Agenda item

(a)       That members receive the report and note the attainment of Flintshire pupils for the year 2011-12.

(b)       That members receive a future report on analysis of learner progress from entry assessment and successful strategies for securing improved learner progression.

            The Director of Lifelong Learning introduced the report which gave a summary of pupil attainment in statutory assessments across the primary and

secondary school phases for the school year 2011-12.

                           The following key points of the report were highlighted:

• Permanent exclusions were low.
• Progress was being made with fixed term exclusions
• Attendance in secondary schools still high
• Attendance for primary schools had improved over the last two years and is now amongst top performing counties.
• Pupil outcomes were above expectations at KS4
• Pupil outcomes were broadly in line with expectations at KS3.
• The number of primary schools causing concern in accordance with Flintshire criteria had decreased from 15 down to 11.

            The Secondary Schools Officer gave a detailed report on the secondary performance and was pleased to report that outcomes remained very good at KS4 in the main quality indicator which measured the proportion of learners who achieved 5 or more GCSE passes at A* to C including Maths, English/Welsh 1^st Language.

            The Chair thanked the members who had contributed to the work of the school monitoring group.

            Councillor P. Shotton thanked the officers for the thorough report.  He acknowledged the challenges faced in Foundation and Key Stage 2, particularly those from deprived areas and asked if any activities had been arranged for World Book Day on 7 March to promote literacy. The Director of Lifelong Learning said that children in the foundation stage should have the best possible start to their school career and that in the previous year, 100 of the most vulnerable families had received support from Families First and this was making a real difference in terms of attendance, attitudes to learning and behaviour.  He said that World Book Day would be celebrated in schools and in libraries.

            Councillor C. A. Thomas voiced concern at the apparent lack of boundaries within the Foundation Phase, how consistently the phase had been implemented and how pupils coped upon entry into the more structured Key Stage 2 in year 3.  She asked at which stage would early intervention be implemented, asked for more information about school attendance figures and asked if there were plans to assess and band primary schools. She asked about testing for ages 5-15 from September.  The Director of Lifelong Learning in response said that there had been a 0.3% downturn in primary attendance, partly attributable to schools that were kept open during a spell of bad weather.  This has been followed by two years of improved primary attendance with relative primary performance now in line or above expectations. He added that Flintshire had a good attendance management practices which involved the inclusion and welfare service and multi agency interventions where appropriate.  With regards to testing, assessments would be more rigorous, concentrating on literacy and numeracy.  In terms of banding for primaries, there would be performance profiles for primaries.  The Director of Lifelong Learning said that had there had been concerns about how Foundation Phase had been implemented in some schools. In these cases, there had been relevant training and development for staff put in place.  With regards to intervention, assessments were made regarding developmental progress throughout the foundation phase.

            Mr Hytch thanked officers for the report.  He said that the Minister had said that the banding mechanism for secondary schools may be flawed, but that a mechanism was needed to prompt under performing schools into action.  He agreed that it was important to focus on testing of literacy and numeracy as poor skills in these areas would cause difficulties in other subjects.  He welcomed the results on page 37 that proved that other subjects fared well in addition to English, Maths and Science. 

            Councillor M. Bateman said that she had concerns about Foundation Phase and wanted proof of more rigorous assessment.  She added that Flintshire had been underperforming in primary for some time and asked for reasons why Flintshire pupils were underperforming in entrance assessments.  The Director of Lifelong Learning said that there were a variety of reasons and that it was not possible to isolate a single general factor. Examples included parents and families who required support and schools with children who spoke English as an additional language.  He also noted that assessments were not consistently applied within every school.

            Councillor N. M. Matthews said that parents if entitled to free school meals should take up the offer as it affected pupil premium payments and performance statistics.  She also asked about what could be done to stop parents taking children out of school to go on holiday.  The Director of Lifelong Learning said that schools tried to discourage holidays during term time and that Flintshire recognised the importance of attendance and wanted to get 100% attendance in all of its schools.  He said that there would be no movement away from national free school meals indicators and eligible parents should be encouraged to take up the offer.  He added that Flintshire were not just focussing on pupils with free school meals, but also pupils with high level additional needs, English as an additional language and traveller children.

            Councillor N. Steele-Mortimer asked about numbers of children who arrived at secondary school in need of additional help with numeracy and literacy.  The Secondary phase officer said that some outcomes were below levels expected.  A new initiative had been introduced whereby 12 outstanding KS2 literacy and numeracy teachers would share good practice with other teachers. 

            Councillor C. Legg asked if problems were caused by low standards in Primary Teacher Training Colleges. He said that he was sorry that Latin was not on the curriculum in Wales as it could help with lots of other subjects.  He was disappointed to see Flintshire 18^th in the performance tables for Welsh as a first language.   He said that many demands on Year 6 Key Stage 2 teachers such as moderation, portfolios and standardisation and recognise the lack of resources at KS2 . He hoped that the formula funding review may address this.  The Director of Lifelong Learning said that successful schools offered a good teaching and learning, high quality leadership and good governance. He did not think initial teacher training should be solely responsible for quality of teaching, but that it was important to consider professional development opportunities at every stage of a teacher’s career.

RESOLVED

(a)       That members receive the report and note the attainment of Flintshire pupils for the year 2011-12.

(b)       That members receive a future report on analysis of learner progress from entry assessment and successful strategies for securing improved         learner progression.