Agenda item

The annual report for the academic year 2013014 for Brent schools is attached.

Gail Tolley introduced the annual report that set out the standards and achievements of Brent schools for 2013-14.   Members heard that the overall effectiveness of Brent schools was based on the Ofsted inspection process and it included the outcomes at each Key Stage.  Gail Tolley advised that the comparators in the report included those that were available at the time of writing.

During committee discussion on the matter, members asked for information on how young black male pupils were performing and the reasons for this.  A member commented that the school where he was a governor excelled at  results, including black male pupils, and he enquired why the school had not been approached to help other schools in the borough.  Another member commented that there could be many contributory factors for black male pupils underperforming and that there needed to be greater effort into looking at the reasons for underperformance, as this was of great importance for a pupil’s future.  A member sought reasons for the performance disparity between Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 4 and what steps were being taken to address this.  She also asked whether it was felt that there were enough resources to improve schools’ performance.  Clarification was sought regarding the timescales to ensure that every school in the borough was rated as at least good and it was commented that every effort should be made to ensure that the Rotherham child abuse scandal could not happen in Brent.  It was also asked whether there was any relationship between a school’s balance and its academic achievements.

With the approval of the Chair, Mary Arnold addressed the committee.  Mary Arnold sought reasons as to why there was a significant decrease in the proportion of looked after children achieving level 4 at Key Stage 2 in 2014 compared to 2013.

In reply to the issues raised, John Galligan (School Effectiveness Team Manager) advised that black male pupils were underperforming compared to the average pupil performance in  terms of Brent, London and national averages, whilst black female pupils were also underperforming.  He attributed the underperformance to multiple risk factors for these groups and examples of best practice not being disseminated amongst schools as actively as it could be.  However, schools were working with BSP in analysing data and identifying and disseminating best practice more effectively.  Although the performance gap between these groups and others had reduced to a degree, there was still a lot of work to continue progress on this.  Sarah Conway added that performance was highly variable in the borough and schools were being challenged where pupils were underperforming.

Karen Giles advised that Brent was not the only borough where black male pupils were underperforming and the local authority was holding schools to account for underperformance, whilst schools also needed to do more to disseminate best practice. 

Gail Tolley confirmed that performance between Key Stages 2 to 4 was above the national average, but below the London average, and efforts were being made to map and identify reasons for the performance discrepancy between Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 4.  The Schools Forum also played a key role in improving schools performance and matters such as schools’ balances and the number of children currently in schools was considered by the Forum.  Since the BEC report, the last nine months had seen progress in Brent schools and although there had been some slippage in the Action Plan, this continued to be the main focus in improving schools.  In terms of Ofsted grading, Gail Tolley advised that performance was stronger and improving in primary schools.  Members noted that two primary schools in Brent had been adjudged as inadequate as of summer 2014.  Of the four secondary schools  adjudged as inadequate, Copland School had subsequently closed, whilst Crest Boys and Crest Girls Academies had merged.  Two secondary schools adjudged as needing improvement, Alperton School and JFS School, had had their previously good performance at Key Stage 4 downgraded by Ofsted, however there was strong school to school support to help them, particularly in respect of Alperton School.  Gail Tolley advised that the most significant underperformers were sponsored academies and in such situations the sponsor was approached to address the situation and the sponsor could be changed if deemed necessary.  Members heard that there was a possible relationship between higher school balances and higher pupil attainment.  Gail Tolley advised that the Corporate Parenting Committee had received a detailed presentation in respect of the decrease in performance for looked after children at Key Stage 2 and there was a renewed focus on the need to address this, whilst there was also a Pupil Premium for looked after children.

Christine Gilbert added that underperformance amongst black male pupils was also a national issue and it was important to make more funding available to share best practice in Brent.

Councillor Moher stated that underperformance of black male pupils in Brent had been a longstanding problem and there were a number of reasons why underperformance occurred, such as challenging domestic situations including overcrowded accommodation and pupils being unsupervised at home because both parents needed to work.  She commented that Wembley High School was effective in identifying particular groups that were struggling and involved the family more in looking at solutions.  In respect of the disparity in performance between Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 4, Councillor Moher explained that there was a lot of churn in Brent schools which may contribute towards this, whilst additional attention needed to be given to pupils whose first language was not English.

The Chair requested that an update on this item be presented to the committee at a meeting in the autumn of 2015.

RESOLVED:

(i)         that the priorities proposed for 2014-15 intended to accelerate          improvement be noted; and

(ii)        that the progress made in the overall performance of Brent’s primary schools in 2013-14 be welcomed.