Letter - From the Minister for Children and Education re priorities, school closures, teacher vacancies and Children's service

19-21 Broad Street | St Helier Jersey | JE2 3RR

Deputy Catherine Curtis

Chair of the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel

By email only 2nd August 2022

Dear Chair, Subject

Thank you for the congratulations of the Panel on my appointment as Minister. Likewise,  I congratulate you on your appointment as Chair of the Panel on behalf of myself and my Assistant Ministers, Deputy Doublet and Connétable Vibert . We all look forward to working with you and the Panel members.

In answer to the questions posed in your letter of 25th July 2022, please see the below responses, and do let me know if you require any further information.

1. Please  could  you  outline  your  priorities  for  the  next  six  months,  including  any propositions that you intend to lodge for debate in the States Assembly?

My priorities for the next 6 months are as detailed below:

• Start the development of a holistic Workforce Strategy and action plan for the department which will provide us with workforce analysis and projection of future need based on

workforce demographic, turnover and recruitment plans.

• Complete plans and establish delivery timelines for the reorganisation of Skills Jersey functions across CYPES and the Government of Jersey. This will support the Chief Minister's commitment to Create a People & Skills Commission' which will monitor the

population, availability of accommodation, skills gaps and employment opportunities.

• Finalise the Government Plan 2023 - 2026 priorities for CYPES and seek to include additional support in the proposed Plan for Early Years, Care Sufficiency and the

outcomes of the Education Reform Programme & Inclusion review.

• Develop and start implementation of a participation and engagement plan for children and young people. This will ensure their voices are at the heart of our policy, practice and decision making in a meaningful way and deliver on the Chief Minister's commitment for

me to being forward proposals in this area.

• Develop a Community Partnership Group, involving CYPES, Health & Community Services, Housing, States of Jersey Police, The Youth Service, Customer and Local Services, the Parishes and Honorary Police. This would be a focussed approach with partners to address some of the anti-social behaviour issues we are facing, and missing children activity.  

• Committing adequate funding to ensure that school children have access to one meal a day in school, including a plan to procure and prioritise roll out across all public primary schools.

• Lodge the Children and Civil Status (Amendment) (Jersey) Law 202- for debate in the States Assembly

• Continue preparatory work to enable enactment day propositions to be lodged for the Children (Convention Rights) (Jersey) Law and Children and Young People (Jersey) Law. I anticipate lodging these in quarter one of 2023. This will include the development and consultation on statutory guidance and bringing forward regulations on children's advocacy

• Progress town school estates priorities, publish a report on this and secure the capital plan requirements

• Carry out a points-based reassessment and reprioritisation of CYPES capital projects plans

• Publish Further Education and Skills Report

• Support the completion of the Care Survivor-led Legacy project to realise recommendations made by the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry, alongside the creation of a new dedicated fund which will be open to Care Experienced Islanders.

The above is a list of the main priorities and may be subject to change as we develop the Common Strategic Policy, my own Ministerial Plan along with Assistant Ministers' priorities, and the draft Government Plan 2023-2026.

School closures in recent hot weather

2. Please could you confirm which schools and colleges were closed early because of recent hot weather (in July 2022) and which were able to remain open for their usual / expected hours?

Where possible, please outline:

1. how long any closure was for in hours / days; and

Please see appendix 1 which details this.

2. what climate control systems, if any, are available within the school buildings.

We do not hold detailed information on what climate control systems are available in each school building.

3. Please could you provide your understanding of why air conditioning, or another effective cooling system, was not incorporated into the initial build of Les Quennevais school?

The school was designed with a passive ventilation and cooling strategy with a mix of natural and mechanical ventilation. This approach followed advice contained in Building Bulletin 98 (BB98) Briefing Framework for Secondary School Projects – (Department for Education and Skills (UK)) and to comply with the mandatory requirements of the Building Bye Laws (Jersey) 2007. The ventilation and cooling met the required standards of the guidance and the Building Bye-Laws.

 Included in the original design the ICT suites, hall, lecture theatre, were air-conditioned. In response to requests from the school shortly after occupation the conference suite the SEN and 3 offices were also air-conditioned.

