To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 15 March 2023.

In response to a Member’s question, the Senior School Quality Assurance Officer confirmed that a monitoring inspection of St Matthew’s RC High School had taken place since the last meeting; however, the report had not yet been published.

Decision

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 15 March 2023.

To receive a list of all Manchester schools which have been inspected since the last meeting and the judgements awarded and to consider the main themes arising from the inspections.

The Subgroup received a list of all Manchester schools which had been inspected since the last meeting and the judgements awarded. 

The Senior School Quality Assurance Officer provided Members with an overview of the inspections which had taken place since the last meeting.  She stated that Ofsted had carried out 64 inspections of Manchester schools this academic year, which was unprecedented, but a large proportion of the reports had not yet been published.  She reported that 89% of Manchester schools were judged to be good or better, which was higher than the averages for England and the north-west.  She stated that 90.4% of Manchester primary schools were judged to be good or better, which was higher than the average for England, although slightly lower than the average for the north-west.  She reported that 82.8% of secondary schools in Manchester were judged to be good or better, which was higher than the averages for England and the north-west.

The Senior School Quality Assurance Officer explained that her team was regularly identifying the key areas for improvement from Ofsted reports and sharing the key themes with school leaders, who had found this useful, and with the Quality Assurance professionals that the Council engaged to support school improvement.  She highlighted some of the key themes, including the curriculum and its specific component knowledge, the sequencing of the curriculum and the knowledge they wanted pupils to build up over time, pedagogical choices, adaptive teaching, staff training, school leaders monitoring how well the curriculum was being implemented, assessment and ensuring that phonics teaching matched the choices of books for pupils.  She reported that, where a school was struggling significantly, the areas of safeguarding, behaviour and attitude and attendance were also key themes.  She outlined the support provided to schools, both universal and targeted support, based on a termly risk assessment.  She informed Members about a series of forthcoming training sessions for school leaders, including a webinar in July on adaptive teaching led by Adam Sproston (His Majesty’s Inspector and Specialist Adviser for Special Educational Needs and Disability and Alternative Provision at Ofsted).  She also informed the Subgroup about an intensive attendance pilot in targeted schools across the city, subject leader networks and the development of a programme of sessions for senior leaders on the key recurring themes from Ofsted inspections, which would be implemented in the autumn term. 

A Member asked whether Subgroup Members could observe the forthcoming webinar training and the Senior School Quality Assurance Officer agreed to this.  In response to a Member’s comments about safeguarding, she informed Members that schools, including academies, were required to complete an annual safeguarding audit, under Section 175 of the Education Act 2002, and that these were collected and analysed by the Council and followed up through the Council’s Safeguarding Team if there were any issues.  She reported that more targeted support on safeguarding was provided in response to local intelligence or a reach out from a school or could be triggered by Ofsted complaints, public complaints  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

To receive a list of daycare providers which have been inspected since the last meeting and the judgements awarded and to consider the main themes arising from the inspections.

The Subgroup received a list of all Manchester daycare providers which had been inspected since the last meeting and the judgements awarded.

The Early Years Quality Assurance Lead provided Members with an overview of the inspections which had taken place since the last meeting, stating that there were a few additional ones which the Scrutiny Support Officer would circulate after the meeting.  She reported that 94% of Manchester daycare settings were judged to be good or outstanding.  She highlighted the recruitment and retention issues that many early years settings were struggling with and the impact of not having a consistent workforce in terms of training, having a key person for each child and meeting the specific needs of individual children.

She reported that the main themes from reports about outstanding settings were that the children’s independence was supported well, children’s needs were understood, with the curriculum being built around that, and that staff read regularly to children and encouraged a love of reading.  For settings which were judged to be less than good, she advised that some of the key themes related to staffing, including lack of stability in the workforce, the need for a more robust staff induction and continuing professional development, safer recruitment practices, which training would be rolled out on, as well as issues related to the curriculum.  In relation to recommendations concerning safeguarding, she stated that there had been a reduction in the number of recommendations related to risk assessments and hygiene practices since the last meeting, although there had been one report where hygiene practices had been raised as an area of concern.  She stated that work was taking place to promote better hygiene practices in settings and that this was improving.  She informed the Subgroup about the support available to settings, which included a wide range of training, including the Department for Education (DfE) Experts and Mentors programme, the professional development programme and training on supporting children with SEND.  She expressed concern that some settings were unable to attend development forum meetings due to staffing issues; however, she advised that information was also sent out to settings and discussed during visits to individual settings.

In response to Members’ questions, the Early Years Quality Assurance Lead reported that the settings which had been judged as inadequate were still operating, that they were having at least a monthly visit from her team, who were providing support and feedback, and that they could continue to care for existing children who were eligible for the two-year-old and three-year-old offer but could not take on any additional eligible children.  In response to further questions about the two settings judged as inadequate, she advised that Little Angels was a very new setting, which her team was providing support to, while Building Blocks Blackley was an established setting.  She advised that, following the departure of Building Blocks Blackley’s manager, the area manager was now running this setting, they were working closely with her team and it was expected that they would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

To review the Terms of Reference and Work Programme of the Subgroup.

The Chair requested that the Subgroup receive a report on childminders at a future meeting.

Decisions

1.            To note the Terms of Reference and Work Programme, subject to the above addition.

2.            To arrange visits to Xaverian College, Brighter Beginnings Newton Heath and Building Blocks Blackley.

3.            That the Chair will consider any additional school visits to be arranged and inform the Scrutiny Support Officer.