The Strategic Director, Children’s Services will submit Document “K” which

provides a summary of performance for Key Stage 4 students (16 year olds)

attending Bradford’s secondary schools.

 

The report also acknowledges and celebrates some of the successful

strategies used by the Local Authority and schools to raise standards.

 

Recommended-

 

That the report be noted.

 

                                                            (Marium Haque – 01274 431078)

 

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services submitted Document “K”

which provided a summary of performance for Key Stage 4 students

(16 year olds) attending Bradford’s secondary schools.

 

The report also acknowledged and celebrated some of the successful

strategies used by the Local Authority and schools to raise standards.

 

Sir Nick Weller, the CEO of the Dixons Academy Chain and David Horn, the

CEO of Beckfoot Multi Academy Trust, shared the strategies they were

using to raise standards in their schools.

 

The Head Teacher of Carlton-Bolling attended the meeting and presented

information relating to Progress 8 comparison with Neighbouring Urban Local

Authorities and Progress 8 performance comparison with statistically similar

Local Authorities scores and reported that:

 

·         Bradford had a very contrasting set of results, with a large batch of schools with positive progress 8 (10 schools within top 15% nationally, with their outcomes comparing very favourably against the best performing schools in other West Yorkshire authorities; their strong performance was counter-balanced by a similar number of low performing schools).

·         There were two main attainment measures – Attainment 8 which measures a student’s average grade across eight subjects. This measure was designed to encourage schools to offer a broad, well-balanced curriculum and progress 8 which aims to capture the progress a pupil makes from the end of key stage 2 to the end of key stage 4 in the same eight subjects as those measured in Attainment 8.

·         Basics Measure – percentage of students attaining a grade 5 or above in both English and Maths was 35.8% compared to the national average of 39.9%.

·         Bradford’s Average Attainment 8 Score was 42.6; National Average Attainment 8 Score was 44.3.

·         Percentage of students achieving Basics in Bradford was 35.8%; percentage of students achieving Basics Nationally was 39.9%.

·         Both attainment scores were just beneath national averages, which was not surprising as this cohort entered KS3 with below average attainment levels in 2013, and progress overall in 2018 was in line with national averages.

 

It was reported that in 2018 Bradford’s Attainment 8 score increased by 0.2 points to 42.6 resulting in the narrowing of the gap with the national Attainment 8 of 44.3.  Bradford had moved up to 8 places in the national ranking table from 143^rd position in 2017 to 135^th position in 2018 (out of 151 local authorities). The Dixons Chain of Academies was to be commended for the successes achieved this year.  Bradford’s Progress 8 score of 0.00 remained above the national of -0.08.

 

 

 

Members made the following comments:

 

·         Felt that the report did not have sufficient information ie such as what was behind the results; the report did not include information in relation to SEN, fixed term exclusions, post code of feeder schools, off rolling etc; the figures in the report could not be analysed due to insufficient information.

·          Were good practices being undertaken in the Dixons Schools being shared with other schools; how can you make every school perform like Dixons?

·         Were the Dixons primary Schools high achievers which resulted in  high progress 8 results for their secondary schools.

·         A number of parents did not understand the admissions process for the Dixons Schools; there were a number of parents that applied for all the Dixons schools but were not allocated any of them and were then allocated a school a few miles away; some children lived very close to a Dixons school but were not allocated it.

·         It was good to note all the positivity but felt the statistics were skewed by the Dixons results.

·         How long should a secondary school day be? What hours lead to lack of concentration?

·         Letting children out of school grounds was a missed opportunity.

·         Acknowledged that  students were doing well with the regimented approach operated at the Dixons Schools but was that an issue for students when they arrived at University and had to do more independent study and there was less classroom attendance required?

·         How much were the Dixons schools involved with children out of school?

·         How could all the other schools who were underperforming  achieve the same results as Dixons; how could standards across the Bradford schools be raised using the expertise of Dixons to achieve the same success.

·         What was being undertaken for children who did not work well in a school environment?

 

In response to the above queries the Deputy Director Education and Learning

reported that the service was working with schools that had additional

challenges and vulnerable groups.

