Agenda item

This interim report provides detail on the unvalidated Key Stage 2 performance in Medway.

As the next meeting of the committee is not scheduled until 8 December 2015, the Chairman has accepted this item as urgent to enable timely discussion of the issue following the recent publication of statistical first release of provisional data from the Department for Education.  The report could not be despatched with the agenda as officers needed time to prepare the report which was requested by Members at the pre-agenda meeting on Wednesday 9 September 2015.

Discussion:

The Assistant Director, School Effectiveness and Inclusion (Interim) introduced the report which provided the Committee with information about the performance of Medway schools at the end of Key Stage 2 based on the provisional release of data.  It was emphasised to the Committee that this data was based on provisional figures and would not be the final result, although Medway’s position in the national league table was unlikely to change.  Officers described the action that was being taken to address the poor performance, which included; intervention funding being used for targeted work, production of data profiles and direct support from the School Challenge and Improvement Team with, for example, specific classroom strategies, targeted Y2 and Y6 programmes and intensive reading support.

Members then raised a number of points and questions including:

·           Relationship between the LA and the Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) – in response to a question relating to the relationship between the local authority (LA) and the RSC and how this functions, it was explained that although the LA had no right of access to academies in relation to attainment, strong relationships were maintained in Medway.  However, where concerns arose, the LA raised these informally with the RSC.  Concerns were raised formally with the RSC only when all opportunities of engagement with the academy had been exhausted.

·           Governors – in response to a comment regarding the hard work Governors put in at Medway schools, officers shared this view and added that the work carried out by the LA’s Governor Services had been recognised by the recent OFSTED inspection as an area of strength.

·           Support for Parents – in response to a question about how much intervention work was targeted at encouraging parents to support their children in reading and writing, officers explained that the Council worked with Beanstalk, a charity that trained volunteers to support children outside of lessons and in turn, provided young people with another adult to inspire and motivate them.  In addition, parents were continuingly being encouraged to listen to their children read and the Council was about to launch a ‘Get Medway Learning’ campaign to help recruit good teachers to Medway but also to encourage the community and the media to be involved positively in children’s learning.

·           Persistent barriers – in response to a question regarding what the persistent barriers were to improving performance in Key stage 2, officers explained that there was a need for a cultural change within Medway schools, parents and communities to be ambitious and raise expectations for all children.

·           Medway Test – in response to a question as to whether the selection process in Medway had an impact on attainment at Key Stage 2, officers responded that the area closest to Medway comparably with the selection system in place was Bexley and the Key Stage 2 results in Bexley were considerably higher than Medway’s.  Close work would take place with colleagues at Bexley to learn from their experiences but there was very little being done differently than in Medway, however, generally there was a difference in the attitude and aspirations of the school leaders.

·           Role of academy sponsors – in response to a question about the role of academy sponsors and whether they were effective, officers explained that in some cases the capacity and capability of local sponsors of academies to drive up performance at pace was an issue.  Therefore dialogue continued to take place with the Department for Education to be signposted to national sponsors, with particular expertise in driving up performance in Key Stage 2 at pace, as accelerated progress was key.

·           Attendance by the RSC – in response to a query about inviting the RSC to a future meeting of the Committee, officers undertook to invite the RSC to the March meeting of the Committee but explained that the RSC was responsible for 19 LAs and had a relatively small team to support this work.

Decision:

The Committee noted the report and requested officers to invite the Regional Schools Commissioner to the March meeting of the Committee, where a full detailed report on school performance would be presented.