Agenda item

That the attainment of Flintshire children and young people for the year 2014-15 be noted.

The Senior Manager – School Improvementintroduced a report to provide Members with a summary of pupil attainment in statutory assessments across primary and secondary school phases for the school year 2014-15.  The report also provided a summary of data in relation to attendance and exclusions. 

She introduced The Senior Challenge Adviser who would be able to provide up to date information on each of the key stages.

The report mainly focussed on the performance at each of the key stages and identified that across the foundation phase, key stage 2 and key stage 3 showed a steady trend of improved performance at both the expected and higher than expected level.  However, at key stage 4’s main indicator level 2+, Flintshire’s performance unexpectedly dipped in 2015 resulting in a drop in the local authority ranked position from 3^rd in 2014 to 8^th which was a worrying downward trend over the last two years.

The Senior Challenge Adviser explained that this year a new system had been introduced where schools set their targets at the beginning of the year in a uniform way, using an online system and there were three points in year where the projections were reviewed.  The most up to date projections were based on the most recent information available for key stages 2, 3 and 4 using data from December 2015/January 2016.  For Flintshire schools at Foundation Phase the latest projection was 87.1% which was an improvement on the figure for the previous year of 84%.  There had also been a significant increase in the projection for key stage 2 which had increased from 87% to 89.5% and for key stage 3 the figure had increased from 80% to 84% to 87% over the past few years to 87.5% and it was expected that this rate could be maintained or increased in the following years.  It was therefore felt that the schools could be fairly optimistic about the results that would be achieved when the outcomes were released in the summer.  For the county as a whole, the trend had been of positive improvement and it was felt that this could be maintained. 

Councillor Nancy Matthews said that the figures in the report were historical and she felt that it was very encouraging that the schools had continued to adapt their school development plans following the setting of their targets at the beginning of the year which had resulted in increases in the figures achieved.    

The Senior Manager – School Improvement explained that the previous model used to set targets had not been fit for purpose and the introduction of this new system had given schools the confidence to know that the data would inform the target setting and would create more robust targets.  She added that one benefit of the new system was that the targets were reviewed at various points throughout the year rather than never being reviewed once they had been set. 

The Senior Challenge Adviser spoke of the work of the Challenge Advisers, and highlighted in particular how encouraging it had been to see to level of knowledge that teachers had on each cohort and the relevant interventions that had been put in place.  It was felt that the assessments were more robust.  He spoke of the positive effects of ongoing work with schools and Challenge Advisers on the outcomes and he felt that Flintshire schools should be commended for their high level of integrity.

Mrs. Rebecca Stark was very heartened to hear how the work undertaken was not just about numbers but about the development of the pupils and she welcomed the reduction in the figures for the gender gap which she felt had shown a tremendous effort.  She sought clarification on the figures which showed an underperformance at level 5 but an over performance at level 6.  The Senior Manager – School Improvement said that there had been a general focus about ensuring pupils attained level 5 but she explained that the increase could be because schools were stretching the more able learners.  She added that Welsh Government had now set the expectation of foundation phase pupils at outcome level 6. 

Mr.Hytch welcomed the significant reduction by 8% in the foundation phase for language and communication where Welsh was a first language.  The Senior Manager – School Improvement felt that this could be a reflection of the size of the cohort.  Mr. Hytch also referred to the value added summary on page 47 which he said appeared to show a strong minus but was in fact a remarkable positive. 

In referring to key stage 4, the Senior Challenge Adviser said that the figure for 2013 was 62.2% which had reduced to 61.9% in 2014 and had further reduced in 2015 to 60.6%.  However, the secondary schools that had shown the largest reduction in percentage terms had still been ranked in the top benchmark quartile and were still in the top data entry for WG.  He felt that this showed the high performance of some individual schools but added that performance in some schools was significantly above the target with some reporting much lower than expected results.  He commented on three different strategy areas (English, Maths and read-across) and spoke of the work that was ongoing with schools by GwE to ensure that the appropriate strategies were in place.  The projection for key stage 4 was 66.4% and the Senior Challenge Adviser said that if this was achieved, it would reflect the best ever performance for Flintshire. 

