Agenda and draft minutes

The Committee noted the evacuation and housekeeping procedure.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the last meeting held on 5^th January 2026

AGREED the minutes of the meeting held on 5 January 2026 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Head of Service – Early Help, Youth Justice and Youth Support presented an action plan setting out how the agreed recommendations from the Scrutiny Review of Partnership Working in Early Help would be implemented and target dates for completion. The recommendations aimed to build a more integrated and responsive Early Help system, and it was noted that progress had been made on the actions for implementation, including co-producing a Family First Strategy with partners, co-producing an assessment with partners, and discussions regarding effective data sharing systems.

It was further noted that the re-designed Integrated Front Door would include early help along with safeguarding and would use a triage tool to give links and information to those accessing the service. Training, information, and support would be made available for partners to ensure understanding of the roles in early help, as well as build confidence, consistency and capacity to support families early. It was envisaged that the online offer would include video testimonials from families that had accessed early help to give assurances to those looking for support.

Members raised online triage systems, questioning if there would be anything in place for those who could not or did not want to access online services. Officers informed that information and advice would also be available via telephone and face to face in the Family Hubs.

AGREED that the Action Plan be approved and a progress update be presented to the Committee in September.

To receive evidence in respect of the Post 16 Partnership Excellence for All Working Group Strand

The Committee received a presentation from the Head of School at Egglescliffe School and Sixth Form regarding the work of the Post 16 Partnership Excellence for All working strand. The presentation included:

• Egglescliffe School GCSE successes and A level results, with 100% A level pass rate in 21 subjects, 52% of Grades A*-B and over 25% of grades A*-A. It was noted that data and statistics should be considered along with the background and personal stories of the students to reflect the real achievements made, and the school was proud of the results achieved by their students.
• Recruitment to post 16 provision, which was historically very stable at Egglescliffe with a cohort of 160 – 170. Challenges for recruitment to post 16 provision included the curriculum offer, the curriculum success, and incentives offered by other providers.
• Collaboration between in borough post 16 providers to improve recruitment, ensuring that there was a strong offer with good outcomes across the borough that encouraged students to enrol at in borough providers. There was an ongoing trial with two strands to address the outcomes:
  • Business mentor support, led by the Employment and Training Hub to bring business and students together. The strand targeted students who were not academically achieving in Bede and Egglescliffe colleges providing a series of interventions to improve their confidence, study skills, leadership, employability and knowledge of sectors. To date masterclasses had been held regarding communication skills, interviewing the mentor, and understanding business sectors. Information from the sectors had been shared with colleges and schools previously, however the information was more powerful coming direct from businesses and the feedback from the masterclasses had been very positive.
  • Teach meet, held in November 2025 when staff across eight subjects areas came together to discuss, plan, and implement a series of interventions to approve outcomes. The feedback from staff was positive and another session was planned in February 2026. Members questioned whether Teach Meets would be used for more subjects and informed that they had been targeted at subjects which were underperforming or only had one class in the college which limited discussion with colleagues, e.g. sociology and economics.

The number of students coming out of borough to Stockton-on-Tees providers was noted. While Egglescliffe Sixth Forms intake was usually from the school itself, they did enrol a small number of students from other schools, including private schools. However, Stockton Riverside College and Bede College had 695 students from out of borough enrolled on their courses.

The Committee discussed recruitment, with members questioning whether the range of courses for in-brough providers differed from those outside the borough, and whether students were being signposting to vocational courses available in-borough. It was acknowledged that Egglescliffe Sixth Forms offer was A level courses however they invited local colleges into the school to promote vocational courses to those students who wished to choose that route. It was believed that there was a perception by students’ the incentives and vocational offer from other colleges were better. A survey had  ...  view the full minutes text for item PEO/52/25