Update on the Select Committee on Educational Attainment
The Select Committee on Educational Attainment was held on Tuesday 29 June 2010.
Members of the working group will report back on the discussion.
Minutes:
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:
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 ... view the full minutes text for item 77