The quality of local authority education services in Monmouthshire has been judged to be unsatisfactory by Estyn.

An inspection carried out in November last year also found that Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) had unsatisfactory prospects for improvement.

The report, published today (Wednesday 20th February), judges the authority on three key questions covering outcomes, provision and leadership – all three were judged as unsatisfactory, the lowest grade on Estyn's four-point marking scale.

It says Estyn is of the opinion the council "falls into the follow-up category of special measures and will inform the Welsh Government of this recommendation".

In its overall judgement, the report says Monmouthshire's arrangements for safeguarding do not meet requirements and the performance of its secondary schools is "well below average" compared to schools classed as similar based on free school meal entitlement.

It goes on to say: "Progress between primary and secondary schools is well below average; the overall number of days lost to fixed term exclusions is too high.

"The arrangements for supporting and challenging schools are not robust enough and strategic planning for additional learning needs is weak."

The report accuses the authority's Children and Young People's directorate, headed by cabinet member and Wyesham councillor Liz Hacket Pain, of a "lack of strategic and operational capacity".

It also says councillors do not receive the information needed to fully hold services to account and that self-evaluation processes "are not rigorous enough".

Estyn's does praise the above-average attendance at primary and secondary schools, good youth support services across the county and the council's protection of school budgets and its "strong vision for partnership working".

The report's finding's will come as a huge blow to the council, which identifies education as one of its three strategic priorities.

MCC has also pledged to invest heavily in the 21st Century Schools programme, which focuses on renovating or rebuilding Monmouthshire's four secondary schools and some of its primary schools.

Estyn recognises the "high level of financial commitment reflects the importance of education to the council" but says too many school have deficit budgets, with two "caused unnecessarily through overstaffing".

"The authority does not always know where resources and services should be directed to achieve the best outcomes for its learners," says the report.

"Given the levels of funding and the outcomes acheived overall, the education service provides unsatisfactory value for money."

The council is also criticised for not having its own written safeguarding policy in place, instead following the arrangements set out in the national 'All Wales Child Protection Procedures'.

"The criticism has already been rectified, with the council adopting its own written policy in December last year," said an MCC spokesman.

"The report did point to there being appropriate systems to ensure that staff have Criminal Records Bureau checks.

"Estyn also pointed to educational standards in schools being above average for Wales and Estyn says that in Monmouthshire primary schools they are among the best in Wales.

"Last autumn we completely reshaped our school advisory services, working with four other local councils to set up the SE Wales Education Advisory Service, improving the level of expertise available for schools.

"We are confident that this new service is already working robustly and is beginning to make a difference."

MCC now has 50 days in which to produce an action plan showing how it is going to address the reccomendations set out in the report.

Council leader Peter Fox said: "This report is salutary reading and shows that we need to improve the education service for the children and young people in Monmouthshire.

"While our schools appear to do very well in national league tables, it is clear that we could be achieving even more, and standards should be higher. We've already started to tackle the issues raised in the inspection and we have dealt with a number of the concerns that Estyn raise.

"We have appointed a new director to lead the education service who starts work with us soon, and in the meantime we have engaged a strong interim management team to lead the service and to tackle issues identified.

"While we do not underestimate the challenges ahead, we are confident that our education service will continue to improve."

Cabinet portfolio holder for education, Cllr Liz Hacket Pain said: "We have already begun to make the improvements that our young people deserve.

"We mustn't forget that our children and young people are already doing well, but we need to help them achieve even more. We are investing heavily in education, including an exciting new school building programme.

"We will now work closely with the Welsh Government to develop and implement our action plan so that we can bring about the rapid improvements that we agree are necessary.

"Outstanding education is vital for Monmouthshire and is one of our three key priorities and this will continue to be the case."