Agenda item

Context:

To provide Select Committee members with the latest data showing educational attainment information they need to hold services to account.  This includes:

·                Performance of pupils at the end of Foundation Phase, Key Stages 2 and 3.

·                A breakdown, where possible of performance across all key stages for the following groups:

-       Girls and Boys.

-       Pupils who are eligible for free school meals (eFSM).

Key Issues:

·         The report draws together the headline messages from a number of more detailed analyses.

·         The reports contain a wealth of information enabling Members to drill down from authority level data to figures for specific learner groups.

·         Most data provides comparisons back to 2011/12, which was the academic year just prior to the last, full Estyn inspection.  Over the last five years, there has been a notable improvement in headline indicators.

·         The report enables the Select Committee to look beyond the high-level measures to some of the detail that sits underneath. 

Foundation Phase

·         Monmouthshire saw a minimal drop by 0.1 percentage point in the Foundation Phase Indicator with 91.7% of pupils achieving the Foundation Phase Indicator (FPI), compared to 91.8% in 2014/15 and 86.8% in 2011/12.

·         Despite the drop in performance, Monmouthshire moved up one place to 1^st in the Wales local authority rankings for FPI.

·         In 2015/16, performance has declined at the expected level (O5+), with the exception of an increase in Language, Literacy and Communication (LLC) in Welsh at O5+.

·         Performance at the expected level +1 (O6+) has increased across all indicators.

·         Monmouthshire continues to be ranked amongst the top three performing authorities in Wales for all areas of learning with the exception of LLC Welsh first language.

Key Stage 2

·      Performance continues to improve, with 94.1% of pupils achieving the key stage 2 core subject indicator (KS2CSI) in 2014/15, compared to 86.3% in 2011/12 and 92.5% in 2015.  Monmouthshire is still ranked 1^st in Wales for KS2CSI.

·      Performance across English, Welsh, mathematics and science continues to improve at both the expected curriculum level 4+ and the higher level 5+.

·      Monmouthshire ranks 1^st in Wales for all indicators with the exception of Welsh first language.

Key Stage 3

·      Performance continues to improve albeit at a slower rate than across Wales as a whole.  In 2015/16, 91.9% of pupils achieved the KS3CSI, compared to 90.8% in 2015 and 77.7% in 2011/12.

·      Monmouthshire is now ranked 3^rd in Wales for the KS3CSI.

·      Performance across English, mathematics and science continues to improve at both the expected curriculum level 5+ and at the higher level 6+.

·      Monmouthshire is now ranked 2^nd in Wales for English at Key Stage 3, 3^rd for mathematics and 4^th for science.

Member scrutiny:

·         Key Stage 4 and 5 data will be available at the next Select Committee meeting including data regarding vulnerable pupils.

·         The performance gap between girls and boys at key stages 2 & 3 is closing. However, the gap has widened at the foundation phase.  Therefore, there was a need to investigate this matter in order to ensure that equal engagement was being provided to all students.

·         Free School meals (FSM) Expected Level (Outcome 5+) – 2016 achievements are below 2014 and 2015.  The Select Committee was informed that when looking at the end of Foundation Phase, there are 111 pupils who are FSM pupils within that group.  Of this 111 pupils, there are only 21 pupils who did not achieve the Foundation Phase Indicator and that difference in performance would have been recognised within the pupil level targets.  Therefore, it would have been anticipated that perhaps the performance would not have been as high this year given the nature of the cohort.  It was noted that such detail will be available in a more detailed report that will be presented to a future meeting of the Select Committee.

·         There has been a strong, consistent performance and improving performance at the end of Key Stage 2.  However, that has not necessarily been sustained into Key Stage 3 but there have been improvements.  Clusters work well with each other but there is a need to ensure that children continue their learning from the day they start secondary school from where they left at the end of the summer term.  Many of the clusters are beginning work in Year 6 and continuing into Year 7, as this is a time when performance can dip.

·         Since 2012, there has been a significant uplift in improvement at Key Stage 3 going into Key Stage 4 and is an area in which the Authority continues to focus on.

·         Good practice is being shared amongst schools.

·         In response to a question raised in respect of Foundation Phase – by Gender regarding Outcome 5+, it was noted that more detail will be provided in a future report to the Select Committee.

·         In response to a Select Committee Member’s question, it was noted that all secondary schools provide appropriate support for pupils when transitioning between the key stages.

·         Benchmark Quartiles for the Core Subject Indicator (Expected Level (L4+)) - The changes form quartile 1 to quartile 3 indicates how Monmouthshire schools are comparing with other similar schools.