Inspectors praise Swansea's ethnic minority specialists

The specialist team which provides education guidance for Swansea's ethnic minorities has won high praise from inspectors.

Members of the Swansea Ethnic Minority Language and Achievement Service (EMLAS) have been saluted for their work.

A report by education watchdog Estyn states: "EMLAS provides outstanding services for ethnic minority pupils to help them develop effective English language skills and achieve their qualification aims."

Other elements of the Swansea Education Authority provision for minorities were also given high marks following the inspection.

Inspectors reported: "The Education Directorate has clear policies and procedures and good monitoring to tackle racism and promote racial harmony. The Traveller Education Service delivers excellent support to Gypsy and Traveller children.

"The Inclusion Service has appropriate staff, processes, training and monitoring in place to support schools in child protection. The service works well with a range of other agencies and proactively responds to issues regarding the safeguarding of children and young people."

The Estyn report- just published following the June inspection- said that overall, the promotion of social inclusion and wellbeing was "good with outstanding features."

Moreover, it stated: "Its prospects for improvement are good with significant improvements already in place. There is an excellent range of quality services and initiatives to support vulnerable groups through effective multi-agency working.

"Overall, levels of attendance in secondary schools have improved. Permanent exclusions have reduced significantly. The integration by the Local Authority of the excellent Employment Training service into the Inclusion Services has strengthened links between ET and schools, EOTAS (Education Other Than At School) and the 14 to 19 Network.

"The percentage of young people remaining in full-time education has improved at a faster rate than the rest of Wales."

Meanwhile, inspectors reported that excellent one-to-one support by education officers at Key Stage Three and Key Stage Four had contributed to good achievements for looked after children.

Cllr Mike Day, Swansea Council's Cabinet Member for Education, said: "Those who promote social inclusion and wellbeing throughout our education services are doing so with great professionalism and expertise. My congratulations go to them for this fine feedback from Estyn inspectors.

"Our Quality in Education 2020 (QEd2020) vision aims to raise standards of achievement and attainment for all, improve the learning environment and to make better use of physical, financial and human resources."

Robin Brown, Swansea's Head of Education Inclusion, said: "Much work has gone into social inclusion and wellbeing. I'm delighted that the efforts of our staff have been highlighted."

More details are available at http://tinyurl.com/mqadtb