Agenda item

This summary provides an overview of 2017 provisional results for Portsmouth for headline attainment measures across all key stages.  The data is being used to inform the Portsmouth Education Partnership's Performance Dashboard and the prioritisation of schools for targeted school improvement support (refer to the separate report).

RECOMMENDED that Board Members note the provisional results for 2017 and how it is informing school improvement priorities for 2017/18 (refer to the separate report).

The report was introduced by Mike Stoneman who explained he also had some power point slides to show to the panel.  This could be made available to the board following the meeting. 

He explained that the results are still provisional and were based on data provided by the schools. The full set of validated data will be available in January.  There were some missing results for KS4 (comparison with national and Progress 8) which were expected next week. 

He explained that in 2016 a new primary assessment framework was introduced which introduced scaled scores and expected standards for KS1 and KS2.  A new accountability framework was also introduced for KS4 which included measures of performance (Progress 8 and Attainment 8).  In 2017 a new 9 to 1 grading scale was introduced for GCSEs replacing A* to G with 9 being the highest grade. The new grading system is being gradually introduced over the next four years, starting with English and maths exams in 2017.  All subjects will be under the new grading system by 2020. This therefore makes it difficult to compare results from previous years.

Early Years Foundation Stage Profile

Mike referred to the graphs in the presentation which showed that Portsmouth was well above the national average in 2015 in terms of the Good Level of Development (GLD) measure.  In 2016 national caught up with us although Portsmouth still showed a significant improvement.  In 2017 further improvements were made but again not as rapid as national - the gap is now only half a percentage point. In response to a question, Mike said that this wasn't a significant concern.  Ella Harbut, who is an Early Years Advisory Teacher and leads the moderation on the EYFSP is doing some investigation around this and providing support to those early years where there are concerns and this is fed into the school improvement board as part of the PEP arrangements. 

It is an encouraging picture overall.  Jo Peach added that they are investigating whether there are any trends but it does seem to be a mixed picture with no common pattern. Influx of EAL pupils could be part of the issue.

Phonics year 1 results

Mike referred to the graphs in the presentation which showed that in 2015 Portsmouth was well below national average.  In 2016 Portsmouth increased significantly and went above national.  In 2017 Portsmouth dropped below national. Mike said it was difficult to give a clear indication as to why there was a drop as there were no obvious patterns.  Jo Peach added that when this was looked into, some schools had performed particularly badly, some of whom are good schools, and other schools have done really well.  When the individual schools were investigated for one it was a case of an influx of EAL pupils and they were not ready for the phonics tests.  In some of the schools that had performed badly it was an issue of a lack of breadth of vocabulary which can really disadvantage children.  This one does fluctuate and the LA has also not got a full breakdown of the detail so it's very difficult to give any data breakdown.  The main thing is to talk to schools to see what they think happened and what can be done to improve this.  In response to a question Jo confirmed it could also be due to cohort issues and staffing issues. Hilary Loder added that this data doesn't link back in any coherent way to the early years data.  

KS1 results

Mike explained that there are only 2 years' worth of data as the new measures were introduced in 2016.  In all three areas of reading, writing and maths there have been improvements which is pleasing.  Writing in particular was good with the gap closing between the national figures. The others stayed the same and this reflects the improvements that have been mirrored at a national level.

In response to a question, Jo explained that teachers learn how to teach the test.  Last year a new moderation arrangement was introduced and this is very robust.  The LA has a strong relationship with Southampton City Council and they are both working under the same arrangements.  The lead moderator in Southampton is working in Portsmouth and have a really strong programme of briefings and CPD.  More confident this year about the accuracy of the teacher judgements.

In response to a question about contrast with our neighbours, Mike explained that the nearest direct comparison is Southampton and we have done reasonably well compared to Southampton.  The same can be said of comparisons with our 10 statistical neighbours. . 

ACTION - Mike said he would produce a table of our statistical neighbours to show the comparison of KS1 results.  This will be circulated to board. Members once the validated results were available (January 2018).

KS2 results

Mike referred to the graphs and said that there was a 6% point increase for combined reading, writing and maths at expected standard increasing from 48% to 56% which is a big jump, however the gap below national remains almost the same.  In reading, writing and maths all three have seen improvements with a particular gain in maths.  Writing has increased slightly and reading is broadly where we were last year.

In response to a question Mike explained that writing in KS2 is subject to teacher assessment so this is where moderation comes in.  We will moderate a 25% sample and there is a very robust process in place.  In response to a question Mike said that in some ways he was not surprised to see the gap widen for writing and the LA had predicted that this might happen due to the arrangements put in place to support moderation.  Overall though this was very encouraging and there are some fantastic success stories across some schools making significant progress.  

In response to a question regarding comparison between results between those schools that are all through primary schools compared to infant/junior schools, Mike said this has been looked at and he would circulate some analysis around that.  The analysis is not conclusive but primary KS2 tend to do better than Junior KS2.   Mike added that progress figures for KS2 - apart from writing, reading and maths all improved in terms of progress scores.

KS4 results

As mentioned earlier in the meeting the LA is still waiting for more details.  These figures are based on figures received from school so are still provisional.  .  The standard pass at grade 4 and above for English and maths was 58.5% - almost the same as the broadly equivalent A*-C figure from 2016 of 58.3%.

A breakdown of secondary schools is included in the back of the report.

The government is also measuring the number of pupils entering the English Baccalaureate. The English Baccalaureate (Ebacc) is a school performance measure. It allows people to see how many pupils get a grade C or above in the core academic subjects at key stage 4 in any government-funded school. The Ebacc is made up of English, maths, history or geography, the sciences and a modern foreign language.  Schools are increasing number of pupils entering the English Baccalaureate and still improving their results which is good to see.  It is slightly contentious as subjects that make up the English Baccalaureate aren't for everybody and do not want to discourage pupils from taking subjects such as music, art.  Some schools will be more encouraging pupils to take this on more than others.  Ofsted are taking a harder line on this so we need to have our eye on that and watch that carefully

ACTIONS: 

Mike Stoneman to provide for the Board:

·         A table of our statistical neighbours to show the comparison of results.

• Analysis of results between all through primary schools compared to infant/junior schools.

RESOLVED the Board Members noted the provisional results for 2017 and noted how it is informing school improvement priorities for 2017/18.