Agenda and minutes

Councillor Neghat Khan   - Other Council Business

Councillor Chris Tansley   - Personal

None

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting held on 20 June 2017

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2017 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Carl Elder, Head Teacher at Bluecoat Beechdale Academy gave a presentation to the Committee on the post OFSTED Improvement Journey for Bluecoat Beechdale Academy. He highlighted the following information:

(a)  In 2014 the school was judged to be one of the worst in the country in terms of weak intakes and poor outcomes. Following the involvement of Bluecoat Academy Trust results and outcomes have been improving  and now the school is out performing 100’s of others nationally;

(b)  69% of students live within an area ranked in the top 10% most deprived in Britain, and 20% live in an area ranked in the top 1% most deprived in Britain;

(c)  this disadvantage is not just financial for the students of the current year 11 students, only 30% had primary school experiences that were rated good or better. Of the current year 10 students, only 16% had primary school experiences rated good or better and of the current year 9 students 14% had primary school experiences that were rated good or better;

(d)  historically the school has not had a good reputation and this has resulted in instability of the student population with students moving in and out of the school frequently. In the current year 11 just over half of the students started at the school in year 7. There is increased stability starting to show for current year 9 and the recruitment and retention of students has improved over recent years, the upcoming intake of year 7 students is at least 178;

(e)  there has been, and continues to be a focus on student attendance. In 2011/12 it was below 90%. Students are beginning to see the value of their education more, and work by an ex-police officer has pushed attendance up to over 94% in 2015/16;

(f)  there has also been an improvement in achievements. More students are gaining 5 or more A* – C (including English and Maths), and the proportion of students gaining 5 or more A* – G is now above the national average. Using the new Attainment 8 measures students are doing one whole grade better than the previous year;

(g)  support work for pupils who attract the pupil premium is paying off with this group improving more quickly than non-pupil premium students. For some years pupils within the SEND cohort did not achieve the 5 or more A* - C grade, but now a quarter do;

(h)  there are still challenges around literacy levels with around only 42% of current year 11 students being at or above expected reading competency. 2 dedicated Literacy Leads have been appointed as part of Trust wide improvement plans and the Trust is engaging with the Reading Recovery Projects in order to push literacy levels up;

(i)  in February 2017 Ofsted rated the school as Good, behaviour was the one area where improvement was suggested and this is another focus for the Trust. This improved rating has helped to recruit and retain staff and students;

Following questions from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

John Edwards, Regional Schools Commissioner for East Midlands and Humber thanked the Committee for the invitation to attend the meeting and to discuss his role. He outlined the following points:

(a)  The formal roles of the Regional Schools Commissioner are delegated from the Secretary of State and include:

·  Where academies and schools are underperforming working with the trusts to ensure appropriate action is taken to improve performance

·  Tackling underperformance in maintained schools

·  Conversion of maintained schools to academies

·  Approval of sponsors and multi academy trusts

·  Deciding on making significant changes to academies and free schools

·  Advising on proposals for new free schools, and whether to cancel, defer or enter into funding agreements with free school projects.

(b)  Each Commissioner is supported by a Head Teachers Board made up of academy head teachers and sector leaders who provide advice and challenge on decisions the Commission makes;

(c)  The main objective for the Commissioner is to ensure that schools are good quality and deliver great outcomes for students;

(d)  There are a range of ways a Commissioner can work towards these outcomes:

·  Direct work with academy trusts, education advisors and specialists to provide assessment of a school at its present stage and predictions of where it is heading

·  Warnings issued to academy trusts to improve performance and, ultimately, termination of a trust’s responsibility for a school if performance does not improve

·  Transfer of responsibility for a school from one trust to another either voluntarily or enforced

·  Advise Trusts around time to expand or time to wait, improving capacity for support and performance improvement

(e)  When a maintained school converts to an academy the Board of Head Teachers will advise on the decision making process. Considerations will be:

·  Current and projected performance of the school

·  Current performance of the trust it will be joining or proposals for the trust it will form

·  Whether the school has capacity to improve or will require significant support to do so

·  Whether a strong leadership team is in place or will be appointed

·  Financial implications for the School/Trust/Sponsor

Following questions from the Committee and discussion the following points were made:

(f)  Permanent exclusion figures have risen sharply since the start of academisation, both in Nottingham City and nationally. Policy rests with  head teachers and trusts working in partnership, however pupil needs are also recognised;

(g)  When schools have a history of challenging behaviour, reflected in Ofsted reports there is often a spike in permanent exclusion numbers at the start of academisation which is a recognised early stage of addressing challenging behaviour in order to effect change. Work continues around permanent exclusions to understand trends and patterns;

(h)  Nottingham City’s GCSE results remain less favourable than expected as a Core City and it is recognised that the City’s performance is not where it should be. The key to tackling this is strong action taken against underperforming trusts, work to continue to build capacity for improvement, strong stable trusts, and focused partnership work and collaboration;

(i)  Work is taking  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Verbal update from Head of Access and Learning

Nick Lee, Head of Access and Learning introduced the Education Trust Update to the Committee. He highlighted the following points:

(a)  The Education Trust was initially developed in response to a Government White Paper on full academisation of all maintained schools. Those schools who were not keen on conversion came together to explore how they could work together and to re-establish a feeling of cohesion;

(b)  The Government White Paper on full academisation has not been progressed but the schools who have been involved see the benefits of working in partnership and are keen to progress;

(c)  The proposal is that the Trust will be opened on 1^st September 2017 and will be structured as a not for profit Charitable Trust. Members will be appointed from the Council and from the schools and the Chief Executive is the City Council’s Director of Education; 

(d)  30 schools have committed to joining the Trust, including 2 standalone academies;

(e)  The schools will continue to be maintained by the Council, but will benefit from the support and added value being within the Trust will bring. This will also prevent the schools from being susceptible to academisation and boost performance;

(f)  As a charity the Trust will be able to apply for funding streams not available to the Council and will be bidding through the Department for Education;

(g)  The Trust’s priorities are driving strong progress in primary schools results and improving the outcomes for pupils;

(h)  The Trust will allow the schools involved to access joint procurement, reducing costs and achieving added value. These savings can then be reinvested into the schools to deliver better service.

Following questions from the Committee the following information was highlighted:

(i)  Not all maintained primary schools have chosen to join the Trust. The Council will continue to meet its statutory duty around school improvements programmes for those schools, however the schools will not benefit from the added value the trust will offer.

RESOLVED to thank Nick Lee for his attendance and to note the content of his report.

Jane Garrard Senior Governance Officer introduced a report on the Work Programme 2017/18.

RESOLVED to note the work programme for the municipal year 2017/18