10.05
Sir Robin Bosher, Ofsted Regional Director, South East Region and Sarah Hubbard, Her Majesty’s Inspector, South East Region will be in attendance.
Minutes:
Sir Robin Bosher, Ofsted Regional Director, South East Region and Sarah Hubbard, Her Majesty’s Inspector, South East Region updated the Committee on the work of Ofsted and its priorities.
Sir Bosher explained the organisational framework for Ofsted and commented that the regionalisation meant that it was possible for the regional offices to get to know the authorities in a region better and he introduced Sarah Hubbard who was Oxfordshire’s link HMI. He detailed the new operating model and that they were bringing in a new common framework. Inspections had been brought wholly in house and a rigorous assessment programme was in place to ensure quality. The number of current practitioners (Head Teachers and Deputy Head Teachers) had been increased and it was his wish to see the proportion grow. Ofsted benefitted from their experience and the Inspectors gain by taking back their knowledge and understanding of Ofsted to their schools and local areas. He explained that the common framework would apply across schools, colleges and early years and that the new model would see good schools get a 1 day short inspection every 3 years with the option for Ofsted to convert it to a full inspection if necessary.
Sarah Hubbard as Oxfordshire’s link HMI commented that she had a productive relationship with officers and noted recent results highlighting achievement and areas of concern.
There followed a question and answer session where the following points were made:
1) Sir Bosher advised that the link HMIs, as an excellent resource, were the key in respect of Ofsted supporting the Committee in providing constructive challenge to schools and academies and in assisting the council in its role of championing good educational outcomes for Oxfordshire and young people. Sarah Hubbard added that there were a number of handbooks on the framework that Members may find helpful. She also referred to a recent report on NE Lincolnshire that provided valuable insight into areas of concern.
2) Asked about the view of the Scrutiny function across the South East area Sarah Hubbard referred to an interesting report of a Select Committee held on 27 January on the way in which Scrutiny Committees work. She commented that some areas seemed to be doing a good job and highlighted the work in Bristol, York, Calderdale and Hampshire. She added that it was very much an evolving landscape but that it was clear that as elected members there was a role for Scrutiny to play. Sir Bosher added that it was very much a mixed menu.
3) There was some discussion on the way in which the role of the county council as champions of all children in Oxfordshire could be reconciled with the limited leverage in relation to academies. In particular a member referred to the different relationship with multi academy trusts and concerns about how the county could deal with remote policy making. Sir Bosher accepted role of the county council in representing all young people and indicated that there ways to approach the task. An important aspect was to keep good regular data on all schools that was reported regularly to the Committee. If academies were not willing to release information such as GCSE results then it was important to let the Regional Commissioner know. He encouraged the Committee to use the Regional Commissioner for the purpose of challenging academies. It was important to be clear about concerns and to hold him to account by inviting him back as necessary. The same was true for Chief Executives of Multi Academy Trusts. He added that the local authority had an absolute right to access around safeguarding. It was important to get into the schools, to meet the leadership and to forge those relationships that would allow the council to fulfil its responsibilities. Sarah Hubbard added that the council had a statutory duty under missing children and that attendance figures and the way that these are monitored were key.
4) Sir Bosher, asked about his relationship as Ofsted Regional Director with the Regional Commissioner and other educational organisations, advised that there was no formal relationship. Independence was paramount for Ofsted. They had a meeting once a year to share data.
5) Asked about the inspection of home schooling Sir Bosher undertook to provide a brief factual note.
6) Sir Bosher responded to questions on the quality of Inspections and maintaining that quality in the face of budget pressures and replied that he had confidence in the Head of Ofsted who would do his utmost to maintain quality. Asked about an increase in desk analysis, Sarah Hubbard gave an assurance that this was not the direction of travel.
7) There were a number of questions around the consistency of judgements by inspectors and Sir Bosher assured members that ensuring consistency was one of his key priorities. Ofsted had invested heavily in training and he detailed what it entailed. It was early days and he would be happy to update members on his next visit to the Committee.
8) There was discussion around the issue of schools who were net importers of challenging pupils and how they were treated by Ofsted. There was also discussion of the importance of encouraging good headteachers to take on challenging schools. Sir Basher stated that a challenging school would not always get a bad report as they would be judged on the progress being made. It was important that headteachers were not penalised for having the right values and a new accolade was available for “Outstanding Leaders”. A head teacher taking on a challenging school could request a 6 month inspection holiday.
9) With regard to challenging pupils Sir Bosher indicated that permanent exclision figures were a key aspect of the inspection, not just the numbers but the reasons. If there was concern that a school was over excluding the local authority should write to the Regional Commissioner. Inspections looked beyond the data and would also find schools that were managing to retain pupils against all the odds.
10) Asked how Ofsted assesses British values in a multicultural society and how the Committee could help to promote and encourage such values Sarah Hubbard replied that they always looked at protected groups under the equalities legislation. Assessments looked to see that the fundamental social, moral, spiritual and cultural agenda was reflected in the curriculum. She referred to the PREVENT agenda which was relatively new to schools.
11) With regard to narrowing the gap and asked about best practice elsewhere Sir Bosher highlighted the London and Manchester Challenges. Sarah Hubbard detailed the types of factors that led to schools not narrowing the gap effectively. This included where 5-20% of the students were from a disadvantaged background, where leadership was less effective with governors not taking the gap into account (often due to lack of data) and the where the quality of teaching was not sufficient.
12) Asked about the position in Oxfordshire sarah Hubbard highlighted the good work that was being carried out and the areas of concern.
The Chairman thanked Sir Bosher and Sarajh Hubbard for their attendance and it was AGREED that they be invited to attend again next year.