To receive and consider the report on Progression and Learning from Senior Managers for Secondary and School Improvement, Cressy Murphy and Eurig Towns.
Minutes:
Points raised by the Panel:
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Responses received from Officers or Cabinet Members. |
Teaching was a main theme under the recommendations. |
Agreed it was a significant area, 13 out of the 27 recommendations across all of our schools highlighted teaching as requiring improvement. For this reason, the service focussed on teaching for the Autumn term visits, the quality of teaching at those schools and input support where required. For most schools they were able to evidence that the quality of teaching was good. Where inconsistencies in teaching were identified, support processes had been input. SIA support was deployed to schools where analysis had not been thoroughly undertaken. The Service is now in a much stronger position to understand the quality of teaching, following the recommendations received from Estyn last year, which should have a knock-on effect on the standards. |
Has the focus of Estyn inspections changed over the last year in comparison to previous years from results to teaching. |
No, there was not a National issue that teaching came out as inconsistent, which was mainly around the self-evaluation process which wasn’t picked up in Powys as being an area of significance. |
The point has been made that if teaching was deemed satisfactory, the same would be reflected in standards. There were 5 inspection areas, would they all have the same weighting, even for those peripheral elements i.e., wellbeing that were not the core like teaching. Was there any suggestion that the peripheral elements had sufficient staffing, yet teaching did not. |
Estyn have all areas of an inspection as equal. Since Covid Schools have placed an emphasis on wellbeing, which has to remain so that the children can learn in that environment. Would a greater emphasis on the wellbeing of the child mean that teaching was not in place that we would want it to be. We have evidence of good teaching practice within the schools of Powys; however we would have to go back and examine reasons why this has happened. An issue raised by Estyn was around whether there was enough challenge to push learners on, and this has been challenged by the Service to schools. |
In terms of Leadership, was this in relation to schools without permanent Leadership staff in place. |
This point was not specifically about acting or new leadership it was more in terms of the quality of leadership. What was the impact inside the school, was the school and strength of the school understood, if area of improvement were required were these realistic and in place. Estyn picked up that in some cases school had not been specific enough and at times were over generous in their judgements. |
The literacy and numeracy point score of Powys was closer to the Wales average compared to that of the eFSM LA average and the all-Wales eFSM score, was there a reason for this greater disparity. |
There are quite marginal differences in the of scheme of things, we must be aware that Powys’ eFSM pupils compared to all Wales is lower |
If undertake benchmarking of our schools with similar eFSM etc., is the same benchmarking completed for similar LA’s.
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This could be something pulled out of the data, which is available in the public domain and available on: www.mylocalschool.gov.uk Whilst we were not provided with the data on other LA’s directly this site would give the opportunity to look at other schools. Schools were given, to use as a comparison tool, the All-Wales Schools Data Pack, within which they are placed into a family of similar schools, with a family average and could therefore benchmark to similar schools in similar contexts. |
Did the service compare the “families” and compile the data, rather than a catch all of the all-Wales average. |
The Service only has a high-level overview as per 3.13. On average the Capped 9 scores in Powys were 3.9 points behind similar schools, which equates to approximately half a grade across all 9 of the qualifications. |
How would Powys address this gap and what were the projected timescales. |
This forms part of the Secondary Strategy with a strong focus on improving teaching and learning in schools and on improving the curriculum offer and the ways in which schools can support learner progress the best way they can and ultimately aspire to be in line with similar schools. In terms of timescales the work was ongoing within the Secondary Strategy, spanning a minimum of 3 years, during which we would expect to see significant improvements.
SIAs were aware of the family data for the schools, and work through the data with the school leaders. The Schools Service did not collate nor analyse the data internally. One of the themes in line with this report, was to prioritise self-evaluation, for schools to be able to accurately reflect and there had been significant improvements made in the evaluation of teaching and learning. Data is very different now and it would possibly be very beneficial for Scrutiny Members to have a data session to understand how it was used and analysed. We have invested in ALPs at Key Stage 5 and are considering for Key Stage 4 as it is far more informative than a Capped 9 score when looking at value added, not just about hitting average but the value that we add to our learners to take them above their potential. |
Clarification sought on the Capped 9 score and the links to the scores within the first table. Literacy appeared to be performing on average in Powys with numeracy slightly below. |
The table 3.6 showed that each GCSE grade equated to a score. The LA average was 41 for literacy which equated to just over a C Grade. Across the board with numeracy the score equated to just below a C Grade. With the Capped 9 score they take the best 9 grades across qualifying qualifications – including English/ Welsh (dependent on language medium), Maths and Science which contributes to the Capped 9 score. It must be noted than the score can alter year on year. |
Could 3.13 be incorporated into table 3.10 |
Unfortunately, it was not possible to include 3.13 into the table 3.10 as the data does not compare directly. Each school has a different family and therefore there is no overall figure for Powys schools. |
Actions:
Learning and Skills Committee Members to have a development session on data including the ALPS data for Key Stage 5.
Supporting documents: