Agenda item

-        Annual Virtual School Report

-        Worcestershire Virtual Self-evaluation Summary 2016/17

-        Virtual School Improvement plan 2017/18

Gwen Fennell

Gwen Fennell introduced the Virtual School's Annual Report which gave details of the Governing Body. The Governing Board would continue to monitor the implementation and impact of the Virtual School Improvement Plan and Self-Evaluation, holding both the Virtual School and Babcock Prime to account and being a critical friend, in order to deliver the best outcomes for our young people.

Brief details were given of the Attachment Aware Schools programme, a yearlong partnership with 10 schools across Worcestershire. Participants would develop an understanding of the impact of unmet attachment needs and trauma on education throughout childhood. The programme consisted of one full day and three half days training for 2 staff members. The schools agreed to lead a supported action research project in their school and share the findings with the Virtual School and the whole Worcestershire learning community.

Every school in Worcestershire had received funding to organise their own Attachment training by a qualified and suitable trainer for all staff. The training was mandatory and would be overseen by the Virtual School.

The West Midlands Virtual Heads group worked collaboratively on projects to allow all children residing in each county to have the opportunity to participate in any programmes organised by Virtual Schools.

Data had yet to be validated so there may be some changes;

·        KS1 -There has been a significant increase in our pupils achieving expected standard in RWM at Key Stage 1 from 16.7% in 2016 (60% of this cohort are SEN) to 44% in 2017 (32% of this cohort are SEN)

·        KS2 - There has been an increase in our pupils achieving expected standard in R, W & M at KS2 from 15% in 2016 to 20% in 2017 in comparison to their peers of 57%.

·        The gap is beginning to slightly narrow.  

·        KS4   - The percentage of Looked After Children achieving Grade C+/4+ in English and Maths has increased from 10% in 2016 (52% of this cohort was SEN) to 29% in 2017 (61% of this cohort was SEN).

·        NEET -  The proportion of CiC that are NEET has decreased from 28.6% (2016) to 13.9% (2017)

·        University - 19 of our Care Leavers are attending University

During the discussion a number of points were made:

·       The schools taking part in the Attachment Awareness training were pre-selected. All other schools were funded to organise Attachment Training to all their staff. Virtual Head is overseeing this and funding will be clawed back if not used

·       Most schools were now using HLTAs to cover teachers who required training/professional development so cost was minimised for schools

·       When children move placement, ideally the education should be organised and a school place finalised before the move happens, to limit disruption

·       The good Key Stage 4 results could be due to actions taken by the school making good use of the pupil premium or alongside a stronger cohort. Ofsted were now beginning to focus on Broader progress (Resilience, confidence, self-esteem of our young people) alongside academic outcomes

·       Each school should provide details of the progress and attainment of our Looked After Children and the impact of PP+ spend to their Governing Board on a termly basis

·       Social Workers had been offered Education Awareness training but there had so far been a low uptake so different ways of providing the training would be considered

·       The Chairman recommended Board Members look at the Health and Well-being Board's Agenda for 5 December, at the report on Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) which was relevant to the work of the Corporate Parenting Board

·       The withdrawal of National Curriculum (NC) Levels had prompted schools to rethink how they assess and monitor their pupil's progress.  A negative progress score did not mean that the cohort had gone backwards it meant that they had made less progress than the national average. A positive progress score meant that the cohort had made above average progress. A score which was close to zero meant that the cohort's progress was roughly in line with the national average (the larger the cohort the closer to zero the progress score needs to be for it to be in line with average).

ACTIONS

1.     The Annual Report was noted,

2.     Further updates would be brought back to the Board from the Virtual School Head Teacher, and

3.     The Chairman referred Board Members to the Health and Well-being Board's report on Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) on the agenda for 5 December 2017.