To present the Performance Digest for Children’s Services for the third quarter of 2009/2010 (April – December 2009) and to highlight key performance issues.

The Committee considered the Performance Digest for Children’s Services for the third quarter of 2009/10 (October – December 2009).

The Head of Performance presented her report which drew Members attention to a number of key areas for consideration based on each of the Every Child Matters outcome areas. She highlighted that the impact of the recession and general down turn in the economy continued to impact on the Achieve Economic Wellbeing outcome area.  The percentage of young people who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) (NI 177) had risen to 5.8% which was well above target but in line with the 2008/2009 outturn.  This increase would have implications for the Local Area Agreement (LAA).  She also reported that the lack of some targets would be addressed from 1^st April 2010.

Invited to comment on school examination performance the Head of Improvement acknowledged that there was a big job to do in improvement.  The key message from Early Years was that the dip in overall performance was being reversed and monitoring showed that this should continue. There was a broad range of expertise in the Improvement Team to drive further improvement.

He reported that at secondary school level while there was a good amount to be proud of there were still improvements to be made.  GCSE results were important but the picture needed to be seen in the round.  The 14 -19 Agenda was helping pupils to achieve.  Some schools still had work to do in narrowing the Free School Meal gap.  The 2011 government targets, which were comparable with the Fisher Family Trust averages, would be challenging.  Schools were being targeted with help to achieve further improvement.

At Primary School level a number of serious issues had been identified.  Trends at KS1 were towards the bottom levels when compared with statistical neighbours.  Where good practice was identified it was shared.  Twelve schools were currently receiving intense support.  He warned that the introduction of a more rigorous inspection regime could mean more schools would be ‘vulnerable’.  Increasing demands would place additional pressures on an already fully committed service.

The Committee thanked the Head of Improvement for his open and honest report.

Questioned on how the Improvement Service intended to improve the examination results, and the costs involved, the Assistant Director Improvement and Inclusion reported that the recent freeze on recruitment had impacted on the service, however, the directorate restructure should improve the situation. The Head of Improvement undertook to provide a bullet point Member briefing note on how examination results were to be improved.

The Committee briefly debated how limited resources and spare capacity related to a school’s performance.  While appreciating parental preference, from a school capacity point of view this caused problems when assessing Pupil Admission Numbers (PAN).   The Committee requested a briefing note on Pupil Admission Number trends and surplus school capacity.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted and

1. a Member briefing note be provided setting out how the Service was going to improve examination results and indicate the resources needed;
2. a briefing note be provided on Pupil Admission Numbers / surplus school capacity once these have been confirmed for 2010/11.