Agenda item

2.1

MINUTES OF THE CHILDREN’S SERVICES REVIEW GROUP

29th November 2017 at 6.00 p.m.

PRESENT: Councillors M Dolling (Chair), T. Khan, O’Callaghan, Pedersen (sub for Cllr Keens), Petts and Rowlands

STATUTORY CO-OPTED MEMBERS:

41. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE (REF: 1)

Apologies for absence from the meeting were received on behalf of Councillor Keens substituted by Councillor Pedersen and Councillor Moles.

42. MINUTES (REF: 2.1)

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 31st October 2017 be agreed as a true record and the Chair be authorised to signed them.

43. CHAIR’S UPDATE (REF: 3)

None noted.

44. EDUCATION OUTCOMES (REF: 7)

Caroline Dawes, Senior School Improvement Advisor, Carol Wylde, Early Years Advisor Team Leader, Marie Reynolds, School Improvement Advisor and Alan Radford, Senior School Improvement Advisor gave a powerpoint presentation on the provisional data for education outcomes for 2017.

Carol Wylde, Early Years Advisor Team Leader informed Members that pupils at the end of the early years foundation stage were tested which is a statutory measure. The results show a good level of development with a 2.8% rise when compared to last year’s results. The gap between (68.3%) and the national figures (70.7%) had reduced by -2.4% with Luton’s outcomes higher than the statistical neighbours (66.9%). Areas of improvements which schools targeted are: personal and social developments, communication and language giving the local authority confidence that the strategies used are working.

A similar picture appears for phonics (year 1) where improvement made in Luton of 79% which narrows the gap with the national by -2%; and by -1% with the statistical neighbours. Although the strategies are working it should be noted that some schools were not quite there yet. Phonic tests comprise of pupils tested on 40 words which is teacher assessed. Pupils have to correctly identify 32 words for a pass and failure results in a retested at the end of year 2.

Individual schools which fall below the national level are invited to a development day and an action plan is produced with the school improvement advisor. Low performing schools are also matched with schools where good improvements have been made to share best practice.

School improvement advisors visit schools three times a year where progress on phonics is monitored and tracked. It is important for head teachers to take ownership of the leadership role to ensure standards are met and not rely on others to take this forward.

Alan Radford, Senior School Improvement Advisor presented the provisional results for KS1. He advised the outcomes relate to pupils tested at the end of year 2 (aged 7). The assessments were a combination of: reading, writing (teacher assessed) and maths (RWM) with national tests for reading and maths. Luton’s achievement for RWM was 59.1% falling -4.6% below the national (63.7%). Luton’s percentage is slightly higher than last year’s although the gap with the national stayed the same.

The provisional figures for disadvantage children in receipt of free school meals (FSM) and pupil premium funding in Luton show that in RWM (54.2%) which is 4.9% higher than the national (49.3%) do better when compared to non- disadvantaged; where performance was -6.8% below the national. A reason for the poor performance could be attributed to large class sizes. Although schools were good at identifying pupils with special educational needs (SENs) and putting plans in place to meet those needs. The result for writing (TA) for disadvantaged was 59.0% and above the national by 4.7%. For non- disadvantaged pupils performance fell by -6.2% below the national. The disadvantage pupil performance for reading (67.7%) and maths (66.8%) were both above the national. The performance for non-disadvantage pupils for reading fell by -6.6% and maths by -6.0% below the national. The KS1 results include all pupils which means performance of pupils who start late in the year can affect a schools overall results.

The detailed working in schools to ascertain the progress of pupils eligible for pupil premium and FSM can be difficult to calculate due to not all parents registering. Feedback from schools on why parent do not register for FSM or pupil premium was they often did not meet the required criteria.

Marie Reynolds, Senior School Advisor presented the KS2 results. Members were informed that attainment historically in Luton was within the top 10% of local authorities for those eligible for discounting. Improvements had been made in all subject areas to narrow the gap between Luton and the National. Luton is the first joint improved local authority in percentage scores for maths and 3rd most improved in percentage scores for reading.

The provisional result before discounting for Luton in RWM was 53% which is - 8% below the national (61%). Discounted children usually represent around 10- 20 percent of children who come from countries where English is not their first language.

After discounting Luton’s overall result in RWM was 55% and -6% below the national (61%). For writing the result was -4% below the national; and for reading -6% below the national. The maths result was better bringing it in line with the national at 75%. The grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS) result was 80% and above the national (77%). The local authority ranking for all three subjects was 133rd for maths down 3 places; 134th for reading down 8 places and writing 127th down 12 places.

23 primary schools are part of the Spotlight on Standards programme which is similar to the phonics model. Strategies were closely monitored to check they worked. A good uplift had been made in RWM from 38% (2016) to 51% narrowing the gap between Luton and the national by -10%. For reading the result was down by -9% compared to the national (61%) although performance was better than last year (-15%). The writing result for Luton was 67% which is -9% below the national (76%) and maths was 71% -4% below the national (75%).

The results for non spotlight on standards schools was better this year compared to last year with the overall percentage for RWM in line with the national at 61%. Luton’s performance was also higher than the statistical neighbours (56%).

