To provide information about the results from the survey of schools carried out in the spring term 2004.

The Committee received information on the results from the survey of schools carried out in the spring term 2004.

The Director of Education reported that during the early part of the spring term 2004, all schools in the County had been asked to give their assessment of the quality and responsiveness of the centrally managed LEA services provided by the Council.  Copies of the letter and survey form were attached to the report at Appendix 1.  The detailed responses received from schools had been aggregated and Appendix 2 to the report provided a summary for each of the 43 services included in the survey.  There were 26 areas which could broadly be compared across the 2000 Audit Commission and the 2004 Education Directorate surveys, and these were summarised at Appendix 3.  Of these 26 areas, 88% (23) showed improvement in satisfaction levels as expressed by schools.  Those services that showed the greatest improvement in satisfaction levels were: Educational Psychology (+1.0), Payroll Services (+0.95), Learning Support Services (+0.83) and the Pupil Referral Service (+0.73).  The service area to show the largest decrease in satisfaction levels was Support for Pupil Performance Data (-0.45).

On scrutinising the report the following principal points were made:

• While the replies gave a good snapshot of the services at a particular time the number of responses from the Special School sector had been comparatively low and this needed to be taken into account when considering the statistics.
• While ‘Support for 14 – 19 Education’, ‘Support for ICT in the Curriculum’, and ‘Support for Pupil Data’ had recorded ‘medium’ scores in the secondary sector, it was emphasised that considerable progress had been made in these areas.  The services, run jointly between the Learning & Skills Council (LSC) and the Council, were currently without a co-ordinator and therefore there may have been some confusion over service provision.  It was further reported that interviews for a co-ordinator had recently been held and that an appointment would soon be made.
• Improvements could be seen in the overall scores for Children’s and Students’ Services.  The Director of Education reported that, while there were areas of concern, the Service, through the better use of resources, had found more time to talk to schools about children causing concern.
• In response to concerns the Director of Education commented on a number of areas concerning Job Evaluation.
• The Director of Education acknowledged that while there had been improvements in the SIMS software system, further work was needed.  He also reported that a pilot scheme was underway to develop a direct line link to the County Treasurer’s CEDAR accountancy system.  It was suggested that a seminar be held to inform members of the issues involved in the provision of education software systems.
• In response to questions regarding the cost of IT support to schools, the Director of Education reported that a number of factors were involved e.g. the rural nature of the County and the number of systems covered.  It was noted that schools could opt out of the services and obtain their own technical support if they thought it prudent to do so.

RESOLVED:

That

(a)  The report be noted and a report be presented to a future meeting on the issues raised by the survey concerning the ‘Support for 14 – 19 Education’ service; and

(b)The Director of Education arrange a seminar to inform Members of issues concerning Information Technology in schools, particularly in relation to the SIMS software and the cost of IT support to schools.