To review recent School Examination Performance.

The assistant director commissioning and education introduced the item. It was explained that there was a process of verification with exam results, as such there is a delay in their presentation. Therefore the results from august 2015 were coming to the committee at this stage instead of shortly after their publication.

 

A more comprehensive data set on examination performance had been meant to be circulated ahead of the committee, however this had not happened. It was agreed that this would be circulated following the committee. Members expressed their disappointment that this had not been circulated earlier but were encouraged to study the data when published.

 

It was noted that while there had been a significant increase in the number of academies and free schools in Herefordshire, as well as a decline in the number of maintained schools, Herefordshire council still had a considerable role in co-ordinating all schools in the county.

There was discussion of the role of regional school commissioners:

-          It was clarified that regional schools commissioners report the secretary of state for education and specifically monitor the performance of academies.

-          They have roles in identifying and responding to underperformance and also encourage the conversion of schools to academy status.

-          The west midlands regional school commissioner represented a very large geographical area.

-          There was a termly meeting between Herefordshire council and the regional schools commissioner. This focussed on specific issues relating to schools including at an individual level. It was explained that this was a very important mechanism in how Herefordshire council responded to the concerns of academies.

A member of the committee questioned the role of the council working with the school academy group, and how this was funded:

-          The council has responsibilities in safeguarding and championing outcomes for children regardless of their location or if they were educated in a maintained school or an academy or free school. The main role of the council was in brokerage and facilitating school to school cooperation.

-          The council funds some school improvement services though this service.

A member of the committee expressed confusion over the extent to which the council should be accountable and involved in the performance of academies and free schools. Central government policy encouraged the proliferation of academies and had introduced regional school commissioners as a means of monitoring their performance. As such the role of local authorities within this was questioned given their lack of control over schools other than maintained schools.

 

In response the director of children’s wellbeing made a number of points:

-          There were likely to be changes in the role of local authorities in this situation following the results of a consultation later in the year.

-          The importance of children’s attainment regardless of them being educated in academies and free schools, or in maintained school was stressed.

-          Education is a local enterprise, as such members should look to improve education within the local area in whatever form it takes.

-          While local authorities do not have far reaching powers in regard to academies and free schools’ performance, a significant amount of influence can still be used to encourage school improvement.

The head of learning and achievement gave a presentation summarising key trends in performance data.

-          Performance in ofsted inspections was a success across Herefordshire. A third of students were in schools achieving good or outstanding ratings from ofsted.

-          Attainment in primary phases had improved significantly and were now in line with national averages.

-          Secondary phases remained above national averages.

-          Key stage five performance remained strong.

-          A list of ten schools which were performing particularly well, it was noted that these were spread across Herefordshire and not concentrated in one area.

-          The number of children not in education, employment or training in Herefordshire were better than national averages.

-          Performance in phonics had improved, however were still below the national average.

-          Key areas of focus included key stage one provision. While broadly in line with the national average this area was still a focus.

-          The number of children eligible for free school meals was an area of particular focus.

-          There was not a problem with pupil absences, rates were in line with national averages. However there were specific areas which needed improvement. Notably the number of authorised absences was above the national average.

Cooperation with other organisations was summarised, including national leaders in education, school governors in leadership. It was also summarised that Herefordshire council works closely with ofsted and HMI in leadership improvement to address areas of underperformance. Herefordshire Council was working closely with the regional schools commissioner to spread good practice in schools.

 

It was noted that there are now three teaching schools in the county.

 

The chairman thanked officers for their presentation and also queried the referral times for speech and language services in Herefordshire. It was noted that much of the responsibility for this area falls under the clinical commissioning group. In response it was noted that this was an area under the remit of a task and finish group reporting to the health overview and scrutiny committee and that this report may be of interest.

 

A member of the committee made a number of points:

-          requested that comparable figures for previous years performance, and national performance data be provided. The assistant director commissioning and education confirmed that such data was contained in the additional presentation to be circulated.

