Sixth Form Network Meeting MEETING PRESENT: Maureen Harrison (LCC); Colin Mark (LSC); Nick Beale (Carr Hill); Nikki Latham (Haslingden); Jackie DATE: Garnet (Ripley); Matthew Wallace (Baines); Louise Sissons (Hutton); Alison Roylance (Lytham); Elaine 3rd December 2008 Jackson (Ormskirk); Kerry Shaw (LGGS); Jonathan Powell (Clitheroe); Judith Wilkes (BRGS); Stephen Hirst (LRGS) VENUE: Woodlands, Chorley APOLOGIES: Andrew Thompson (Thomas Whitham); Pat Davies (LGGS); Penny Smith (Morecambe); Elizabeth Murray (St. Mary’s Blackpool) Minute taker: M. Harrison

AGENDA ITEM NOTES ACTION 1 Welcome and apologies Minutes + Matters arising Minutes were correct. All actions had been addressed and matters arising were covered in the 2 agenda except:  CM confirmed that AS reports from ALPS are free  Clitheroe, Lytham and Carr Hill have not received AS report yet CM to check.  LRGS needs to be informed about who is updating their entries on the Area Prospectus MH / SG Extended Project Numerous comments, experiences and observations: 3 Qualification (EPQ) and  AQA-Bacc – Carr Hill offering from September 09, targeting most able. Good support and AQA Baccalaureate information from Awarding Body. HEIs seem to be positive. There is an enrichment log for every student with a varied list of example topics, including Amnesty, Young Enterprise etc.  LRGS targeting lower sixth gifted and talented (Oxbridge entrants) with EPQ. Will pilot AQA- Bacc. Most students can identify 100 hours of enrichment immediately.  Emphasis on EPQ as a ‘process’ not an outcome.  One school offers EPQ as an option alongside Critical Thinking, Sports Leadership etc. MH to contact Henry Elliott  Haslingden - not offered in curriculum time – done with good will of staff. Learning Manager (AQA) to attend a network helps. meeting (March) to help  Clitheroe - offering a mixed pilot to see who / what. It is time consuming, but are interested in the inform discussion / sharing of development of the ‘process’. However, some staff are struggling with the shift from quality of practice on helping staff to academic content to quality of process make the transition to a more  Exemplar presentations are available as video clips. AQA are stressing the shift in expectations ‘holistic’ assessment for assessment i.e. they prefer presentations or artefacts rather than 5000 word reports. process.  Clitheroe is developing a bank of resources for skills required for independent study.  EPQ counts as a course for funding purposes. MH to explore possibility of a  If a school offers AQA-Bacc, EPQ must be offered to all. ‘Post-16 assessment’  All Grade As must be achieved in order to be awarded Distinction grade in AQA-Bacc training/workshop session for mixed group. 4 Implementation Plan – MH provided an update / overview. Next Steps Framework for Excellence to be piloted with School Sixth Forms from September 09. No detail about the pilot is available yet, but MH will forward this as soon as it is available. AGENDA ITEM NOTES ACTION

5 LSC – Funding Update CM provided a presentation (included with minutes and on the network web-site – www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/sfn ). Key issues included:  Decline in cohort numbers is being offset by increased participation, so starting point will be the same as last year based on the October census.  Some conflicting messages from Regional presentations CM to confirm/check  Any growth in numbers must be approved from a very small number of additional places consistency of messages. available.  Increased funding for diplomas for 09/10 – but this is ‘displaced’ funding from reduced numbers elsewhere.  Big national push on L3 by 19  Must prioritise L2 achievement in English and Maths (with En/Ma, students have an 80% chance of achieving L3, but only 50% chance without En/Ma)  Success rates will only based on L3 provision for Y13 in October  Agreed that EPQ must be counted as it is a DCSF driven initiative  A student will count for funding purposes as long as he/she is NOT 18 years of age at the CM to check on status of commencement of the course. EPQ for funding purposes.  Changes in local provision (e.g. academies, sixth form presumption, BSF etc.) will have an impact – reductions will be applied.

LSC – Framework for CM provided a presentation (included with minutes and on the network web-site – Excellence introduction www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/sfn ). Each school sixth form will have an overall performance rating based on:  responsiveness (stakeholder views, destinations)  Effectiveness (outcomes / other quality indicators)  Finance ( financial health, borrowing, reserves, use of resources)

There was some discussion of the range of information and data now available to and about school MH / CM to provide further sixth forms. It was acknowledged that school sixth forms are coming under increasing scrutiny from detail and information as and Ofsted as we move towards full participation to 18 years and the national entitlement from 2013. when available.

Further discussion needed on how to integrate all this with SEF and targets on retention, destinations, success and failure rates.

