IMPROVEMENTS by Torfaen council in supporting schools could be highlighted as examples of best practice nearly three years after it was found to be failing.
Education inspectors Estyn had said Torfaen Borough Council required significant improvement to its education service in March 2022 and as such was subject to special measures with increased scrutiny.
But following its latest monitoring visit Estyn has written to to the council to say it has made sufficient progress to be removed from the category of ‘Significant Improvement’. The council will now be subject to routine monitoring and inspection.
Councillor Richard Clark, the Labour-run council’s deputy leader who is responsible for education, said: “Best practice has been demonstrated and written up by Estyn and we have other authorities approaching us for advice.”
The full council accepted the outcome of Estyn’s monitoring visit, and letter confirming it is removed from special measures, at its Wednesday, November 19 meeting at the Civic Centre, Pontypool.
Cllr Clark told councillors: “This is the starting point for the education service in Torfaen.”
He said he was given the “unhappy” task, following the May 2022 elections, of explaining why the council was placed in special measures and paid tribute to staff and councillors for working to meet the four recommendations for improvement.
The most recent visit focused on what the council had done to “improve outcomes for learners, particularly in secondary schools” and “improve strategic leadership of learning and additional learning needs”.
Estyn reported progress on its other two recommendations, to “strengthen performance management” and “strengthen self-evaluation and improvement planning processes and the link between them”, in June.
Council leader Anthony Hunt said students and school staff also deserved thanks for improvements and said the education department had given the council’s leadership “timely and honest” updates on progress.
He said councillors had invested in schools: “Members have made the decision to invest in education, in revenue terms, we’ve gone from just below average in Wales to one of the authorities near the top.”
He said that “wasn’t easy” for councillors as “more visible” services have lost funding as a result.
Cllr Hunt said: “It’s not been an easy time for our schools, and across the country, facing up to reducing real terms funding but in Torfaen they’ve had a fighting chance and set budgets to respond to their needs if not everything they want to do.”
Jason O’Brien, the council’s strategic director for children and families, said the council now has a “stable education service so we can strive for achievement and improvement”.
He said the work the council has done would be stated as examples of good practice in Estyn reports and he also said it was an achievement across departments and of the whole council.