 

In relation to the questions raised by Members the Chief Executive of the

Dixons Academy Trust reported that:

 

·                     the Dixons Primary Schools were not high achieving, some of the Dixons schools were in the least disadvantaged areas.

·                     Some of the top performing schools had a high proportion of SEN and Looked After Children.

·                     Dixons results were higher because the schools focussed on a higher class of qualifications.

·                     The admissions process for Dixons was undertaken using random allocation which was a fair process; parents are informed to put at least one local school on their application.

·                     The success of the Dixons schools included the initiatives used by the schools such as rarely excluding children; the school days were longer; the school days were regimented and strict; not every school would be comfortable to follow that model but that was the model used by Dixons schools.

·                     The school day for the Dixons Secondary schools was from 8am to 430pm but not five days a week; additional cultural activities took place after 4.30; which was similar to private schools and was designed around the most vulnerable children.

·                     Lessons needed to be engaging to ensure pupils were concentrating.

·                     The Dixons schools did not let children out of school during lunch times; the pupils dined with staff in a more social environment; having a separate sixth form would help in building independent study from year 7 onwards.

·                     The schools ran parents engagement sessions which were well attended; 100% of parents attended the parents evenings.

·                     If children were not engaged in lessons the Dixons schools would not achieve the results; younger staff found it easier to adapt to the new systems.

·                     The Dixons chain ran small high schools in area of high deprivation; needed to avoid building large high schools in inner city areas; smaller schools worked better in areas of high deprivation.

 

The Deputy Director, Education and Learning reported that a lot of learning could be taken from Dixons and shared with other schools, the multi academy trusts were keen to help raise standards, the service was keen to have those discussions.

 

The Youth Voice representative attended the meeting and reported that he had been around all the Dixons Schools and found them to be very different to non Dixons schools, he found them to be too regimented which he felt could lead to pupils being disengaged but acknowledged that the schools outcomes were good and that they needed to work with other schools in helping them to make improvements and asked whether Dixons were working with other schools in the area.

 

The Deputy Director accepted the various challenges faced by a number of

schools  and emphasised that the service would be looking at the fair access

procedures and how they could be improved so that they worked for children,

families and schools.

 

In response to the queries raised by Members the Head Teacher of Carlton-

Bolling reported that his school had construction programmes for children

who did not want an academic qualification; the school talked to the children

about their future ambitions and their qualification needs.

 

 

The Chief Executive of the Beckfoot Trust reported on their philosophy of high

achievements which was different to Dixons; the Beckfoot Trust were creating

schools children loved to attend and where they were respected and an

environment where staff felt valued; creating great schools which allowed

children to grow and mature; all schools were Bradford schools, not faith

based and not independent; wanted all schools to be in the top 20

comprehensive schools; one governing body in all schools, equal support and

equal challenge; taking over challenging schools that had failed a generation

of children; Beckfoot Upper Heaton was inspected in March and was found to

be good in all areas.

 

The Chair commended the Trusts for the positive work they were undertaking.

 

Members were informed about the 50 things to do before you are 5 programme which was an initiative launched by St Edmund’s Nursery school and Children’s Centre supported and promoted by Birth to 19. It focused on the development of Bradford ‘s younger children’s speech, language and communication skills. Each of the 50 things was a fun activity for the child to take part in with her or his carer, ranging from going to the seaside to making a snowperson. Practitioners from St Edmunds verbally shared the progress of this project to date.

 

The Teaching and Learning Lead of the Long Lee and Ingrow Federation

spoke about the Raising Standards in Mathematics Programme in Keighley

and reported thatshe had worked alongside 7 schools in the Keighley area

over the last four years in her role as mastery specialist teacher with the

National Centre for the Excellence of teaching in Mathematics (NCETM),

working closely with the West Yorkshire Maths Hub. Initially the focus was on

developing the role of the mathematics leader in other settings, the mode of

delivery was through joint teacher research groups, model lessons and team

teaching. as well as focussed individual school work.

 

Resolved-

 

(1)       That the Committee accepts the report and congratulates those schools showing improvements and looks forward to seeing these translated into improved GCSE results.

 

(2)       That the Committee thanks all the contributors for their presentations and welcomes the sharing of good practice taking place.