Agenda item

(To receive a report by Martin Smith, Children's Services Manager – School Standards, which summarises the 2015-16 performance of Lincolnshire schools for the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee, following the release by the Local Authority Performance Team on 19 January 2017 of validated and finalised performance data)

The Committee gave consideration to a report from Debbie Barnes, Executive Director of Children's Services, which summarised the 2015/2016 performance made by Lincolnshire Schools.

Martin Smith, Children's Services Manager – School Standards, guided the Committee through the report.  The report highlighted the outcomes of assessments within the Early Years, Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2, Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5.  Each measure contained a summary comment expressing the standing of Lincolnshire within the region and national context.

Attached to the report were the following Appendices:-

·         Appendix A - Lincolnshire Local Authority Data

·         Appendix B - Closing the gap

·         Appendix C – East Midlands Regional Priorities

·         Appendix D – LA response to need

·         Appendix E – OfSTED Standards

It was highlighted that the data within the report identified that there had been year on year improvements in pupil outcomes. However, there was still a number of key actions needed in order for all groups of Lincolnshire pupils to be achieving at least at levels seen nationally, with aspirations to achieve higher.

The Committee was advised that comparisons of previous data were flawed as the methodology within Primary assessment had changed significantly in terms of calculations and the production of scaled scores rather than levels.

It was highlighted that underperforming maintained schools and academies had already been challenged, and some were individually working with Lincolnshire County Council Education Locality Leads.  It was further highlighted that there was a number of productive and positive relationships with Lincolnshire Teaching Schools to develop broader and more accessible training to meet the needs of the County.

The Council was also improving the use of National Leaders in Education, Local Leaders in Education, and Specialist Leaders in Education to ensure that the sector was developing leaders to sustain improvement in conjunction with the Teaching Schools.  It was highlighted that the Lincolnshire Learning Partnership was also key in developing leadership within Lincolnshire.

The report also provided an explanation as to the role of the Lincolnshire Learning Locality Leads whose role was to ensure that intervention, support and challenge would be provided when required to ensure that improvement activities were taking place promptly to address underlying needs.

During discussion, the Committee raised the following issues:-

·         Page 52 – Achieving a High Score or Working at Greater Depth within the Expected Standard - The report highlighted that the gap had widened across all subjects, except for Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling (GPS) which had narrowed slightly.  Work was ongoing to increase access to Teaching Schools;

·         Page 53 - % of pupils achieving the English Baccalaureate at KS4 - the greater discrepancy between this measure and the earlier measure.  It was highlighted that Lincolnshire was ahead of National in this measure;

·         Page 53 - Attainment Score by component subject area – Some concern was expressed to the below Lincolnshire vs National average.  The report highlighted that the biggest gap was between Lincolnshire and National for English at - 0.2;

·         One member also highlighted that results were dependent on a number of factors; some schools were located in areas with high levels of deprivation; and that schools were constantly having to work in a changing environment which was having an effect on some schools performance; and

·         Page 94 - KS4 % gap between Disadvantaged pupils and Non-Disadvantaged pupils – It was highlighted that the Lincolnshire Disadvantaged vs Non-Disadvantaged pupils gap was wider than National across all measures.  Officers confirmed that the size of schools in Lincolnshire made it difficult to compete for funding. Lincolnshire was the 4^th poorest funded authority, which meant that children were disadvantaged and that was why Lincolnshire was doing as much networking as it could.

RESOLVED

That the report relating Lincolnshire Local Authority School Performance 2015/16 be noted.