Issue - meetings

The Panel considered the report of the Service Director, Legal and Business Operations, which set out the provisional 2020/21 Key Stage exam results in Southampton.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Councillor P Baillie; and Southampton City Council Officers, Rob Henderson, the Executive Director Wellbeing (Children and Learning); and Clodagh Freeston, Service Manager, Education Strategy, Planning, and Improvement; were present and, with the consent of the Chair, addressed the Panel.

In discussions with the officers, the Panel noted the following:

·  The Oasis Academies had not published or shared their exam result data with the Local Authority. 

·  Periods of school closure due to the coronavirus pandemic had impacted the implementation of measures to improve performance and had also impacted on the availability of data to measure improvement.  The Progress 8 data was not available for evaluation of the exam results in relation to the intake.

·  Local Authority Officers visited all schools maintained by the Council on a regular basis to ensure that schools offer sufficient support and used funding in a way that provided good value. Whilst it was acknowledged that children’s education had been affected by the pandemic, Officers have found that schools have been able to flex to ensure that the curriculum was as wide and varied as possible and children were being assessed and supported to help them make adjustments to progress in their education.

·  Sharing best practice was a function of the education forums operating in the city.

·  Data on school attendance had not yet been submitted by schools.

·  The Council monitored and tracked school admissions and pupil moves closely, all reports of off rolling were investigated and if evidence of off rolling was found the schools were challenged. 

·  There had been an increase in the number of children Electively Home Educated.

RESOLVED:

1)  That the Executive Director would engage with the leadership of Oasis Community Learning to encourage them to reverse their policy not to share school attainment data with local authorities.

2)  That, if available, the Panel would be provided with an overview of the disparity between KS4/5 projected and awarded grades at Southampton schools and colleges.

3)  That the latest available school attendance data for Southampton schools would be circulated to the Panel.

4)  That available KS4 attainment data for Southampton children who were home educated would be circulated to the Panel.

5)  That, to develop understanding of the attainment of Southampton’s care experiencing children and young people, the Virtual School Annual Headteacher Report would be circulated to the Panel.