Issue - meetings

Report by the Director of Children’s Services.

30.1     The Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee appointed a Scrutiny Review Board to review Educational Attainment at Key Stage 4.  The Review Board focused on the issues and challenges that secondary schools and academies face in relation to the recruitment and retention of teachers and the potential impact this has on educational attainment.  The report updated the Committee on the Action Plan adopted by the Children’s Services Department following the presentation of its final report to Cabinet in June 2017.  

30.2    The Committee welcomed the report and the progress being made. The Committee then discussed a number of questions in relation to the Action Plan (see Appendix 2 of the report) and noted that a revised East Sussex Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy will be available in the autumn.  A summary of the key discussion points, together with responses from the Department is set out below:  

• Availability of keyworker housing.  The Committee discussed keyworker housing and its relevance to teacher recruitment and retention.  The Department agree that affordable housing is an important factor.  As a result, some initial work is being undertaken with local borough and district councils to investigate whether more can be done to provide keyworker housing options.  However, whilst this is an important issue, such housing only usually provides a bridge into the housing market, with new teachers still needing to enter the housing market at some point.  As a result, keyworker housing should only be seen as part of a mix of different responses to the recruitment and retention challenge.  

• Provisional GCSE results table.    The Committee discussed the data set out in the ‘Provisional 2016 GCSE results for East Sussex Schools’ table (page 28 of the agenda).   In response to questions about the new assessment methods and different levels of progress and attainment set out in the table, the Department undertook to provide more detail to Members at the Committee’s ‘Educational Attainment and Performance’ reference group meeting in April.  The Committee were also assured that the

Department’s ambition is that all children, irrespective of their cognitive ability, achieve at least good levels of progress.  So whilst the Department accepted that the variability of outcomes displayed in the table is disappointing, in terms of the review process, it was included so as to provide a factual basis for the Review Board regarding the scope of the attainment challenge in East Sussex.  This helped the Board focus on what might be causing the differences in performance at different schools and academies.  This in turn, ultimately led to the Board’s development of a number of recommendations relating to teacher recruitment and retention which it hoped would help lead to improved outcomes. 

• Leadership in schools.  The importance of leadership in schools was discussed.  This included the importance of leaders not only at the level of Head teacher/Principal, but also at other levels.  In response the Department agreed that quality leadership is vital.  It is for this reason that the Department has put in place a package of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30

Report by the Chair of the Review Board

30.1     At its meeting on 27 June 2016, the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee appointed a Scrutiny Review Board to conduct a review of educational attainment at Key Stage 4.    The Board focused their investigation on the challenges schools and academies face in relation to the recruitment and retention of teachers and any impact this might have on educational attainment.  The Board consisted of Nicola Boulter (Parent Governor Representative and Chair of the Review Board) and Councillors Claire Dowling, Kim Forward, Roy Galley and Alan Shuttleworth.   

30.2     Councillor Galley introduced the report and highlighted some of the Board’s key findings.  The Board also asked that their gratitude to a range of professionals who assisted its investigations be acknowledged.   This included senior members of staff at local schools and academies, two consultant head teachers who attended the Board’s November meeting and relevant officers within the Children’s Services Department.      

30.3     Fiona Wright (Assistant Director) and Elizabeth Funge (Head of School Improvement) welcomed the Board’s report on behalf of the Department.  The report is regarded as being timely as the current East Sussex Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy is due for renewal this year.  As a result, the Department will be able to use the Board’s recommendations to help inform the development of the next version of the strategy.   In particular, the Department welcomed the Board’s focus on the issue of teacher retention as an area requiring further development within the strategy.

30.4         The Committee then discussed the Board’s report and recommendations.    A summary of these discussion points are set out below:

Progress 8 and Attainment 8.   The Committee welcomed the inclusion in the report of a table which provided a summary of Progress 8 and Attainment 8 scores.  However, more detail on how these measures operate was requested.  

In response to this request and with regard to Progress 8, the Committee were informed that a zero score within this measure represents the national average and is considered by Ofsted as acceptable.  With this context in mind therefore, a Progress 8 score of, for example, +0.14 would be considered as significant progress.  It was also highlighted that this is the first year these measures have been in operation.  As a result, relevant stakeholders are still developing their understanding of this measure.  The Committee were also informed that when compared more widely, the figures for East Sussex indicate local secondary school pupils have progressed significantly above the national average. 

The Department acknowledge the significant difference in Progress 8 scores between the top and bottom performing schools.  However, it is believed that this gap is likely to narrow as schools are still developing their appreciation of the relationship between the curriculum choices they offer and the potential impact this may have on Progress 8 scores.  As local schools develop their understanding of this relationship, it is likely this will result in a positive impact on those schools’ scores.  This in turn will help close the gap between the top and bottom performing institutions. 

The Committee were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30