To receive an update on the assessment.

Jo Heffer, Link Advisor, said that there was no formal assessment provided by the Department for Education but assessment should still be used internally to inform teaching. A full programme of assessments was planned for the next academic year. This meant that there had been no formal assessments for two years, while some schools had not been moderated for six years. There was a need for schools to ensure that they were ready for assessment and moderation in 2022.

The service being offered was an opt in moderation service for end of KS1 and KS2 assessment, with the purpose of the moderation being to validate teachers judgements. Jo Heffer explained that there were a number of benefits:

·         Less formal with schools being able to work in collaboration to say how they wanted it to work.

·         It would support teachers who were new to Y2 or Y6.

·         Helped schools to ensure that their assessment was consistent and in line with national and local standards.

·         Provided feedback on schools’ assessment procedures.

·         It helped moderators remained skilled.

Training would be provided for Y2 and Y6 teachers, with online training sessions covering things like best practise for assessment and collection of evidence. Inter-school moderation sessions could also be offered. Currently, there were 14 schools who had opted in at KS1 and 10 schools at KS2.

Kevin McDaniel joined the meeting.

The Chairman asked Clive Haines if the local insights which had been discovered in the survey were consistent with the national trend.

Clive Haines said that he had not seen any national data, the local authority had decided to see where schools in the borough were at a local level.

The Chairman asked if mental health support was being provided to pupils returning to school.

Kelly Nash said that there had been a focus on wellbeing with a ‘wellbeing return to school’ programme being run, with the second phase due to be rolled out soon. The wellbeing support team were also on hand to ensure that targeted support could be provided.

Councillor Del Campo asked if the wellbeing support was specifically targeted at pupils with special needs or if it was available to all.

Kelly Nash explained that it was a universal offer and the team was supporting anybody that needed it. Targeted intervention could be used to offer individual support, specialist support could also be used if needed. There were mental health and wellbeing champions in certain schools too.

Councillor Del Campo asked if the learning gap Clive Haines had referred to was across the board and how much of an issue it was at KS1. She asked how many extra hours were being provided across evening, weekends and holidays.

Clive Haines said that the gaps in learning were across the board but had not been as large as originally predicted. The extra hours were being used during activities like Breakfast Club, Saturdays were only being used by one school. Most of the extra time being offered would be focussed on fun activities to help wellbeing.

Councillor Del Campo asked if there had been benefits to the less formal assessment.

Jo Heffer said that the moderation had not yet started but the there was a requirement next year to go back to the statutory responsibilities which schools had to abide. Using the opt in moderation service, schools could identify groups they wanted advice and support for.

Councillor Del Campo asked if benefits in the less formal assessment were identified, if they could be collected and submitted to the government.

The Chairman said that he would continue to liaise with Clive Haines and Kevin McDaniel on a weekly basis as part of his Cabinet Member briefing and see where the insights went. If things could be fed into the national picture then they would do so.

Councillor Coppinger thanked all those working for Achieving for Children, Headteachers, teachers, TAs and everyone working in schools for all their hard work.