Monmouthshire County Council members met in fiery discussion last Thursday (28th February) over the county's recent damning Estyn report.

As reported in the Beacon (20th February), the council's education authority was given an overall judgement of 'unsatisfactory' by Estyn after its November 2012 inspection.

Despite the council taking full responsibility for the poor report, some reading the paperwork have questioned Estyn's testing criteria.

A large portion of Estyn's marking structure names the amount of children receiving free school meals as an important contributing factor in their considerations.

In Monmouthshire, the number of compulsory school age pupils eligible for free school meals is 12 per cent, lower than 19 per cent nationally. This level is the second lowest in Wales.

In straight-forward terms, the less children receiving free school meals, the higher the standard is expected of the authority and the stricter Estyn will be on it.

Without considering school meals, Monmouthshire County Council has performed well in recent years, with Key Stage 2 pupils achieving the highest grades in Wales in 2011-2012.

Since the report, the council claims to have been constantly improving its education provision.

"My take on why we are here, is because we had a decent inspection over 2008-2009, but then the game changed and we haven't kept up. The service has improved but it hasn't come far enough," said chief executive Paul Matthews.

"Our focus should be on continuous improvement, and that should be enough."

Changes have been put in place since the report was published two weeks ago.

The council's Education Achievement Service (EAS) was six weeks old at the time of the inspection, and was therefore not considered by inspectors. "I think the exclusion was fair, but took out the essential weapon in our armoury," said Mr Matthews. This EAS is now up and running with 10 systems leaders active in Monmouthshire.

The purpose is to set challenging but achievable targets agreed with all schools.

Amongst other changes is that an Interim Leadership Team has been recruited and a new Chief Education Officer has been appointed and will begin work on 22nd May.

Some school-based interventions for schools with significant financial shortfalls have also been activated.

The council are required to meet with the Welsh Education Minister Leighton Andrews today (6th March), to present their response and recovery plan.

"This plan needs to be a narrative of how we are dusting ourselves off and rebuilding the system," said Matthews. "There needs to be a significant amount of work done to not only show the Minister, but also ourselves, that we understand the system".

The future holds no let-up for the county council, as it is assumed that Estyn are set to return in November. The Chief Executive told councillors that although he expected to be out of 'monitoring', he does not expect the system to be free of its 'special measures'.

Councillor Liz Hacket Pain came under attack in the meeting, with many asking the cabinet member for Children, Young People and Learning if was going to 'the right thing' and stand down. After claiming that she intended to stay, and being given the full support of fellow party members, Labour Leader Roger Harris moved a vote of no confidence against the member, which at a vote of 15-22 with two abstained, was not carried through.

Labour members of the council bayed for blood against their Tory counterparts, with anger shown on several occasions over the poor report.

"This report gave me no pleasure at all, but I'm confident that if we were inspected today that the findings would be much happier, but we are where we are," said Conservative Council Leader Peter Fox. "I doubt this authority will be the last to be stung by the Estyn framework".

Defending his cabinet member Hacket Pain, Fox continued: "This lady is solid, she has done an awful lot for this county and her commitment is unquestionable.

Not all in the room shared the Leader's feelings. Liberal Democrat Councillor Linda Guppy said "If this was a school report, it would say 'nice county, but must try harder'. We must all try harder.".

Independent Councillor Val Smith added: "There was a time when the Welsh education system was held in high esteem, but we have slipped. Our competition is no longer England, it is the rest of the world. Val Smith.

Councillor Hacket Pain waited until after the debate to say: "The last day of inspection feedback was like a slap round the face, and did not reflect what we thought we had.

"I have asked questions of myself, and lived through it every single day for three months, it certainly has been a wake-up call.

"I take full responsibility for the report, it is true that the buck stops with me, but to walk away now would be what someone with no courage would do, not to see it through.

"I have received a lot of support not only from my party, but from schools, head teachers and parents.

"I have that desire to get on track to get moving. If it was critical of me I would resign, but I am not going to resign. I do accept that we have to change, but Estyn are coming back and we have to be in the right place when they do".

Through mixed reactions of cheers and anger from around the council chamber, and even a time of very heated discussion in which Chairman Maureen Powell needed to get the situation under control with angered shouts at some councillors, Councillor Fox ended the discussion by saying: "To sit through two-and-a-half hours of people calling for your career to end and then deliver a calm speech like that, she's got the strength I need in my cabinet".