Invitees:

Deborah McMillan, Corporate Director – Education and Family Support

Cllr C Smith, Cabinet Member – Education and Regeneration

Sue Roberts, Group Manager – School Improvement or

Paul Wolstenholme, Bridgend Link Adviser

Mike Glavin, Assistant Director Central South Consortium

Nicola Echanis, Head of Strategy Commissioning and Partnerships

Hannah Woodhouse, Managing Director – Central South Consortium

The Director of Education and Family Support presented a report on Foundation Phase, Key Stages 2, 3, 4 and Post 16 Outcomes for 2015/16.

Standards over a three year period were continuing to improve in line with national rates of improvement. Bridgend was improving better than national averages in many indicators and better than similar local authorities, based on national ranking, in most indicators.

The Director of Education and Family Support was pleased with progress that had been made compared to the same report in 2012/13. There was self- sustaining improvement and high aspirations for learners. A very strong team was in place and there was a strong partnership with the Consortium and schools. 

The second part of the report was a Central South Consortium paper relating to raising standards in Bridgend schools. The three priorities of the Consortium business plan; raising standards, improving the capacity of the system to be self-improving and developing the consortium to a high performing organisation; were highlighted. Since 2012, standards had improved rapidly compared to the national average across the region at every key stage. In 2016 the region continued to show strong improvement and was above the national average at every key stage for the first time and remained above it for the second year in key stages 1,2 and 4. During 2015/16, three local authorities in the region were removed from an Estyn follow up category and all three inspection reports cited the contribution of the Consortium in working effectively to improve outcomes for learners. In March 2016 the Consortium was inspected by Estyn. The inspection report recognised progress in establishing clear strategy, vision, delivery of consistent challenge and support and partnership working. The 2017/18 business plan would be developed in the context of a number of specific strategic challenges as well as areas where self-evaluation indicated areas for improvement.  The final business plan for the financial year 17/18 would be presented to the Joint Committee for approval in March 2017.

Members raised a number of issues regarding the report. The report indicated that there were eleven more amber category schools in 2016/17 compared to 2015/16. Members asked how these were identified. Amber category schools were identified by the standards group having taken into account the ability of the school to improve based on performance over three years. Through the categorisation process, more support could be provided through temporary leadership and monitoring schools more closely. The leader confirmed there were fewer schools in amber, none in red and a significant increase in the number in green.

Members asked for a % point for the difference in performance between Bridgend and the national averages (Key Stage 2) The Group Manager for Schools Improvement explained that this was a summary within the report and that the actual % point was in the table. There was a combined indicator but 4 percentages were provided to give an overall picture of progress. 

A statement had been made in Council that Pencoed was improving however the report indicated that there was a decline in performance in Pencoed. Members were advised that secondary school pre 16 outcomes were not an area of concern, the report referred to the sixth form only. The decline in performance was being addressed through the establishment of the new Penybont 6^th College in partnership with Bridgend College.

The Committee expressed some concern over the sometimes negative perception coming from the Consortium in the way they reported individual school performance.  A member had raised this with the Consortium but to date had not received a response. The Leader accepted the concern raised and confirmed that the report should be positive to reflect the amount of work put in. The Authority had the best results in the region. Members agreed that schools needed to know where they stood and the status of their performance, however there was often a fine balance between motivation and negativity and care needed to be taken with this

A member of the Committee requested further information regarding the recruitment of welsh speakers and Welsh Government targets. The Director of Education and Family Support explained that welsh in the Education Strategic Plan set out would be done to meet demands from parents and agreed to discuss the matter further with the member if required.

The Committee asked if there were issues with recruitment. Members were advised that there was a supply pool and the opportunity for a school to over recruit and to support other schools as and when required. There was a graduate training programme and a pilot scheme for core subjects.

The Committee asked how the four recommendations identified in the Estyn report were being tackled and how successful had they been. Members were advised that Estyn would return in September and report progress. It was difficult to demonstrate progress in the first recommendation, reducing variations in standards at KS4, but officers were hopeful that progress had been made.

Clarity of judgement was being sought in relation to the second recommendation, improving specificity of judgements of teaching and leadership by challenge advisers.

The third recommendation, evaluating impact of support strategies, was difficult to measure apart from pupil outcomes. Research evaluation work was underway with Cardiff University which would hopefully show progress.

Estyn would evidence the fourth recommendation, value for money.

The Leader explained that this was an issue discussed at the Joint Committee and he had seen evidence that the four recommendations were being addressed.

The Committee welcomed the inclusion of Post 16 and ALPs data in the school performance report and requested that future reports also include LAC data and A level STEM subjects information.

The Director of Education and Family Support explained that data training was available for Time and access to the knowledge hub if required. She thanked the three officers attending their last meeting, for their hard work and wished them all the best in the future. The Leader echoed the message and thanked the officers personally.

Conclusions

The Committee expressed some concern over the sometimes negative perception coming from the Consortium in the way they report about individual school performance.  Members agreed that schools need to know where they stand and the status of their performance, however there is often a fine balance between motivation and negativity and care needs to be taken with this.

The Committee welcomed the inclusion of Post 16 and ALPs data in the school performance report and requested that future reports also include LAC data and A level STEM subjects information.

The Committee requested that future reports also contain three year trend data for KS4 for individual schools in order to identify any potential areas of concern.

The Committee requested that they be sent the final press release regarding the outcome of school categorisation for the County Borough