Recent extreme weather has resulted in more pressures on the internal environment and further air-conditioning infrastructure being installed. This should have taken place around the Easter holidays but supply chain issues – being experienced throughout the construction industry – meant that the appropriate equipment could not be sourced to coincide with those holidays, with the next opportunity to access the school for the works being the summer holidays.

There are ongoing maintenance and operating issues with the installed systems that require attention and this, along with the current installation works should address the internal temperature concerns at the school

Notwithstanding the adherence to guidance and Bye-Laws has meant that requirements look at limiting heat loss by seeking air tightness in buildings. This has then had an impact on heat gain within buildings which has only latterly been recognised, particularly as the need for buildings to be able to adapt to climate change has become more imperative as discussed below

4. Please could you outline what action you will take to ensure that a suitable environment, in respect of temperature, can be maintained in educational settings in future?

Whilst there have been obvious difficulties at Les Quennevais with the recent record-breaking temperatures, the school's temperatures are not out of kilter with other schools and buildings across the education portfolio. Internal temperatures are monitored daily to assist efficient energy management, but this has also highlighted that as the planet warms and its weather patterns change consideration will have to be given to how buildings will have to adapt.

Regular monitoring of schools and the completion of the condition surveys scheduled for the next 12 to 18 months will help to identify all those buildings that require improvements to be carried out. Possible / probable solutions will vary across the education estate as every school has different characteristics and operates in its own way. Any works will also have to reflect the Decarbonising Government Programme.

Currently, there is no dedicated budget for any works and costs may be able to be absorbed in ongoing maintenance budgets for minor works. However, it is not unreasonable to anticipate that there will need to be additional funding identified and Property and CYPES will be working together to agree works and appropriate funding.

In addition, my officers are drafting plans to prioritise the creating of additional shaded areas at schools which don't have them in to order to enable outdoor learning and protection from direct sunlight and UV.

Teacher recruitment and retention

5. Please could you confirm the number of vacancies there are for teachers, teaching assistants, lecturers, and other teaching roles (both full time / part time / contract / permanent) for the start of the next term in September 2022?

Key Points:  

• This is the first time that this data has been collated into one place and required taking information from various sources. Work is underway to address this and to improve and update one central, ongoing document that will enable bookend' reporting (i.e. monitoring of approved vacancies and the process steps once an applicant has been selected). This will enable more detailed and accurate reporting in future but will take time for further alignments to be made.

• Open Vacancies' mean positions approved via the Vacancy Authorisation Request (VAR) where an individual has not yet been selected. It does NOT include positions/vacancies where the offer process (e.g. DBS checks) are in progress. Applications and interviews are ongoing, so the number of vacancies will reduce further during August.

• This report only includes vacancies within a Teacher or Teaching Assistant pay group.

• Some of these positions may be filled by internal moves / changes.

• The Teacher vacancies Special category include 9 for Jersey Music Service

Children's Services

6. Please could you provide the Panel with details of the priority work for the Children's Service in the next six months.

Priorities for the Children's Social Care service are:

• Progress a business case for Government Plan 2023-2026 to deliver sufficiency for children, young people and families. This means investment primarily targeted to enhance support to keep children with their families, ensure an increase in homes for children in the care of the Minister (the number and range of homes) and to only place off island in exceptional circumstances.

• To prepare for new inspection arrangements of the service by Jersey Care Commission

• Young People's Intensive Support Service in place and delivering a service.

• Prepare for the implementation of the new children's law as passed by the Assembly in 2022. There are significant new statutory duties and powers in the law which should drive improvement in outcomes for children and young people. The statutory guidance for the new legislation is currently being prepared with plans to subsequently train staff.

• Stabilise the workforce reduce turnover of qualified social workers, reduce reliance on temporary agency and increase the percentage of permanent staff. This will include ensuring an appropriate attractive offer' which includes appropriate salary and reward package and accommodation options.

• Continue to focus on improved quality and consistency of practice and service delivery. this will link to improved reputation and restoring of confidence in the service.

Yours sincerely,

Deputy Inna Gardiner

Minister for Children and Education

D +44 (0)1534 440152 E I. Gardiner @gov.je

Appendix 1 – School closure details in hours / days