Decision details

6.1  The chair and project manager fed back on the Headteachers Executive Conference they had attended. A keynote speech had been given by Professor Steve Strand on Attainment of working class white boys and he had offered to provide some academic papers to support the review.

6.2  Members asked for feedback on the headteachers views on the review and the project manager said that the headteachers had suggested focusing on achievement – which encompasses ‘progress’ and ‘attainment’. They had particularly advised this given the changes underway to the testing and exam regime, which is moving to ‘norm’ referencing rather than ‘criteria’ referencing. This means the attainment of children will remain a constant proportion of the overall cohort. Members raised concerns about schools losing a focus on attainment, given its importance to children’s career and educational life chances, and the importance of raising the attainment to tackle inequality & deprivation. A member highlighted the lower levels of attainment in Southwark’s estates and the importance of tackling this.

6.3  A survey has been sent out via email and about 12 schools had completed the survey. This will soon be distributed online to aid ease of completion. Members offered to contact schools to increase engagement and it was agreed that the committee would do this once the online form had gone out for a couple of weeks.

RESOLVED

An online version of the scrutiny survey on the Attainment Gap will be sent out electronically by the Headteachers’ Executive, with two weeks to complete.  Following that members will contact schools to encourage completion.