To consider school performance of summer 2017 and make recommendations to cabinet on how the effectiveness of the school improvement framework and strategy could be enhanced.

The committee received a report by the Director for Children’s Wellbeing concerning school examination performance from summer 2017. Lisa Fraser, Head of Learning and Achievement (HLA) introduced the report and provided a presentation on statistics around attainment. During the presentation she advised the committee that the school improvement service at the council relied on limited resource and was concerned with statutory functions primarily. Significant advancement in attainment had occurred in phonics for which commendation from the minister had been received. Challenges remained in key stage 2 mathematics with performance below the national average. Areas of development included work around vulnerable groups; performance of free school meals pupils, in particular, was mixed with outcomes varying from top to bottom quartile depending on the assessment indicator.

The committee made the comments below in the discussion that followed:

·         The distinction between Ofsted ratings and the position of a school in the attainment league tables was queried. The HLA explained that Ofsted took a holistic approach to assessing schools; the approach of the school improvement service was based on driving improvement through assessment of attainment.

·         It was noted that there was a significant gender gap in attainment in early years education and it was queried how it was proposed that this gap would be reduced? There was a gender attainment gap which reflected national data.  However, both boys and girls performed at a higher level than their peers.  Girls’ achievement was in the top 5 local authorities nationally; boys’ achievement ranked in the second quartile.

·         What targets were in place to diminish the gap to the performance of disadvantaged pupils? Herefordshire Council’s Learning and Achievement Team intend to issue schools with targets focussing on the attainment of disadvantaged pupils.

·         The sum of £561,000 from the DfE was welcomed but it was queried whether the Council could have secured more funding. The amount secured was a significant sum of money for Herefordshire but the Council would not be deterred from applying for additional pots of money to support teaching.

·         In light of the attainment of pupils at key stage 2 mathematics the small schools maths project was raised. It was noted that the project currently involved a small number of schools and it was queried what opportunities there were to roll-out the project to other schools. If the programme was successful the approach would be disseminated across the county, it was noted that in order to move up a quartile in attainment only a small number of children were required to make improvements to their attainment.

·         The effect of small cohorts on attainment and position in quartiles was raised. It was queried what analysis was undertaken to explain poor performance resulting from small cohorts. It was acknowledged that some cohorts were very small and annual risk assessments were conducted on schools felt to be at risk. The issues surrounding attainment at schools identified at risk of poor performance were often deeper than small cohorts alone.

·         The receipt of set exam papers and course materials, close to the date of exams and SATs from the DfE affected attainment. Such issues compounded problems in attainment for less able pupils. 

·         The resources available to the school improvement service were raised. The equivalent FTE in the service was 1.6. The Director for Children’s Wellbeing explained that a significant reduction in funding for the service had led to a change in focus and the brokering of support for schools from leading headteachers across the county and beyond.

·         It was queried whether a breakdown in the statistics around NEETs in the county could be provided to include indicators around rural/urban/market towns/gender/traveller community. A briefing note was requested to also focus on the new data system for the analysis of statistics around NEETs. Officers would look into the practicalities of producing such statistics.

·         Issues concerning assessment of attainment and safeguarding in respect of home schooling were raised. It was felt that the absence of regulation concerning home schooling posed a potential risk to vulnerable children. The lack of a statutory role for local authorities to monitor the provision of home schooling could result in a child receiving a poor education and could undermine safeguarding responsibilities. The lack of any requirement to register a child as home-schooled along with the absence of data relating to the number of home-schooled children was felt to be troubling. It was proposed that the committee write to the government to outline its concerns.

·         The admission of children with mild special education needs (SEN) to specialist schools rather than mainstream schools was raised and whether this affected their education and life experiences detrimentally. The reliance on specialist schools could detract from the ability of mainstream schools to make provision for SEN and undermine inclusion. The prospect of a task and finish group on the topic was raised which could be looked at again after the committee had considered the Autism Strategy at its next meeting. The Director Children’s Wellbeing explained that the Council makes the decision on placements for pupils with EHC Plans, through consultation involving consideration of parental preference. Children could be placed in an appropriate school which could be an SEN school or mainstream establishment and detailed evidence would need to be considered in coming to a view on whether children were placed appropriately.

·         It was queried how many schools were subject to monitoring arrangements. Any school considered inadequate or requiring improvement was potentially subject to monitoring arrangements. Currently four secondary schools and academies were subject to monitoring arrangements.

·         Statistics concerning Ofsted inspections indicated that 28% of pupils were at schools judged to be inadequate or requiring improvement. This was attributable in large part to the Ofsted rating of a single secondary school in the county.  In terms of regional and national statistics this was a relatively high proportion of children not at good and outstanding secondary schools. The cabinet member young people and children’s wellbeing commented that the statistics concerning the number of primary schools deemed good or outstanding was cause for pride.

·         The committee asked about work with the Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) and academies. A briefing note on the RSC was requested to provide detail of where there was an overlap with the Council in terms of responsibility for school improvement. It was confirmed that regular meetings would take place with the Commissioner to exchange detail of what actions were being undertaken in respect of school improvement. The distinction was drawn that academies were responsible for improving the school performance and the council was responsible for improving pupil performance.

·         The Chairman explained to the committee that following a request that she had raised it had been arranged that the executive summaries from Ofsted inspections would be circulated as part of the member ward update.

Resolved – that the committee:

1)    Recognises positive attainment in a number of areas of school examination performance but in particular in the field of phonics;

2)    Requests a briefing note on the current level of NEETs, the new data recording system and a breakdown of statistics to include indicators around rural/urban/market towns/gender/traveller community;

3)    Requests a briefing note on the role of the Regional Schools Commissioner and a focus on areas of overlap with the Council; and

4)    Agrees to write to government to express concern regarding the lack of regulation and monitoring in respect of home schooling. The correspondence should include reference to the potential impacts of home schooling upon the educational achievements of children and safeguarding responsibilities of the Council. 

Mrs Fisher and Councillor JF Johnson left the meeting at 15.23.