff's knowledge of children and their needs enhanced their ability to 'match' them with potential adopters. • Children's experiences and the potential impact this would have on their development and future needs was fully explored with caregivers. Page 56 of 102
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• Children's placement moves prioritised them and their needs and were progressed at a pace they were comfortable with. • Regular children's reviews ensured that children's holistic needs were regularly reviewed and updated within a multi-agency forum. 5.3.4 The inspection found the “How well do we support people's wellbeing?” to be Very Good and the “How well is our care and support planned?” to be Good. The “How good is our leadership?”, “How good is our staff team?” and “How good is our setting?” were not inspected. The inspection report does not set out any Areas for Improvement. 5.3.5 A copy of the inspection report is provided in Appendix 2. 5.3.6 The last inspection of the Fostering Service was completed in October 2017 and reported to the Executive Sub-Committee of Lifelong Learning Committee on 29 January 2018 (Report No. 18/19 refers). The Adoption Service was first inspected in September 2008 and Figure 2 below shows the inspection and grading history. The most recent inspection cannot be shown as carried out using the new model. Figure 2: Grading History, Adoption Service – Sep 2008 to Oct 2017 5.4 Adult Placement Service 5.4.1 The Care Inspectorate carried out an inspection of the Adult Placement Service on 31 May 2022. The inspection was announced at short notice. This level of inspection is carried out when the Care Inspectorate is satisfied that services are working hard to provide consistently high standards of care. 5.4.2 Supported Lodgings is an adult placement service run by Perth and Kinross Council, based at Scott Street. It recruits and supports carers to provide adult placements for young people leaving care from their local authority area and Children Alone Seeking Asylum. The service also supports carers providing Continuing Care to young people who they have previously looked after on a fostering basis. Page 57 of 102
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5.4.3 The Care Inspectorate identified the following important key strengths and highlighted them in the report attached as Appendix 3: • Young people experienced nurturing and supportive relationships with carers providing individualised care appropriate to their needs. Young people were living full lives, engaged with community resources and had access to a range of activities and learning opportunities, including group activities run by a youth resource hub. • Young People's health needs were comprehensively assessed and they had access to appropriate health resources. Young people had access to counselling services and health and wellbeing workers within the Throughcare Aftercare Service supported positive mental health. • Staff in the service demonstrated high levels of knowledge and skill in supporting carers and young people within the supported lodgings service. Staff had access to external Fostering Across Borders training which they delivered to carers coming forward to support Children Alone Seeking Asylum (CASA). • We received positive feedback from carers in relation to the quality of support provided and saw evidence of good joint working within the service. Staff received regular supervision to support them in their role and had access to annual appraisals to explore development and future learning opportunities. 5.4.4 The inspection found the “How well do we support people's wellbeing?” to be Very Good, “How good is our leadership?” to be Good, “How good is our staff team” to be Very Good and the “How well is our care and support planned?” to be Good. The “How good is our setting?” question was not inspected. 5.4.5 The inspection report sets out four Areas for Improvement which relate to further enhancing the quality of performance and practice within the service. A copy of the inspection report is provided in Appendix 3. 5.4.6 This inspection, completed on 31 May 2022, is the first time an inspection by the Care Inspectorate of the Adult Placement Service has been undertaken. 6. Conclusion 6.1 This report sets out the outcomes of the Care Inspectorate reports of Services for Children and Young People inspected and published since 29 January 2018. Inspection reports provide information on the standards and quality in our Fostering, Adoption and Adult Placement settings. Page 58 of 102
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Author Name Designation Contact Details Linda Richards Service Manager (Looked After Services) ECSCommittee@pkc.gov.uk 01738 475000 Approved Name Designation Date Sheena Devlin Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) 28 July 2022 Page 59 of 102
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ANNEX 1. IMPLICATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION Strategic Implications Yes/None Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement None Corporate Plan None Resource Implications Financial None Workforce None Asset Management (land, property, IST) None Assessments Equality Impact Assessment None Strategic Environmental Assessment None Sustainability (community, economic, environmental) None Legal and Governance None Risk None Consultation Internal None External None Communication Communications Plan None 1. Strategic Implications Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement 1.1 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the delivery of the Perth and Kinross Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement in terms of the following priorities: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens; (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy; (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No. (i). Corporate Plan 1.2 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the achievement of the Council’s Corporate Plan Objectives: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens; (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy; (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No. (i). Page 60 of 102
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1.3 The report also links to the Education & Children’s Services Vision, Values and Priorities in respect of the following key Priority area: • Care and Equity 2. Resource Implications Financial 2.1 N/A Workforce 2.2 N/A Asset Management (land, property, IT) 2.3 N/A 3. Assessments Equality Impact Assessment 3.1 Under the Equality Act 2010, the Council is required to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between equality groups. Carrying out Equality Impact Assessments for plans and policies allows the Council to demonstrate that it is meeting these duties. The proposals have been considered under the Corporate Equalities Impact Assessment process (EqIA) with the following outcome: (i) Assessed as not relevant for the purposes of EqIA. Strategic Environmental Assessment 3.2 The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 places a duty on the Council to identify and assess the environmental consequences of its proposals. However, no action is required as the Act does not apply to the matters presented in this report. This is because the Committee are requested to note the contents of the report only and the Committee are not being requested to approve, adopt or agree to an action or to set the framework for future decisions. Sustainability 3.3 N/A Legal and Governance 3.4 N/A Page 61 of 102
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3.5 N/A Risk 3.6 N/A 4. Consultation Internal 4.1 Service Managers within Education and Children’s Services have been consulted in the preparation of this report. External 4.2 N/A 5. Communication 5.1 N/A 2. BACKGROUND PAPERS 2.1 No background papers, as defined by Section 50D of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (and not containing confidential or exempt information) were relied on to a material extent in preparing the above report. 3. APPENDICES 3.1 Appendix 1 – Fostering Services Care Inspectorate Report Appendix 2 – Adoption Services Care Inspectorate Report Appendix 3 – Adult Placement Services Care Inspectorate Report Page 62 of 102
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PPerterth & Kinrh & Kinross Council - Foss Council - Fostostering Sering Serervicesvices Fostering Service Almondbank House Lewis Place Perth PH1 3BD Telephone: 01738 472 260 Type of inspection: Announced (short notice) Completed on: 31 May 2022 Service provided by: Service provider number: Perth & Kinross Council SP2003003370 Service no: CS2004083801 7 Page 63 of 102
