Report and presentation of the Strategic Director of Education and Children’s Services   

This report and presentation outline how the Council aims to close the gap in educational outcomes for disadvantaged children and young people by working together with schools and partners to take targeted action as set out in the Education Strategy which was published in the summer.  

The Committee considered the report and presentation of the Acting Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) which outlined how the Council aimed to close the gap in educational outcomes for disadvantaged children and young people by working together with schools and partners to take targeted action as set out in the Education Strategy which was published in the summer.  

Key points and themes in the report and presentation included:

• The Manchester context;
• The impact of disadvantage on educational outcomes;
• Action to reduce the impact of disadvantage on educational outcomes;
• The Manchester Education Strategy; and
• Cultural capital.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• To welcome the work that was being done;
• The impact of the pandemic and lockdowns, noting that schools in Manchester and the north-west had been particularly badly affected;
• Engaging with parents who did not view school as important, for example, parents who allowed their children to skip school;
• The benefits of free activities such as music and swimming;
• That some families who were above the threshold for free school meals were still struggling financially but did not receive the same support;
• The gap at Key Stage 4 between disadvantaged and less disadvantaged pupils;
• Writing skills;
• How much impact could the Council have when so many children attended academies, rather than local authority-maintained schools; and
• The importance of Early Years and school-readiness.

The Director of Education reported that, while educational outcomes had been negatively impacted by the pandemic, they were now improving year-on-year.  She reported that during the pandemic, when schools had not been open to most children, this had most negatively impacted the more disadvantaged children.  She advised Members that Manchester had been particularly badly affected due to higher levels of deprivation and longer lockdowns and that, while schools made their best efforts to educate pupils at home, for many children the conditions at home were not conducive to learning.  She advised that some children were still not attending regularly since the pandemic.  She informed Members that writing skills had been particularly affected by lockdowns, as these skills were more difficult to teach through online learning than other key skills such as reading and mathematics, and she advised that schools were working hard to address this. 

The Assistant Director of Education informed Members about work with the Education Endowment Foundation and the Manchester Research School to identify the barriers to writing and reported that the Council had recently been granted some funding for an Improving Early Writing programme, targeting schools in the most disadvantaged areas and pupils whose writing skills were not developing, advising that this programme would start in January 2025.  In response to a Member’s question, she advised that research indicated that cursive writing was beneficial for children.  She reported that Manchester had a strong Early Years sector with 97% of settings judged to be good or better, that the Council supported the quality and sufficiency of the sector, and that the Kickstarter, which was the next item on the agenda, focussed on Early Years.  In response to a Member’s question, she advised that there was a large body of research on cultural capital and the impact on attainment and success in the workplace.

In response to comments about working with families, the Director of Education advised that working with the whole family was central to the Kickstarter Project and was achieving positive outcomes and that work to improve attendance in Wythenshawe involved the Family Hubs and Children’s Centres and work with parents.  In response to comments about eligibility for free school meals, she reported that, in Manchester, the children who were not eligible for free school meals (after Key Stage 1) and who were not classed as ‘disadvantaged’ were not ‘advantaged’ but that eligibility was based on national criteria.  She reported that her service worked with all schools, including academies, and that academies were generally very supportive of this work, highlighting the case study in the presentation focusing on the work of Manchester Communication Academy in Harpurhey.  In response to a Member’s question, she advised that the aim of this work was to reduce – and then eliminate – the gap in outcomes between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged children but that a range of other measures were also monitored, for example, destination data and the number of young people who were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET).  In response to a Member’s question, she informed Members about BREE (Bringing together schools and employers) which was being launched later in the year, advising that further information was in the Post-16 Education Employment Training Strategic Plan 2022-25 – Progress Update report which had been considered at the previous day’s Economy and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee meeting.  In response to a question on supplementary schools, she advised that there was an expectation that school sites should be part of the community and available for community use.  In response to a question about Alternative Provision and the use of minibuses for residential trips, she advised that she would check with the Commissioning Team on this.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People highlighted the pressures on teachers and retention issues and reported that white working-class boys were under-achieving.  She reported that the Leader was in discussions with the new Government about what Manchester needed to address child poverty and the issues facing the city, advising that the new Chancellor of the Exchequer had announced free breakfast clubs for primary school children.  The Executive Member outlined a number of other issues that she would be lobbying the Government on, including changing the curriculum, overhauling Key Stage 2 Standard Assessment Tests (SATS), universal free school meals and changes to government-funded childcare. 

Decision

To receive an update on the Improving Early Writing programme at the Committee’s January 2025 meeting.