Agenda item

The Committee moved to consideration of the third item, the Headline/Provisional School Results. In the discussion, the following points were raised:

·       The Committee were told a more updated, granular report will be available around February 2024.

·       This year was the first time that direct comparisons could be made for the Key Stage Four secondary results with 2019. In the intervening years, teacher assessments, and national formulas had been used to calculate results, but for this academic year, young people were able to sit their exams as usual. Officers stressed that the Council can be incredibly proud of its secondary school children in terms of the results achieved. This cohort was the most disrupted by COVID-19, having been in and out of school since Year 8, yet have achieved results that were 6% above what they were in 2019.

·       The Committee were informed that in most areas of A-Levels, there had been increases in attainment.

·       The Committee were reminded that in October 2022, the Council signed off an ambitious education plan, in which the aims were not just to look at attainment but barriers to education as well. Some of the borough’s schools however were going through really significant financial challenges, with some projected to have deficits, and this was an important item of context to consider.

·       In terms of challenges, officers were prioritising support for those children that are vulnerable and/or struggle to perform as well as others, through initiatives such as inclusion pathways.

·       Officers were working on bringing schools together to collaborate, share best practice, and foster an inclusive culture across all Islington schools.

·       Officers told the Committee that there had been national issues with this year’s SATs examination, as the vocabulary used in some of the question papers was unfamiliar to many students, including Islington’s, as it did not lend itself to their life experiences. This was particularly the case for the reading papers. There was a combination of schools in Ofsted’s inspection window (21 at the time of the Committee meeting) that had been highlighted as requiring extra support.

·       Officers requested that the Committee recognise not only the achievements but also the development towards joining up inclusion, school organisation and the education plan, with a clear focus on vulnerable children, and also to note the variability across the schools.

·       On the Attainment 8 measure, Islington’s schools exceeded pre-pandemic levels in 2023, with over 50% making an improvement since 2019.

·       Educational outcomes for Special Educational Needs (SEN) students exceeded national measures.

·       Committee members noted that there was significant variance for school four in the Attainment 8 measure, to which officers advised that while there was a gap between this and the other schools, the added value to school four’s progress was considerable. School four was said to have had a challenging cohort and students in Year 11 were performing more strongly than where they were in Year 7. Some of the higher performing schools in Attainment 8 may have had a more academic cohort, thus the variance in added value.

·       Committee noted that on the outcomes for vulnerable groups, the “Increase the percentage of children reading at age 7” target was lower for 2024 than what was achieved in 2023, to which officers advised that the target had been pulled from the Education Plan and had been set at what was felt was achievable, but accepted that in line the Council’s ambitions, this could be more aspirational.

·       Although Islington was currently in line with national targets, there was an aspiration to be more in-line with inner London.

·       The Committee congratulated the young people, officers and all involved in achieving these results.

ACTION:

Officers to ensure that in the full report to be presented to Committee in February 2024, there is a segment for the performance of electively home-educated children.

ACTION:

Officers to provide the mean for the Attainment 8 measure used for Islington’s schools.