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About the service Perth and Kinross Fostering Services recruits and supports caregiving families who provide care for children and young people in their local authority area. What people told us Carers and children and young people told us that were generally well supported by the service and that social workers were responsive to need and communicated effectively. Social workers for children placed were generally positive about the quality of care provided although some issues relating to carer understanding of trauma was raised. Some comments from carers: "I genuinely cannot fault the supervising social worker/s that I have worked with" "I feel listened to and if I have a problem that means I need extra support, I ask and it is considered important. For example when I got covid." "I have a tremendously supportive Social worker for my supervision" From this inspection we evaluated this service as: In evaluating quality, we use a six point scale where 1 is unsatisfactory and 6 is excellent How well do we support people's wellbeing? 4 - Good How well is our care and support planned? 4 - Good Further details on the particular areas inspected are provided at the end of this report. How well do we support people's wellbeing? 4 - Good We have evaluated this key question as good where important strengths are present that outweigh areas for improvement. Children and young people in the service experienced positive and enduring relationships with their carers. Care was seen to be individualised to need and we saw many positive examples of children and young people succeeding in education and living full lives. Carers felt supported by the service and had positive relationships with their social workers within the family based care team. Carers felt included in service development via a consultation group and had access to regular support groups. Children and young people benefitted from continuity of short break care. The service was piloting Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Perth & Kinross Council - Fostering Services page 2 of 8 Page 64 of 102
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assessments of support carers within caregiver families own network at the time of approval to provide further stability and provide children and young people with a more natural experience of short breaks. The service was committed to keeping brothers and sisters together and had a steering group to review practice in this area. We saw examples of creative practice to keep brothers and sisters together and a commitment to maintaining relationships. Children and Young People had access to supports from life long links with the aim create a connections plan for all looked after children to maintain important relationships. Children and young people's health benefitted from the care they received and we saw examples of carers providing care to manage complex health needs. Children and young people had comprehensive health assessments via the Looked After Children nursing team and internal supports within the service to support mental health needs. Carers were committed to ongoing learning and accessed a range of material to support their development as carers. The service produced a training calendar signposting carers to material on relevant topics. The service should improve the range of provision available for carers in particular related to trauma informed practice and child protection to ensure that carers have the right knowledge to support positive outcomes. This will form an area for improvement (please see area for improvement 1). Carers were rigorously assessed and panel processes were robust in providing quality assurance. This ensured that all carers were approved in line with best practice. When children and young people were in need of substitute care the service considered which carer would be best able to meet their need to reduce the number of moves experienced by young people. The service did evaluate practice when young people experienced unplanned endings, these meetings could be more specific in identifying learning points and how these negative outcomes could be prevented. Children and young people in need of permanent care generally did not experience delay in assessment. The service had monthly planning meetings to monitor outcomes and ensure timescales were met. Some children and young people did experience delay in planning and the service should continue to review practice to further improve outcomes. This will form an area for improvement (See area for improvement 2). Young people moving to continuing care and adult services had clear information about their rights and discussions around transition begun at an appropriate stage with engagement from the Throughcare Aftercare service. We saw positive outcomes of young people experiencing continued support from their fostering families after the age of 18. Areas for improvement 1. To support Fostering families to fully support children in their care, the provider should improve the support available to carers in particular in relation to trauma informed practice and managing challenging behaviour. This should include but is not limited to the creation of a clear programme of training to create a shared vision of the approach to care to ensure fostering families are fully supported to meet the needs of children. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Perth & Kinross Council - Fostering Services page 3 of 8Page 65 of 102
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‘I experience high quality care and support based on relevant evidence, guidance and best practice.’ (HSCS 4.11) 2. To ensure that children in need of permanent substitute care do not experience drift and delay, the provider should ensure that delays in panels being arranged can be reduced. This should include but is not limited to reviewing the permanence process and paperwork used for panel to reduce delay. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: ‘As a child or young person needing permanent alternative care, I experience this without unnecessary delay’ (HSCS 1.16) How well is our care and support planned? 4 - Good We have evaluated this key question as good where important strengths are present that outweigh areas for improvement. Children and young people benefitted from multi-agency plans that were regularly reviewed and met their needs. Young people had access to advocacy services and children's rights officers as required. Social Workers within the fostering service built relationships with children and young people and advocated on their behalf. The service did not have individual safer caring plans for all children and young people using the service. A risk assessment document was used in situations of more high risk but was not routinely used in every caregiver family. The service should review it's practice in this area to ensure that all children and young people have safer caring plans that outline how their needs will be met by their carers. This will form an area for improvement (see area of improvement 1) We did not see evidence of how the service obtains the views of young people as part of a wider participation strategy. The service has a champions board (Fun Young Individuals) based within youth services but it was not clear how the views of young people in foster care were gathered and used to inform service development or how caregiver families contributed to decision making forums. This will form an area for improvement, (see area for improvement 2). Areas for improvement 1. To ensure children and fostering families are included in discussions related to safer caring, the service should review its implementation of safer caring plans. This should include but not be limited to, reviewing formats of documentation and improving guidance to staff on how to engage children and Fostering families in safer caring plans. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Perth & Kinross Council - Fostering Services page 4 of 8 Page 66 of 102
