Report of the Director of Education

This reportprovidesa summaryof the2018 provisionaloutcomes ofstatutoryassessment attheendoftheEarlyYearsFoundationStage,Key Stage 1, KeyStage2, KeyStage4 andKey Stage5.

The Committee received a report of the Director of Education which provided asummaryof the2018 provisionaloutcomes ofstatutoryassessment attheendoftheEarlyYearsFoundationStage (EYFS),Key Stage 1, KeyStage2, KeyStage4 andKey Stage5.

Officers referred to the main points and themes within the report which included:

·         The context of the outcomes at each key stage;

·         The outcomes; and

·         Next steps.

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

·         Work being undertaken to address the gap between EYFS outcomes in Manchester and the national average, including how the take-up of Health Visitor assessments through the Early Years Delivery Model (EYDM) could be improved;

·         Concern that some Key Stage 2 results had been annulled due to maladministration of the assessments in two schools and whether schools were under too much pressure to achieve results, leading to children not receiving a broad, rich education;

·         That the figures suggested that children performed well in some subjects, such as mathematics, earlier in their school life but that this had declined by Key Stage 4 and what were the reasons for this; and

·         To recognise the progress that had been made and to commend the work of staff in Manchester schools and the Council’s Education Service under challenging circumstances.

The Director of Education informed Members that colleagues in Manchester Health and Care Commissioning (MHCC) were producing a business case to their Board on whether health visiting in the city could be increased.  She reported that the Council was looking at whether other staff within the EYDM such as Outreach Workers could do more to encourage families to take up the health visitor assessments and how Early Years and Early Help could work more closely together to address this.  She reported that the EYDM was introduced in April 2015 so the first cohort of children under this model hadn’t started school yet and that the Council would need to see what the outcomes were for these children.  She informed Members that 95% of Early Years settings in Manchester were now judged by Ofsted to be good or better and that there would now be a focus on working with them, in partnership with schools, on areas like literacy so that children were school ready.

The Director of Education reported that Ofsted had now acknowledged that there was too much focus on results and that a broad, balanced curriculum was important.  She informed Members that Ofsted was reviewing its framework in light of this.  She advised the Committee that those children currently at primary school and those at Key Stage 4 were different cohorts of pupils who were being educated under different curricula so it was hoped that positive outcomes in mathematics would be reflected at Key Stage 4 as this cohort of pupils made their way through the education system.

Decisions

1.            To recognise the progress that has been made, to commend the work of staff in Manchester schools and the Council’s Education Service under challenging circumstances and to ask the Director of Education to pass this message on to headteachers.

2.            To note that the Committee will receive a further report with the final, confirmed results.