Agenda item

This report shows the overall performance of pupils in schools in Bath and North East Somerset in 2017.

The Senior Education Improvement Adviser gave a presentation to the Panel on this item. A copy of the presentation can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book and online as an appendix to these minutes, a summary is set out below.

Summary Performance

Early Years Foundation Stage Results - The proportion of pupils achieving a Good Level of Development (GLD) increased in 2017 and is now above national (72% compared to 71%).

Phonics Results - The proportion of children meeting the year 1 phonics threshold has stalled at 79% for the past three years and is below the national average of 81%.

Local authority officers have quickly identified three schools with a trend of low phonics outcomes to join a phonics project funded by a successful bid to the RSC Strategic School Improvement Fund.

Key Stage 2 Results - At Key Stage 2 (KS2) 63% of pupils in B&NES reached the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics combined, this is slightly above the national average of 62%.

Progress from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2 improved in all three subjects from 2016 to 2017. Progress in reading is now significantly above the national average at 0.6, whilst progress in writing and maths remain significantly below the national average at -1.3 and -1.1 respectively.

Key Stage 4 (GCSE) Results - Progress of secondary pupils in B&NES has fallen slightly compared with 2016 to -0.06 compared with -0.02 in 2016 and -0.03 nationally. This data is affected by Beechen Cliff’s decision to continue with the iGCSE qualification for English Language and English Literature, which is not counted in the Performance Tables and other government statistics. As a result Beechen Cliff’s Progress 8 score, English Progress Scores and proportion of pupils achieving a pass grade in English are extremely low and this has an effect on the overall results for the local authority, particularly for boys. The Progress 8 score for the LA without Beechen Cliff’s results would have been 0.02 and if the iGCSE results had been counted the figure would have been 0.06.

Key Stage 5 (A level) Results - The proportion of students achieving the highest grades has fallen compared with last year and is now below national. This is mainly due to a fall in the proportion of boys achieving 3 A*-A grades. Similarly there has been a fall in the percentage of students achieving strong grades in ‘facilitating’ subjects, due to a large fall for boys, although this figure remains slightly above national overall.

The Disadvantaged Pupils Gap at the end of reception for B&NES is generally nearly double the national gap.

Year 1 Phonics - The overall phonics score in B&NES has stalled at 79% mainly due to the fall in the proportion of disadvantaged pupils reaching the threshold. The B&NES gap has worsened considerably to its lowest level.

The Head of Education Transformation said that this was serious cause for concern as it is hard to recover if the gap is substantial at this stage. She referred to the Ofsted report ‘Bold Beginnings’ which proposed more of a structured approach to learning as opposed to learning through play to improve phonics outcomes and support pupils to be able to access the more demanding 2014 national curriculum.

The Senior Education Improvement Adviser commented that the disadvantaged gap was improving at nearly every key stage but remained much worse than the national gap. There were also poor outcomes at many key stages for SEN pupils and some other vulnerable groups such as Black pupils.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked if we can expect the B&NES School Standards Board identified in the previous report to achieve the improvements needed.

The Head of Education Transformation replied that they planned to have half a day in Term 5 to hold a good practice discussion with Councillors and MAT CEOs to raise awareness of the problem.

What have we done?

•  Senior HMI has given key messages & concerns to Headteachers and CEOs

•  Undertaken Pupil Premium Reviews in schools with significant gaps with follow up Action Plans

•  Workshop on strategies to narrow the gap, for Headteachers and governors, led by the CEO of a PP Award Winning School

•  Agenda item for secondary heads and opportunity to share good practice locally. Encourage senior leader champions for disadvantaged pupils

•  EYFS team core visits focussed on narrowing the gap

•  Training and awareness training for governors on narrowing the gap

Challenges

•  The outcomes for disadvantaged pupils are improving but not fast enough

•  Outcomes for pupils with SEND are also low

•  Practice across schools is not sufficiently systematic due to small numbers of disadvantaged pupils in some schools

•  Quality of provision is weak in schools with highest number of disadvantaged pupils

•  The influence of local authority on schools as they move to become academies

•  Reduction in resources to drive school improvement

The Panel RESOLVED to:

i)   Note the overall performance of pupils in schools in Bath and North East Somerset including improvements made and also note that the performance of vulnerable groups remains low and should be a priority.

ii)  Request officers work with the CEOs of Multi Academy Trusts, Stand Alone Trusts, Teaching Schools and dioceses to develop a strategic plan for improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. This plan should encompass the SEND Strategy, CiC Improvement Plan and Children and Young People’s Plan so that there is a more coherent approach to narrowing the achievement gap for all vulnerable learners.

iii)   Request a review of internal council data systems to provide more holistic local intelligence of barriers to improvement, significant strengths and weaknesses in the performance of schools and groups of pupils, in order to provide the key background knowledge that will be required by the Education Standards Board and in discussions with the RSC, Ofsted, EFA, WECA, MATs, Teaching Schools, councillors and other relevant partner organisations.