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‘I am as involved as I can be in agreeing and reviewing any restrictions to my independence, control and choice.’ (HSCS 2.6) 2. To promote children’s welfare, the provider should ensure that children’s reviews reflect their views, their carers views and contribute to service development. This should include but is not limited to, children, fostering families and fostering team staff providing written updates for children’s reviews and improving how it gathers these views prior to meetings taking place. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: ‘I experience high quality care and support because people have the necessary information and resources.’ (HSCS 4.27) Areas for improvement Previous area for improvement 1 The service should ensure that day to day placement arrangements and placement agreements are in place for all children and young people using the fostering service. This area for improvement was made on 4 October 2017. Action taken since then Matching matrix with risk assessment used to assess carers ability to meet a child's needs when a child is needed substitute care. Previous area for improvement 2 2. Management systems should be developed to provide a wider management overview of quality and key events within the service. Specifically a system of file auditing should be developed as well as central records for child/adult protection allegations. This area for improvement was made on 4 October 2022. Action taken since then File audit system in place and central records for allegations against carers kept. Service needs to keep central child protection records for children in the service and this has been discussed with the service during the inspection. What the service has done to meet any areas for improvement we made at or since the last inspection Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Perth & Kinross Council - Fostering Services page 5 of 8Page 67 of 102
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Complaints There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Perth & Kinross Council - Fostering Services page 6 of 8 Page 68 of 102
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Detailed evaluations How well do we support people's wellbeing? 4 - Good 1.1 Children, young people. adults and their caregiver families experience compassion, dignity and respect 5 - Very Good 1.2 Children, young people and adults get the most out of life 5 - Very Good 1.3 Children, young people and adults' health and wellbeing benefits from the care and support they experience 4 - Good 1.4 Children, young people, adults and their caregiver families get the service that is right for them 4 - Good How well is our care and support planned? 4 - Good 5.1 Assessment and care planning reflects the outcomes and wishes of children, young people and adults 4 - Good Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Perth & Kinross Council - Fostering Services page 7 of 8Page 69 of 102
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To find out more This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can download this report and others from our website. Care services in Scotland cannot operate unless they are registered with the Care Inspectorate. We inspect, award grades and help services to improve. We also investigate complaints about care services and can take action when things aren't good enough. Please get in touch with us if you would like more information or have any concerns about a care service. You can also read more about our work online at www.careinspectorate.com Contact us Care Inspectorate Compass House 11 Riverside Drive Dundee DD1 4NY enquiries@careinspectorate.com 0345 600 9527 Find us on Facebook Twitter: @careinspect Other languages and formats This report is available in other languages and formats on request. Tha am foillseachadh seo ri fhaighinn ann an cruthannan is cànain eile ma nithear iarrtas. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Perth & Kinross Council - Fostering Services page 8 of 8 Page 70 of 102
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PPerterth & Kinrh & Kinross Council - Adoption Soss Council - Adoption Serervicevice Adoption Service Almondbank House Lewis Place Perth PH1 3BD Telephone: 01738 472 260 Type of inspection: Announced (short notice) Completed on: 31 May 2022 Service provided by: Service provider number: Perth & Kinross Council SP2003003370 Service no: CS2004080884 7 Page 71 of 102
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About the service Perth and Kinross Council Adoption Agency provides a service for children and young people, aged from birth to 18 years, and their families who are assessed as in need of this service. The agency aims to recruit and support adoptive parents to provide families for those children who cannot live with their birth parents or extended family members and whose needs have been assessed. Since the last inspection (2017) Perth and Kinross have continued to recruit adopters and significantly invest in developing a concurrency scheme. This meant that children could be placed directly with caregivers who could go on to adopt the child. The service has successfully utilised interim court measures to secure children in such placements. Perth and Kinross Adoption Agency has developed a unique and supportive team structure, specialising in permanency and adoption work. They work closely with other Perth and Kinross Agency teams and take a multi-agency approach to assessing and meeting the needs of children in their care. As the findings in this inspection are based on a sample of children and young people, inspectors cannot assure the quality of experience for every single child receiving a service. Perth and Kinross Council Adoption Agency has been registered with the Care Inspectorate since the Care Inspectorate was formed in 2011. It was previously registered with the Care Commission. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Perth & Kinross Council - Adoption Service page 2 of 7 Page 72 of 102
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What people told us • Children experienced meaningful and trusting relationships and lived in stable and predictable home environments. • Children were supported to maintain meaningful relationships with extended family members, and significant birth family members. • Caregivers provided nurturing, trauma informed care, supported by staff who were skilled, knowledgeable, and responsive. • Staff's knowledge of children and their needs enhanced their ability to 'match' them with potential adopters. • Children's experiences and the potential impact this would have on their development and future needs was fully explored with caregivers. • Children's placement moves prioritised them and their needs and were progressed at a pace they were comfortable with. • Regular children's reviews ensured that children's holistic needs were regularly reviewed and updated within a multi-agency forum. From this inspection we evaluated this service as: In evaluating quality, we use a six point scale where 1 is unsatisfactory and 6 is excellent How well do we support people's wellbeing? 5 - Very Good How well is our care and support planned? 4 - Good Further details on the particular areas inspected are provided at the end of this report. How well do we support people's wellbeing? 5 - Very Good We evaluated this key question very good as the service demonstrated major strengths in supporting positive outcomes for children. There were very few areas for improvement. Those that did exist would have minimal adverse impact on children's experiences and outcomes. Opportunities were taken to strive for excellence within a culture of learning, development and continuous improvement. Children enjoyed warm, affectionate and trusting relationships with their caregivers and extended family members, promoting a sense of belonging and security. One caregiver said, "My child slots into our family and is cared for as if they were a birth child." Caregivers were aware of the impact of trauma on children's Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Perth & Kinross Council - Adoption Service page 3 of 7Page 73 of 102
