Agenda item

Councillor D.J.R. Bartlett declared an interest in that he is President of the Carmarthenshire branch of the National Union of Teachers.

The Committee considered the report on school performance and achievement which summarised the key issues arising from an analysis of data in relation to the performance of schools during the academic year 2014/15. The report included the following sections:

·         Standards: The County’s achievements for 2014/15

·         Inspection Outcomes

·         Developing Values and Skills

The Committee was informed how performance and standards in the County’s schools compared with best performing schools across the ERW region.

The following issues were discussed during consideration of the report:

It was asked how the department intended to implement the areas for improvement outlined in the report. The Chief Education Officer informed the Committee that the three key areas of improvement (Performance of eFSM learners, performance of more able and talented learners, performance at the Foundation Phase) would be included in the departmental business plan for 2016/17 as well as being included in the ERW business plan as the County’s key priorities for 2016/17. The Head of School Effectiveness added that every school was categorised in relation to the type of support it required and that Carmarthenshire was the first authority in the ERW region to visit schools on a regular basis to drive improvements. Progress was evident, especially in the secondary sector which had received significant input from officers.

The number of Challenge Advisors working in the County was queried. The Head of School Effectiveness Officer confirmed that there were 12 advisors although aspects of the work were also supported by head teachers or other officers from the department, brought in when necessary.

Reference was made to the importance of leadership in schools but concern expressed that this had been deemed unsatisfactory in 10% of the schools inspected during 2014/15. The Head of School Effectiveness informed the Committee that this related to two schools, both of which had recently come out of ESTYN monitoring following their respective inspections. Officers from the Authority had worked successfully with the schools during this period and it was encouraging to note that Carmarthenshire had no schools in the lowest Welsh performance sector.

It was acknowledged that whilst the report itself was encouraging and that 75% of leadership was deemed to be either excellent or good by ESTYN, it was asked whether this should in turn impact on the teaching and standards, both only deemed to be adequate in 40% of schools. It was suggested that there should be a correlation between excellent leadership and the standards and teaching evident in schools. The Head of School Effectiveness agreed that in theory, strong and effective leadership should lead to improved standards and teaching within schools. However, whilst ESTYN did talk with pupils and survey workbooks in the primary sector, inspectors’ decisions on the school standards or teaching were made based on teacher assessments. He added that Carmarthenshire’ schools tended to produce quite conservative teacher assessments, often overly self-critical which in turn impacted on how schools were perceived by the inspectors.

Reference was made to the key questions posed by ESTYN during its inspections of schools and it was asked whether the County’s schools struggled with any of these in particular. The Head of School Effectiveness noted that attendance had been a key issue for ESTYN in recent times and should a school’s attendance figures be a cause for concern, this appeared to have a knock-on effect with inspectors looking for other faults. For example, if attendance was not at a desired level, the care and support provided or the leadership of the head teacher might be questioned, thus leading to lower grading in the final inspection report. The Director of Education & Children reminded the Committee that the Inspection Outcomes Profile for 2014-15 only referred to the 20 schools inspected and cautioned members from drawing too many conclusions from such a small number of cases. He added that in the past, the Authority had been criticised for having too many schools in various ESTYN monitoring categories but this had improved significantly in recent years. The department was now very adept at getting schools out of ESTYN monitoring, should that be required.  

In response to a question on the County’s performance in relation to other ERW partners, the Chief Education Officer noted that for most categories, Carmarthenshire was 3rd or 4th behind Powys and Ceredigion. The Director of Education & Children noted that it was important to consider the numbers of pupils in the County’s schools, compared with some of its neighbours and that Ceredigion and Powys both had fewer numbers of learners who were eligible for free school meals.

Reference was made to the on-going gap between those pupils who were eligible for free school meals and those who were not. The Director of Education & Children acknowledged that this was one of the County’s main challenges and was a key improvement for 2016/17. 

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.