Education Standards Report
To consider the contents of the report.
Minutes:
The Director of Children’s Services introduced the item and explained it was also due to be discussed at the School Improvement Forum the following week.
Members were told that 91 per cent of schools in the Royal Borough were rated good or outstanding by Ofsted. The Director of Children’s Services stated his belief that schools were maintaining standards, despite recent press reports that standards had fallen at some schools. Members were told that some schools were exempt from full inspections for a certain number of years unless there was a significant deterioration in standards or a serious safeguarding issue reported, although there it was noted that some schools would prefer to receive another inspection in order to be reassured they were continuing to meet standards.
It had not been possible for any Members to look at the exam results of schools in the Royal Borough until now because they were not available until February at the earliest; the next scheduled Cabinet meeting where they were eligible for discussion was during Purdah. The figures showed that children in Royal Borough schools were performing above the national average at all assessed age groups, placing the Borough in the top 20 per cent of performers nationally. Attainment levels of pupils with special educational needs were also above average when compared with national figures.
Of some concern were the attainment levels of disadvantaged pupils. Attainment levels were lower than the national average even though there was a low number of disadvantaged pupils in Royal Borough schools. Tackling this issue had been a priority but there had not been a significant improvement in attainment levels. The Director of Children’s Services said this was a sensitive issue as some disadvantaged families in the Royal Borough did not want additional support as it would make any perceived social stigma worse and make their children stand out as needing additional support. It was noted that similar issues existed in the other Berkshire council areas. One way of removing the stigma associated with receiving free school meals that had been suggested was for all children to use a cashless system, with cards used by disadvantaged children being topped up by the Council. The Director of Children’s Services said that schools had been working together to eliminate methods of bad practice regarding disadvantaged or Pupil Premium children and that they were keen to engage with these families, as more funding would be made available to the school to help support them. This topic would be a focus of the next School Improvement Forum meeting.
The Vice Chairman asked about the seven schools that had an Ofsted rating of requiring improvement. The Director of Children’s Services explained that one of these was the pupil referral unit at Haybrook College in Slough, which catered for pupils who had been permanently excluded from mainstream education. The Council had paid for 30 out of the 120 secondary education places there to be allocated to Royal Borough pupils, and the Ofsted rating came from an inspection that was carried out prior to this arrangement being implemented. The Director of Children’s Services stated he was comfortable that Haybrook College was on its way to being classified as good. Of the remaining six, the Director of Children’s Services stated his belief that three had demonstrated they would be rated good if they received an Ofsted inspection soon. Cllr Hunt stated she was delighted to hear one of these schools was Bisham Primary, which was in her ward and was now, in her opinion, a successful school. Of the other three schools, two had changed their leadership team in the past year and their changes would take time to be embedded.
Regarding permanent exclusions, the Director of Children’s Services stated that these were on the increase and more work was being done to establish the reasons behind this. The Council was responsible for finding a school for an excluded pupil and the link with Haybrook College had been established in order to meet the Council’s statutory duties as there was no pupil referral unit in the Royal Borough. Pupils who had been excluded for carrying knives had been mentioned as an issue, as many schools had a zero tolerance policy and would exclude a pupil for a first offence regardless of any mitigation. Some schools had accepted an offer from Thames Valley Police to invite a theatre group to discuss the topic. Members were told that the cost of funding places for excluded pupils was budgeted for, but this came from a ring-fenced budget and there were concerns that increasing numbers of exclusions would impact on specialist care in mainstream schools. However it was felt that failing to provide a budget for excluded pupils would expose them to greater risks. Members were told that in some cases the Council was responsible for funding transport for pupils to Haybrook.
The Vice Chairman noted that Lewisham Council had been identified as an authority to share good practice with regarding disadvantaged pupils. Members were told that Lewisham had a high number of disadvantage children so the council there was able to adopt a more systemic approach to tackling the issue, compared to the small cohort in the Royal Borough.
Cllr Bond asked about pupils with undiagnosed special educational needs, and if there were concerns they were not getting the specialist support they needed. The Director of Children’s Services said £150,000 was being spent from the early years block each year to see if any pupils needed additional support, and staff were beginning to notice an increase in the number of pupils being given an EHCP. However the budget in the high needs block was comparatively low. Some schools had no SEN pupils whereas others had up to 30 per cent of their pupils who had special educational needs. Peer reviews had started to be implemented to ensure a fairer distribution of pupils across all schools. Of the 900 pupils aged 2-25 who had special educational needs, 300 were in mainstream schools and the rest were in locations that gave specialist provision.
The Chairman asked if consideration had been given to building an additional specialist school in the Borough. The Director of Children’s Services said that consideration for the specialist support provided for pupils in the Royal Borough needed to be balanced against the level of support that would be needed going forward, in cases where the children had complex needs and would require specialist care for several years into the future, and the pressures this would place on resources.
Members thanked officers for the level of detail in the report.
Supporting documents:
- Education Standards report April 2019 - Final, item 9. PDF 647 KB
- Apeendix B, item 9. PDF 173 KB
- Apendix B(2), item 9. PDF 97 KB
- Apendix D, item 9. PDF 11 MB