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development and cared for them in a way that was sensitive to their needs. One caregiver explained being patient when providing a child with instructions, aware they need additional time to process information. Placement stability and continuity of relationships for children was a re-occurring theme throughout our inspection. Where permanence plans identified adoption, children were legally secured with matched caregivers in adoptive placements, where they could remain whilst the legal process of an adoption order was finalised. Although we could identify delays in permanency planning processes, this meant that children could develop meaningful relationships with their 'forever family' and wider community members and resources, without the prospect of a further move. Promotion of continued relationships with brothers and sisters, where appropriate, was evident as was a drive to support birth parents to engage, or re-engage, with information exchange agreements. Due to the unique structure of the team, staff remained allocated and available to children and caregivers throughout the adoption journey. Caregivers we spoke to valued staff knowledge, skills, commitment and responsiveness. One survey response reported, "Staff are approachable, honest and knowledgeable." We were encouraged to hear the level of emotional support caregivers experienced from staff, when there were delays in progressing children's plans. Guidance on linking, matching, and transitions for children had been updated and shared across the organisation and other services. This was informed from caregiver's experiences, learning from an upheld complaint and research surrounding good practice. Staff knowledge of a child and good levels of communication were quoted by caregivers as factors in successful matching and transitions. We were impressed with the level of information shared with prospective caregivers at 'Information Day' events. Weight given to existing relationships was raised as a potential issue in placement matching, with the suggestion of greater clarity in matching documentation to identify strengths and vulnerabilities and a support plan to address risks. Caregivers spoke about placement moves being carefully thought through, keeping the child's needs in focus and planned at a pace that was comfortable to the child. How well is our care and support planned? 4 - Good We evaluated this key question good as there were several important strengths which, taken together, clearly outweighed areas for improvement. The strengths had a significant positive impact on children's experiences and outcomes. However, improvements are required to maximise wellbeing and ensure that children consistently have experiences and outcomes which are as positive as possible. Child and caregiver assessments were completed timeously and were at a good standard, which included both narrative accounts and an evaluation of strengths and vulnerabilities. Regular, multi-agency reviews ensured planning for children was updated and looked holistically at the child's current and future needs. Safe care practices were supported by a safer caring profile, however there was an absence of child specific risk assessments and safe caring plans. We felt that undertaking risk assessments to influence individualised safe caring plans would assist in a greater understanding of the child's needs whilst promoting transparency and accountability in decision making. This information could also provide greater clarity in matching documentation and support plans, as mentioned in Key Question 1. Post adoption support was previously identified as an area the service could improve upon and it is included in the service development plan. During our inspection management, staff and caregivers confirmed post adoption support is a gap in service provision. Now that Covid-19 restrictions have been relaxed, we are confident the service will explore how this area of improvement could be developed and implemented. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Perth & Kinross Council - Adoption Service page 4 of 7 Page 74 of 102
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Areas for improvement Previous area for improvement 1 Management systems should be developed to provide a wider management overview of quality and key events within the service. Specifically a system of file auditing should be developed as well as central records for child/adult protection allegations. This area for improvement was made on 4 October 2017. Action taken since then File audit system in place and central records for allegations against carers kept. Service needs to keep central child protection records for children in the service and this has been discussed with the service during the inspection. Complaints There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com. What the service has done to meet any areas for improvement we made at or since the last inspection Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Perth & Kinross Council - Adoption Service page 5 of 7Page 75 of 102
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Detailed evaluations How well do we support people's wellbeing? 5 - Very Good 1.1 Children, young people. adults and their caregiver families experience compassion, dignity and respect 5 - Very Good 1.2 Children, young people and adults get the most out of life 5 - Very Good 1.3 Children, young people and adults' health and wellbeing benefits from the care and support they experience 5 - Very Good 1.4 Children, young people, adults and their caregiver families get the service that is right for them 5 - Very Good How well is our care and support planned? 4 - Good 5.1 Assessment and care planning reflects the outcomes and wishes of children, young people and adults 4 - Good Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Perth & Kinross Council - Adoption Service page 6 of 7 Page 76 of 102
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To find out more This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can download this report and others from our website. Care services in Scotland cannot operate unless they are registered with the Care Inspectorate. We inspect, award grades and help services to improve. We also investigate complaints about care services and can take action when things aren't good enough. Please get in touch with us if you would like more information or have any concerns about a care service. You can also read more about our work online at www.careinspectorate.com Contact us Care Inspectorate Compass House 11 Riverside Drive Dundee DD1 4NY enquiries@careinspectorate.com 0345 600 9527 Find us on Facebook Twitter: @careinspect Other languages and formats This report is available in other languages and formats on request. Tha am foillseachadh seo ri fhaighinn ann an cruthannan is cànain eile ma nithear iarrtas. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Perth & Kinross Council - Adoption Service page 7 of 7Page 77 of 102
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SSupportupported Led Lodgingsodgings Adult Placement Service Youth Services (@ Scott Street) 68-86 Scott Street Perth PH2 8JW Telephone: 01738 474 580 Type of inspection: Announced (short notice) Completed on: 31 May 2022 Service provided by: Service provider number: Perth & Kinross Council SP2003003370 Service no: CS2020380027 7 Page 79 of 102
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About the service Supported Lodgings is a an adult placement service run by Perth and Kinross Council. It recruits and supports carers to provide adult placements for young people leaving care from their local authority area and Children Alone Seeking Asylum. The service also supports carers providing Continuing Care to young people who they have previously looked after on a fostering basis. What people told us Young people were very positive about the support they were receiving from the service and we saw examples of enduring caring relationships. Carers felt well supported by staff in the service and felt that the service was committed to positive outcomes. One carer told us: "The staff really care about the work they do. The service has a positive and supportive ethos." From this inspection we evaluated this service as: In evaluating quality, we use a six point scale where 1 is unsatisfactory and 6 is excellent How well do we support people's wellbeing? 4 - Good How good is our leadership? 4 - Good How good is our staff team? 5 - Very Good How well is our care and support planned? 4 - Good Further details on the particular areas inspected are provided at the end of this report. How well do we support people's wellbeing? 4 - Good We have evaluated this key question as good where important strengths are present that outweigh areas for improvement. Young people experienced nurturing and supportive relationships with carers providing individualised care appropriate to their needs. Young people were living full lives, engaged with community resources and had access to a range of activities and learning opportunities, including group activities run by a youth resource hub. Young People's health needs were comprehensively assessed and they had access to appropriate health resources. Young people had access to counselling services and health and wellbeing workers within the Throughcare Aftercare Service supported positive mental health. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Supported Lodgings page 2 of 7 Page 80 of 102
