Agenda item

School Improvement and Raising Standards, Including Schools in Special Measures, with Particular Reference to Vulnerable Groups

Minutes:

The Assistant Director, Inclusion introduced a report on School Improvement and Raising Standards. A number of senior officers from the Service were introduced to the Panel.

 

The report provided information on the range of work undertaken by the service to support schools in addressing improvement issues. It also provided particular detail on the achievement and progress of vulnerable groups and the work being delivered to secure rapid and sustained progress in educational outcomes.

 

The Panel received updates from Officers representing different functions across the service including SureStart, Early Years, Services to Schools and Children with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities.

 

The Panel noted the particular importance of early year's work, of SureStart and the work the council was doing to improve the quality of childminders with the focus being on moving more childminders from the category of satisfactory to that of good. The Head of School Services updated the Panel on key work programmes currently being delivered. This included work on improving attendance and governance, both of which were crucial in improving both the functioning of a school and attainment levels of pupils. The focus for the function was to implement and roll out a comprehensive governance support plan. Finally the Head of Services for Children with Learning Difficulties set out the work being delivered to improve attainment levels for children with SEN. The range of interventions had meant that attainment at Key Stage 4 for children with SEN was above the national average. However because general attainment levels had also improved, it meant that the gap between the two groups was also above the national average.

 

The Panel raised a number of questions including:

 

·  The issue of non-attendance, how much of a problem it was for the borough and the approach the council was taking to address this.

·  The reasons behind the success at Hounslow, and whether Slough could borrow any learning.

·  How schools support children with dyslexia and in particular children from minority backgrounds.

·  Whether a correlation existed between the percentage of schools deemed inadequate and the percentage of pupils with English as an additional language or special educational needs

·  The work Slough was doing to engage parents who may have had difficulties in actively participating and taking an interest in their children’s education.

 

The Head of Services to Schools confirmed that non attendance had been an issue for some schools but that the council, working closely with schools had instituted a range of measures that had led to improvements. This included the issuing of notices and greater work with parents, who once engaged, did lead to substantial improvements in attendance levels. The Headteacher representative confirmed the criticality of attendance for the school and its designation as a ‘limiting factor’. Due to this, schools placed particular emphasis on monitoring and tracking attendance and then working with parents as early as possible if issues were identified. The Assistance Director for Education reiterated the point that the non attendance was not an endemic issue and schools were working well, alone and in collaboration with the LEA and other schools to address any challenges.

 

The Assistant Director confirmed that since the loss of funding and the knock on effect on the disbanding of the Raising Achievement Team, the Council had to be more focused on how resources were used and how strategies were employed to address ongoing concerns. There had been a move to a re-configuration of support available. Part of this included provision to commission support from external consultants responsible for some of the improvements made in Hounslow.

 

Responding to the question on identifying dyslexia, the Officers confirmed that the lead fell to the schools who through, staff working on inclusion, took the lead in identifying, supporting and then tracking progress of children. The Headteacher representative set out the importance of ICT in this process. It was also confirmed that provisions were in place to identify and support minority children with dyslexia.

 

The Assistant Director for Inclusion confirmed that the LEAs own research has shown that the tripartite issues of quality of management, gathering and use of management information and the issues of attendance and governance played a much bigger role in determining the success of a school rather than the profile of the pupil intake. The head teacher representative concurred adding that a further issue was the quality of assessments being used. For instance the paper chosen this year for Slough schools had a reading age of 14 and included material that was difficult for children not only to relate to, but potentially insensitive for children that had arrived from more difficult circumstances.

 

Finally Officers confirmed that work was ongoing to support parents engage better in their child’s schooling. Resources would be drawn from the Early Intervention Grant to drive this work forward. The Headteacher Representative added that often schools needed to be more creative in how parents were engaged including work to raise confidence.

 

It was agreed that the -

 

Headteacher Representative send a copy of the test to the Commissioner for Education and Children.

 

Resolved: -

 

(a)  The Panel endorsed the School Improvement Strategy

(b)  The Panel requested that a further paper be brought to the September meeting with a focus on the work being done to support early years

(c)  The Panel recommended a follow up session to look at the impact of Aspire.

 

 

Supporting documents: