Agenda item

The Director of Education, SEND and Early Help submits a report to update the Commission of the overall performance of children educated in the City.

Members recommendations:

1.     To note the report and consider areas of strength and concern.

2.     That the report will be shared with education colleagues across the city to ensure an awareness of the overall performance of children educated in the city. 

The Director of SEND and Education submitted a report to update the Commission on the overall education performance of children in the city and gave a presentation using the slides attached with the agenda.

The Assistant City Mayor for Education introduced the report and observed that the education outcomes were not because teachers were not putting in the effort but were rather indicative of the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the progress of children’s education.

The Director of SEND and Education also urged the Commission to be mindful of the fact that the report was largely a place performance, for which the local authority had minimal control.

The Programme Manager (Business Change) for SEND and Education proceeded to present the report. Key points highlighted included:

• The report compared how education outcomes have changed between 2019 and the post-pandemic period.
• The report showed the performance of about 56,100 children in Leicester’s publicly funded primary, secondary, and Special schools, across different groupings, including heritage, gender, eligibility for school meals, English as a first or additional language.
• There had been a significant reduction in the roles and responsibilities of local authorities in the direct management of schools. However, they continued to have responsibilities for school improvement.
• Asian Children, English as Additional Language (EAL) children and children with free school meals in Leicester did better than their national peers in the early years’ foundation stage. Comparatively, children of mixed heritage, white heritage, and those receiving SEN support performed significantly worse.
• School readiness was influenced by factors that included parents not reading to children at home and a lack of parental and community support.
• Children in Leicester who were eligible for Free School Meals performed better than their peers nationally at all key stages. This underscored the effect of deprivation on education outcomes.
• Children who started at a lower point, such as those with an EHCP, tended not to catch up in outcomes compared to their national peers.
• Areas where Leicester closed the gap and recorded performance improvements compared to previous years were spotlighted.
• Attention was drawn to the performance of children at the key stages 1, 2, and 4 and it was shown that Leicester had not made the recovery from the pandemic as quickly as nationally.
• Next steps were also discussed as stated in the report.

The Commission was invited to ask questions and make comments. Key points included:

• In response to a proposal for cross-referencing between groups locally, it was stated that the report focused on areas that had been previously agreed upon. However, further work could be done on the report to draw out specific data as required.
• On why children of white heritage are underperforming as stated in the report, it was explained that lots of factors are responsible and ultimately, there will be children from different demographics doing well, and some not doing well.
• On what could be done to improve the ready-for-school index, it was proposed that the same be viewed in a wider context i.e., the children’s ability to exercise a level of independence as opposed to focusing on the ability to read and write only. It was suggested that some sort of campaign may help disseminate this information to parents, nurseries, and preschools.
• On whether there was a projected timeline for bringing education performance to the pre-pandemic level, it was explained that the variability of factors and subjectivity of experiences make it difficult to predict a firm timeline. It was however noted that schools had improvement plans in place. It was suggested that a previous report which highlighted high-performing schools and what they were doing right can be revisited.
• On what could be done to support children in the classes preceding GSCE (i.e., Years 9 and 10), it was stated that schools were making efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on GSCE performance. However, there was a likelihood that the impact could be throughout the educational career of a child.
• On whether there was a national plan for tackling the challenges identified in the report, it was noted that whilst there was not currently one in place, there was a likelihood that a plan could emerge in a few years.

AGREED

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That comments made by members of this commission to be taken into account by the lead officers.

3)    To further review of the data presented for other areas of focus, locally, particularly on the impact of deprivation on the performance of children of white heritage.

4)    To invite the Regional Director from DfEA to give a presentation on what the Trusts are doing.

5)    To monitor the emergence of a national plan.