James White

A seasoned public service professional with over 30 years' experience, 25 of those gained in local government education and children's services, I have worked in Wales for 11 years, and have a thorough grasp of the national policy context. I represent the Association of Directors in Education in Wales (ADEW) on the Welsh Government's Wales Youth Justice Advisory Panel, and was recently part of the reference group for the forthcoming new WG guidance on school engagement and behaviour.

Performance management and improvement has been a constant element of my work for 21 years. I can demonstrate verifiable impact of my work in these examples:

• In 2016, attendance in Pembrokeshire's secondary schools was 93.3%, ranking the county 21st of the 22 Welsh LAs. In response to this unacceptable situation, I devised and led an improvement strategy across the secondary sector, with regular reviews of school practice, improved code-level analysis and sharpening work with parents. In 2017, attendance improved to 93.8%, moving Pembrokeshire's ranking to 14th. All 8 secondary schools in the County improved, and Pembrokeshire was the most improved LA in Wales in 2017. In 2018/19 there was further improvement, with Pembrokeshire's ranking improving to 11th. I adapted the same approach to the Primary phase, with our ranking over the same period improving from 10th to 4th. In 22/23, Pembrokeshire's secondary school attendance ranked 6th in Wales.
• During the COVID-19 pandemic, I led on ensuring that vulnerable children were supported and able to access childcare over the lockdown period. Working with staff across the Education Directorate and Social Services, and within 2 weeks of the lockdown announcement, I had established a Lead Worker system to ensure that vulnerable children and families were in regular contact with a named professional to support and advise them. I also established a system for dealing with requests for children to access one of our childcare Hubs. By w/c 15th June, 19% of our vulnerable children were in Hub childcare, compared to 6% nationally . This was achieved with no exclusions or major incidents.
• Since taking responsibility for Inclusion services in 2018, I have led on Pembrokeshire's Whole School Approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, with the 'Trauma Informed Schools' approach as it's centrepiece. In 2016, Pembrokeshire school exclusion rate was 60.0 per 1,000 children - the second highest in Wales. By 2022, the rate had reduced to 22.9 - the lowest in Wales.
• I am Vice Chair of Pembrokeshire's Tackling Poverty group, working under our Public Services Board, and led on developing the Poverty Strategy (see link below), which included identifying and deploying £450k of Welsh Church Act Fund monies towards actions to mitigate the cost of living crisis locally.

• Rugby, History, current affairs. Governor at Fenton Primary school