Agenda item

The Leader introduced the report and confirmed that a Key Stage 4 outcome report is reported to Cabinet each year. 2019 marks the first set of data released in line with the interim performance measures, therefore, it has not been possible to make comparisons to previous attainment.  The Leader outlined the interim performance measures:

The Capped Nine measure:

§  Literacy

§  Numeracy

§  Science

§  6 GCSEs or equivalent

o   Literacy

o   Numeracy

o   Science

o   Welsh Baccalaureate Skills Challenge Certificate

The Leader confirmed the interim performance measures are based on a points score:

·         In the Capped Nine score the equivalent of 9 Grade C GCSEs is 360 points

·         A line of best fit in terms of individual schools with the region has been produced based on attainment and Free School Meals percentage of each school.

The Leader introduced the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills to speak in more detail to the report.

Councillor Giles confirmed the report is for information only and details the summer 2019 outcomes of Key Stage 4 learners in Newport’s schools.

The interim performance measures work on a point score system, rather than reporting the percentage of learners who attained a particular standard, and focus on the individual schools rather than aggregating data to a local authority level.

The report includes a line of best fit based on the performance of all schools across the South East Wales Consortium.  Based on the line of best fit, there are a number of Newport schools that performed in line with, or better than, the modelled expectation in summer 2019.  These include St Joseph’s RC High, Llanwern High, Bassaleg School, St Julian’s School and Newport High.  The Cabinet Member said it is important to consider that some Newport schools serve diverse populations, including a significant number of learners who may speak English as an additional language or have high rates of mobility in and out of the city, so direct comparison of performance between schools is not always appropriate.

The report includes a table that demonstrates the difference in performance of learners who are eligible for free school meals against those who are not eligible.  It is a priority of the Council’s Education Service to reduce the gap in the performance of these two groups of learners.  However, when analysing this table it is important to note the cohort sizes of the two groups of learners.  Some schools have a much smaller percentage of learners who are eligible for free school meals compared to others.  Again, this difference in cohort size means that it is not appropriate to compare the gap in performance between schools.

The Cabinet Member stressed it is important to note that this performance data is only one measure that is used to assess how well a school is doing.

National categorisation informs the amount of external support a school needs to improve:

§  Red categorisation schools receive up to 25 days of support;

§  Amber categorisation schools receive up to 15 days of support;

§  Yellow categorisation schools receive 10 days of support and,

§  Green categorisation schools receive 4 days support from the EAS. 

Notable changes in categorisation this year are:

§  Llanwern High has changed from a red to amber categorisation - the Cabinet Member expressed her congratulations and thanks to the Head Teacher of Llanwern High for this attainment, and,

§  The John Frost School has changed from amber to yellow categorisation. 

The report noted that Ysgol Gyfun Gwent Is Coed and St Joseph’s High school remain as green categorisation schools. 

Those schools that remain red or are categorised as amber are making progress but still require the higher levels of support from the EAS.

During the last academic year, Llanwern High was removed from the Estyn statutory category of ‘significant improvement’ due to the positive progress the school had made.  In addition, Bassaleg School received a positive Estyn Inspection where it achieved four good and one excellent judgement.  Estyn invited Bassaleg School to prepare a case study on its work around involving vulnerable groups in student representation and its personal and social education and tutorial programme for sharing on Estyn’s website.  The Cabinet Member confirmed she and Councillor Mark Spencer (Armed Forces Champion) had visited Bassaleg School earlier in the day to celebrate the support the school gives to children whose parents are in the armed forces.

Attendance is another important indicator of school performance.  In 2018/19, no Newport secondary schools were placed in the bottom quarter for their attendance rate, when compared to similar schools.  In 2018/19, secondary school attendance in Newport was ranked 7^th out of the 22 local authorities in Wales.  Newport has improved by 15 ranking places over the last four years, and in 2018/19 three Newport secondary schools were in the highest quartile for their attendance rate; this is something to be celebrated.

The Cabinet Member congratulated all education staff for the support given to all schools and congratulated the secondary schools on their successes over the last year.

The Leader was pleased to hear about the schools’ improvement and thanked all stakeholders for the level of commitment provided to education in Newport.

Decision:

Cabinet agreed the content of the report.