Agenda item

- that the Cabinet Member endorse the drive to improve standards

Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Learning Services which set out in detail the assessment results of performance of Rotherham children in Foundation Stage and the end of Key Stage 1, in 2006.

All schools must conduct a form of statutory assessment at the end of each Key Stage (ages 5, 7, 11, 14 and 16).  The Foundation Stage Profile is assessed when children reach the end of Foundation Stage (age 5).  At the end of Key Stage 1 (age 7) children undertake Statutory Assessment Tasks (SATs) which, from 2005, was assessed by their teachers.  Previously, these had been externally marked.

Assessment outcomes continue to show the weakest areas of capability are within Communication, Language and Literacy (CLL) with a particular weakness in writing (average score 5.2) compared to the highest level of capability in the areas of Mathematics (Numbers as Labels and for Counting), Personal, Social and Emotional (PSE) Development (Dispositions and Attitude) and Physical Development (PD) each of which reports a local average of 6.8.

Outcomes for 2006 report improvements in a number of key areas compared to those reported in 2005.  These are:

• Emotional Development in the Personal, Social and Emotional scale (PSE)
• All aspects of Communication, Language and Literacy (CLL)
• Knowledge and Understanding of the World (KUW) and
• Physical Development (PD)

In addition, outcomes for Emotional Development in the PSE scale, Reading in the CLL scale and KUW and PD have reported the highest results to date.

The differences in performance between girls and boys are evident at this initial stage of formal assessment.  Girls outperform boys in all assessment scales.  This continues to be most pronounced in Writing, with a gap of 0.7 and Creative Development (CD) with a gap of 0.8.  The performance of girls and boys is most comparable in all elements of Mathematics and the Knowledge and Understanding of the World (KUW) Areas of Learning with a difference of only 0.2.  However boys’ performance was stronger than in previous years in the majority of assessment scales, with improvements shown in all aspects of CLL.

Rotherham continues to report an overall profile of a greater proportion of pupils working below the Early Learning Goals and a lower proportion of pupils working above the Early Learning Goals than nationally.  This picture reflects the profile of disadvantage in Rotherham as measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation and using those factors that affect children.  However, the gap has been narrowed in the majority of instances in 2006, most particularly when the proportion of pupils working above the Early Learning Goals is compared to those nationally.  This continuing lower, but improving, profile in Rotherham presents significant challenges for Key Stage 1 provision in the drive to demonstrate overall performance, comparable with that nationally, by the end of this key stage.  The improvements reported in 2006 should begin to contribute to this drive to improve standards.

In addition, the following data performance was provided and expanded upon at the meeting:-

-                       Foundation Stage summary from 2004 to 2006

-                       Overall Results for Key Stage 1

-                       Results for Vulnerable Groups

-                       Ethnicity 2004-2006

A question was raised and responded to with regard to the performance of children from EU communities.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the report be received.

(2)         That the drive to encourage all schools to continue to improve their results, and strive to reflect outcomes, at least in line with national averages, be endorsed.

(3)         That the drive to improve standards, particularly in Communication, Language and Literacy, throughout these two key stages, together with the attainment of boys and other vulnerable and underachieving groups, be endorsed.

(4)  That the report be submitted to Cabinet and the Children and Young People’s Services Scrutiny Panel for consideration.