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The service is supporting a number of Children alone seeking asylum (CASA) and has developed a range of resources to support families in meeting cultural and religious needs and understanding trauma through specific training. The service maintained close links with the Scottish Guardianship service to support young people in making claims for asylum. A training calendar that meets the needs of all carers within the service would improve levels of support and this will form an area for improvement (see area for improvement 1). Supported Lodgings carers were appropriately assessed and approved at an adult placement panel. Assessments were based on fostering assessment model and followed best practice to ensure young people in the service were safe. The service considered the needs of young people and the ability of a caregiver family to meet this prior to care arrangements commencing. For young people in Continuing Care, transitions for young people were well managed. Young people had their rights explained to them and planning began at an appropriate stage. Support for carers providing Continuing Care was less clear at the time of inspection as registration for foster carers as Continuing Care Carers was not held by the adult placement service. The service developed a revised procedure during the inspection which addressed this issue. We will follow up on the effectiveness of this at the next inspection. Areas for improvement 1. To support adult placement carers to fully support young people in their care, the provider should improve the support available to carers in particular in relation to supporting adults. This should include but is not limited to the creation of a clear programme of training to support carers to meet the needs of young people into adulthood. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: ‘I experience high quality care and support based on relevant evidence, guidance and best practice.’ (HSCS 4.11) How good is our leadership? 4 - Good We have evaluated this key question as good where important strengths are present that outweigh areas for improvement. Adult placement providers were assessed by an adult placement panel with a breadth of representation from a range of services in Perth and Kinross. The panel made clear recommendations and provided quality assurance to practice to ensure that young people were safe and having their needs met. The adult placement panel reviews carers after the first year and then internal reviews took place annually. A new reviewing officer is being employed by the wider Throughcare Aftercare service to review young people and their carers to ensure a robust process. The Agency Decision Maker (ADM) was not formally approving adult placement carers presented ot the adult panel and panel members did not have access to appraisal or specific development opportunities to support them in their role as panel members. The service should review it's procedures to improve the effectiveness of quality assurance procedures. This will form an area for improvement (see area for improvement 1). Reviews of Continuing Care carers had also not been undertaken due to registration of this carer type not Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Supported Lodgings page 3 of 7Page 81 of 102
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being held within the adult placement service. New procedures now clarify these procedures and will ensure that all carers are subject to approval and review to ensure that young people's needs are met. The service had experienced unplanned endings but there was no clear procedure for how learning from these would be evaluated to improve outcomes and promote service. This will form an area for improvement (see area for improvement 2). Areas for improvement 1. To ensure quality assurance provided by panel is robust, the service should review panel procedures and the role of the Agency Decision Maker. This should include but is not limited to, reviewing process for approval of adult placement carers, panel appraisal and panel member development. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: ‘I benefit from a culture of continuous improvement, with the organisation having robust and transparent quality assurance processes’ (HSCS 4.19). 2. To promote positive outcomes for all adults the provider should develop a reflective learning culture when unplanned endings have occurred. This should include but is not limited to a clear procedure for how unplanned endings will be reviewed with meetings that identify clear learning and action points for service improvement. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: ‘I receive an apology if things go wrong with my care and support or my human rights are not respected, and the organisation takes responsibility for its actions.’ (HSCS 4.4). How good is our staff team? 5 - Very Good We have evaluated this key question as very good, where there are major strengths in supporting positive outcomes for young people. Staff in the service demonstrated high levels of knowledge and skill in supporting carers and young people within the supported lodgings service. Staff had access to external Fostering Across Borders training which they delivered to carers coming forward to support Children Alone Seeking Asylum (CASA). We received positive feedback from carers in relation to the quality of support provided and saw evidence of good joint working within the service. Staff received regular supervision to support them in their role and had access to annual appraisals to explore development and future learning opportunities. The service had recently expanded predominantly to support CASA, and we noted that staff in the service had a large workload which had the potential to impact on the quality of support provided to all carers. The service is expanding the staffing in the service to ensure all carers can access regular formal supervision. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Supported Lodgings page 4 of 7 Page 82 of 102
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How well is our care and support planned? 4 - Good We have evaluated this key question as good where important strengths are present that outweigh areas for improvement. Young people's welfare assessments identified their support needs and planned for their support. Young people participated in formal reviews of their multi-agency care plans which evidenced positive joint working across services. Young people we spoke to during the inspection were positive about their experiences of care and those in continuing care benefitted from long term support from their carers that was meeting their needs. We saw examples of young people being supported to access college, employment and learning independent living skills to support them in their transition in to adulthood. We did not see examples of a individual placement plans during the inspection. The service has a "Living Together agreement" document which serves this purpose but we did not see any examples of this being used. The service should review the use of this documentation to ensure that young people in adult placements are clear on their individual care plan and expectations of their carer. This will form an area for improvement (See area for improvement 1). Areas for improvement 1. To ensure adults are included in discussions related to safer caring, the service should review its implementation of safer caring plans. This should include but not be limited to, reviewing formats of documentation and improving guidance to staff on the use of living together agreements. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: ‘I am as involved as I can be in agreeing and reviewing any restrictions to my independence, control and choice.’ (HSCS 2.6) Complaints There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Supported Lodgings page 5 of 7Page 83 of 102
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Detailed evaluations How well do we support people's wellbeing? 4 - Good 1.1 Children, young people. adults and their caregiver families experience compassion, dignity and respect 5 - Very Good 1.2 Children, young people and adults get the most out of life 5 - Very Good 1.3 Children, young people and adults' health and wellbeing benefits from the care and support they experience 5 - Very Good 1.4 Children, young people, adults and their caregiver families get the service that is right for them 4 - Good How good is our leadership? 4 - Good 2.2 Quality assurance and improvement are led well 4 - Good How good is our staff team? 5 - Very Good 3.2 Staff have the right knowledge, competence and development to support children, young people, adults and their caregiver families 5 - Very Good How well is our care and support planned? 4 - Good 5.1 Assessment and care planning reflects the outcomes and wishes of children, young people and adults 4 - Good Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Supported Lodgings page 6 of 7 Page 84 of 102
