Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 20 May 2010 were correctly recorded subject to the word ‘Accrobac’ in paragraph 26 (6) being altered to read Aqa baccalaureate and that they be signed by the Chairman.

This will include written papers on the following:

(a)               Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stage 2 & 4 results

(b)               GCSE National Challenge and A Levels

(c)               OFSTED Inspections

(d)               CFE Restructure within the Learning  Group

(Report by Mrs J Whittle, Deputy Cabinet Member (Learning) and Mrs M Haeusler, Director of Learning)

(1)         The Deputy Cabinet Member and Service Directors’ presented a report giving an update on the following topics;CFE Restructure, GCSE results, Ofsted inspections and academies.

(2)         Mrs Whittle began by highlighting key issues that had happened since the POSC last met which included; 3 successful headteacher area based meetings were held to discuss what was happening nationally about the New Academies Programme and policy developments in planning for the future. Twelve district based briefings were being held with headteachers to introduce the newly appointed Preventative Services Managers and other standards officers, 2 meetings had already been held in Dover and Tunbridge Wells with 10 more meetings scheduled across the county.  Mrs Whittle spoke on the successful results in GCSE and A Levels within the nationally challenged Kent schools and the improving standards and work being undertaken by Mrs Haeusler and her Team on those areas that needed improvement.  Mrs Whittle concluded by paying tribute to the staff in the nationally challenged secondary schools and local authority officers for all their work in achieving the improvements although she still had concerns that the funding that had been given to this area may not be available in the future and suggested other ways may need to be found to overcome this.

(3)         Members were given the opportunity to ask questions and make comments which included the following:

(4)         In response to a question by Mrs Todd, Mrs Haeusler advised that within the next two months the results would be validated and an update on those results would be reported in the Standards report.  The detailed list of the unvalidated results was available and could be viewed by Members of the Committee but was not for publication at this meeting.

(5)         In response to a follow up question by Mrs Todd, Mrs Haeusler advised that there would be an analysis on the results and reasons why 5 schools remained under the national challenge threshold as well as an analysis on those schools that did improve and whether the best practise could be shared.  Mrs Whittle added that two of the 5 schools had a large number of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and the results from the SEN units were recorded with the GCSE figures.  A concern was that schools with SEN units may be discouraged from inclusion because of this issue of reporting, there needed to be a balance of encouraging SEN students within mainstream settings but not for the school to be penalised for doing so in the reporting if those children were unlikely to get GCSEs in English and Mathematics at grade C or above.

(6)         Mrs Haeusler then spoke on topics relating to the Learning Group which included; the CFE restructure, the national testing and issues emerging from the government including the new academies and an update on Ofsted inspections.

(7)         Mrs Haeusler highlighted that the twelve districts were in place  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

(This item is to follow as the unvalidated results were not available at the time of despatching the papers)

(a)               SATs and Key Stage 1 and 2 results

(b)               GCSE National Challenge and A levels

(c)               OFSTED Inspections

(Report by Ms R Turner, Managing Director, Children, Families & Education Directorate, Mrs M Haeusler, Director of Learning and Mrs S Hohler, Cabinet Member for Children, Families & Education)

(1)         The Committee considered a report that provided a summary of the Kent Early Years Foundation Stage Assessments, KS1 and 2 SATs, GCSE and A level results for 2010 with the understanding that they were provisional results that may change slightly following formal DfE validation in October 2010. 

(2)         The Chairman agreed to take this issue one assessment stage at a time.

Foundation Stage

(3)         Mrs Haeusler introduced the report advising the Committee that the report was based on provisional unvalidated data results, there were no schools named as there were still a number of schools that were undergoing an appeal on their SATs results at Key Stage 2. Foundation results were improving with a reduction in the achievement gap by 2.5% to 28% and 60% of the children at that level were achieving the expected level.

(4)         In response to a question by Mr Jarvis, Mrs Haeusler explained that the national figures were not available for Foundation Stage at present.  There were a number of reasons why children had not reached the expected level of education.  She advised that development did not start at reception class, it was about looking at settings and what we were doing in Children’s Centres, helping with parenting skills and parents and carers to understand the importance of speaking, listening and talking to children and reading to them.

(5)         In response to a question by Mrs Rook, Mrs Haeusler stressed that under the restructuring it was part of the strategy to have early intervention prevention and to be proactive. All of the teaching and learning advisors had been realigned focusing on early years.

(6)         The Chairman referred to page 38 paragraph 1 (3) that referred to an increase of 250 more children in the cohort than in 2009 a figure that had been increasing for 4 years and suggested that figures on this trend could be forwarded to Members outside the meeting.

