496 EDUCATION ATTAINMENT IN ENFIELD PDF 196 KB
To receive a report from James Carrick (AD
Education, Schools and Children’s Services) and Clara Seery
(Head of Standards & Curriculum, Schools and Children’s
Services)
Minutes:
Clara Seery (Head of Standards
& Curriculum, Schools and Children’s Services) introduced
the report which provided an update on education outcomes across
Enfield. It also provided information
on outcomes of statutory assessment at key stages and focused on
the key accountability measures for -Early Years. Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 outcomes.
The following was
highlighted:
- Concerns that Enfield was shown as achieving low levels at some
of the key stages compared with other local
authorities. The Early Years outcomes
give Enfield at position 119th out of 152 authorities.
At Key Stage 2 (Year 6) Enfield is at 136th position out
of 152 authorities.
- The
low attainment levels may be in some way attributed to the high
mobility of people in Enfield. However Clara said other local
authorities have similar mobility issues. Enfield is ranked 51st out of 152 most
deprived boroughs. Key stage 2 results were an improvement on last
year but reading attainment level is poor and would need to be
focused on.
- We
were improving, and improving faster than some authorities however
better outcomes are needed at primary
levels, so that children are better prepared for secondary
school.
- Secondary school levels are better – For Year 8 we are in
39th position out of 152 authorities and at Key Stage 5
on a range of indicators we are in the top third of
authorities.
- Schools have a number of challenges – The retention of
high quality teachers for early years
pupils is a problem. Staff often leave the area after a few years when
they may wish to buy a property which is cheaper outside of London.
Also, because of the high workload a number of teachers are leaving
to join an alternative profession. Reductions in budgets are
impacting on the support that can be offered in schools and many
schools have had to reduce the number of support staff.
- The
focus is to improve standards in Key Stage 2 reading and
Early years literacy. The Early Years
service is merging with School Standards and support service
which will ensure a consistent approach. A successful SSIF
(Strategic School Improvement funding) bid will fund an intensive
reading programme to support the Key Stage 2 outcomes. The report
described further steps to raise these standards and Clara was
confident that significant improvements would be seen by
2020.
The following issues were
raised by members:
- It was
asked how members could provide help with the retention of
staff. It was thought strategies to
help meet teachers accommodation needs may help, such as providing
shared ownership of homes for key workers.
- Councillor Rye thought the secondary school sector was doing
well considering how badly they were doing at primary
level. Reference was made to challenges
for children as they are often interested in electronic games,
which takes their interest away from reading. Teachers need to be
able to focus on how to channel their attention towards
this.
- During
the Early Years stage –there is a need to ...
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