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Members received PAF/04/17, the Annual Report on Educational Attainment for 2015-16 presented by Clare Kershaw, Director for Commissioning; Education and Lifelong Learning. The Chairman welcomed Councillor Ray Gooding, Cabinet member for Education and Lifelong Learning, and Tricia Smith, Senior Analyst Organisational Intelligence, to the meeting. In introducing the report the Cabinet Member commented on the significant progress in education standards made in the previous year.
Members received a presentation from the Director for Commissioning; Education and Lifelong Learning, highlighting the key headlines from the three reports which provided an overview of outcomes, full data and data broken down by district. A copy of the presentation is attached to these minutes. The Director explained that the reports did not contain reference to historical data as had been shown in previous years due to the shift in assessment and curriculum in 2016, meaning like for like comparison was not possible. However, she was pleased to report that all indicators had improved in terms of the national position and national averages.
The Director outlined the four key priorities for Essex:
- Every School in Essex to be either Good or Outstanding
- To ensure outcomes for children are in the top quartile nationally
- To improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils
- To develop the School Led Improvement System (SLIS).
Further details were provided and discussion held around the following areas:
Ofsted
This was a key priority in 2016 and over the previous 2 years. At the end of the academic year 92% of primary schools were now graded as good or outstanding which compares to 65% at the end of 2012/13. Secondary schools graded as good or outstanding had gone from 58% to 90% and Special schools from 79% to 100% over the same period. This trend was continuing with inclusion of results from the first term of 2016/17, 95% of secondary schools are now graded good or outstanding. In response to Members' questions, the Director confirmed that there were only two secondary schools in Essex which were maintained, the rest were all academies, both of which had been graded as good. Approximately one third of all primary schools, a minority of special schools and all Grammar schools were academies. All Grammar schools were graded Good or Outstanding. The Director agreed to provide a further breakdown of Ofsted grades by maintained, academy and grammar status. As a result of the improvements resources could now be focussed on schools requiring improvement and assisting in maintaining Good grades rather than just on schools graded inadequate. Referring to the district profile, the Director acknowledged that there were some districts which needed to be focused on including Braintree where there were 7 schools that were not graded good or outstanding and Colchester where four schools require improvement. Of particular note were the Basildon, Harlow and Tendring figures where intense work had been undertaken since 2013. At the end of the academic year there were no schools graded as inadequate and work would be undertaken with schools requiring improvement to achieve good status.
End of Key stage outcomes
- Early years - outcomes at the end of 2015-16 had significantly improved and were in the first quartile nationally for the first time for that indicator. This was recognized by both officers and Members as an important improvement due to the impact of a good start on later achievement. One area where significant work was undertaken around improving school readiness, supporting parents, effective practice and supporting failing schools was in the Braintree District including. Pupils achieving a good level of development in this area had increased to 72% from 52% in 2013.
- Phonics - in 2013 when the screening check was introduced 67% of year 1 pupils in Essex achieved the expected standard. in 2016 the figure had risen to 81% in line with statistical neighbours and the national average. Essex had moved from 63rd in 2015 to 58th position nationally.
- Key stage 1 - during 2016 both key stage 1 and 2 outcomes had moved from being reported via levels to comparison to expected standard. There had also been changes to assessment and curriculum meaning the curriculum is harder. Therefore only national benchmarking and not historic data could be provided for reference. Essex was significantly above the national average for all areas and moved from the third to the second quartile overall.
- Key stage 2 – the change of curriculum has meant that the number of children achieving the expected standard in all areas had gone from 81% to 56% this year. However this was due to the changes in the curriculum and nationally 53% of children achieved the expected standard in all three areas making Essex three percentage points higher than the national average. Essex also out-performed its statistical neighbours. Figures were provided in each of the individual areas of reading, writing and Maths with only Reading falling slightly below the national average. It was hoped that results will be improved for 2016/17 with a year’s experience of the new curriculum. Work will focus on supporting and challenging those schools where outcomes fall in the bottom quartile and schools where children achieve two of the three expected standards to aid in ensuring all three standards are achieved. Areas of focus within districts would be Epping Forest and Tendring, although Tendring had already made significant improvements from a low baseline. Basildon was noted for the first time performing above the national average.
