Agenda item

The Panel received a report which provided an update on Haringey’s educational attainment for the school year 2022/23 at all ages from Early Years through to A-Levels. The report was introduced by Cllr Brabazon, Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families as set out in the published agenda pack at pages 93 – 110.  Jane Edwards, AD for Schools and Learning as well as James Page, Chief Executive and Haringey Education Partnership were also present for this item.

By way of introduction, the Cabinet Member advised the Panel that the report set out the good work that was done by HEP around going into schools and working with Head Teachers to improve standards. The Cabinet Member thanked James and his team, as well as Jane and her team for the incredibly positive results achieved. The Panel was advised that in almost every single area, Haringey was performing above the national average. The Cabinet Member set out that she would like to see the work on racial equity expanded into other ethnic groups so that the learning from the work could be expanded. The Panel was advised that Haringey had largely bucked the trend, following the resumption of the inspection regime after Covid, in that it had 98% of its schools achieving either good or outstanding.

James Page advised Members that this was the best set of results for our young people that Haringey had ever achieved, with every single primary measure scoring above the national average. The KS2 results had met the London average for the first time ever. Haringey was the fourth most deprived borough in London but its results did not reflect that. The Panel was advised that at KS4 & KS5, mathematical inflation due to Covid had been reversed and so 2023 results were directly comparable to 2019. KS4 & KS5 results had improved against 2019 in absolute terms. It was contended that given Covid and all the lost learning, that this should be seen as an astonishing achievement.

The following arose in discussion of this agenda item:

a.    The Chair welcomed the report and the positive narrative that it painted about progress in educational achievement. The Chair queried how HEP had managed to achieve such a positive set of results. In response, officers advised that HEP was able to glue Haringey’s schools together and form a collaborative network of schools. As a result, the schools were open to sharing and open to being challenged critically. The schools were also incredible aspirational for their pupils and they worked hard to remove barriers for challenged or challenging pupils. Officers emphasised the importance of the collaborative and collegiate work and the fact that the school leadership was also very strong, both in terms of governors and head teachers. Mr Page emphasised the fact that the support and the challenge was there and that the schools accepted being challenged. It was suggested that crucial to this was having the trust of Head Teachers, so that they were prepared to be honest about areas of concern. It was also suggested that having a real focus on practice was also important, to improve learning in the classrooms.

b.    The Panel welcomed the report and the level of educational attainment that had been achieved in Haringey. A Panel member emphasised the role that schools played in socialising children as they grew up and questioned whether there were any data that showed how well schools did in creating well rounded human beings. In response, the Cabinet Member commented that the journey began with Early Years which gave huge support to children in terms of their socialisation. The Panel was advised that Early Years provision in Haringey had achieved 98-99% of providers achieving a rating of either outstanding or good across the entire sector. Mr Page advised that the nearest thing that they had to outcomes data on this was the personal development judgment by Ofsted as part of their framework. It was acknowledged by Ofsted that it couldn’t measure outcomes due to the length of time needed to measure something like this in children, but it did measure how well the schools were doing to support personal development. The Panel was advised that every school had achieved a good or outstanding rating on this metric. Mr Page also emphasised the key role that Pendarren played in personal development for some of Haringey’s young people.

c.    The Panel enquired whether there was any way that the authority could capitalise on the success it had in this area, particularly given the pressure on budgets. In response, Mr Page advised that HEP was a not-for-profit and was funded by the Council, but that it was brining money in to subsidise the work it did with schools and to not raise prices as well as offer additional support. Officers advised that grant funding had been under significant pressure and that HEP were able to absorb funding pressures through its trading arm. It was also noted that providing support to schools helped mitigate the risk of failing schools being made academies and the local authority having to absorb any deficits.

d.    The Panel raised concerns about schools’ ability to recruit and retain school governors given the workloads involved, and financial pressures schools were under. A co-opted member of the Panel suggested that there was a risk of schools having to close because of the financial pressures they faced. In response, the Cabinet Member acknowledged that attracting school governors was difficult for the reasons outlined, but that HEP was providing support to school governors. The Cabinet Member suggested that she would like to see partners collectively invigorate school governors and making it more attractive for people to take it on. Mr Page advised that that National Governors Association acknowledged that the situation was worsening and that representation and diversity had regressed among school governing bodies. It was suggested that it was important to ensure that governing bodies felt connected to each other and that governors had the support and ability to ask questions from other governors. It was important that networks be connected up and that aspiring leaders within schools were encouraged to become school governors.

RESOLVED

That the update was noted.