Robs Weekly Round Up
03 May 2024
Dear colleagues,
By now you will hopefully have seen the news and had time to read about the phenomenal inspection reports that the Council received from Estyn this week.
Both the report into our education service as a whole and the second focusing on the Vale Youth Service were glowing.
The reports praised our colleagues who “carry out their roles diligently and are committed to ensuring that all children and young people in the Vale have access to high quality education and support” and who “are committed to reducing the impact of poverty on children and young people”.
Those in the Vale Youth Service were praised as professionals who are “dedicated to their roles, communicate effectively, build positive relationships with young people and have high levels of energy and enthusiasm. They constantly seek ways to refine and improve their work.”
In April I was fortunate enough to hear the early feedback first hand from the inspection team and they were at pains to emphasise how rarely they see such great work across the board in a council.
I could fill my message this week with quotes from the reports and still not do justice to the teams whose work they cover. To fully appreciate it I can only suggest everyone take time to read the reports for themselves:
I’d like to echo again what I said earlier in the week and say thank you again to all those involved for your dedication and commitment to the young people of the Vale of Glamorgan. The entire Learning and Skills team should feel hugely proud of the reports.
One of the things that most impressed the Estyn team was how the work of Learning and Skills was aligned with that of the wider organisation and in turn national agendas such as the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act.
On the day that the reports highlighting this were published, Tom Bowring, our Director of Corporate Resources, was speaking at the Future Generations Forum in Cardiff. This was an event that the Future Generations Commissioner had brought together and Tom was there to tell an audience that included senior UN officials, representatives of international governments, European youth leaders, and academics how we had embedded the five ways of working in our organisation.
Tom’s talk was praised by the Office for Future Generations and others for explaining how starting with simple steps like reviewing our policies, led to the Big Conversations of 2015 and 2019 and a fundamental reassessment of our vision and values. He spoke about us moving to thinking about outcomes rather than just services and how this in turn shaped our approach to community libraries, establishing SRS, launching Big Fresh, and developing integrated frontline services that are focused on communities and neighbourhoods.
It has been a long road but there is no doubt that, as the Estyn feedback shows, we are working in a way today that we simply wouldn’t even have considered ten years ago and Vale residents are seeing the benefit of this.
As Tom said ‘it isn’t just what we do, it’s the (5)way(s) that we do it’ and it’s clear that our approach is delivering locally and is being recognised nationally. Diolch Tom for banging the drum for Team Vale at such a prestigious event and for helping remind us all of how much progress we have made in recent years.
One such area of progress has been in our work to build better links and find better ways to support voluntary groups that play such a vital role in our community. At Monday night’s Full Council meeting elected members voted to bestow a ceremonial honour on one of the most well know of these.
Local volunteers of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) at Barry Docks and Penarth lifeboat stations have been awarded the honorary status of Freemen and Freewomen of the Vale of Glamorgan. The ceremonial titles recognise the service RNLI volunteers have provided to residents and visitors to the Vale in the lifesaving charity’s 200th anniversary year.
Their work is hugely valued and wider ranging than some people are aware, for example a few years ago the Penarth RNLI station worked with us on a project to tackle loneliness and give people the chance to talk about their mental health with the installation of the ‘Friendship Bench’ painted in RNLI colours on Penarth Esplanade.
Following the decision of Council on Monday, the Leader presented a team of the volunteers with a plaque marking the honour on Wednesday and I am looking forward to the official marking of the honour at the Barry Festival of the Sea this summer.
Yesterday, was as I am sure you all know, polling day for the Police and Crime Commissioner election and the count has been taking place today at the Memo Arts Centre in Barry.
I would like to say a huge thanks to all of those who have supported this election in the Vale’s polling stations, at the count venue, and in the countless roles behind the scenes that ensure everything is in place for the big day(s). Our Electoral Services team have made great strides in modernising the process in the Vale ahead of this election and have worked tirelessly both in the run up to polling day on Thursday and the count today. I have seen first-hand the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to make sure that everything goes as it should. Diolch Rachel and the entire team for your efforts and enthusiasm.
Talking of modernisation, I’d also like to thank those who have been working to modernise our telephony system in recent weeks. The first transfer of traditional phone lines to Microsoft Team was successful last week and the next two switchovers will take place next week on Tuesday and Thursday. A huge amount of support information, including online training and key contacts, is available now on StaffNet for anyone who needs it. I appreciate that for many of us this will represent a completely different way of working and can be unsettling and daunting. This is the nature of change but with changes in working patterns and the use of technology, that change is also often very necessary and can bring rewards. I am confident that this is such a case and I would ask the we collectively support the process, stick with it and ensure that the new system brings with it the intended benefits.
Finally, this week I’d like to advise all colleagues that a series of free 90-minute financial wellbeing webinars are being hosted in collaboration with The Learning Café.
These sessions offer support with budgeting, managing borrowing, setting financial goals, and planning for the future. They have been designed to be relevant to all staff and you can book a place via iDev now.
Thanks as always to everyone for their hard work this week. I hope you all enjoy the bank holiday weekend. Diolch yn fawr pawb.
Rob.