Agenda item

The Panel received and noted the report of the Service Director, Legal and Governance providing an overview of the provisional 2015/16 Key Stage Exam Results and the work of the School Improvement Team in Southampton.

David Townsend, Interim Head of School Effectiveness was in attendance and with the consent of the Chair addressed the meeting.  The Panel noted the encouraging performance at the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, and the progress made at Key Stage 2.

The Panel expressed concern about the attainment levels of Looked After Children, particularly at Key Stage 4, and sought re-assurances from the Cabinet Member that the performance of Looked After Children in Southampton was a priority for the Executive.

The Chair informed the Panel that a discussion on Key Stage 5 performance in Southampton was scheduled for the March meeting of the Panel.

RESOLVED

(i)  that the report circulated to Southampton Connect on the correlation between deprivation and attainment be circulated to the Panel;

(ii)  that the Panel be provided with the Key Stage 2 results for all Southampton schools;

(iii)  that officers encourage all schools to report their 2015/16 exam results on the school’s website; and

(iv)  that, in preparation for a future discussion on the attainment of Looked After Children (LAC), the Panel be provided with the following information:

·  An overview, from the Head of the Virtual School, of the actions that were taken to support the 2015/16 LAC cohort achieve their potential in Key Stage 4 examinations.

·  Contextual information on the 2015/16 Year 11 cohort and the current Year 11 cohort of LAC, including the number of LAC; the number of different local authority areas they were residing in; a breakdown of the Ofsted category of the schools they were/are attending; how many were/are experiencing a part-time timetable; those who were/are being educated within a Pupil Referral Unit; and an overview of the average number of moves being experienced by the cohort within the past 12 months.

·  Information on the expectations with regards to Key Stage 4 attainment of the current Year 11 cohort of LAC and additional actions being undertaken in 2016/17 to support the educational attainment of LAC.

NOTE: Councillor Keogh and Councillor Taggart declared a personal interest in the matter set out in the report as college lecturers and remained in the meeting and took part in the discussion and decision.