Agenda item - School Performance and Partnership Working

24.1         Gina Hutchins – Headteacher of Woodingdean Primary School and Hilary Ferries – Strategic Commissioner Standards and Achievement (SCSA) introduced the Primary School section of the report.

 

24.2         The Headteacher advised that primary schools were working in partnerships to raise attainment, by sharing good practice, developing the curriculum, challenging each other and moderating and assessing children’s work. Partnership work includes regular network meetings with  Primary Headteachers, Governors, Business Managers and Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCo’s). The aim is to work towards a shared agenda for all primary schools within the city.

 

24.3         The other key priority is closing the gap and the Headteacher highlighted the benefits of using the Every Child Counts (ECC) and Every Child a Reader (ECaR) programmes. These are intensive maths and reading programmes for Key Stage One children.

 

24.4         Members raised a number of points including:

 

1.      On the current varying and challenging levels of children’s school work and whether this was apparent previously? Members were advised that school used to moderate work internally and there were some limited opportunities for schools to work together to level work. Now, schools are working together to do this so that there is a shared understanding and consistent approach to judging standards.

 

2.      The issue of the gap between vulnerable groups and all other pupils was narrowing for maths and reading. It was noted that vulnerable groups were analysed through tracking each child’s performance, interventions put in place then impact measured and further action taken.

 

3.      Whitehawk Primary going into special measures, it was clarified that a large percentage of pupils in the school had Free School Meals and that extra support has been put in place. , this includes a National Leader of Education from London and teacher support from other schools. The school is also reviewing its systems.

 

4.      Whether parental support at home for the children was encouraged in schools, Members were told that schools encouraged family learning. Schools offer parents to learn alongside their children and run  workshops to give information to parents on teaching practices.

 

5.      The issue of children not engaging at home, Members were advised that there were homework clubs.  Whitehawk Library was being used for this purpose too.

 

24.5         The SCSA presented  Standards and Achievement in Brighton & Hove Schools 2011 – Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 advising :

·        Nursery, Early Years and Foundation Stage 1 (EYFS) – 87% are judged by Ofsted to be good or outstanding.

·        Action: To prepare all practitioners working in Early Years to be ready to deliver the new EYFS framework in September 2012.

·        Key Stage One – overall standards remained in line with the national average in reading, writing and maths.

·        Key Stage 2 – results had arisen 1% but were now 1% below national

·        Action: Support and challenge for schools who are judged to be satisfactory or below the floor standard.

 

24.6         It was asked whether  children who seemed to be  increasing their attainment year by year lost this over time. Why was it that when they went onto the next cohort this increase was lost? The SCSA would respond back to the committee.

 

24.7         Other points raised by CYPOSC were:

 

1.      Concerns over the changing measuring practices of vulnerable groups and how the gap continued for disadvantaged children. It was advised that these practices were being reviewed and school partnership working and the pupil premium would provide additional support for these pupils..

 

2.      Why the “Below the Floor” primary schools had similar good grading from Ofsted but were in this category. Members were told that these are two different systems. ‘the ‘floor standard’ was changed in 2011 and applied retrospectively. It sets a measure for attainment and for progress that the DfE uses to judge school performance. Ofsted judge schools against a set of criteria for a range of aspects of school life.. The Ofsted results were of a different framework to the “Below the Floor” protocols.

 

3.      That it would be useful to also have mapped the areas of deprivation within the “KS2 Results for Brighton & Hove Summer 2011” chart. The group of schools identified as “Below the Floor” tended to always have pupil spaces. Members were advised that in some schools with small cohort sizes, one child could make a huge difference to the figures and ‘bring down’ the achievement of that class.

 

4.      The Committee agreed to congratulate Westdene Primary School as it was one of the first 100 schools in the country who have been selected to be a Teaching School as part the government’s new education policy.

 

24.8         Members thanked the Headteacher and the Strategic Commissioner for presenting a clear and comprehensive account of primary schools performance and partnership working.

 

24.9         Michael Nix – Partnership Adviser- Secondary, Colleges and Adult Learning presented Education Standards: Secondary & Post 16 Phases advising:

·        Key Stage 3 – generally positive “narrowing the gap” progress

·        Work in clusters with primary schools to improve transition and information exchange

·        Key Stage 4 – Further improvement in 5+ A*-C including Maths and English by 3.5 points to 52.6%: while this improvement was greater than the average for Statistical Neighbours (2.1%), it was less than the England average improvement (4.8%)

·        No B&H secondary schools were below the principal ‘floor’ target set by the DfE (>35% 5+ A* - C including English and Maths), but performance was less good against the ‘three levels of progress’ targets for English and Maths, with only two of nine schools achieving all three floor targets

·        Schools together and individually strengthening use of data to track pupil progress and set targets at school, subject, class and pupil levels.

