Agenda item

To consider a joint report by the Education Manager and GwE Senior Challenge Advisor (copy enclosed) detailing the verified performance of Denbighshire schools external examination results at Key Stage 4 and Post 16 together with an analysis of results against benchmarked information and performance against other local authorities.

10.15 a.m. – 10.45 a.m.

A joint report by the Education Manager and GwE Senior Challenge Advisor (Conwy/Denbighshire Hub) was submitted (previously circulated) detailing the verified performance of Denbighshire schools external examination results at Key Stage 4 and Post 16 together with an analysis of results against benchmarked information and performance against other local authorities.  [Provisional examination results had been considered by the committee in October 2015.]

 

The Head of Education and GwE Senior Challenge Adviser introduced the report and gave a detailed explanation of its contents to members.  During their presentation they emphasised that –

 

·         with respect to the Level 2 Threshold (5 GCSE A* - C) they had hoped that all schools would be in quartiles 1 or 2, but unfortunately there were 3 schools in the 4th quartile which was extremely disappointing

·         national categorisation of schools, which had replaced the previous school banding methodology, did take account of school attendance statistics.  It was pleasing to report that no Denbighshire schools fell into the 4th category

·         the Welsh Government’s (WG) ‘My Local School’ website was available from the current date which gave parents and guardians a wealth of performance, school support and other associated information

·         whilst Denbighshire’s attendance at secondary schools had remained static in 2014 at 93%, which ranked the local authority 21^st in Wales in comparison to other local education authorities, this area was improving.  Current attendance figures were in excess of 94%

·         at present both boys and girls in the county performed slightly below the Welsh average for Level 2 including English/Welsh or mathematics, whilst the gap in performance between boys and girls was in line with the Welsh average

·         in an attempt to avoid last year’s variance between the projected performance and the actual examinations performance a number of measures had been put in place both locally and regionally – these included individual schools setting their own targets, these targets were assessed and challenged throughout the year to ensure they were robust and were likely to be met; there was a regional strategy in place for ‘schools at risk’ for the purpose of targeting the required support to those schools; discussions on targets and performance formed part of the business at each Head teachers’ Forum meeting and also featured in regular discussions between GwE Hub representatives and Heads of Department; sample schools had been identified to work together across the region, Wales and further afield with a review to sharing best practice and a regional conference would be held on 12 February on targeting setting, best practice, etc.

·         appended to the report was a copy of the GwE Business Plan’s aims and objectives in relation to educational outcomes for Denbighshire students – this detailed the work undertaken and being delivered in Denbighshire to secure improved performance and outcomes

·         the main overall objective for 2015/16 was to improve the Level 2 inclusive performance from last year’s figure of 56.1%, which was disappointing, to 60.8%.  If this was achieved officers would be extremely pleased.  Current information indicated that this would be achieved

·         during the 2014/15 academic year a number of individual schools in Denbighshire had registered a significant dip in performance.  With a view to supporting improvement in these schools a ‘recovery board’ had been established to monitor their performance and to identify any concerns at an early stage.  One school had been served with an official notice to improve.

 

The Lead Member for Education informed the Committee that GwE Executive Board members were disappointed with examination performance in 2014/15 and as a result they had instructed officers to work on improving attainment.  He also emphasised that the WG tended to focus their attention on Level 2 inclusive performance rather than on developing all aspects of students’ abilities, which was Professor Donaldson’s vision for education.

 

During the ensuing discussion members and the Council’s senior officers raise the following points –

 

·         the need for effective challenge in light of last year’s slippage in performance

·         the need for a reliable formula for calculating free school meal (FSM) position, the pupil deprivation grant, and their correlation with overall educational performance

·         the sustainability of improved performance in some schools without continual additional support and input

·         concerns regarding additional pressures being placed on the head teachers due to GwE’s expectations of them to peer assess and challenge other schools

·         the lack of benchmarking for special schools to assist them to compare their performance and outcomes with other special schools

·         the risk associated by the use of percentage figures for overall performance figures to be distorted

·         concerns that improvement in performance across North Wales was not being achieved as fast as in other Welsh regions

·         the role of the governing bodies in challenging and supporting improvement

·         the need for the 60.8% target set for 2015/16 to be met, otherwise local education authorities would be extremely disappointed with the regional school effectiveness and improvement service model, and

·         concerns with respect to future recruitment of high calibre head teachers and their retention.

 

In response to the above points GwE’s Managing Director, Senior Challenge Adviser and the Head of Education –

 

·         advised that since GwE’s establishment three years ago the 2015 examination results had seen the largest variance in figures between the target and actual results at Rhyl High School, the variance in other schools were very small margins

·         acknowledged that progress and the rate of improvement across the region and nationally had not been as great as GwE had anticipated, tighter control was therefore required on performance assessments to ensure that the anticipated targets were nearer to the actual result figures.  Whilst schools were anticipating that they were likely to perform this year in excess of the 60.8% target figure agreed by GwE, GwE had agreed with them on the 60.8% figure in order to accommodate unexpected factors and the performance of special schools.  The actual performance figures would become much clearer in early March when the English and Maths early entries result were confirmed, the Maths results were already available and were favourable

·         confirmed that school governing bodies had an integral part to play in school improvement across the board

·         whilst achieving a target of 60.8% in 2015/16 seemed to indicate considerable improvement on 2014/15 results, officers felt it was achievable as last year’s results had been extremely disappointing.  To achieve the set target the service needed to ensure that the intervention strategies suited individual pupils’ needs

·         gave assurances that the recent head teacher appointments in Denbighshire had been very strong candidates.  They were also confident that they would have a sufficient pool of candidates applying for the two secondary school head teacher vacancies currently being advertised, although it was acknowledged that there were challenges on a national basis with respect of the number of potential future head teacher candidates.  GwE at a recent Executive Board meeting had discussed the need to have enough suitability qualified individuals in every area of education to deliver the best possible outcomes, as well as the availability of continued improvement and personal development opportunities to people in the profession to ensure its long-term sustainability.

 

At the conclusion of the discussion members –

 

RESOLVED that subject to the above observations, to –

 

(a) receive the information on the performance of schools against previous performance and the external benchmarks that were currently available, and

 

(b) emphasise the need for regular and continued challenge of the assessments and monitoring of the targets to ensure that actual performance would meet and possibly exceed the set target.

 

At this juncture (10.45 a.m.) the committee adjourned for a refreshment break.