Buckinghamshire Education Strategy 2022 to 2027 consultation

Feedback updated 6 Feb 2023

We asked

We asked for views on our updated Education Strategy for 2022 to 2027. The consultation asked about the proposed priorities to find out if they were the right areas of focus.

The consultation ran from 14 February to 3 April 2022.

You said

We received 42 responses to the consultation. Two online events were also held.

We also asked for views from students from 22 March to 8 April 2022. We received 106 responses from young people, mainly at secondary school or in post 16 education.

Key feedback:

Confirmed that the proposed priorities were the right areas of focus
Actions to address each priority were generally agreed with. Additional suggestions were added to the final strategy, where appropriate
The draft Education Strategy was largely easy to understand
Other key themes included the need for:
- more early years and secondary provision as well as specialist SEND provision
- continued improvement of SEND services and therapeutic support
- more opportunities for young people to develop transferable life skills
- support for families, in particular parents
- recruitment and retention strategy for teachers

Some of these themes were added to the final strategy or are already being addressed through our other strategies.

We did

At its meeting on 5 January 2023, Buckinghamshire Council approved the Education Strategy for 2022 to 2027 for publication and launch.

We will launch the Education Strategy at an event in Spring 2023. The event will include schools, early years settings and other key educational providers.

We will create an action plan to track and assess the progress of the strategy’s priorities. The Education Strategy will be reviewed quarterly at the Education Strategy Board to check its progress and impact.

Overview

We are reviewing the Buckinghamshire Education Strategy and we want to hear your views on the key priority areas for 2022 to 2027.

A strategy for Education and Skills was developed for Buckinghamshire in 2018 as a result of collaboration and consultation with key stakeholders. It was designed to act as a compass for implementing continuous improvement in educational provision in Buckinghamshire until 2022.

Following further collaboration and engagement with wide range of partners, the Education Strategy has been refreshed to show the progress made and to highlight the priority areas we need to focus on in the future.

The aim of this consultation is to ensure families and education professionals are able to contribute their ideas on how the Education Strategy should be developed and what its key priorities should be, particularly in light of recent events which have had a significant impact on the education of our children and young people.

Now is the time to review and reformulate our ambitions for education in a post pandemic world and we want you to help us to do this for all children and young people in Buckinghamshire.

We are seeking your views about each of the identified priority areas to find out if these are the right areas of focus.

The draft Education Strategy 2022 to 2027

The Education Strategy (PDF 0.31MB) will continue to have the same vision and key principles as the Education and Skills strategy 2017 to 2022, but will have the following proposed five key priority areas:

Access to and availability of high-quality educational places
Preparing our young learners to reach their potential as adults
Collaborative school improvement to raise standards
Embedding a climate of inclusion
Supporting the emotional health and well-being of children and young people

The five key priority areas we have identified are equally important.

How the Strategy has been developed More Information

We have worked with key partners to shape the priorities set out in the draft Education Strategy.

An initial evaluation exercise took place in September 2021 where key groups were invited to provide feedback. This included feedback from:

Schools
Governors
Early year providers
FACT Bucks
The Bucks Skills Hub
Partners in the voluntary community sector

Young people, parents and carers provided feedback at the Shout Out for SEND conference in October 2021.

School Liaison Groups provided feedback in November 2021.

Internal reviews and strategic action plans within our Achievement and Learning teams have been evaluated and considered.

Who the Strategy affects More Information

The Strategy is aimed at:

Parents, carers or guardians of children in education in Buckinghamshire
Educational professionals in Buckinghamshire
People in education in Buckinghamshire
Organisations involved in providing support services for children and young people within Buckinghamshire
Representatives from commercial and voluntary sector organisations

Other key strategies More Information

The Education Strategy will sit alongside other key strategies that support our broader ambitions for children and young people in Buckinghamshire:

Early Help Partnership Strategy 2022 to 2025 - due to be published later in 2022
The Buckinghamshire SEND Education Sufficiency Strategy 2022 to 2027 (PDF 2.30MB)
SEND and Inclusion Strategy 2021 to 2023 (PDF 2.15MB)
Skills Strategy - Skills has been identified as a key area which merits its own strategy. This will be developed during 2022.

These other key strategies are not part of this consultation.

Online events to find out more

We are hosting three online sessions, using Microsoft Teams, for you to find out more about the draft Education Strategy. The sessions will be held on:

Monday 7 March from 2pm to 3pm
Tuesday 8 March from 7pm to 8pm
Thursday 17 March from 9am to 10am

In each session, we will cover how the draft strategy has been developed so far, what each of the priority areas cover and listen to feedback which will help us to shape the final version of the strategy.

To sign up for one of these online sessions, email us with the session you would like to attend to engageeducation@buckinghamshire.gov.uk. You can also email any questions before your online session.

How to have your say

You can tell us your views in one of the following ways:

Complete the online survey using the link at the end of the page
Complete, and return, a printed version of the survey (PDF 0.25MB)
Email us at engageeducation@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

If you have any questions about this consultation, please email engageeducation@buckinghamshire.gov.uk or phone on 0300 131 6000.

Please tell us your views by midnight on Sunday 3 April 2022.

What happens next

All feedback received through the consultation will be collated and analysed.

The findings will be reported to key decision-making bodies within the council and this will inform the final version of the strategy before it is presented to Cabinet for final ratification in summer 2022.

Privacy

We will use the information you provide here only for this activity. We will store the information securely in line with data protection laws and will not share or publish any personal details. For more information about data and privacy, please see our Privacy Policy.

If you have questions about data and privacy, please email us on dataprotection@buckinghamshire.gov.uk. Or write to our Data Protection Officer at Buckinghamshire Council, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF.

Areas

All Areas

Interests

Schools & education
Children & young people

Closed 3 Apr 2022

Contact