 

24.10    Janet Felkin Head Teacher at Blachington Mill presented the key features and aims of the Secondary Schools Partnership initiative:

·        Coalition of all secondary schools including academies and faith schools

·        The Raising Achievement Plan (RAP)

·        Behaviour and Attendance Partnership (BAP)

·        Sustainable partnership- Improved communication amongst all secondary schools

·        The use of resources and creative ways of sharing data

·        Closing the gap

 

24.11    Members thanked the Partnership Adviser and Headteacher for their succinct and informative presentations. Members raised the points below:

 

1.      If a Headteacher was identified to support another school who was failing in a particular subject how did they manage this?  Members were informed that the Headteacher would have to balance the needs of their own school with the other school and would consider the best way of making expert staff available to the other school whilst maintaining the interests of the home school.

 

2.      Concerns over the increase in the gaps of KS3 pupils with SEN and all other pupils in English, maths and science. Members were advised that there was a genuine improvement however the results were calculated differently in 2011. Equally different cohorts have varying factors which would affect the results. There are some cohorts where their predicted grades would be lower than the previous year due to the range of pupils in that cohort. CYPOSC agreed to receive this data on an annual basis to compare the progress in “narrowing in gap”.

 

3.      Whether children in private education achieved better exam results, the Committee were told that not all private schools results were outstanding and that parents and children will have various reasons for choosing private education, taking into account for example their backgrounds and aptitudes. Comparisons between private and maintained schools were not straightforward. 

 

4.      The English Baccalaureate figures for 2011 showed Cardinal Newman & Dorothy Stringer had performed well.  However, the Headteacher told the Committee that this new measure had been introduced at very short notice and did not take into account the curriculum choices that pupils had already made.  She advised the Committee of concerns that the introduction of the EBac could skew pupils’ GCSE choices, if it became apparent that the EBac was required for entry to certain university courses.  This could result in pupils making inappropriate curriculum choices, in which they may be less successful.  Schools were waiting to hear further on the EBac before considering possible changes to their curriculum.

 

5.      A Youth Council Representative highlighted that they hadn’t been asked about planning their careers since they were in Year 9 and now they were in Year 11. CYPOSC were told that career guidance provision was now a responsibility of the schools but that there is currently a service gap in the provision of impartial Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG).  The local authority is supporting schools by providing 1.5 Careers Education Information advice and Guidance (CEIAG) Advisers posts to work with schools to improve information available to young people.

 

24.12    Philip Ward - Service Manager – Youth Employability Service (YES) and Michael Nix - Partnership Adviser- Secondary, Colleges and Adult Learning presented the Post 16 information to the Committee. The Committee were advised of factors such as :

·        Raising the Participation Age (RPA): to 17 by 2013 and to 18th birthday by 2015

·        developing Apprenticeships and Pre-Apprenticeships

·        partnership working between schools and colleges so that all provision was rated as good or outstanding

·        the YES team had been in operation for 6 months and were part of the Delivery Service for Children, Youth & Families headed up by James Dougan.

·        the team were using sophisticated social media, partnership working with the Voluntary Sector through Aspire and working from city’s libraries to promote and publicise the service.

 

24.13    Jenny Barnard Langston – Chair of Governors – Blatchington Mill introduced the “Raising Standards in Brighton & Hove secondary schools through collaboration between governing bodies” project.  The Chair of Governors advised that their expectation was to offer parents and all students equality for an education that offers every student the framework and resources in which to achieve their highest possible potential no matter which school they attend.

 

24.14    A Youth Council Representative questioned whether the Council were able to offer work experience that could lead to possible permanent employment. Members were informed that the Council was committed to offering apprenticeships wherever possible; one example was a Business and Administration Level 3 apprentice recently appointed to support the Raising the Participation Age project. The Council were looking at further improving these opportunities to young people.

 

24.15  CYPOSC were told that the current YES Opportunities for You newsletter publicised a range of different level 1 and pre-apprenticeship programmes. The national apprenticeship website was currently advertising over 40 apprenticeship vacancies in the area. This showed that there was no shortage of opportunities, however it was important to find out whether the jobs that were on offer were ones that young people were interested in applying for.

 

24.16    It was confirmed that leavers with SEN were supported by the YES team. Members requested information on the proportion of 16+ leavers that had SEN.

 

24.17    In answer to a question on how the YES teams targets were calculated. Members noted that the targets had been calculated locally and not nationally. Members requested further information on this.

 

24.18    In answer to a question on how leavers were being reached since the reduction in staff, Members were told leavers were contacted by the team via social media, texting or telephoning on a monthly basis to offer support and monitor leavers. The Committee heard how there was a need to join up the different elements of YES provision with schools, teachers and employers.

 

24.19    Members thanked the Service Manager, Partnership Adviser and Chair of Governor’s for their informative introductions.

 

24.20    RESOLVED – CYPOSC requested answers or to follow up on the points below:

 

(1)    A response on why a yearly increase in attainment was lost when these classes moved up a year.

 

(2)    Annual feedback on the increase in the gaps of KS3 pupils with SEN and all other pupils in English, maths and science.

 

(3)    On the proportion of 16+ leavers that had SEN.

 

(4)    Further information on how the YES team’s targets were calculated.