Agenda item

Report of Joint Director’s of Education

This report was delivered to the Board by Pat Fielding, Director of Education. The following information was provided:

a)  children in Nottingham are starting school with attainment levels which are below those expected nationally. By the end of Key Stage 2, attainment levels are still below the national average. However, the gap begins close;

b)  overall for Key Stage 1-2, Nottingham are ranked:

  1) 35^th for maths;

  2) 47^th for reading;

  3) 41^st for writing.

c)  over the last three years, Nottingham has lost on average around 25% of its Key Stage 2 pupils, as they move to secondary schools outside of the city;

d)  a large proportion of the children moving to a non city school are considered to have a high prior attainment;

e)  at Key Stage 4, the number of pupils achieving 5+ A*-C GCSEs (or equivalent)  including English and Maths, is 44.6%. This ranks Nottingham 148th nationally;

f)  56.3% of Nottingham’s pupils achieved the expected progress in maths. This ranks Nottingham 143^rd nationally;

g)  65.1% of pupils achieved the expected progress in English, which ranks Nottingham 141^st nationally;

h)  for Key Stage 5, 88.3% of children achieved 2 or more A Level passes or equivalent in 2014. This ranks Nottingham in 97^th place;

i)  the number of young people aged 16-17 in employment, education or training is very high at 92.3%. Work is undertaken with other organisations to ensure that further skills are obtained by  pupils such as team working and organisation skills;

j)  achievement is being improved by carrying out risk assessments and holding meetings and reviews with schools.

Further information was provided following questions which were raised:

a)  work is being done to try and prevent students migrating to schools outside of the city;

b)  some secondary schools are under performing, with some schools being placed under special measures;

c)  further work needs to be done to ensure children are obtaining skills that employers require such as timeliness and team working. Some schools already have measures in place for this;

d)  even though some pupils do not have access to services to build extra skills, the number of children in education, employment or training is very high;

e)  work continues to take place with partners to ensure that opportunities for young pupils are not missed;

f)  some schools within the city attract pupils who do not reside within Nottingham;

g)  creative activities can be implemented into lessons. However, this is reliant on the school/teacher;

h)  children’s progress should be calculated city wide and not just per individual schools;

i)  the current Government have introduced free schools, partly provide a range of schools that encourage competitiveness;

j)  experiences for school pupils differ depending on which area of the country they live in. More work is needed to signpost young people to services such as Futures;

k)  schools can invite former pupils back to give talks on their careers, education and to offer younger pupils advice;

l)  it is felt that there is too much focus on percentage achievements and not enough focus on individual children. Pupils are missing out on various learning opportunities as a result of this.

RESOLVED to note the content of the report.

At 17:13pm, Councillor Mellen (chair) gave his apologies and left the meeting. Malcolm Cowgill (vice chair) chaired the remainder of the meeting.