Education task group agrees way forward
http://www.dailyfix.co.uk/articles/81044/1/Education-task-group-agrees-way-forward/Page1.html
By Chief Editor
Published on 29 Jan 2009
The future of Herefordshire’s education and learning provision is under discussion again as a new education task group met for the first time this week.
The task group has been established as a result of a conference in December where head teachers, governors, officers and councillors met to discuss how to strategically plan the county’s educational provision for the next ten years.
Membership of the task group includes representatives from the Diocese, Herefordshire Council, primary and secondary schools and school governors. An independent chair will be appointed by Chris Bull, chief executive of Herefordshire Council and NHS Herefordshire.
At the group’s first meeting held on January 27th, they agreed terms of reference, discussed aims and purpose, and agreed how the group was going to work.
The group will act as an advisory body to the council and develop a set of criteria and principles than can be applied to the future planning of educational provision in the county. It is hoped to produce this draft criteria by May 2009. The next step will be to develop a strategic plan of provision based on this criteria and agreed principles, including options, which will be available for formal consultation in July. After consultation, the task group will put forward recommendations to the council’s Cabinet in November 2009.
In order to be open and transparent, minutes of meetings will be published on the council’s web site and schools and the local media will be kept up-to-date on progress.
The meeting was very positive with much debate about all the sensitivities any future planning would need to consider and the breadth of views that would need to be taken into account at every stage.
The priority for the next meeting, which is due to take place in February, will be to discuss principles around the quality of education that every child in the county should be entitled to.
The task group has been established as a result of a conference in December where head teachers, governors, officers and councillors met to discuss how to strategically plan the county’s educational provision for the next ten years.
Membership of the task group includes representatives from the Diocese, Herefordshire Council, primary and secondary schools and school governors. An independent chair will be appointed by Chris Bull, chief executive of Herefordshire Council and NHS Herefordshire.
At the group’s first meeting held on January 27th, they agreed terms of reference, discussed aims and purpose, and agreed how the group was going to work.
The group will act as an advisory body to the council and develop a set of criteria and principles than can be applied to the future planning of educational provision in the county. It is hoped to produce this draft criteria by May 2009. The next step will be to develop a strategic plan of provision based on this criteria and agreed principles, including options, which will be available for formal consultation in July. After consultation, the task group will put forward recommendations to the council’s Cabinet in November 2009.
In order to be open and transparent, minutes of meetings will be published on the council’s web site and schools and the local media will be kept up-to-date on progress.
The meeting was very positive with much debate about all the sensitivities any future planning would need to consider and the breadth of views that would need to be taken into account at every stage.
The priority for the next meeting, which is due to take place in February, will be to discuss principles around the quality of education that every child in the county should be entitled to.