Agenda item

A comprehensive Annual Schools’ Performance Report for the school year 2015-16 is attached at Annex 1. This report provides the results at each key stage for maintained schools and academies. It also includes information on attendance and exclusions for 2014-15, the latest school year for which national data has been published and the provisional exclusions data for 2015-16.

Discussion:

The Interim Assistant Director. School Effectiveness and Inclusion introduced the report which provided the Committee with a comprehensive overview of schools’ performance in Medway for the school year 2015-16. The Interim Assistant Director noted that the Regional Schools Commissioner, Dominic Herrington was also present at the meeting to answer any questions the Committee might have about Medway’s academies. The report provided results at each key stage for maintained schools and academies, in addition to information on attendance and exclusions for 2014-15 and provisional exclusion data for 2015-16.

Members then raised a number of comments and questions which included:

Exclusions in academies – in response to a question about how academies were held to account for high levels of exclusions, the Regional Schools Commissioner confirmed that exclusion rates were regularly monitored and academies experiencing high levels of exclusions were written to and asked to outline how they planned to reduce exclusions. 

‘Coasting’ academies – in response to a question about what action was being taken to support improvement in ‘coasting’ schools, the Regional Schools Commissioner confirmed that he worked very closely with the Council to provide support for coasting schools, of which there were currently 8 in Medway (6 primary and 2 secondary). In the first instance, a coasting school would be asked to provide an improvement plan which the Regional School Commissioner would assess before taking any follow-up action, which might include making a further offer of support or starting an intervention. 

Impact of Universal Credit on Free School Meals (FSM) pupils – in response to a question about the impact of Universal Credit on the performance of FSM-entitled pupils, the Interim Assistant Director responded that results in Early Years were improving and there was no evidence to suggest the introduction of Universal Credit had negatively impacted FSM-entitled pupils.

Parents taking children out of school during term time – in response to a question asking how many parents had been fined for taking their children out of school during term time, the Interim Assistant Director noted that like many local authorities the Council had needed to step back from taking legal action against parents until the Supreme Court provided a clear steer on the Isle of Wight judgement. Prior to the judgement, she confirmed that the Council would only take a very small number of parents to court each year and that teachers were best placed to reduce term-time holiday absences by applying appropriate pressure.

Key Stage 5 transition to Higher Education – in response to a question about whether there was any identifiable impact of Key Stage 5 outcomes on young people progressing on to High Education, the Interim Assistant Director responded that this piece of analysis had not been carried out. She also added that because the majority of Medway schools had sixth forms, resulting in a diluted sixth form offer, the likelihood of very strong sixth form results was reduced, but that this wasn’t necessarily an indication of how successfully schools prepared pupils for Higher Education. 

Action to reduce exclusions – in response to concerns raised by several members about the level of exclusions in Medway schools and what could be done to address this, the Regional Schools Commissioner responded that exclusion rates were most effectively reduced in schools where staff were supported by management to implement exclusion policies consistently, but that this could often take years to achieve.

Decision:

The Committee noted the Annual Schools’ Performance Report.