Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillor Neill Young and from Catherine Hobbs, Roman Catholic Diocesan representative.  Apologies for lateness were received on behalf of Mike Stoneman.

Councillor Suzy Horton declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest as she is a governor at Craneswater Junior School.

The minutes of the last meeting on 3 October 2017 are attached for approval. 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 3 October 2017 be confirmed and signed by the chair as a correct record.

  Purpose of report

  This report provides a brief update on the Portsmouth Education Partnership (PEP), school improvement priorities for 2017/18 and targeted support for LA Maintained Schools in 2017/18. 

RECOMMENDED that members of the Education Advisory Board note progress in terms of:

a.         Development of the Portsmouth Education Partnership and publication of the Education Strategy 2017 - 2020, as set out in Section 3 of the report

b.        School improvement priorities for 2017/18 and the targeted support to LA Maintained schools in 2017/18.

Alison Jeffery, Director of Children, Families and Education introduced the report as Mike Stoneman had been detained at another meeting.  She explained that the report provides a brief update on the Portsmouth Education Partnership (PEP), school improvement priorities for 2017/18 and targeted support for LA maintained schools in 2017/18.

The Portsmouth Education Partnership was established in November 2016 and is a schools-led partnership bringing together multi-academy trusts, individual schools and academies, the local authority, Portsmouth Teaching School Alliance, colleges, early years settings and a range of key partners in order to collectively drive improved attainment and opportunity for all children and young people across the city. 

She further advised that the PEP has a strategic board which meets every term, underneath which are five sub-groups details of which are included in section 3.2 of the report.  Ms Jeffery advised that the Education Strategy for Portsmouth 2017-2020 has been published and a summary of the strategy is attached at Appendix 1.

In addition the PEP website has been launched and this contains a wealth of information and resources covering the ten strategic objectives of the education strategy.  Details of the ten strategic objectives can be found at the link provided in the report.  Ms Jeffery advised that section 4 of the report outlines school improvement support.  She advised that whilst many of the city's schools have joined multi-academy trusts (MATs), 50% of schools remain under the responsibility of the council.  Targeted school improvement support for LA maintained schools has been outsourced by the council to the Portsmouth Teaching School Alliance but under the auspices of the PEP and the School Improvement Board.  The PEP School Improvements Board (SIB) is chaired by Simon Graham, Head-teacher of St Edmund's Catholic School and 4.3 of the report details what the SIB comprises of.

Sections 4.5 and 4.6 of the report give details of the targeted school improvement support for LA maintained schools.  All LA maintained schools were sent a copy of the PEP performance dashboard relating to their school with a priority rating of 1-3 (1 being the highest priority).  This has dictated the amount of support schools will receive from the LA through the Portsmouth Teaching School Alliance.

Academies and the respective MATs were also sent the dashboard information but without the priority rating.  Appendix 3 provides a summary of support and outcomes in 2016/17 and the latest position with regard to 2017/18.  Exempt Appendix 4 gives details of the prioritisation for both LA maintained schools and academies.

Mr Mike Stoneman apologised for his late arrival and reported on the strategic school improvement fund as set out in paragraphs 4.7 to 4.9.  He commended Jo Peach on the two successful Strategic School Improvement Fund bids which reinforced the strength and importance of the Portsmouth Education Partnership and in particular

·         capacity to deliver

·         clarity about local need and priorities

·         the depth of collaboration in the city

With regard to the annual conversation with Ofsted this was outlined in section 4.2 of the report and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Purpose of report

  1.1    This report sets out the outcome of 9 Ofsted school inspections that were carried out by Ofsted during the late summer and autumn terms 2017.  This follows a report that was provided to Board Members on 3^rd July 2017 with a summary of the outcomes of Ofsted inspections for the spring and summer terms.

  1.2    The report also provides a summary of the overall position for Ofsted judgements across schools in Portsmouth.

RECOMMENDED that members of the Education Advisory Board note the outcomes of the school inspections that were undertaken during the late summer and autumn terms 2017.

Mike Stoneman introduced the report which sets out the outcome of 9 school inspections that were carried out by Ofsted during the late summer and autumn terms 2017. This follows a report that was provided to Board Members on 3 July 2017 with a summary of the outcomes of Ofsted inspections for the spring and summer terms.

The report also provides a summary of the overall position for Ofsted

judgements across schools in Portsmouth.

Mr Stoneman detailed the contents of the table contained in section 3 of the report "Summary of Ofsted school inspections in Portsmouth - last

summer and autumn terms 2017".

In summary, as set out in section 4.1 of the report, in Portsmouth, 88.1% of inspected schools are now either Good or Outstanding (81.3% of all schools) and 88.0% of pupils are taught in inspected schools that are at Good or Outstanding (82.6% of all pupils). Appendix 1 provides a series of graphs and charts which show the trends between January 2017 and January 2018 and comparisons between the start of the autumn term and the start of the spring term.

However, although the picture is generally ion an upward trend, there are still some schools categorised as requiring improvement. 

Mr Stoneman said that there are various reasons why Headteachers continue to resist moving to academy status.  The reality is that LAs are facing financial cut-backs and the LA did not have the money it used to have.  He said this may well become even more difficult in the future.

There are some instances of cross support between heads of Academy Trusts and head teachers in LA schools and this appeared to be working well.

Hilary Loder said that academies were able to draw on support and funding from many different avenues.

Councillor Suzy Horton commented that on a separate matter, she was very impressed by St Edmund's School in terms of their attending many city events and being interested in what was going on in the city.  The Board considered that it would be useful to feed that back to St Edmund's and Mike Stoneman undertook to do this.  It was also suggested that a way could be found to encourage other schools to do something similar.

RESOLVED that members of the Education Advisory Board

noted the outcomes of the school inspections that were undertaken

during the late summer and autumn terms 2017.

For the Board to agree when to hold the next meeting in the Summer term.

The Board discussed potential dates for the next meeting and agreed to look at dates in early July at 4pm.