-          Highlighted the need to ensure that responses to high rates of authorised absences did not have an inverse effect on unauthorised absences. The head of learning and achievement stated that the causes of high authorised absences were being investigated and that this would be considered.

-          Queried the training for parent governors offered by Herefordshire council which had been referenced in the presentation. In response the importance of training for parent governors was stressed but it was noted that much of the responsibility for this rested with the governing body themselves. Herefordshire council offers a mentoring service for parent governors however there are a number of other organisations who provide other training for parent governors.

A member of the committee commented on the final sentence in item 8 referring to the need for early intervention triggered by financial management. It was argued that financial management does not always correlate with poor performance.

A member of the committee queried the use of financial data as an indicator of declining performance and the level of support available for this. In response a number of points were made:

-          Council approaches to identifying needs were based heavily on data. Support provided involved spreading good practice between schools.

-          Financial issues were often symptomatic of other issues in performance but were not considered in exclusion.

-          A team of advisors would previously have a significant role in improvement; however this was now largely carried out by school leaders themselves,

A member of the committee stated that there was often a delay in the production of data, it was queried if a data based approach limited the council’s ability to intervene swiftly.

 

The director of children’s wellbeing explained that in the first instance, school improvement was the duty of the governing body. However, data was not the only mechanism used to monitor performance. Soft intelligence was also used to identify problems in schools.

 

Where a governing body failed to prevent decline in a schools performance, the local authority does have the ability to intervene more significantly. The length of the process of intervention varied considerably between schools.

 

In response to a question about the use of specialist teachers and education leaders in school improvement, it was explained that the council maintains a network of specialist leaders able to support schools. It was explained that this support is offered indirectly with the council acting as a broker.

 

A member of the committee noted that authorised absences was a key issue and that a breakdown of how such absences were occurring would be useful information.

 

A member of the committee suggested that the greater inclusion of parents in the teaching of phonics would improve performance in this area. The head of learning and achievement recognised that this could be good practice. It was noted that this is practice in some schools in the authority however this is not standard. The Vice-Chair stated that these suggestions could be incorporated into the Health Overview and Scrutiny committee’s task and finish group on early years provision.

It was clarified that the data presented was the same as the presented to the monthly performance leaders meetings.

 

There was discussion of the provision of post 16 education.

-          A member of the committee noted that while large individual Hereford sixth form colleges were highly performing institutions, the reduction in sixth form provision in surrounding local authorities, market towns, and the reduction in public transport was adding additional pressures.

-          The head of learning and achievement described how post 16 performance information was very positive in terms of attainment measures. However, numbers of students achieving two substantial qualifications was below national average. It was described that there were areas in the authority where students would not achieve two substantial qualifications, even in colleges rated good by ofsted.

-          The director of children’s wellbeing explained that small scale sixth form colleges are not effective for all students, as supported by national evidence. While these institutions do achieve good levels of performance they do not enable attainment for all students.

-          A member of the committee raised concerns that travel times to urban sixth form colleges from rural areas with limited public transport provision would impact performance. The head of learning and achievement stated that issues of this nature had not been identified.

-          It was clarified that school outcomes and improvement needs, as well as year on year improvements were key considerations in the schools capital investment strategy.

-          A member of the committee stressed the importance of members considering the relationship between the schools capital investment strategy and performance.

The vice-chair noted that there was a national trend in under performance by vulnerable students in rural areas compared to urban, in large part due to greater levels of funding being available in urban areas, however Herefordshire’s performance remained high. The assistant director commissioning and education noted that this was a long standing issue which is well noted.

 

The Vice-Chair asked that a greater amount of geographical information be made available with future performance data.

 

A member of the committee queried if the unclear role of governing bodies was symptomatic of resourcing for governor training in both academies and maintained schools. It was also queried if this was causing issues in concerns around performance being identified early.

 

The director of children’s wellbeing identified that there was a very real issue with resourcing in local authority improvement functions. It was reiterated that the council cannot intervene directly into academies. This is an issue included in new legislation which was currently going through parliament. It was noted that the department for education currently worked on policy that school improvement works best at a regional and national, rather than local level.

