Meeting documents

For the Committee to receive an annual update about Education Standards across Buckinghamshire, including an update about the side-by-side project and the Schools funding formula.

Contributors:

Mrs Anita Cranmer – Cabinet Member for Education & Skills

Mr Gareth Drawmer – Head of Achievement & Learning

Ms Paulette Thompson-Omenka – Acting Service Director Education

Mr Hussain, Deputy Cabinet Member for Education & Skills, introduced the item by informing Members that the data within the report was from the previous year as results for this year hadn’t been validated. He gave an overview of the report and invited questioning.

A Member raised concerns about underperforming pupils, the progress 8 report and issues within non-selective School ratings, as these had consistently underperformed during the Member’s term in office. He was assured by Mr Hussain that particular measures had been put in place to enable these issues to be remedied.

Ms Omenka-Thompson, Acting Service Director Education, informed the Committee that GCSE and A-level final results would not be validated until much later in the year and that a lot of improvement work had been taking place through the side by side project which had been led by Mr Drawmer, Head of Achievement & Learning.

Mr Drawmer gave an update on side by side project actions and achievements. He stated that progress 8 measures had been favourable and that disadvantaged pupil scores had been above national average for attainment 8. The gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers had been narrower than across other authorities in the UK. Several side by side project strands had been put in motion within schools, to improve this situation. This had included delivery of the specialist teaching service and 18 locality liaison groups, who had been provided with seed money to look at areas of under-performance. The locality liaison groups would be working on 2 year research projects which had the aim of improving outcomes for pupil groups who had been underperforming by providing best practice guidance which would be shared by professionals across Buckinghamshire.

A Member stated that they would like to receive data which pertained only to students within Buckinghamshire, as the data provided referred to Buckinghamshire Schools, and had contained a high percentage of students from out-of-area. Another Member questioned the basis for comparison which had been used in the report, voiced concerns that the reduction in EHCP’s may have meant that students who needed them, weren’t getting the assistance they needed and questioned whether the service area had made good use of existing excellence which had been available.

Mr Drawmer informed the Committee that the side by side project had been delivered at no cost to the receiving school and by releasing teachers from other schools, while using transition and brokerage grants to fund any costs that had arisen. Mr Drawmer had worked closely with the Buckinghamshire Teaching Alliance to ensure the maintenance and strengthening of links with local schools.

Members questioned the reasons why girls had outperformed boys and asked whether the curriculum had been slanted towards girl’s abilities. Mr Drawmer said that there had been no clear reason for this but that potential causes could be found in developmental differences, social conditioning and differing expectations in particular settings. Side by side would be exploring girl’s and boy’s attainment in detail. Inclusion had also been a primary goal within the Education and Skills Strategy as Buckinghamshire County Council wanted to remove all barriers to achievement, for disadvantaged pupils.

A Parent Governor Representative (PGR) asked about what the Council had done to address school selection and placement shortage issues, as there had been issues with children gaining placements at local schools, if a school had a good reputation and Ofsted rating. Mr Drawmer said that they gave Schools three classifications when they had been identified as needing assistance - intervention, prevention or enhancement. Schools received support based on their identified needs. There had been issues with assisting Academy trusts, as these were not overseen by the council, but trusts had continued to work with them in most instances. Where a school had a large catchment and had been classed as a good school, BCC had focused on creating additional capacity and new placements by planning and executing building work. A lot of focused work had taken place on schools that had not yet been classed as good and the service area expected changes to their grading during the next inspection cycle, which is usually within 4 years.

A Member stated that based on the secondary school applications received in 2019, there had been the potential that 1 in 5 children attending Buckinghamshire schools didn’t live in the county. Mr Drawmer told the Committee that criteria is based on distance, so it is incredibly unlikely that applicants who lived a long way out of the county would be successful, but that he would look into the figure, as some schools do border other counties.

ACTION – Mr Drawmer to investigate the figure of out-of-county children attending Buckinghamshire Schools with the Transport and Admission teams

A Member requested data which reflects Buckinghamshire children instead of the Buckinghamshire schools so that a clear picture of their performance could be gained. Ms Omenka-Thompson said that it would be possible to bring a further report in future which focused on vulnerable groups, grammar schools and differences between non-Buckinghamshire and Buckinghamshire student performance. The Committee agreed that this would be welcomed.

ACTION - Ms Omenka-Thompson to timetable a report which addresses issues raised within the meeting

A Member sought assurance that BCC had been keeping keen oversight on schools which had been exempt from Ofsted exemption to ensure that standards didn’t slip. Mr Drawmer said that the vast majority were rated as good schools, and that some had been rated as outstanding, so therefore had been exempt from inspection. Ofsted continued to inspect 10% of outstanding schools each year and also inspected them if they changed from school to academy status. In future, Ofsted would be considering removing the exemption from outstanding schools. Mr Drawmer said that BCC had positive and open relationships with schools and that they had worked closely with them to facilitate improvements, if schools had voiced concerns that there had been particular issues which Ofsted hadn’t picked up on. Schools had also regularly been invited to best practice and supportive conferences.

The Chairman thanked all contributors.