- Key stage 4 – the curriculum and assessment process had significant changes during 2015-16 and further changes were expected from 2016/17 onwards. Performance measures had moved from 5 A*-C GCSEs including in English and Maths to just A*-C in English and Maths. Based on this figure Essex outperformed the national average and statistical neighbours. The new measure being looked at was Progress 8, measuring progress between KS2 and KS4 in 8 subjects and including vocational courses. Compares individual pupils and schools and allows comparison with similar pupils and schools. The national median is zero so above expected progress would be positive figures and below expected progress would be minus figures. Essex as a whole performed slightly above the national average of -0.03 with a score of 0. Work would be undertaken with those schools who had not achieved the expected level of progress. Confidence intervals were provided by the DfE and all results were within these intervals indicating that accurate data had been produced. A national minimum floor of -0.5 had been introduced and work would be undertaken with any Essex schools who had not met this floor. On looking closer at results by district, key points noted were the improvements required in Braintree, Castlepoint and Tendring and good performance in particular in Maldon as well as Epping Forest, Colchester and Chelmsford. Work at Secondary level is normally with individual schools and takes into account unique circumstances of the school. Members requested a breakdown of results by school for their districts and the Director agreed to circulate this to all Members.
In 2016-17 some GCSE outcomes would be moving to a 1-9 grading system with the remainder following over the course of the next few years. At the time of the meeting it was unclear how the grading system compared to the letter system and further clarification was awaited from the DfE. One of the key challenges in this would be in educating employers in the new grading system. Students who were re-sitting English and Maths would continue to use the letter system until the end of 2017. There was also a change to exam focus and ‘mastery of knowledge’ over coursework in non-vocational courses. Members requested that before the 2016-17 report was brought before the Committee, a session was held to brief Members on the new grading system. Attainment 8 outcomes were provided in the report and although Essex performed slightly ahead of the national average, this measure was not being measured by the DfE.
- Key stage 5 – in the measure of 3+ A*-A grade A-levels, traditionally Essex had performed well in this area and this trend had continued with results putting Essex in the top quartile nationally. Higher or degree level apprenticeship take up had continued to increase to 5.4% of all apprenticeships. This was seen as key to improving the recognition of achievement through apprenticeships. Achievement rates, whilst still below the national average had improved to 70.3%.
Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET)
The number of children not in education, employment or training (NEETs) is monitored during November, December and January. There had been a very good improvement to 4.4% of the cohort being NEET or unknown, the lowest for four years and a reduction of 2.9% since 2013/14. In actual number of children this equated to around 140 children. Another significant improvement was the reduction in children whose status was unknown. The Cabinet Member recognised that there would always be some children who would be unable to access education for various reasons so it was unlikely that the total NEET figure would ever reach zero. In response to a question, the Director confirmed that the figures displayed in the graph on page 71 of the report were incorrect for % NEET, however the other figures were labelled correctly.
Attendance and Exclusions
- Attendance - due to how data is provided, figures shown for 2015/16 included autumn and spring terms only. Primary absence had fallen from 4.7% in 2012/13 to 3.7% and Secondary from 6.1% to 4.8% in the same period. These figures included both authorised and unauthorised absence. The Director confirmed that Essex still prosecuted for term time holidays and where a child was educated elsewhere due to bullying or other issues this would not have been counted as absence. Teachers are unable to take term time holidays under their terms and conditions. Most schools do produce Home/School agreements however these are not contractual or obligatory. Figures do not include children who are home educated as the Local authority would not have responsibility unless there was a safeguarding issue. In Essex less than 1000 children were registered as home educated. Members noted that there was a reduction in overall absence for Children in Care (CiC), however they referred to the level of persistent absence. The Director confirmed that this was monitored and tracked by the Virtual School and persistent absence is tackled as a priority.
- Exclusions – although figures for permanent exclusions in secondary schools has risen slightly since 1024/15 the overall trend since 2002/7 had shown a significant decrease and remained well below the national average. Where a pupil had been excluded, Essex had a duty to educate and this was done through alternative provision (previously known as Pupil Referral Units) or through a home/informal setting. It was noted that this figure would never reach zero due to situations where the safety of other children had to be considered and that many children who had been excluded had additional needs.
Children in Care (CiC)
The report included provisional data only as the validated data was unable but this would be presented to the Corporate Parenting Panel once available. Not all CiC would be included in this data as there were certain criteria under the data regulations including length of time in care that needed to be met to be included within the data. The director commented on the NEET figures showing a good result especially where the difficulties of engaging post 16 children who had entered care during year 10 or 11.
The Director acknowledged the impact of the recommendations made by the Task and Finish Group of the Committee on educational attainment that had been reported on at the meeting of the Committee in November 2016. In particular with recruitment and retention of teachers and improving outcomes for vulnerable children.
The Chairman, supported by Members, thanked officers for their hard work and success in improving progress, with an acknowledgement that there are other factors outside statistics that contribute to children receiving a good education.
Actions
1. Claire Kershaw to provide Ofsted rating data broken down by maintained/academy/grammar status.
2. Claire Kershaw/Robert Fox to arrange pre-meeting session regarding changes in grading scales at key stage 4 before next year’s report.
3. Claire Kershaw to circulate school level data for each district to all ECC Members.