Agenda item

Discussion with Chepstow Comprehensive on their success strategies for improving the performance of pupils in receipt of free school meals. Discussion on the challenges of being a school on the periphery of Wales.

The committee welcomed the opportunity to meet directly with the head teacher and deputy head teacher of Chepstow Comprehensive School in order to better understand their success factors in improving the attainment of pupils in receipt of free school meals and to also discuss with them the challenges they face as a school operating on the border of Wales and England.  The head teacher introduced the deputy head Kelly Bowden who is the Free School Meal (FSM) Champion at Chepstow Comprehensive School.  Members were advised that FSM is complex issue and that the school had worked on many strategies, some of which they abandoned.  The school admitted that the outcomes for FSM children in Chepstow were not where they should be and that this is a picture replicated across wales.

The school explained that they are looking at a wider measure than the usual outcomes of 5 GCSE’s and they presented information (appendix 1) to demonstrate some of the wider measures. They explained that they have decided to assess the whole school’s FSM eligible children, not simply those at key stage 4. They advised that some of the measure that have proven particularly effective are undertaking home visits to talk to families to understand how best to support the child needs.

Other factors that are key, are high quality teaching learning and a curriculum to suit the needs of learners. They confirmed that the surveys they have undertaken have shown that children feel safe in their school and that this is something they are proud of.  When children were asked what values were important to them, equity was the top value, regardless of the child’s background and that the 5 top values will form part of the school’s mission statement, the children having played a key role in setting the direction and ethos of the school. 

Challenge:

• I can imagine that the interchange to secondary from primary must be a huge step for all children, but particularly for vulnerable youngsters and it’s very easy to fall back, so what are you doing with the primaries to support them so they can hit the ground running?

We are building a new curriculum and we are working with the primaries in the locality so that we know who we need to support, as some of the children will be going to Wyedean not Chepstow.  We feel confident that we have a handle on this.  We believe in family engagement officers so much that we have engaged a second one.

• Have you evaluated the taking of GCSE’s over 3 years as opposed to 2?

We feel that taking GCSE’s back to 2 years is right for our learners.  We are looking to build the curriculum and we will monitor the impact, because we don’t know what qualifications will look like in the future.

• Can you highlight some of the challenges of being a border school?

We have experienced a fall in our numbers, transport is also a key issue for us, also some recruitment issues.  We strongly believe in celebrating the Welsh language but we have to be mindful of the Welsh Baccalaureate, because some parents don’t want their children to be taught this qualification.

Chairs conclusion:

On behalf of the committee, I would like to congratulate your school on the amazing work that you have undertaken to build unity and to try to support your most vulnerable pupils.  I wish we had more time to talk to you today, but we really appreciate your time and the opportunity to hear from you directly. The committee has agreed that it would like to invite King Henry VIII Comprehensive to talk to us about their strategies and we have agreed that this will be tabled for a future meeting.