 

A member of the committee noted that the centre for public scrutiny was producing a paper addressing inconsistencies across local authority responsibilities in education which would be for benefit of the committee. It was suggested that there was a need to clearly understand resourcing for schools improvement.

 

A member of the committee explained that it was likely that the education support grant would be reduced in the near future. As a result, members should be mindful of the statutory responsibilities in the area. While many activities in school improvement and in maintaining performance were laudable; were funding to be changed, best and fair use of taxpayers money should be considered carefully.

 

There was discussion of the potential for increasing numbers of English as an Additional Language students in Herefordshire due to incoming asylum seekers. The key points were made:

-          The number of Syrian refugees coming into Herefordshire was expected to have a negligible impact on the provision of EAL teaching in Herefordshire with current numbers of EAL students being over 1000 while the number of unaccompanied child refugees was expected to be very small.

-          Unaccompanied children were expected to make up the main proportion of refugees coming to Herefordshire. As they would count as children in care, consideration would be given to their needs in school placements as with all children in care.

-          Current EAL provision was at a good standard with a number of examples of good practice.

-          Concerns were raised that an influx of refugees might be focussed in urban areas and it was stressed that dispersion into rural areas should also be considered. It was noted that due to due to the relationship between European migration and the agricultural industry in Herefordshire, many rural areas already supported EAL provision.

-          Herefordshire has a different situation in terms of EAL provision compared to many other local authorities. Many EAL students in Herefordshire are first generation migrants where as many other local authorities deal with larger number of third or fourth generation students requiring EAL provision.

-          Many other local authorities had disbanded their EAL provision in response to budget restraints. It was noted that much of the responsibility for EAL provision rests with schools and not the local authority.

A member of the committee expressed a number of concerns in the governance of academies, notably in reference to the training and tracking of academy governors. In response it was noted that central government was not allowing schools to convert into single academy trust and instead encouraging multi academy trusts. Due to their scale, multi academy trusts have a greater resources for leadership and experience.

 

A member of the committee queried what proportion of national leaders in education represented academies and maintained schools. The head of learning and achievement confirmed that there was a roughly even distribution.

 

A member of the committee noted that it was an unfortunate but a reality in the context of local government funding.

 

A member of the committee noted issues in the use of leadership led improvements in schools and the lack of resources available for the council. It was noted that this could increase the attractiveness of academy status for schools, which may be contrary to the views of the community. In response the director of children’s wellbeing noted that Herefordshire does not currently host any national academy trusts but does have multi academy trusts which have developed within Herefordshire. It was noted that governing bodies differ in opinion over the benefits negatives of academy status.

 

The director of children’s wellbeing expressed concern that regional schools commissioners had regional targets for the creation of academies which could affect trends in the conversion of maintained schools.

 

The chairman queried the number of children eligible for free school meals. The assistant director, commissioning and education stated that this was a long standing issue in Herefordshire. It was identified that work was being done at a regional level and that Herefordshire council was working with HMI in this area. It was also noted that a closing the gap project had been launched in this area.

 

There was discussion of the need for the committee to present recommendations in relation to the outcomes of a consultation on the changing role of, and resources available for local authorities in the governance and improvement of schools.

 

Recommends that:

 

a)    The committee makes recommendations to cabinet on how they might improve the efficiency of the school improvement framework and strategy, especially in relation to governance in light of likely reduced resourcing in future.

 

b)    Council responsibilities for education are clarified and sufficiently resourced. Additionally, that the monitoring of governing bodies in meeting performance standards also be sufficiently resourced. Should the Director at any time find that resources are not sufficient, this must be reported to Cabinet and the General Overview and Scrutiny Committee at once.

 

c)    A briefing note be produced in regard to authorised absences to inform future recommendations of the committee.

 

d)    The committee consider the findings of the Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s early years provision task and finish group in relation to referral rates for speech and language development.

 

e)    The committee’s suggestions in regard to the teaching of phonics be brought to the attention of the early years task and finish group reporting the health and social care overview and scrutiny committee.