Agenda item

This report provides an update on the work to ensure all children have equal life chances and to narrow the gap in outcomes for some groups of children.

The Deputy Director for Children & Young People, Strategy and Commissioning introduced this item to the Panel. He informed them that despite B&NES being a relatively healthy, wealthy, high performing area, we know there are some stark inequalities within our population and that some groups of children and young people have poorer outcomes than others.

He added that this includes educational attainment for children and young people on Free School Meals (FSM), those with SEN and children in care. He said that specifically we know that in the 2013 GCSE results there was a 35.9% gap between the proportion of FSM and non-FSM children gaining 5 A*-C including English and Maths and although our performance for non-FSM is above the average for England and the South West, our FSM performance is below average, so the gap put us in the bottom three authorities in the South West.

He explained that Ofsted has also seen the FSM gap as a key priority in the South West and has written to secondary schools asking how they are addressing this. School plans, implementation of these and the outcomes achieved for FSM pupils will be a key feature of all Ofsted inspections over the next two to three years and schools which lack credible plans, those that have failed to implement and evaluate effectively and those not showing a significant improvement for these children will find themselves with a lowered Ofsted judgement.

The Head of Education Improvement said that attainment and progress had improved and the gaps for vulnerable groups locally were narrowing in primary and secondary schools and colleges.

She informed the Panel of the following provisional data.

EYFS

§The percentage of FSM children who achieved a good level of development improved but the gap between FSM and Non-FSM widened from 26.52% to 33.6% but this is because of the increase in the overall performance of Non-FSM. However the rate of improvement for FSM pupils is faster than for non-FSM pupils

§BME improvement slower than that of non-BME

§A higher proportion of girls achieved a good level of development compared to boys; however the gap between boys and girls narrowed and the rate of improvement for boys higher than for that of girls

KS1

·  Overall attainment improved for all pupils in reading and maths compared to 2013 with a small dip in writing but remains above national in all core subjects at L2+, L2b+ and L3+. The performance of pupils in reading and maths is improving at a faster rate than national.

·  The gap between FSM and non-FSM pupils at all levels narrowed in all core subjects and at all levels. The attainment of FSM pupils improved in all subjects despite the small dip for non –FSM pupils in reading and writing.

·  The attainment of FSM pupils is improving at a faster pace in 2014 than that of non-FSM in all subjects. However closing the gap between FSM and all pupils remains a priority for the LA

·  Slight increase in the gap between BME and Non-BME pupils particularly in writing

·  The girls outperformed the boys in all core subjects at L2+, L2b+ and in Reading and writing at L3+. The boys performed better than the girls in maths at L3+.

KS2

§Overall attainment and progress has improved on last year’s and are above the 2013 benchmarks in all subjects. The percentage of pupils achieving reading, writing and mathematics combined is up on last year at L4+ and L5+.

§The gap between FSM and non-FSM narrowed in all core subjects with the biggest improvement in Reading and writing at L4+. The gap isnarrowing because the rate of improvement by FSM pupils is faster than that of non-FSM. The proportion of FSM pupils making expected progress improved significantly in reading and maths compared to 2013.

§Girls outperformed boys in all core subject at L4+ and in reading and writing at L5+; boys performed better than girls in maths at L5+ by a small margin. The proportion of boys and girls making expected progress improved in all core subjects and is higher for girls.

§The attainment gaps between BME and  non-BME remains low and the proportions who made expected progress in writing and maths is better than that of non BME pupils

The Senior Secondary Adviser then gave the Panel a first indication of the GCSE and A Level results for this year.

GCSE Results

§  % A*-C including English and Maths 65.9% which is a 2.3% increase on 2013. This year there is a slight improvement and there is a 3 year trend of improvement with three schools showing very good improvements in their results.

Pupil Premium – Disadvantaged Pupils (FSM, Looked After Children and Children of Service Personnel)

§  2 schools have widened their gap – but still less than 30%, one has remained the same.

A Level Results

§  Average Points per Entry - This shows the average grade for each subject taken.  6 out of 10 schools are showing improvements on last year with 5 of the schools showing this as a trend for 3 years and  2 showing significant improvements

§  Average Points Per Student - This shows the average number of exams taken and the grades awarded.  The higher the number, the better the grade. 5 out of 10 schools show an improvement this year with 2 showing significant improvements and 5 schools showing a 3 year trend of improvements.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked if any reason could be given why we were in the bottom three authorities in the South West for FSM performance.

The Senior Secondary Adviser replied that schools were attaining higher and this was having an impact on the gap figures.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked if Academies were being co-operative on this matter.

The Senior Secondary Adviser replied that positive meetings had been held and that all Headteachers would be aware of the need to act having received a letter from Ofsted.

The Panel RESOLVED to note the work underway and receive further updates in due course.