Non spotlight on standards schools are invited to be part of the project to promote change. Schools are divided into priorities 1, 2 and 3 with non-spotlight on standard schools staying in line with the national. A good uplift was achieved this year in Luton with results across all three subject areas fall just short of the national. The local authority acknowledged that more targeted work was needed at KS2 for children at 6 years old. To assist with this targeted work a ‘train the trainer’ package had been developed by the local authority which is in the process of offering this to other local authorities to roll out in their schools.

In terms of disadvantage pupils the gap is -0.9% for RWM and for not- disadvantage pupils where the gap widens further by -4.6% compared to the national. The best result was achieved in GPS for disadvantaged which was 73.6% and the not disadvantaged 78.8% both above the national.

Disadvantaged pupils tend to do better in Luton when compared to the national where the focus has shifted to raise the attainment of the disadvantaged to stop the gap from widening.

Caroline Dawes, Senior School Improvement Advisor presented the KS4 results. Members were advised the new school measures introduced abandoned the A to C grades for English and Maths now replaced with the new 9 (high) to 1(low) grades. The standard pass for English and Math was between 9 and 4 replacing the A to C grades; and a higher pass rate could be achieved for those scoring between 9 and 5. The overhaul of the exams has meant they have becoming harder. The results for KS4 at the standard pass rate (9-4) in English and Maths last year was 56%. This years provisional result show a slight decrease of -0.3% to 55.7% and -7.6% below the national (63.3%) and -0.9% below the statistical neighbours (56.6%). The pass rate at the higher level (9-5) for English and Maths in Luton was 34.3% which is -7.9% below the national (42.2%) and -3.7% below the statistical neighbours (38.0%).

The results for A8 (attainment 8) which is where pupils are measured across eight subjects similar to P8 (progress 8) and designed to encourage schools to offer a broad range and well balanced curriculum. Luton’s performance in A8 and P8 show a decline on the achievement made last year and when compared to the national. For the EBacc subjects which are not a qualification certificate as such but rather a school entry certificate which has to include a foreign language along with English and maths the results show a slight decline to achievements made last year and when compared to the national and statistical neighbours.

The provisional results for individual secondary schools show Denbigh achieving 43.0% at the higher grade (9-5) and 68% at the standard grade (9-4) for English and maths and 49.7% for A8. Girls achieved the best results in terms of Progress 8 and EBacc. had also achieved good results this year in English and maths even though it has a challenging pupil intake of excluded pupils from other schools. High School had also done well in maths and English where results increased by 36%. The challenge now was to apply the strategies to other subjects that were not counted and improve in the subjects that are. The disadvantage data will be available in January 2018 and only four mainstream schools that are under local authority control the rest are academies. Lea Manor was the first high school to fall below the government floor level and an update of the actions in place will be included in the presentation at the 24th January 2018 meeting.

Resolved: (i) That the presentation be noted (Ref: 7).

(ii) That the Committee’s thanks to the Officer’s be recorded.

(iii) That the Service Director, Support Challenge and Intervention report back to the 24th January 2018 meeting on the education outcomes 2017 validated results and actions in place for .

45. INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS IN LUTON - UPDATE (REF: 8)

Caroline Dawes, Senior School Improvement Advisor presented the report (Ref 8) which provided an update on Luton’s independent schools following the briefing to the Committee in March this year.

Members were informed that eight registered mainstream independent schools were still operating in Luton; and in addition to that there were two alternative provision independent schools. Three schools had Ofsted monitoring visits following safeguarding concerns raised by the local authority. Following the visits Ofsted made a judgement that there was effective safeguarding in place.

The Olive Tree Primary School received a full inspection in May 2017 and was judged to be inadequate. A further inspection carried out in November with the outcomes yet to be published.

One school was deemed to be inadequate which the local authority has no statutory rights over due to independent schools being the responsibility of the DfE (). The local authority can insist independent schools seek safeguarding training and had set up an independent schools panel where intelligence is shared on complaints received and referred to Ofsted. A protocol with the DfE had been developed who are responsible which recommends they should intervene as the regulator for independent schools to become safe. The DfE can issue actions and enforcement notices such as the Olive Tree received restrictions on the recruiting of new pupils, and are required to inform parents of that notice. Rabia was also issued with a notice to produce an action plan, and the situation there still causes concern but the local authority has little influence. However; a protocol is now in place to deal with these concerns raised.

The recent judgement from the Court of Appeal (HR Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills v The Interim Executive Board of Al- Hijrah School, October 2017) supported the Ofsted’s judgement regarding gender segregation in schools which was found to breach the Equalities Act.

The local authority will continue its monitoring role through the panel for independent schools although Members should note this work falls outside the statutory duty of the local authority and no additional resources has been allocated to cover this work.

Resolved: (i) That the report be noted (Ref 8).

(ii) That the Committees thanks to the Officer be recorded.

46. CSRG WORK PROGRAMME AND EXECUTIVE FORWARD PLAN (REF: 9)

The Committee was requested to amend the work programme which was tabled at the meeting.

Resolved: (i) That the Democracy and Scrutiny Team Leader update the CSRG work programme with the following item:

• Education Outcomes Validation Results 2017 – John Wrigglesworth – 24th January 2018.

(meeting ended: 7:15pm)