Agenda item

·         Councillor Sarah Merry (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member, Education, Employment and Skills) will be in attendance and may wish to make a statement;

·         Nick Batchelar (Director, Education and Lifelong Learner and officers will present the report and be available to answer any questions Members may have;

·         Questions from Committee Members;

·         The Way Forward for this item will be considered at the end of the meeting.

The Committee received a verbal update on provisional performance results in Cardiff Schools for 2016/17.  The Director of Education also presented the Directorate Performance Report Quarter 1 2017/18 prior to its consideration by the Cabinet on 21 September 2017.  Members were advised that the Quarter 1 Performance Report attached as Appendix A to the report provided an update on progress towards the strategy priorities identified in the Directorate’s Delivery Plan 2017-19.  The Performance Overview for Education and Lifelong Learning was attached at Appendix B.

School Performance 2017

The Committee received a brief presentation on the provision performance results.  The presentation included data on Foundation Phase outcomes; Key Stage (KS) 2 and Key Stage 3 Core Indicators; Free School Meal (FSM) V Non-FSM outcomes at Foundation, KS2 and KS3; KS4 data; and provisional KS5 data.

The key themes identified in the presentation are summarised as follows:

·         Foundation Phase outcomes for Cardiff are above the Consortium average

·         FSM v Non-FSM outcomes – 77% of FSM pupils achieved the expected level compared to 91% of Non-FSM

·         89.4% of KS2 achieved the expected level which is in line with the average

·         The gap in attainment at KS2 between FSM and Non-FSM attainment was 13%, which is below the Welsh average of 14.3%

·         There was a slight fall in Mathematics results at KS3

·         KS4 data was calculated under new arrangements.  The data provided a new baseline which is not comparable to 2016 data.

·         KS4 Level 1 threshold results were below the consortium average.  A number of factors affected performance.  Members will receive full details in the January 2018 performance report.

·         KS5 results were good.  Boys out performed girls for the first time.

Members were invited to comment, seek clarification or raise questions on the information provided.  Those discussions are summarised as follows:

·         Members asked whether it was reasonable that year 5 exams were marked differently this year.  Officers stated that the exams were marked at the end of a 2-year period of study.  Pupils were aware that these exams would be marked differently from the outset.

·         Members noted the FSM v Non-FSM data and the additional resources allocated to closing the attainment gap between the two groups.  Members asked whether there was any data available beneath FSM that would make closing the attainment gap more difficult, such as children with additional learning needs or ESOL needs.  For example, Members suggested that some schools may be better able to close the gap because there were fewer ESOL pupils in attendance.  Officers stated that many factors affect attainment and FSM is one of them.  School are becoming more sophisticated in recognising these issues.

·         Officers confirmed that the FSM v Non-FSM attainment data will be available on a school by school basis in the future.  From that data it will be possible to assess of how effective pupil deprivation grant expenditure has been.  The Committee will have an opportunity to probe these issues at the January 2018 meeting.

·         Members also requested data on the attainment of pupils who had stopped claiming FSM and further details of the EOTAS improvement plan.

Quarter 1 Performance Report

The Director of Education presented the Education and Lifelong Learning Quarter 1 2017/18 Performance Report.  Referring to the priorities set out in the report, and in particular, the need to improve provision for children and young people with additional learning needs, Members were advised that placements outside of Cardiff were placing huge pressure on budgets.  There was an urgent need to expand provision in within the City.

Priority 4 – Ensuring there are sufficient and high quality school places to meet the population growth in the City – the Director stated that bids for 21^st Century Schools Band B funding were oversubscribed.  The Asset Renewal Board has been established and it is working through priorities and budgets for this year to address condition and suitability issues throughout the school estate.  Affordability remains a key challenge as there are a large number of schools in the city are in a poor condition.  The Director considered that an Asset Renewal Improvement Plan is needed.

Priority 6 – Work with the Central South Consortium to further develop the capacity of the school system to be self-improving – Members were advised that efforts were being made to introduce more consistency across the 4 Welsh consortia.  The Director suggested that such policy changes may be of interest to the Committee.

Priority 7 – Build effective partnerships between schools, business, the voluntary sector and wider public services and communities to enrich the school curriculum and strengthen school governance – Members were advised that there have been notable successes against this priority, particularly in terms of Eastern High and the Cardiff West Community High School.

The Chairperson invited comments and questions from Members of the Committee.  Those discussions are summarised as follows:

·         Members asked what the challenges are facing Cardiff’s 21^st Century Schools Band B submission.  The Cabinet Member stated that Cardiff is in significant need of additional school places, the condition of school buildings and improving provision for young people with additional learning needs.

·         Members asked officers to comment on the recruitment and retention of Welsh language teachers.  The Director advised that as provision continues to expand the need for larger numbers of teachers remains challenging.  There are also some challenges in faith schools, particularly in the Catholic sector.

·         Members supported the new framework for measuring the performance of looked after children.  The Director stated that, whilst it was too early to judge the framework, he welcomed the focus on this group.  Consideration is being given to placing pupils in schools using the looked after children admissions lever.

·         The development of the Welsh Education Leaders Academy has provided an opportunity for education leaders to learn from each other and share practices.  Some headway has been made in introducing a formal approach for aspiring head teachers.

·         Members noted that Full Time Exclusions (FTE) were in the ‘red’ category for the period and this related to one school in particular.  Officers were asked to comment.  Officers indicated that the FTEs related to two schools in the west of the city which are now closed.  The Director stated that, in his view, the over-use of FTEs was counterproductive but there were circumstances where other pupils needed to be protected from bad behaviour.

AGREED – that the Chairperson writes on the Committee’s behalf to the Cabinet Member to convey their comments and observations.