Agenda item

This is the annual school performance report of the provisional outcomes of the academic year 2022-2023 assessments and examinations in H&F Primary, Secondary schools, and the current position with regard to Ofsted school inspections. It provides an overview of the outcomes and how they compare with the national picture. Additionally, the priorities for school improvement in H&F that inform the work of officers in education service are also highlighted.

Peter Haylock (Operational Director for Education and SEND) briefed members on the Education Performance Report for academic year 2022/23. He took members through the early years: Good Level of Development (GLD), key stages 1, 2, 4, 5 and SEN performances, as well as attendance and exclusions.  He also introduced the outcomes of the Virtual School and Ofsted inspection as set out on pages 19 to 24.

The Chair asked about the changes in the early year foundation framework. Georgina Herry (Head of School Effectiveness) explained that there were changes in the implementation of a more rigorous framework introduced to schools since 2021.  Comprehensive training session was run by the Department for Education (DfE) to upskill the nursery sector. On DfE’s rationale in revising the framework, Georgina noted that there were reflections from practitioners and after looking at the GLD outcomes that the framework should dig deep into some key areas of the early foundation stage such as understanding of the world.

Councillor Lucy Richardson was concerned about the types of schools in the borough covered in the figures and whether the Council would help with issues like attendance and exclusions in some of schools like academies.  Peter Haylock advised that the Council provided necessary support based on the information on individual schools no matter whether they were an academy or not. The additional support had contributed to the strong results at key stage 2.  On exclusions or suspensions, the current policy and guidance was such a decision could only be made by the head teacher at the secondary schools. H&F schools could use the Social Emotional Mental Health Outreach offers provided by the Council to help support the young individuals who might experience behavioural changes or find school a particular challenge. The Council’s INSPIRE service, education psychologist and joint communication teams could also provide support to schools and academies in matching the needs of the young people. While these teams were very responsive to schools seeking support, they might intervene by looking at relevant data such as the number of applications for education and healthcare plan (EHCP) and contacting the schools if they had not engaged the service of these teams.

In response to Councillor Richardson’s further question about exclusions, Peter Haylock noted the Council’s commissioned alternative provision provider would receive a referral for the excluded young person via the ACE team within six days for school placement. The Council monitored the provider via a School Improvement Board looking at all key metrics and by running a specific attendance focus group.   Peter added that the School Effectiveness team worked closely with academies and held head teachers’ meetings with strong attendance. As regards attendance, Peter noted the DfE would be issuing statutory advisory guidance this September for councils to provide early help to schools and support to families.  H&F would like to do more as it was a key area for improvement. Councillor Richardson appreciated the Education team’s hard work. 

Nandini Ganesh (Co-optee) was concerned how to assess young people’s different needs and prioritise support for them as some needs, for example, the ECHP might lapse by the age of 25.   Peter Haylock advised that the School Effectiveness team gathered information through the autumn term on young people’s destinations and then worked to ensure they were in employment/ education training and ensuring that the number of unknown cases was reduced.  Georgina Herry said those who were unknown could be due to having moved abroad, or outside H&F, some potentially had moved to private schools. Different internal teams, professionals and service coordinators worked to ensure the tracked information was joined up with regard to tracking the young people’s needs in a coordinated approach.

On Nandini Ganesh’s further question on the SEND sufficiency review carried out the previous year, Peter Haylock noted the progress was being made under the recommendations of the review. The first area had been to ensure the special schools and providers were clear about the different requirements. The team was now working with external partners who were evaluating bids from schools for setting up additional resource bases and units.  The main launch of the new units and resource bases was expected to be around September 2025.

Councillor Aliya Afzal-Khan sought information on the breakdown of persistent absence among different types of schools and the extent of intervention by the Council. Peter Haylock noted the Council had implemented a tracking tool in relation to the DfE guidance for schools to complete around attendance. Specific school attendance officers were targeted to give support to primary as well as secondary schools.   A new program providing daily live feeds in terms of attendance enabled the team to think through how the services could better support the schools.

Replying the Chair’s question about the focus for the coming education year, Peter Haylock noted the team would continue supporting the primary schools in particular the early years to make sure the data could improve and become strong.  Another focus was supporting schools to improve on attendance as well as exclusion/suspension which were a real challenge. On factors limiting intended changes, Peter noted that resources should be allocated in relation to the statutory responsibilities added by the DfE on attendance.

Councillor Alex Sanderson (Cabinet Member for Children and Education) highlighted the complex education landscape across H&F.  The education team had maintained a good working relationship with the schools and their communities and was able to influence/manage challenging policy issues.  She remarked that the attendance challenge was a national issue and it was paramount for the central government to fund education properly. 

RESOLVED:

That the Committee noted the report.