Key Stage 1

(7)         Mrs Haeusler said that she had focused on the attainment of boys at Key Stage 1 within the report as nationally boys reading and writing often was behind the expected level at this stage. Kent had been particularly focused on this and there had been improvement for boys on their reading and writing.

(8)         Mrs Haeusler explained that Key Stage 1 was a crucial time for providing early support where this was needed.  She suggested that it may be one of the reasons that those children were not being identified early enough which relates to the concerns of attainment at Key Stage 2.

(9)         She also highlighted the attainment of the gifted and talented children at Level 3 in reading, writing and mathematics, which was above the national average.

(10)    The Priority for Action was the move to Key Stage 1 from foundation stage and looking at the interventions that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

(Report by Ms R Turner, Managing Director, Children, Families and Education Directorate and Mrs S Hohler, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and   Education)

(Ms Dunn, Head of 14-19 Entitlement Team was present for this Item)

(1)         The Committee discussed a report on the response to recommendations following a review undertaken by this POSC into the Planning and Commissioning of 16-19 provision.

(2)         Ms Dunn advised that the local authority had a statutory responsibility to plan and secure all 16-19 and up to 24 year olds Learners with Learning Difficulties and/or Disability (LLDD) with appropriate provision for Kent resident learners had not changed. However, from 20 July what had changed was that the local authority no longer directly funded colleges and work based learning providers although the relationship with schools remained the same.  She added that the detail in the Education White Paper was due to be published by the government in November. The Minister for Education had announced that a root and branches review on qualifications would be carried out and an interim report would be published in the Spring 2011.  

(3)         Ms Dunn reported that six Planning Officers were in post and would be taking forward the recommendations made by Members as detailed in the report.

(4)         The Committee noted that Ms Dunn had evidence on the GCSE results at Key Stage 4 and the reasons on the trajectory in A to G was due to the introduction of the vocational programme in 2004 and those results had an impact on the results from 2006 onwards.  The vocational centres and the vocational work carried out in schools were there for learners who would not have traditionally succeeded in the traditional school environment had thrived and received equivalent qualifications through the vocational programme; there was evidence to track that analysis.  This was a positive outcome of Kent’s decisions to invest and promote vocational qualifications (now being called technical and practical education).

(5)         In response to a question by Mrs Todd, Ms Dunn said that with regard to 6^th Forms, Members should to be mindful of the notion of autonomous schools, academies and the local authority’s power to influence the planning. The local authority had to produce a robust case for providers to say that the current provision a) did not meet the learners needs because it did not offer positive progression into employment or further higher quality training; and b) in the use of the public purse e.g. 3 students for e.g. a biology course was not good use of public money.  The local authority had the power to influence and persuade, it had to have area planning and a common buy in to local programmes.  Ms Dunn felt there was a need to look at the inadequate provision and ineffective use of resources.

(6)         In response to questions by Mrs Rook, Ms Dunn suggested that being champions of parents and learners in careers guidance and choice was an area that would be explored.  In relation to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

(Report by Mrs M Haeusler, Director of Learning and Mrs S Hohler, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education)

(1)         The Committee was advised that Mr Silk was unable to attend the meeting and if the Committee agreed he would be happy to receive questions on the report and reply in writing outside the meeting.

(2)         Mr Critchley requested the results of the gifted and talented at Key Stage 2.  The Committee agreed to Mrs Haeulser suggestion that the information received in the response should feature as part of the Standards Report in February 2011.

(3)         RESOLVED that:

(a)   Agreement be given to the results of the gifted and talented at Key Stage 2 be forwarded to Members outside the meeting and the information received in the response be featured as part of the Standards Report in February 2011;

(b)   the programme of activities which occur in Kent to support the  provision for gifted and talented pupils be noted; and

(c)   the response to Members questions be provided outside the meeting.

(Report by Mr P Wickenden Overview, Scrutiny and Localism Manager)

(1)         The Committee considered a progress report on the Select Committee for Extended Services and invited suggestions for the Select Committee Topic Review Programme.

(2)         The Chairman advised that he would be submitting a suggestion for a joint topic review with Regeneration and Economic Development POSC on the links between the progression of education, skills and regeneration.

(3)         RESOLVED that:

(a)   the progress of the Select Committee on Extended Services be noted; and

(b)   thesuggestion for a joint topic review with Regeneration and Economic Development POSC on the links between the progression of education, skills and regeneration be noted.