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Agenda item

Verified Key Stage 4 & 5 Pupil Outcomes

Minutes:

The Leader presented the report to Cabinet Member colleagues highlighting the following:

 

2021 Summer Results

The calculation and publication of Key Stage 4 and legacy sixth form performance measures for 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022 academic years is suspended.

Qualification awards data would not be used to report on attainment outcomes at a school, local authority or regional consortium level and must not be used to hold schools to account for their learners’ outcomes.

There would be a direct impact on the usual data releases provided by the Welsh Government, with some releases suspended for one or more of the years disrupted by coronavirus or still to be determined.

All schools and post-16 providers continued to be required to undertake effective self-evaluation to support continuous improvement. This involved schools, with support from local authorities and regional consortia, using the learner level information they had on attainment and other outcomes to reflect on and improve their existing arrangements.

School categorisation would not take place in academic year 2021 to 2022. Regional consortia and local authorities continued to work in partnership with schools to help provide them with the support they need to improve and to successfully implement our ambitious reforms.

The School Performance and Absence Targets (Wales) Regulations 2011 were revoked in 2020, this meant that schools were no longer required to set and publish targets.)

 

Curriculum for Wales and Welsh Government Draft School Improvement Guidance

 

There would be a new curriculum for schools and funded non-maintained settings in Wales from September 2022, Curriculum for Wales (CfW).

 

In March 2020 Welsh Government consulted on the draft school improvement guidance.  The new proposals aimed to:

 

·        Strengthen the importance and effectiveness of self-evaluation and improvement planning by schools, which draws on a broad range of evidence

·        Focus on schools’ self-evaluations and improvement priorities as the starting point for work with local authorities and regional consortia.

·        Consider school performance in its widest sense, with schools evaluated in their own context, supported by a broad range of evidence, bespoke improvement planning and support.

·        Ensure that the school’s self-evaluation processes identify areas of strengths and priorities for improvement, which are drawn together in a single, strategic school development plan.

·        Build on schools’ self-evaluations and development plans to work with local authorities and regional consortia to agree the additional support they need to improve.

·        Identify where schools have strengths and capacity to collaborate with other schools to support them

 

Data for Elected Members

 

Schools used a range of evaluative information and progress data to inform and refine future practice and provision, shaping their priorities for improvement.  Members continued to receive data on:

 

·        Estyn inspection outcomes (from Spring Term 2022) and progress of schools in statutory categories (from Autumn Term 2021)

·        Attendance information

·        Exclusion information

·        Contextual information (FSM %, All Wales Core Data set contextual data would be updated)

·        My Local School with updated information including: (Free School Meals (FSM)%, Special Educational Needs (SEN)%, English as an Additional Language (EAL)% - 3 year rolling average covering 7 years)

·        The progress of Schools Causing Concern (including those within the multi-agency approach and those within the regional Team Around the School approach)

·        Local Authority information on Finance, Human Resources, Additional Learning Needs (ALN), Education Other Than at School (EOTAS).

 

South East Wales Consortia directors commenced discussions with The South East Wales Education Achievement Service (EAS), around the full range of information that was currently available on the context and performance of schools.  Further consultation would be required to identify the most relevant and meaningful information to share with elected members, recognising that once entering the scrutiny process, this information would be automatically made public

 

Comments from Cabinet Members:

 

Councillor Davies advised colleagues that it was important to note Welsh Government have recognised that high stake accountability systems largely failed in leading to sustained improvements in schools. This was due to an over reliance on a narrow range of performance data which drove consequent behaviours that ultimately impacted on individuals and how they learned.

 

It was now recognised that a transparent supportive approach with specific feedback generated growth with an honest investment in accountability that led to whole school improvement and better outcomes.

 

Whilst KS4 and KS5 data was no longer used to measure attainment and as a comparator with other schools, and indeed it was necessary to suspend this during the pandemic, it remained vital that schools understood and knew how to support their students to improve their learning and help to prepare them for the competitiveness of the adult world.

 

Schools would continue to use formative assessment strategies and a range of evaluative information to determine an individual’s development and performance. Schools were being offered bespoke support and guidance from both the LEA and the EAS to ensure self-evaluation and target setting with measurable outcomes were being efficiently used.

 

Elected members would continue to be updated on a range of measures that were already in place. It was important that elected members were provided with an understanding of context in relation to performance of our schools in Newport. Consideration however, must be given to confidentiality and the associated risks that this paper referred to when comparisons were made. Work was therefore currently ongoing as to what this would look like.

 

The Leader thanked Councillor Davies for her continued and valued support.

 

Decision:

That Cabinet:

1.       Acknowledged the position regarding pupil performance.

2.       Considered any issues arising that the Cabinet may wish to draw to the attention of the Chief Education Officer.

 

Supporting documents: