Agenda item

Nick Lee, Director of Education Services, gave a presentation on the attainment of children and young people for the 2018/19 academic year. Currently, this information does not contain the data from the Virtual School, which is yet to be validated and released. The following points were discussed:

(a)  for Early Years (ages 4 to 5), 66.9% of pupils in Nottingham reached a ‘Good Level of Development’, though this is 0.7% less than the previous year. The national average is 71.8%, ranking Nottingham at 143 out of 151 Local Authorities. However, the general trend is that Nottingham is narrowing the gap from the national average, due to the great deal of work being done in Early Years. The current dip in the trend is being investigated. Special educational needs and/or disabilities have been identified and there are a number of children with complex needs. There have been a series of children who have started at their schools mid-year, who also have English as a second language. Further targeted, tailored support has been implemented, with a review of the partnership work in place to support boys, in particular;

(b)  at the end of Year 1, there has been no change in the Nottingham and national percentages for Phonics, which remains a significant area of national scrutiny. Nottingham remains 3% behind the national average, though it has increased its position by 4 in the Local Authority rankings, rising to 132^nd;

(c)  at Key Stage 1 (ages 6 to 7), the gap between Nottingham and the national average for the Expected Standard has reduced by 1%. Nottingham has gained ten Local Authority rankings for maths, rising to 134^th. For reading, the gap in the national average has reduced by 2%, with Nottingham rising five places to 141^st. For writing, the national average gap has remained at 4%, and there has been no major change in Nottingham’s ranking of 128^th;

(d)  at Key Stage 2 (ages 10 to 11), the proportion of pupils attaining the reading, writing and mathematics benchmark (RWM) increased by 1% to 63.45%. Nottingham recorded mixed changes in ranking year-on-year for pupils achieving the expected standard in each subject, but the gap with the national average is reducing. Nottingham is at the national average for maths, and is only 1% below in grammar, punctuation and spelling. The Key Stage 2 Progress Scores have increased for reading and writing, and remain stable for maths;

(e)  improvement between Key Stages 1 and 2 is strong and is reflected across both the Nottingham Schools Trust and the other primary academies. This should have a good impact on future attainment in Key Stage 4, where average attainment scores are starting to increase. A number of young people go on to attend secondary schools outside of the city area, but the number staying on is now growing;

(f)  the School Heads Partnership is working closely to share best practice on how to best support boys from white, working-class backgrounds, who can often underperform at school. Investment is being made in these children at the Early Years stage, with tailored support and the introduction of role models;

(g)  academies are being encouraged to work in partnership to support high-ability children, though no formal, funded programmes are in place. The Committee considered that the current system has an apparent lack of individual focus, follow-up and funding for children who show potential for high academic attainment.

The Committee thanked Nick Lee for his presentation and noted the report.