Agenda item

To update the Board on the work with schools to reduce inequality in attainment.

RECEIVED the report of Peter Nathan, Director of Education and Lucy Nutt, Head of Schools & Early Years Improvement.

NOTED

1.    The report outlines the attainment outcomes in the 2022 school assessments and exams identifying differences in attainment between groups.

2.    All results should be treated with caution this year as there have been different levels of COVID impact within schools and geographical areas.

3.    Schools will need to understand and interpret their own data, and at borough level the data provides a starting place for school improvement conversation and challenge.

4.    The advice nationally is that performance data for 2022 should not be directly compared with 2019 and earlier and comparisons should not be made between schools.

5.    With regards to which groups are underperforming, analysis of previous results led the Enfield learning Excellence Partnership Board to agree targets for the following groups:

·       Turkish heritage

·       Black Caribbean

·       Disadvantaged pupils.

6.    Analysis of the 2022 data showed that the above groups continued to underperform. However, a breakdown by gender suggested that it was the boys whose attainment was low.

7.    The attainment of Looked After Children (LAC) is always a priority. However, it can be difficult to draw conclusions as there are very few LAC in any year group.

8.    The attainment of disadvantaged pupils will be at least at the London average (Key Stages 2,4 & 5) by 2025.

9.    A significant improvement to at least the London average for all pupils from the 2019 baseline in GCSE outcomes for lower performing groups including Black Caribbean pupils and Turkish heritage pupils by 2025.

10. Information was provided on the Disadvantaged Pupil Project led by Marc Rowland which started in September 2021 and so far, 40 schools have taken part. A network has been set up to keep this work current and refreshed.

11. The project involves working with LBE schools, school leaders and the local authority to review the use and impact of strategies to improve outcomes for boys. It also aims to identify and promote high quality practice as well as making recommendations for further improvements for individual schools and for the local authority. The focus is also on building leadership expertise and capacity to meet pupil need.

12. Information was provided on the Enfield Inclusion Charter. The Charter set out a shared vision for inclusion and a set of principles by which schools, education settings and related services can achieve inclusion for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

13.  The Charter has been co-produced with schools, parents, pupils, partners and council officers and guidance is included. To date, 42 schools have expressed an interest in the Charter and a process has been developed for schools to self-audit and then become accredited as Inclusion Champions. Work will be led by the Safeguarding and Inclusion Adviser.

The following questions and comments were raised:

(i)             Cllr Rye commented that the data provided was fine up until a point, but he would also like to see a breakdown by gender and ethnicity. He also referred to the underachievement of Anglo-Saxon boys and asked whether this issue was being addressed. Peter Nathan acknowledged that this was an area for concern but advised that this was wrapped up in the Disadvantaged Pupil and Boys’ Achievement Projects.

(ii)            In response to a question regarding the Inclusion Charter Lucy Nutt advised that to date 23 schools had signed up to the Charter with another 42 having expressed an interest in it. The aim was to get 97 schools to sign up for it. The strategy in terms of school improvement is that the Local Authority (LA) want to walk alongside schools to offer them the support and guidance needed so that they then feel confident in signing the Charter. Another inclusion event is planned, involving an outside speaker which all schools will be invited to attend. It will also be mentioned again at the next Headteachers’ briefing as a reminder to sign the Charter.

(iii)          Cllr Georgiou referred to the data in the report which detailed cross comparisons between London and the national picture, and he was concerned to see that Enfield shows a downward trend and is underperforming London in nearly every single area. Peter acknowledged these concerns, however the issue with downward trends is that over the last couple of years, particularly with Key Stages 4 and 5, there has been grade inflation. During Covid there were no proper examinations for GCSEs and A-Levels therefore most results were based on teacher assessment. Therefore, results went up so that is why this year every metrics has come down for everybody. Officers acknowledged however that Enfield could be doing better but also reminded Members that inner London boroughs do receive a lot more funding than Enfield which is often reflected in some of their outcomes. Improvements have been made over the last couple of years which are not yet reflected in the results. 92% of Enfield schools are now ‘good’ or better’ according to OFSTED so it is known that more children are benefiting from a better education. As previously discussed, various projects have been implemented which will directly have an impact on outcomes and achievement. The LA can now start concentrating on raising attainment and beginning to push forward in the nicest possible way with schools to secure improvement.

(iv)          Cllr Akbulut was concerned to hear that boys were not achieving as well as girls and asked whether the LA were using voluntary services and engaging with local community groups to enable boys to access good, strong male role models? Lucy said that some schools are using voluntary services/community groups to model good relationships and this good practice is something that could be shared with other schools. She also advised that at KS4 and KS5 the Nexus Project makes very good use of a lot of different community groups and where the LA is aware of this sort of offer, they do signpost this to schools. There are also approximately 40 Saturday morning supplementary schools which are community groups, which provide for their communities in a different way.

(v)           In response to a question from Cllr Greer regarding the impact of staff vacancies on results and data, officers advised that there are teacher shortages in certain subjects, and this varies from school to school. Recruitment is a problem, and this does subsequently have an impact. Headteachers focus a lot on retention to keep good staff and there are also certain Government initiatives used to recruit teachers. However, it is a challenge, and the key issue is holding teachers in profession.

(vi)          The Chair, Cllr Erbil commented that there are over a dozen Turkish speaking community centres in Enfield who he felt would be eager to work alongside the local authority, schools, and programmes such as the Nexus Project to engage with their local communities.

(vii)         Cllr Erbil also referred to the term Turkish speaking which is used throughout the report. He said that there has been a wave of Turkish speaking migrants over the years, ranging from Eastern European to Turkish Kurdish to Turkish Cypriot, therefore ‘Turkish speaking’ is a very ‘umbrella term’ to use. Officers acknowledged this point and said they would ensure that this terminology is accurately defined in future reports and data.

(viii)       In response to Cllr Erbil’s question regarding the next steps the council are taking to ensure equality of opportunity and reduce attainment gaps, officers referred Members to the table on page 37, paragraph 8 of the report which captured the main work planned in response to the analysis of outcomes in all key stages.

(ix)          Tim Fellows, LGBT Network felt that education is much broader than passing exams and should be about turning out grounded individuals. He therefore questioned how the LA assess its schools in this issue. Officers explained that behaviour statistics are looked at, for example in terms of exclusions. During an OFTED visit, the personal development of pupils is also looked at as well as behaviours and attitudes and most Headteachers will report these findings to their Governing Body.

The Chair thanked Peter and Lucy for their presentation which had been most informative. It was agreed that officers would return to a future meeting of the Equalities Board to provide a report on school exclusions.