Agenda item

The Director (Designate) Education and Early Help and the Head of Quality and Effectiveness (Babcock Prime) had been invited to the meeting to update the Panel on Pupil Attainment at Key Stage 2.

The Panel received a presentation and Members were given the opportunity to ask questions. The following main points were made:

·       Support was provided to a group of maintained schools which had been identified as being of concern.

·       An area-wide strategy also aimed to extend the reach of this support further.

·       The challenge of raising attainment for vulnerable children remained.  Vulnerable children included Looked After Children and those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).  Although the County was closing the gap on national attainment figures, this was less true for children with SEND.

·       When looking at 2018 results, Worcestershire’s trajectory of improvement was better than that seen nationally but outcomes remained below national figures.  A study had been undertaken of 62 schools which had just fallen short of the national figure.  This had revealed that at least 50% of these schools had been judged ‘good’ by Ofsted at their most recent inspection.

·       Work with schools showing concern also showed a positive trajectory with more schools being judged to be in the higher categories of ‘secure’ and ‘light touch’.

·       Progress scores for disadvantaged children had shown significant improvement when compared with national figures.

·       Funding of £490k was available via the Strategic School Improvement Fund (SSIF) to work with maintained and academy schools based on need.  Currently, 32 schools in the County were involved in this work.

·       The programme had led to real gains in terms of pupils’ learning attitudes and attributes, and improved resilience.  Schools’ capacity for leadership had also improved markedly.

·       For pupils with SEND, attainment was too low and progress was a challenge.  There was a need to better understand what outcomes in special schools looked like and work was being undertaken over the summer to analyse data from maintained special schools.

·       A further challenge was supporting mainstream schools in their SEND work.  To date, Babcock Prime’s training programme had been attended by 45 SENCOs.

·       It was confirmed that some special schools were academies, although this was not typical.  Members were reminded that, although the Council was not funded to work with academies, it retained the responsibility for the education of all children in the County.

·       In response to a question about whether schools were spending their SEND budgets appropriately, Members were informed that this was difficult to say as the formula was complicated.  This was an area that the Improvement Adviser would explore with governors and leaders.

·       Concern was expressed about ‘informal exclusions’ and pupils being ‘off rolled’.  Members were assured that, in these circumstances, there were mechanisms to hold schools to account (including academies).  The Chairman pointed out that schools needed to be confident about the quality of alternative provision.

·       The Chairman highlighted the interesting difference between schools’ attainment levels and Ofsted judgements and suggested that Ofsted may wish to look into this further.

·       A Member suggested that those looking to recruit children into gangs were often more interested in pupils who were on a part-time timetable than those who had been permanently excluded.  Pupils on a part-time timetable were less likely to be on the radar of the authorities as they were in school for some of the time.

·       The Vice Chairman welcomed the ongoing improvement in KS2 results.  She went on to ask about the impact of the 3-tier system where two schools might be responsible for KS2.  At the meeting with KS2 headteachers in October 2018, some headteachers had been critical of the lack of cohesion and collaboration between schools.  Excellent work had been carried out in Bromsgrove and it was suggested that this could be seen as a model for elsewhere in the County with the Council acting as a facilitator to spread good practice.

·       Members were reminded that the picture with regard to middle schools was complicated, with different areas of the County using different systems.  This was recognised by Ofsted.  KS2 performance in the 3-tier system was improving at a faster rate than in 2-tier areas but this was from a lower base.  The 2-tier areas were showing a slower rate of improvement, but attainment levels were closer to national figures.  It was also pointed out that some of the County’s strongest performing schools at KS2 were middle schools.

·       In terms of collaboration between schools, Babcock held district briefings each term which were attended by headteachers.  Performance data by district would be shared at these meetings.  It would be recommended that headteachers should lead the process of developing phase and area networks.  Headteachers needed to trust each other and initiatives should come from the bottom up, being driven by schools and guided by the Council.  A Member responded that there was still a role for the County Council and she would like to see schools given a nudge to get together.

·       Validated data for 2019 was not yet available. It was agreed that, once validated, the data (including a breakdown by District Council area) would be circulated Members of the Panel.

·       Support for raising standards in English and mathematics remained a focus.  Under the new Ofsted inspection framework, reading and mathematics would still be subject to a ‘deep dive’.  Babcock Prime was supporting schools via English and mathematics hubs.  A Member of the Panel suggested that the advantages of reading to children should be emphasised to parents.

·       The Director (Designate) informed Members that the organisational re-design for Education and Early Help would support this work.  It would take time for schools to trust each other and share the challenges.  She agreed that partnership with parents was valuable.

·       The year-on-year improvement was encouraging but it was suggested that the authority would need to work with more schools in order to move this on.

·       In response to a question about how national figures compared with other countries, the Head of Quality and Effectiveness informed the Panel that progress was being made on international comparisons but was frustrating Ministers.

·       It was confirmed that Babcock Prime worked with academy schools by invitation. Academies were able to buy-in services and 95% had bought in training.  It was agreed that Members would be provided with figures for the % of academies that buy-in services via Babcock Prime, broken down by service area.  It was pointed out that schools which were part of an academy trust may look internally for training options in the first instance.

·       A question was asked about the use of unqualified teachers in academies.  It was suggested that concerns about employment practices should be raised with the regional schools commissioner.

·       Members were reminded that 85% of Worcestershire schools were judged by Ofsted to be good or better, and there was very little difference between academy and non-academy schools.