Agenda item

The annual report details the Education and Skills performance for Northumberland in the 2021/22 academic year and informs Members of the detailed work supporting schools undertaken by the Education and Skills team along with wider services. Comments made by this Committee will be reported to Cabinet when they consider the report on Tuesday 14 March 2023.

The annual report detailed the Education and Skills performance for Northumberland in the 2021/22 academic year and informed of the detailed work supporting schools and skills undertaken by the Education and Skills team along with wider services.  A detailed introduction and presentation was provided by A Kingham, Executive Director – Children, Young People and Education. Councillor Renner-Thompson, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services was in attendance and commended the report to the Committee.

Members welcomed the report and in response asked a number of questions. In relation to the increased number of fixed term exclusions the Committee was advised that this was due in part to an increase in the number of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and a covid legacy of more challenging behaviour.  A great deal of work was being undertaken by various services engaging with schools and headteachers along with pupils and their families to get pupils back into education quickly and provide the help required in order to achieve this.  

Information on the number of families who had benefitted from the use of the HUGGG voucher scheme would be provided outside of the meeting along with information on the range of grades for ‘A’ Level students.

It was clarified that the lower than national average performance due to Covid at KS2 was across the whole of the North East and not just within Northumberland.  The legacy of missing two years of schooling due to Covid could clearing be seen in the stats at KS2.  Collectively the region was doing a lot of work together and in particular the excellent Early Years Passport Scheme which had been developed in Northumberland was being shared with North Tyneside and Newcastle and with the creation of the North East Mayoral Combined Authority (NEMCA) it was hoped that this would provide additional funding for education which could be used to drive improvements similar to those which had been achieved in London.  The Blyth Welding & Fabrication Training Centre would be the blue print to deliver this type of training across the County enabling young people to access skills training and jobs closer to home.   In relation to young people accessing alternative educational provision, it was clarified that the challenges were the sufficiency of places and finding provision in the locality of the young person. 

A Kingham and D Street were to meet with Headteachers the following week in relation to exclusions and it was hoped that the new inclusion dashboard would be owned and understood assisting in increasing the rate of change in bringing down the level of exclusions.  As there were increasing numbers of learners with EHCP it was probable that there was a corresponding increase in fixed term exclusions for that cohort of pupils.  When it was flagged that a disadvantaged pupil had received a fixed term exclusion then additional resources and support could be provided to meet the needs of the pupil therefore preventing repeat occurrences with schools being encouraged to come forward to ask for assistance for pupils before it got to the stage of considering an exclusion.

P Rickeard stated that the report made good reading especially when compared to North Tyneside and Newcastle, and a suggestion was put forward that additional information be provided to the Committee on the activity undertaken to support inequality and recovery etc rather than just the results being reported.  He commented that there was a lot of good work going on in Northumberland which he had observed in the many schools he visited.   The Chair agreed that this should be a substantive item for a future agenda and A Kingham recommended that the report should be across services to bring together the inequalities and show referrals etc including the work undertaken by the Fire and Rescue Service.  It was further highlighted that the closer working relationship recently between officers had been observed to result in a more joined up approach between social care, education and other services. 

There were 9 skill sites around the County which were about teaching skills, knowledge and behaviours to ensure young people were work ready.  Schools no longer had a duty to provide work placements, however they did have a statutory duty to provide careers guidance and all secondary schools had specialists working closely with the schools to provide this. Closer working relationships were also being built with industries in the County.  All skills providers had a student support fund as part of their funding grant and it should be made really clear to any post 16 student in any setting that there was access to funding to provide for any travel expenses or work clothing or equipment required and if it was related to health and safety this should be provided.

In relation to school staff infrastructure, the roles of staff within schools were changing to be more supportive and a different focus with more support staff.  Staff from the Early Years team within the Council were based in schools working alongside school staff with social workers also part of the partnership working and these changes would continue to develop.   The biggest influence on academic outcomes was the leadership and culture within a setting and evidence within schools which demonstrated improvement all pointed to a change in the leadership, possibly at multiple levels.  This also included changes in curriculum being delivered to learners, reasonable adjustments put in place to meet individual needs so that barriers to learning were overcome, including health and social care staff all working together to improve outcomes going forwards.  The poorer results in the North East, not just Northumberland in relation to KS2 and Progress 8 had stood out against the rest of the Country last year. It was known which areas needed to improve and School Action Plans developed to address these. Individual schools tracked the progress of pupils and analysis provided with the School Improvement Team involved in the majority, but not all schools.

In relation to the differing roles within schools, Members wished to have assurance that this was not just smoke and mirrors and that meaningful support was being provided for pupils and it would not just be a change of a title.

The Chair highlighted the recommendations contained in the report for Cabinet and in light of the concerns expressed by Members about the impact of the financial disparity between schools in London and schools in the North East on key stage 2 and Progress 8, requested Members to agree to include a further recommendation from this Committee in relation to this.  As a result, the Committee

RESOLVED to advise the Cabinet they supported the recommendations as outlined in the report with the addition of a 4^th recommendation. The Committee requests Cabinet to:

Work with the North East Combined Authority to develop an Education Challenge and seek additional investment and funding to target regional educational challenges.