Agenda item

7.1

The Committee received a presentation from Stephen Betts (Chief Executive, Learn Sheffield) on an interim update in terms of pupil outcomes, city context and school performance 2018/19. 

7.2

Also in attendance for this item were Councillor Abtisam Mohamed (Cabinet Member for Education and Skills), Andrew Jones (Interim Head of Primary and Targeted Intervention) and Dan Rice (Performance and Analysis Service).

7.3

Members of the Committee raised questions, and the following responses were provided:-

·             Progress 8 measured how pupils performed in comparison to other pupils with similar starting points, that is who had left primary school at a similar level.  Whilst performance of Progress 8 had been slightly lower than in 2018, it was comparable with national ratings.  There had been an improvement in overall Attainment 8 on the basis that the cohort of pupils had started at a higher point, which had been expected because this Y11 cohort had left primary school after the point where Sheffield’s performance in Key Stage 2 had started to improve.  Whilst there had been slightly more added value at Key Stages 3 and 4, there was also evidence, based on the outcomes, to show that primary schools were adding value. There was also a need to be mindful that sector performance could not be judged on just one or two outcome measures.

·             In summary, the performance of the City remained satisfactory, but with the acknowledgement that there still remained room for improvement.  The aspiration was that Sheffield outperformed national benchmarks, and whilst it was still positive that Sheffield was still one of the strongest performing core cities, this shouldn’t be regarded as enough.  Whilst it was accepted that there was a considerable level of contextualisation, it was considered that comparisons with other areas (national, core cities and statutory neighbours) was the correct approach to take. 

·             The results were set in the longer-term historical context that Sheffield’s performance for many years had been in the bottom quartile of local authorities nationally, before a five-year upward trend that had peaked in 2017. The performance in 2018 and 2019 had plateaued. The focus was now to consider how the Authority could progress from this position.

·             The gap to the national average had widened slightly in the Early Years Good Level of Development measure, although the outcome of the Early Years Inequality gap remained amongst the highest performing nationally.

·             Outcomes in terms of phonics had given rise to particular concerns, and this remained the “stand-out” measure from a negative perspective, with the City ranked amongst the lowest local authorities nationally.

·             Primary outcomes were broadly similar in 2019 to the previous year, with the performance at greater depth measure more in line with national than expected standard measures. This reflected that Sheffield children performed in line with national when compared to pupils with similar starting points. The make-up of the Sheffield cohort contains more pupils with lower staring points and this impacted on the proportion who reached the expected standards in KS1 and KS2.

·             The results of the more detailed analysis in terms of performance measured against the various pupil characteristics was not available until later in the school year, and would be reported to the Committee in 2020.

·             Any measure will always result in either an advantage or disadvantage for certain categories of pupils.  There were particular challenges at pre-school age in that those children in areas where there was no nursery provision were being potentially disadvantaged.  Whilst the Council’s Early Years’ Service worked closely with Learn Sheffield, it was acknowledged that there was a need for a closer working relationship in order to address this imbalance.

·             The performance at Key Stage 5 remained strong, with Sheffield  remaining in the first and second quartile, and as the top ranked core city for the third consecutive year. It was also noted that this included the outcomes of only those pupils who had taken A levels.

7.4

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)      notes the information reported as part of the presentation now made, together with the responses to the questions raised;

(b)      thanks Councillor Abtisam Mohamed, Stephen Betts, Andrew Jones and Dan Rice for attending the meeting, and responding to the questions raised; and

(c)      requests the Chief Executive, Learn Sheffield, submits future reports on this issue that include a detailed analysis of pupil outcomes and school performance that clearly sets out what the issues are, and what the data means, through commentary, together with information on how the Authority uses this as evidence, and how it is going to make changes through the School Improvement Strategy.