The Strategic Director, Children’s Services will submit Document “AB” which outlines some of the key outcomes for Bradford from the 2017 national tests and teacher assessments; much of the report is based upon the Statistical First Release (SFR) data; the 2017 national average, where available, have been included; the KS4 and KS5 data presented in the report is based on revised data published on 25^th January 2018.

Recommended-

(1)        That the report (Document “AB”) on the performance of Bradford’s Children and Young People in Key Stage tests for 2017 be received.

(2)       That Members are asked to continue to encourage families in their wards to become more actively engaged with their children’s learning and attendance in order to further improve their children’s learning  capacity and resilience.

                                                            (Judith Kirk – 01274 431078)

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services submitted Document “AB” which detailed some of the key outcomes for Bradford pupils from the 2017 results of national tests and teacher assessments from Early Years to Key Stage 5.

The report explained that: a lot of the information was based upon the Statistical First Release (SFR) data; the 2017 national averages had been included for comparison, where available; and the Key Stage 4 (KS4) and Key Stage 5 (KS5) data was based on revised data published on 25 January 2018.

The Strategic Director and the Headteacher of a local Secondary School highlighted the following:

·         Early Years was recognised as a critical stage and there was a lot of on-going work in this area.

·         There had been an overall 6% rise in the number of pupils achieving a Good Level of Development (GLD) at Early Years Foundation Stage since 2015.

·         The greatest improvement had been achieved by boys. (which reflected the positive impact of the initiatives targeted at this group).

·         The gap in Phonics at Key Stage 1 (KS1) was being closed and Bradford was now just below the national average, this was positive progress on the right trajectory.

·         In KS1 the overall proportion of those achieving the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths had increased. The gap with the national average had widened slightly in Writing and decreased slightly in Maths.

·         In KS2 there had been an increase of 10% in those reaching the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths which was a very positive development and a clear indication that the Authority’s strategies were having an impact. There was some work to be done in terms of the Writing element but significant improvement had been made with this in 2016.

·         Bradford had moved up the Standard Rankings in terms of its performance compared with all other local authorities apart from its results in Writing.

·         Officers were proud of the progress being made with outcomes but it was stressed that there was no complacency.

·         For KS4 and 5; Progress 8 was considered to be a much fairer measure of attainment, particularly for urban authorities like Bradford; it measured the progress made between KS2 and KS4 for each pupil which was then aggregated to a whole school score and then further aggregated to a score for the Authority as a whole. Bradford was now ranked in the top third of authorities.

·         Almost a quarter of Bradford Schools had results falling within in the top 10% of schools nationally and there had been a general upward shift overall.

·         The overall Progress 8 score for Bradford was +0.02 which was a significant move forward.

·         Bradford was the most improved at +0.17 in comparison with neighbouring urban authorities.

·         In comparison with statistically similar local authorities, Bradford ranked second and again was the most improved.

·         The overall average attainment score was slightly below the national average, this being achieved despite the overall ability level of pupils on entry being lower than the national average.

·         At KS5 the Value Added Scores ranked in terms of school indicated an interesting difference compared with the top and bottom performers at KS4 level. The reasons for this were not known but it was thought that perhaps students at relatively poor performing schools prospered at KS5 due to being in smaller and more motivated classes in contrast to their KS4 experience.

·         In terms of broad general level vocational qualifications (Applied General) 81% of providers in Bradford had recorded a positive Value Added Score; 63% were rated as ‘above average’; 19% as well above average and only 2 out of 27 providers being ‘below average’.

·         In respect of ‘Tech Level’ occupation specific vocational qualifications, the Bradford average points score was above the national average and 91% of providers had a top average points score rating of ‘Distinction*’. It was noted that the figures for Bradford College were affected by (and skewed the overall average for Bradford) the significant numbers in each cohort.

In response to a Member’s question it was explained that:

·         The difference in performance between providers with two or more schools could be partially explained by some Trusts having set up schools from the beginning whereas others had taken on existing schools.

 Members made the following comments:

·         The results showed that the Bradford district was a good place to bring up and educate children.

·         There was no information provided in respect of pupil retention rates.

·         The improvement in performance across the board was welcomed. The commitment to the Bradford Education Covenant and the efforts to improve outcomes was making a difference.

Members also exchanged views in respect of what influenced children in respect of whether they chose to stay in their existing school or move to an alternative provision for KS5 and the impact of their previous performance on this decision.

The Strategic Director said that the aspiration was for there to be more choice for Post 16 education in the future.

Resolved-

(1)        That the report on the performance of Bradford’s Children and Young People in Key Stage tests for 2017 (Document “AB”), which highlights the improvement in attainment for Bradford’s young people, be welcomed.

(2)       That all Elected Members be requested to continue to encourage families in their wards to become more actively engaged with their children’s learning and attendance in order to further improve their children’s learning  capacity and resilience.

ACTION:       Strategic Director, Children’s Services