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To find out more This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can download this report and others from our website. Care services in Scotland cannot operate unless they are registered with the Care Inspectorate. We inspect, award grades and help services to improve. We also investigate complaints about care services and can take action when things aren't good enough. Please get in touch with us if you would like more information or have any concerns about a care service. You can also read more about our work online at www.careinspectorate.com Contact us Care Inspectorate Compass House 11 Riverside Drive Dundee DD1 4NY enquiries@careinspectorate.com 0345 600 9527 Find us on Facebook Twitter: @careinspect Other languages and formats This report is available in other languages and formats on request. Tha am foillseachadh seo ri fhaighinn ann an cruthannan is cànain eile ma nithear iarrtas. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Supported Lodgings page 7 of 7Page 85 of 102
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PERTH AND KINROSS COUNCIL EXECUTIVE SUB-COMMITTEE OF LEARNING & FAMILIES COMMITTEE 29 AUGUST 2022 COLLABORATIVE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME Report by Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) (Report No 22/197) 1. PURPOSE 1.1 This report provides Committee with the key findings of the Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) Collaborative Improvement Programme. 1.2 This is a new approach to securing improvement within Education Services, through shared work involving staff from the local authority, Education Scotland and the Association of Directors of Education Services (ADES). 1.3 This report seeks to describe the process of collaborative improvement, to summarise the key findings for the PKC Education Service, and to outline the next steps to be taken as a result of this. 2. RECOMMENDATION 2.1 It is recommended that the Committee: • Notes and comments on the update report; and • Requests the Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) to report on the impact of the actions detailed through the Education Report and Plan in August 2023. 3. STRUCTURE OF REPORT 3.1 This report is structured over the following sections: • Section 4: Background • Section 5: Proposals • Section 6: Further Considerations • Appendices 4. BACKGROUND 4.1 The Collaborative Improvement Programme is a new approach to bringing about improvement. The basis of this approach is outlined in the Education Reform – Joint Agreement issued by the Scottish Government in June 2018 and accords with the call for a ‘strengthened middle’ in the Organisation for 8 Page 87 of 102
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Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report from 2015 Improving Schools in Scotland: An OECD Perspective. The approach is also intended to address the recommendation in the Audit Scotland report Improving outcomes for young people through school education (March 2021) that councils should work with schools, Regional Improvement Collaboratives, and partners, to reduce variability in educational outcomes for children and young people across local authority areas. 4.2 The Collaborative Improvement Programme is now being undertaken across all 32 local authorities in Scotland and the PKC Education Service was the third local authority to participate. The first phase of the programme took place between 24 November and 7 December 2021, with further activities planned over subsequent months. 5. PROPOSALS 5.1 The aim of the Collaborative Improvement Programme is to secure improvement in an identified area of need. The focus of activity for the PKC programme was agreed through discussion with senior officers from the Education Scotland team, and with ADES representatives. It was based on the priorities already identified by the PKC Education Service through the use of local data, self-evaluation and stakeholder feedback. A clear area of focus for PKC was on improving inclusive practice, and specifically, on improving outcomes for children and young people with social, emotional and behavioural needs (SEBN) at secondary school level. It was clear that, as a key part of this programme, it would be helpful to ‘look outwards’ and consider best practice in other local authority areas and look at how they addressed similar issues. Therefore, the model of the Collaborative Improvement Programme in PKC included input from three other local authorities who volunteered to share their approaches. The three local authorities who participated were South Lanarkshire Council, South Ayrshire Council and Glasgow City Council. 5.2 A programme of activity was then planned out by the PKC ’core team’, and undertaken over a number of sessions between November and December 2021. All of the information that was gathered was considered by the Collaborative Improvement Team and the key areas of strength and challenges were identified for PKC to take forward. 5.3 The key strengths identified that there was a strong drive for improvement and a clear and consistent vision for inclusion within the local authority. The PKC Education Service was judged to have a robust process for using data for improvement and a coherent plan in place to improve outcomes. Full details of the programme and its outcomes are contained within Appendix 1. 5.4 The result of the Collaborative Improvement Programme is that an action plan (Appendix 2) was developed which details the further work that will take place to deliver improved services for children and young people with SEBN in secondary schools. The three main areas of focus within the action plan are: • To further develop a culture of inclusion within educational establishments; Page 88 of 102
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• To build capacity and confidence in staff in supporting children and young people with significant additional support needs; and • To enhance the supports within the PKC continuum of support. 5.5 Visits and further collaboration with other local authorities will include school leaders, alongside seeking the views of children, young people, partners and parents on the next steps. 6. FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS Conclusion 6.1 The Collaborative Improvement Programme was a valuable and worthwhile activity for the PKC Education Service and has provided strengthened partnerships with Education Scotland, ADES and other local authority colleagues. This will impact positively on the outcomes for children and young people with SEBN in PKC. Author Name Designation Contact Details Sharon Johnston Head of Education and Learning ECSCommittee@pkc.gov.uk 01738 475000 Approved Name Designation Date Sheena Devlin Executive Director (Education and Children’s Services) 10 August 2022 Page 89 of 102
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ANNEX 1. IMPLICATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION Strategic Implications Yes/None Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement No Corporate Plan Yes Resource Implications Financial No Workforce No Asset Management (land, property, IST) No Assessments Equality Impact Assessment No Strategic Environmental Assessment No Sustainability (community, economic, environmental) No Legal and Governance No Risk No Consultation Internal Yes External Yes Communication Communications Plan Yes 1. Strategic Implications Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement 1.1 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the delivery of the Perth and Kinross Community Plan/Single Outcome Agreement in terms of the following priorities: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens; (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy; (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. This report relates to Objective No. (ii). Corporate Plan 1.2 This section sets out how the proposals relate to the achievement of the Council’s Corporate Plan Objectives: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens; (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy; (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. Page 90 of 102
