Agenda item

This report gives an overview of the outcomes of the Summer 2018 assessments and examinations in the borough’s primary and secondary schools, and the current position with regard to Ofsted school inspections.

Jan Parnell (Assistant Director of Education), Lesley Leak (School Advisor), and Keith Tysoe (School Advisor) presented the annual school performance report that detailed the outcomes of the Summer 2018 assessments and examinations in the borough's primary and secondary schools. The report also gave an overview of the current position with regard to Ofsted school inspections. Jan Parnell noted that this was the first set of results since the education service had become a sovereign service in April 2018.

Lesley Leak took the Committee through the report and highlighted the following key points:

·         Overall performance at Key Stages 1-4 in schools continues to be above national averages for state funded schools and in line with national at Key Stage 5.

·         In primary schools, at Key Stage 1 and 2, the percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics is above the national average in all three subjects.

·         Hammersmith and Fulham ranked 6th nationally and third in Inner London for the percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics at Key Stage 2.

·         In secondary schools, the percentage of students achieving all key indicators is above the national average, and furthermore Hammersmith and Fulham was ranked top in Inner London for performance in: the English Baccalaureate (GCSE grades 9-5) as well as for GCSE grades 9-5 with English and mathematics; and is joint top for Attainment 8 and second for Progress 8 in Inner London.

·         The gap in outcomes for children in receipt of the pupil premium remains smaller than the national gap at both Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4.

·         The proportion of schools judged to be good or outstanding has improved and is currently above the published national average.

Lesley Leak noted that the borough had relatively high proportions of pupils receiving free school meals (22% in primary and 19% in secondary), pupils speaking English as an additional language (48%), and pupils from an ethnic minority background (73%). The Council saw this diversity as a key strength and that was supported by the strong performance figures.

Lesley Leak informed the Committee that, regarding Ofsted inspections, almost all schools inspected since March 2018 had either remained 'good' or moved up to 'outstanding'. Only one school, Burlington Danes, had moved down. Overall it was an extremely strong picture.

Keith Tysoe addressed the Committee to speak about the attainment of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). He noted that the borough's progress in this area had been commended in a recent Local Area Review. There was further work to do on inclusion - and that would be a focus over next year - but overall SEND was doing well and was well supported.

Jan Parnell outlined the Council's key priorities for schools for the upcoming year. Since becoming a sovereign service there had been a period of intense work with schools and the team had established really close working relationships with them. There was now full participation at Schools Forum and 30 schools regularly attend primary partnership meetings. A lot of effort had been put into working together with schools and this co-working or co-production would continue into the future. Part of this included seconding some headteachers from both the primary and secondary phases to work with the Council on key education projects and programmes.

Together with headteachers, the service had set up a programme of peer support and review called the Learning Partnership. Lesley Leak added that the team had been promoting the idea of 'self-improving schools' - and a pilot was running with 17 schools involved.

The Chair thanked officers for their work and said he would like to write to all schools on behalf of the Committee congratulating them on their successes.

ACTION: Jan Parnell

The Chair noted that it would be good to include not just A-Levels but other qualifications like NVQs. Jan Parnell said officers would get the latest vocational figures and add them in - but commented that very few sixth-forms offered other qualifications now. Vocational education was the subject of a national review and locally it was part of the Council's 14 to 19 strategy.

Councillor Alexandra Sanderson congratulated officers and schools on the impressive results. She asked about the work of the Learning Partnership and if it would trickle down to all levels of school staff.  Jan Parnell said the pilot was focussed on headteachers, but they wanted it to move down to other levels too - there was huge value in linking-up across different levels and different schools.

Nandini Ganesh commented that parents of SEND pupils warned each other against applying to 'outstanding' schools because there was a feeling they wouldn't have many SEND pupils there and wouldn't be able to provide the necessary support. Keith Tysoe said there was an issue with inclusivity at some schools and Ofsted were beginning to make it more of a focus of their inspection framework. Jan Parnell said the SEND team and the school improvement team worked very closely together and were committed to improve inclusivity and pathways for children.

Matt Jenkins asked how the new Ofsted framework would impact on future inspections. Lesley Leak thought, based on anecdotal evidence, that it probably wouldn't make much difference. Schools are really on board thinking about improving the depth and breadth of their curriculum. She felt it should be better in some ways - there was less of a focus on data. The team would be monitoring and supporting schools throughout the transition.

The Chair asked how schools had settled into the new systems. Jan Parnell said schools had adapted well overall, but officers were keen to spread good practice across all schools. Lesley Leak said primary schools were very solid on core subjects - the challenge was on broader subjects. Schools would have to come up with creative ways of showing progress.

Nandini Ganesh asked if the performance figures included special schools. Keith Tysoe said they included all pupils who took GCSEs or A-Levels. Nandini Ganesh asked that BTECs were included in future as many SEND pupils took them.

Councillor Lucy Richardson, asked how the Council was working with the new careers guidance from the Department for Work and Pensions. Jan Parnell said she was getting the 14-19 group together to look at implementation. Councillor Richardson said she was keen to hear more about this area and suggested it as a future item.

ACTION: David Abbott

Councillor Mark Loveday congratulated the borough's schools, pupils, staff, and parents for a powerful set of results. He highlighted the secondary school table on page 26 of the report - and asked what officers were thinking of in terms of improving attainment at Burlington Danes, one of the borough's largest schools. Jan Parnell noted the school was an academy, but the Council did have a good relationship with Ark (the academy sponsor). There had been a change of headship last Easter and Ark had put in additional support at strategic levels. Officers had met with the Dioceses and Ark's senior leadership - and the school improvement team were asked to sit on their improvement board. Officers were confident that the school would find a solution.

Councillor Loveday asked when the next Ofsted inspection would be. Officers said it could be any time between 2 years and 30 months but there would be a monitoring visit in-between that would give a sense of direction. Ark had a good track record of improvement. The Chair requested an update on the situation after the next monitoring visit.

ACTION: Jan Parnell / Lesley Leak

Councillor Asif Siddique asked if the Council had the resources to maintain this work. Jan Parnell said the team's approach was to harness the wealth of talent and expertise in the borough's schools as effectively as possible. Steve Miley added that there were fewer resources in the education system today - headteachers would say they were stretched. The Council's role was to support schools and there was a great team in place who were able to target support where it was most needed and most effective.

A resident and Governor of a school in the borough commented that since H&F came out of the Tri-borough arrangement she had seen a huge improvement in the quality of support from the Council.

Nandini Ganesh asked why William Morris was given a 'requires improvement' judgement by Ofsted when they offered a wide range of courses and were very inclusive. Jan Parnell agreed that they were a great institution but there was room to improve. There were some issues at the school such as teachers putting pupils forward for very hard A-Levels without the necessary support - and some issues with teaching in certain areas. The school improvement team were working intensively with them. Lesley Leak noted that the school had come a long way since that inspection.

RESOLVED

That members of the Policy and Accountability Committee reviewed and commented on the school performance details in the report and the school improvement priorities identified.