Standards & Quality Division

The Standards and Quality Division has the twin key functions of maintaining and improving educational standards and developing lifelong learning opportunities within local communities. It discharges these functions through the following key service areas - The School Improvement and Basic Skills Service – including performance management, developing schools' capacity for self-evaluation, monitoring and evaluating the performance of schools, advice, professional development, inspection and adult Basic Skills provision. Youth Offending Service - including prevention and early intervention, remand work and court proceedings, assessment and supervision. Services to young people and Adult and Community Learning – including leadership and co-ordination of the ‘Extending Entitlement’ agenda and working with and facilitating a range of network partnerships. Service/Partnership Co-ordination and CPD - including the management, organisation, monitoring and evaluation of training programmes for teachers, governors and other appropriate and relevant learning providers.   Departmental Business Plan 2008 - 2011

Wyn Williams Head of Standards & Quality

Services provided by Standards & Quality

School Improvement and Basic Skills

Contact : 01994 231866

The primary purpose of this service is to assist the local authority to fulfil its statutory function to support high standards in the planning, management and provision of education within the county. The School improvement Team undertakes this duty through: monitoring and evaluating of school performance, developing schools’ capacity for self evaluation; providing advice to the local authority and elected members, governing bodies, headteachers and teachers; professional development of teachers, headteachers and governors; undertaking school inspections; and performance management of their own staff.  The service also includes a team of Athrawon Bro who provide Welsh language teaching and training in schools and the peripatetic music service which provides instrumental tuition to individual and groups of pupils. 

A team of basic skills officers and tutors deliver and support varied and relevant adult basic skills, information technology and family support programmes.  In addition there is a developing provision of relevant programmes for ‘English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).

Youth Offending Service

Contact : 01554 740120

The Youth Offending Service comprises of a multi agency team drawn from social services, probation, education, health, police and voluntary sector.  It has three major strands to its work namely: prevention and early intervention; remand management and court work; assessment, planning interventions and supervision.  The service seeks to prevent children and young people from entering the Criminal Justice System and engage children and young people in activities and interventions with the aim of preventing offending.

In addition the team provides a service to the youth courts within Carmarthenshire which includes supporting the attendance of young people at court, preparation of a range of reports to assist in the sentencing process and supervision of children and young people on detention and training orders.

Finally long term support is provided for young people through planned interventions to address the risk of future offending and effective supervision to ensure that the young person remains engaged, motivated and as a result less likely to offend in the future.

Adult Community Learning and Services to Young People

Contact : 01267 228338

The Community Education Service provides adult and community learning courses for people aged 16 and over in the County. In 2006/07, we provided 680 courses in 150 venues throughout Carmarthenshire. Over 3500 attended these courses last year. While the majority of these classes are run at the main Community Education Centres an extensive range of local community venues are also used. Courses are offered in art, languages, complimentary therapies, Welsh for Adults, crafts, health, music, dance and exercise. We also welcome suggestions for new courses that we can develop.

The Youth Service, working in partnership with the Young People's Partnership in the County provides a wide range of support services for young people aged 11-25. This includes provision of youth clubs in County Council facilities and community venues, support for specialist activities such as outdoor pursuits, provision of information advice and counselling services and support to enable young people to participate in decision making for services that affect them. Youth workers are based in centres and schools and also work on an outreach street work basis contacting young people where they congregate. The Youth Service also administers and extensive youth access programme for 14-16 year olds who are not in school and oversees the delivery of the Duke of Edinburgh scheme in the County. In the last year, mainstream and Cymorth funding for this work has been supplemented by ESF funding for the Youth First partnership project. This project has enabled us to extend the provision of the Welsh Assembly Government's Extending Entitlement agenda to targeted groups and communities of young people throughout the County.

Service Partnership Co-ordination and INSET/CPD

Contact : 01994 232012

The Service/Partnership Co-ordination Team is responsible for effective service co-ordination, policy and procedures, budgets (including direct management of specific budget heads), grants management and initiatives, partnership working and commissioning, INSET and CPD service directory management and provision in relation to the specialist services of School Improvement and Basic Skills, Services to Young People, Community Learning and Youth Offending Services. This includes specialist grants compliance and management, inspection contracts and franchise arrangements.