Agenda item

The Select Committee on Educational Attainment was held on Tuesday 29 June 2010.

Members of the working group will report back on the discussion. 

Councillor Bonner reported that the Select Committee had discussed:

·        whether schools suffering from the “cosy” syndrome could be encouraged to achieve more

·        the development of federations where schools shared headteachers

·        the use of children’s centres by parents and local communities

·        the impact on performance of children attending children’s centres

·        challenging the complacency of schools about being “good enough”.

The following comments were made:

• early years mattered
• learning patterns of young children were set by age 3 but could be changed
• it was better if children were not having to catch up but were ready to learn when they started school and intervention might be necessary to ensure this
• children learnt basic social skills and to play together in children’s centres
• children’s centres needed to be more welcoming
• a parent pack would be useful for parents so that they knew which skills their children should have by certain ages
• important for parents to be involved in their children’s education
• governing bodies should be enabled to challenge and to encourage their schools to strive for higher attainment
• all governing bodies have curriculum working groups where data on achievement could be reviewed
• development of staff was important to encourage them to believe in excellence for their pupils every day
• for some children, English was not their first language which could create some additional challenges
• pupils might not have a permanent home and might move house frequently within the City and consequently have to keep changing schools
• important for governors to undertake training:  however, governors might not take up opportunities for training but it had to be recognised that they were volunteers.

Ms Taylor commented that getting the foundation stage right was important for the long-term investment in a child’s education.  Three children’s centres had been rated as “outstanding” by Ofsted this year.  Provision of early years’ services was variable across the County and if the centres which had been rated as “outstanding” shared their best practice with the other centres, it could help the latter to improve.  There had been much development of children’s centres and early years’ provision and support was available to help children learn to read and play.  Parenting classes were also available in children’s centres.  Support might be needed for some pupils in their transition from early years to primary schools to secondary schools to sixth forms to higher education.  “Satisfactory” was not good enough and the Children, Young People & Families’ Directorate continued to challenge schools and to advise them what they needed to do to achieve “good” or “outstanding”.  Governing bodies needed to make the right decisions on leadership of the school even if this meant that they had to wait longer until they recruited the right candidate.  The two federations were bringing benefits to the schools by sharing headteachers, leadership teams and resources enabling them to develop quality provision and opportunities for staff.  There were other examples of mobile populations, for example, armed forces’ families.  It was important to ensure that, for all pupils who changed schools, the systems were in place to send their records quickly to their new schools.

Ms Paine referred to research undertaken by Warwick University into children’s learning up to the age of 3 at children’s centres which had shown that children learnt a great deal from their parents, including by mirroring them.  She talked about the importance of all the agencies working with families.

Councillor Waine reported that all local authority governors were sent correspondence twice a year outlining the authority’s policies and their links to government policies.  He added that it was difficult for governors to challenge schools but some governors were prepared to do this.  He reported that there would be reductions in school improvement partners (SIPs) and area-based grants.  Not all schools used SIPs as well as they should.  He was concerned how the 20% of schools which had not taken part in Key Stage 2 tests would be able to judge their school’s development without external assessment.

It was AGREED to thank the review group for its work and to ask the Corporate Performance and Review Officer to report to the meeting of the Committee in September 2010 with recommendations arising from the discussion by the Select Committee on 29 June and the discussion by the Scrutiny Committee at this meeting.