6 Attendance Monitoring Nikki Lathom provided a presentation on attendance monitoring at Haslingden High School (included with minutes and on the network web-site – www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/sfn ). Key points:  Good admin support and a non-teaching KS5 Learning Manager are essential  Electronic systems and good communication (Truancy Call and PARS) have helped.  Staff use PARS Contact Management function to trigger immediate phone calls from KS5 Learning Manager. 2 AGENDA ITEM NOTES ACTION  Attendance monitoring has improved the reputation of the Sixth Form – parents have responded very positively.  Have recently introduced a detention system (a sign of the more comprehensive intake). School finishes early on a Wednesday – detention day!  Also have an independent tracking system – provides early intervention warnings etc.  The whole system took a full year to introduce – one faculty at a time, to help staff become familiar with the IT systems

Other comments: Clitheroe sends letter home (interested in a system which highlights trends). Ripley use NTAs and ex-teachers to do reviews and mentoring – parallels college processes. Clitheroe has three staff in the exams office – to analysis / entries / administration. Ormskirk use a traffic lighting system as part of the tracking and monitoring. Some schools refer to detention as ‘supported study;. Regarding the ‘comprehensive’ nature of the intake, Haslingden has had to adapt the curriculum as independent study skills are missing. Students are requiring much more support / intervention. Schools have varying amounts of admin support – but all agreed that this is key.

7. ALPS and use of data There was brief discussion about the range of data available (ALPS / LAT / subject analysis / PAQ etc.). Some members of the group do not have access to the Provider Gateway / LAT. Usernames and passwords to be re-issued.

Using data to analyse subject performance, support improvement measures and to develop Next meeting agenda. individual learner targets – to be included as a key agenda item for the next meeting.

8 IT Systems There was brief discussion – on use of SIMS to support sixth form. MH to arrange for presentation at Future meeting agenda a future meeting.

9 Meetings cycle /structure All agreed that the current cycle / structure is working well for them. Several members of the group felt strongly that the network was a good opportunity to share practice and be updated. It was agreed that the process of sending a list of possible agenda items that the network members can prioritise is very helpful. 10 AOB Suggested items for future agenda:  Scope and use of SIMS / other MIS to support sixth form  Using data for analysis, supporting improvement and target setting  Post-16 Value Added judgements  Transition to a more ‘holistic’ assessment process. 11 Date of next meeting THURSDAY 5TH MARCH 2009 (1.30- 4.00)

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12 SUPPLEMENTARY Colin has spoken to LSC NW Regional Office about the apparent contradiction between his MINUTE PROVIDED BY presentation and comments made by Jane Cowell at a recent regional event. To clarify: COLIN MARK (re: agenda item 5a) For 09/10 schools will be funded at 08/09 numbers (based on October Census). However there may be reductions or increases for the reasons outlined at the sixth form network meeting i.e. reductions for academies or presumptions opening in the locality, or increases for capital developments, displacement from closing institutions in the locality etc. For 09/10 cohort decline will not be taken into consideration. If a school is affected by any of the issues outlined in Colin’s presentation then a dialogue would be opened with that school to negotiate increases/reductions, as appropriate. The guidance, published yesterday, states that any negotiations regarding increases would take into consideration cohort decline.

For 10/11 the situation is slightly different as cohort decline will be taken into consideration. This is not to say that schools will not be funded for students above their allocated numbers in the 09/10 in- take, but if there is evidence of cohort decline in the area then this will be taken into consideration along with the other factors mentioned above. Obviously, the process for 10/11 negotiations have yet to be decided re managing cohort decline (so please don't hold Colin to this) but he suggests that it is likely to be as follows:

09/10 allocation = 200 (same as 08/09) 09/10 in-take = 215 10/11 cohort decrease = 1% 10/11 allocation would be 215 - 1% = 215 - 2.1 (rounded to 2) = 213

The other factors mentioned above would then use the 213 as the base line for judging increases/reductions. Y11, Y12 retention will be taken into consideration. Level of participation in an area will also be taken into consideration; so areas with low participation obviously have more scope for increasing numbers therefore weight attached to declining cohort may be less. So in the example above, if level of participation in an area is low then the 1% decline in cohort may be reduced or even negated in calculating consolidation.

Success factor

Y13 cohort = 100 Retention = 90 Achievement = 80

Retention rate = 90/100 = 90% Achievement rate = 80/90 = 89%

4 AGENDA ITEM NOTES ACTION Success rate = 90% X 89% = 80%

Success factor is expressed as a factor of 1 as follows 0.5 + success rate/2 In example above therefore; 0.5 + 0.8/2 = 0.5 + 0.4 = 0.9

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