Councillor Dave Mackie welcomed the new information that had been provided by the Senior Challenge Adviser and referred to the data in the form of graphs that used to be provided to Members.  He referred to the 2014/15 data compared to 2013/14 information and said that this showed that Flintshire had dropped five or six places which he expressed significant concern about as no other county in Wales had dropped so many places.  He had noted that when comparing all Councils, nine had dropped places in that time with five being in North Wales and he added that every authority in North Wales was lower in 2014/15 than in 2012/13 which he also raised concern about.  Other consortiums had not dropped any places at all.  Councillor Mackie spoke of the work undertaken by GwE which he felt was commendable but he queried the level of support in place.  The Senior Manager – School Improvement concurred that the results were disappointing but said that some schools had difficulties with some cohorts and that as GwE had developed and become more established, there had been a shift from challenging targets to providing an appropriate level of support whilst still undertaking a necessary level of challenge and ensuring that the correct level of specialist expertise was in place. 

The Senior Challenge Adviser said that the GwE remit had initially been determined by the local authority but as the service had progressed, different ways to provide support to the schools had been developed.  He commented on the work of GwE to adapt strategies to ensure increases in performance and spoke of the reviews that would be undertaken in year on the assessment of how schools were progressing in line with the targets that had been set at the start of the year, and making adaptations as necessary. 

Councillor Nancy Matthews said that it was important to remember the pupils when discussing targets and strategies and that what was in place needed to be for the benefit of the children.  Mr. Hytch said that it was not always possible to compare data with other authorities because of the difficulties that may be experienced by individual cohorts.  In response to a query from Mr. Hytch about the commentary on page 51 in the section on Results in Core Subjects, the Senior Manager – School Improvement said that she would check whether the information was from 2013/14 as reported as the figures in the table referred to 2014/15.  Mr. Hytch also sought clarification on the figure of 93.2% in the table on page 49 for Key stage 4 outcomes as it showed a 10% increase but the ranking from 2014 to 2015 had remained unchanged.  The Senior Challenge Adviser confirmed that the figure should be 83.2% and the ranking figure was therefore correct.  Mr. Hytch also queried the drop in ranking from 14 to 18 for level 1 threshold; The Senior Challenge Adviser confirmed that these figures were correct.  The Senior Manager – School Improvement said that even though the figure had improved, other authorities had also improved in comparison. 

Mrs. Stark commented on the significant amount of work undertaken to assess each cohort and asked whether aspirational targets were set if it was anticipated that problems were to be expected because of reduced ability within a cohort.  The Senior Manager – School Improvement said that schools were encouraged to set aspirational targets but based on an individual cohort rather than based on targets from previous years which historically been the case.  This was one of the issues that would be discussed with the Challenge Adviser as part of the support package provided to schools.  Mrs. Stark commended the work of GwE and in speaking of the importance of the work of the Challenge Adviser, she asked whether initiatives and best practices were shared to assist staff in other schools.  The Senior Manager – School Improvement confirmed that the support was available to other schools which included resources available to assist them and said that diminishing resources were still a challenge but she added that head teachers had felt that the establishment of relationships between schools, which the Senior Challenge Adviser had been instrumental in, had assisted with this. 

The Chairman spoke of an Estyn meeting that he had attended about GwE and the focus on key stage 4 and challenging targets set by schools. 

On the issue of attendance, Councillor Matthews asked whether the targets set were too ambitious.  The Senior Manager – Inclusion & Progression said that they were set as part of GwE targets and in some areas, the figures were not as high as expected.  She spoke of the dip to 94.7% and explained that a forensic analysis had been undertaken to try and identify factors for low attendance.  She detailed some of the reasons for absence and of the questions raised by WG where they had queried where illness had been provided as a reason for absence.  Councillor Paul Cunningham said that the weather could be a factor in absence due to illness and he detailed an example of when this could occur.  The Senior Manager – Inclusion & Progression said that it was about ensuring the correct balance and spoke of a meeting that was to take place with Estyn about a framework for absence.  However she added that it was important to monitor policies and practices in place and she gave assurance to Members that this issue was being considered in detail.  She also provided information on the data that was collected which included a breakdown by the use of a code of why the absence had occurred. 

Mr.Hytch said that the main aim was the issue of inclusivity and gave congratulations to the schools that worked successfully with communities and he highlighted the success of working with the traveller community to achieve an education for the children.  He welcomed the unauthorised absence figure for Flintshire’s primary and secondary schools which was the lowest figure in Wales. 

Following a comment from Mr. Hytch about key stage 5, the Chairman reminded the committee that the figures for sixth form education would also include the data from the new sixth form hub in the future. 

The Chairman thanked the Senior Challenge Adviser for his attendance.              

            RESOLVED:

            That the attainment of Flintshire children and young people for the year 2014-15 be noted.