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This report relates to Objective No. (ii). 1.3 The report also links to the Education & Children’s Services Vision, Values and Priorities in respect of the following key Priority area: • Learning and Achievement 2. Resource Implications Financial 2.1 There are no financial implications contained in this report. Workforce 2.2 There are no workforce implications contained in this report. Asset Management (land, property, IT) 2.3 Not applicable. 3. Assessments 3.1 Under the Equality Act 2010, the Council is required to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between equality groups. Carrying out Equality Impact Assessments for plans and policies allows the Council to demonstrate that it is meeting these duties. The proposals have been considered under the Corporate Equalities Impact Assessment process (EqIA) with the following outcome: (iii) Assessed as relevant and the following positive outcomes expected following implementation: • Improved analysis of additional support needs (ASN) support within all secondary schools; • Clear actions developed to improve inclusive practice; and • Collaboration with stakeholders and external partners to improve specialist provision for young people with complex needs. Strategic Environmental Assessment 3.2 The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 places a duty on the Council to identify and assess the environmental consequences of its proposals. The proposals have been considered under the Act, however, no action is required as the Act does not apply to the matters presented in this report. This is because the Committee are requested to note the contents of the report only and the Committee are not being requested to approve, adopt or agree to an action or to set the framework for future decisions. Page 91 of 102
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Sustainability 3.3 Not applicable. Legal and Governance 3.4 Not applicable. 3.5 Not applicable. Risk 3.6 Not applicable. 4. Consultation Internal 4.1 This information contained within this report has been shared with headteachers, central officers and senior management team for Education and Children’s Services. Further consultations are planned with school-based staff, partner organisations, parents and children and young people as part of the validated self-evaluation process. External 4.2 This report has been prepared and consulted on with the Education Scotland Scrutiny and Regional Area team representatives and with the ADES collaborative improvement representatives. 5. Communication 5.1 The process undertaken within Perth and Kinross Education Service within the collaborative improvement programme, and the outcomes from it have been communicated to Headteachers. This report will be shared with elected members, Education Scotland and ADES. The outcomes and action plan will be shared with relevant school staff and partners and will be reported through the review of the Education Plan in August 2023 at the Learning and Families Committee. 2. BACKGROUND PAPERS 2.1 The following background papers, as defined by Section 50D of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (and not containing confidential or exempt information) were relied on to a material extent in preparing the above report: • Education Reform – Joint Agreement (Scottish Government June 2018) • Improving Schools in Scotland: An OECD Perspective (OECD 2015) Page 92 of 102
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• Improving outcomes for young people through school education (Audit Scotland March 2021) 3. APPENDICES 3.1 Appendix 1 - Collaborative Improvement Programme Summary Report Appendix 2 - Collaborative Improvement Action Plan 2022-2025 Page 93 of 102
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Appendix 1 Collaborative Improvement Programme Perth and Kinross Council Education Service Summary Report Introduction The Collaborative Improvement Programme is a new approach to bringing about improvement. The basis of this approach is outlined in the Education Reform – Joint Agreement issued by the Scottish Government in June 2018 and accords with the call for a ‘strengthened middle’ in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report from 2015 Improving Schools in Scotland: An OECD Perspective. The approach is also intended to address the recommendation in the Audit Scotland report Improving outcomes for young people through school education (March 2021) that Councils should work with schools, Regional Improvement Collaboratives, and partners, to reduce variability in educational outcomes for children and young people across local authority areas. The Collaborative Improvement Programme is now being undertaken across all 32 local authorities in Scotland, and Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) Education Service was the third local authority to participate. The first phase of the PKC programme took place between 24 November and 7 December 2021, with further activities planned over subsequent months. The Collaborative Improvement Process in Perth and Kinross Planning and process The focus for the Collaborative Improvement activity was agreed through discussion with Education Scotland and ADES colleagues. It was based on the priorities already identified by the service, and once agreed, a number of planning meetings took place to structure the visit and plan the activities within the local authority that the team would undertake. As this programme took place between November and December of 2021, the meetings and visits were virtual, although some in-person activity is planned to take place over the coming months. Five representatives from both Education Scotland and ADES were identified to work alongside Perth and Kinross Council Education Service colleagues to form the Collaborative Improvement Team. Within this team the activity overall was led by the Executive Officer from ADES, a Senior HM Inspector from Education Scotland and the Head of Education and Learning from Perth and Kinross Council. Prior to engaging in the Collaborative Improvement activity, the Education Service had a clear priority in respect of inclusive practice and in particular, support and outcomes for young people with social, emotional and behavioural needs (SEBN). 8 Page 95 of 102
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The Education Service was clear that, as a key part of this process, it would be helpful to consider best practice in other local authorities, and how they addressed the ‘wicked issues’ around inclusion of young people with SEBN. Therefore, the model of Collaborative Improvement for Perth and Kinross included input from three other local authorities who had volunteered to share information on their approaches. The three Local Authorities that participated were South Lanarkshire Council, South Ayrshire Council and Glasgow City Council. Focus of Activity in Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross Council Education Plan Perth and Kinross Council Education Plan sets out the ambition of the service to raise attainment and achievement and reduce inequity. It recognises that key to achieving this aim is to prioritise improvement in three key areas: inclusive practice, professional learning and development, and partnerships. The Collaborative Improvement Programme provided an opportunity to consider the strategic planning for improving inclusive practice and in particular it was agreed that the focus would be to consider to what extent there was: • A culture of inclusion evident across all secondary schools. • Capacity within / across our secondary schools to ensure that the needs of children and young people with SEBN are met fully. • An effective continuum of support in secondary schools and beyond for all young people with SEBN. A programme of activity was then planned to support that overall aim. The activity extended over two weeks and involved five half-day online sessions. The first session focused on a presentation by Perth and Kinross Education Service on the self-evaluation of the delivery of inclusive education for Secondary stage young people with SEBN. This was followed by three subsequent sessions during which South Lanarkshire, South Ayrshire and Glasgow City Councils each provided information on the strengths and challenges they experienced in delivering additional support for young people with SEBN. The Collaborative Improvement team then worked together to reflect and share thinking on the learning from these sessions, with a key focus on what activity would support Perth and Kinross to achieve improved outcomes. The analysis and challenge provided by Education Scotland and ADES colleagues supported reflection by the Perth and Kinross Council participants and enhanced the distillation of an Education Authority-level improvement plan, drawing on learning developed over the course of the Collaborative Improvement programme. Findings The findings from the visit identified strengths and challenges, which are set out in some detail below. Page 96 of 102
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As a starting point for the Collaborative improvement activity a presentation of the self-evaluation material gathered by Perth and Kinross Council was delivered. Feedback from the Collaborative improvement team identified that the service demonstrated the following strengths: • Coherent plans are in place to take forward improvement, • The service is data rich, and this is used to drive forward improvement, • There was good evaluation of equity gaps in relation to ASN outcomes (attendance, exclusion, achievement, positive destinations), • There is a clear recognition that ownership of inclusive practice needs to extend to all who work with children and young people, • The need to develop staff values, skills and confidence in supporting young people with ASN is a priority, and • The service has a strong capacity for improvement. Learning From Other Local Authorities The learning gained from consideration of the information provided by South Lanarkshire, South Ayrshire and Glasgow City Councils highlighted the importance of the following broad general themes: • Highly visible vision and leadership of inclusion and equity. • Whole systems approach. • Stakeholder engagement: Parental expectations and understanding. Staff commitment and importance of sharing success and staying focused. • Data drives improvement. • Equity requires a relentless focus. • Specialist Provisions require careful consideration within a continuum of support. Planned improvements Perth and Kinross Education Service already had a commitment to improving inclusive practice and the Education Plan 2021/22 encompassed actions to support delivery of these aspirations. The Collaborative Improvement programme provided an opportunity to reflect on current commitments and to further refine actions to specifically focus on those improvements that will enable young people with SEBN to achieve improved levels of achievement and attainment and narrowing the gaps in attainment levels. The Education Plan 2022-2023 contains detail of actions relating to improvement in this area, including: ▪ Validated Self Evaluation (VSE) programme across all secondary schools. Page 97 of 102
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▪ Schools will be supported to implement the recommendations from the 2019- 20 Broad General Education (BGE) Secondary Curricular Review Paper developed in collaboration with Education Scotland colleagues. ▪ Create a Perth and Kinross Senior Phase offer to complement learner pathways offered at individual schools. ▪ Programme of in-person visits to other local authorities’ specialist provisions. ▪ Development and implementation of Professional Learning Programmes for both teaching and support staff. ▪ Redesign of support services and additional roles within schools to support children and families. ▪ Joint working with Services for Children, Young People and Families. ▪ Stronger networks with parents and third sector partners. ▪ Involvement of all relevant stakeholders in planned changes and improvements. Next Steps ▪ Perth and Kinross Council will incorporate key aspects of this process into the ASN Transformation and Change Programme, and into Service Improvement Planning. ▪ Education Scotland locality team will continue to work alongside the Education Service to support the delivery of key actions. ▪ Progress will be recorded through the Education Plan reporting process. ▪ The Education Service will follow up engagement with colleagues from other local authorities and further collaborate on key areas of improvement. Conclusion The collaborative improvement programme has provided Perth and Kinross Education Service with some valuable feedback on evaluation of strengths and challenges within a key area of focus. It also strengthened the partnerships with Education Scotland and ADES colleagues and laid the foundations of future collaboration. This collaboration will extend to school leaders working with other colleagues in the local authorities with whom this programme was undertaken. Page 98 of 102
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Appendix 2 Collaborative Improvement Action Plan 2022-2025 Perth and Kinross Education Service has a commitment to improving inclusive practice which is carried through in the Education Plan 2022/23. The Collaborative Improvement activity in November/December 2021 provided an opportunity to reflect on current commitments and to further refine actions to specifically focus on those improvements that will enable young people with SEBN to achieve improved levels of achievement and attainment. Leadership actions to be taken forward include a consolidation of the vision and leadership tasks at a whole system level, and development of a plan to communicate key messages. There will be development of a strategic plan for the intensive support end of the continuum and increased collaborative partnerships. A commitment to supporting improvement through implementation science and Improvement methodology and further development of the use of data and analysis will ensure sustainable, locally embedded change. Learning, Teaching and Assessment actions will include review of all the aspects needed to provide consistent, high quality inclusive learning environments, building on work across all schools on the inclusive CIRCLE approach, with appropriate success criteria established with young people. Professional learning programmes for support and teaching staff will enhance developments and impactful self- evaluative processes will be established at school and system level. Curriculum actions that will be taken include a review of the learner journey in Perth and Kinross schools. This will support the development of work-based and virtual learning options, alongside implementation of BGE review recommendations. All of these developments will maximise essence of Curriculum for Excellence and GIRFEC. 8 Page 99 of 102
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PKC COLLABORATIVE IMPROVEMENT ACTIONS 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Leadership Strengthen vision of equity and inclusive practice x Agree stretch aim that will enable young people with SEBN to achieve improved levels of achievement and attainment x Consolidate strategic plan for change, including implementation roles, improvement methodology and timeline x Implement Validated Self Evaluation framework developed in partnership with our school leaders and Education Scotland in Secondary Schools x Complete Review of Quality Improvement Framework x Further develop partnership and integrated working to augment continuum and reframe Navigate offer x Support school leaders to have improved use of national and local data sets to assess, track and monitor pupil and class attainment, identifying gaps and set targets for improvement will lead to increased attainment and delivery of stretch aim x Create structured opportunities for our secondary school leaders to work collaboratively with school leaders from the linked LAs on common issues identified in the CI process x Learning, Teaching and Assessment Further develop learner and parental participation mechanisms to support development of vision and participation in Validated Self Evaluation x Page 100 of 102
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Create effective structures that will develop partnership working with the 3rd sector to support positive engagement and improved practice for young people and families x Support all schools to have a positive ethos and culture, based on excellent relationships and supported by a refreshed and implemented an Inclusive Practice Policy Framework x Young people have their needs identified, assessed, and met by skilled and confident staff through implementation of a programme of professional learning and development for all staff working with young people x Create more learner-centred classrooms through implementation of CIRCLE and a whole school nurture programme in all Secondary schools x Curriculum Work collaboratively with school leaders, stakeholders, and other organisations to create a universal Perth & Kinross senior phase offer which will complement individual school senior phase offers. x Implement recommendations from the 2019-20 BGE curricular review designed to create a more learner- centred curriculum x Page 101 of 102
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