Issue - meetings

Report ED12060

The Committee considered a report outlining the current school improvement strategy to support underperforming schools in Bromley and the future challenges in the light of the evolving education agenda. 

The Local Authority had a statutory duty to intervene in Local Authority maintained, community and voluntary aided schools where there were serious concerns that needed to be addressed, including schools where performance was consistently below floor targets or where there was a serious drop in performance.  If necessary improvements were not made within a set timescale, the Local Authority could use appropriate statutory powers of intervention, including requiring the Governing Body to work with another school for the purpose of school improvement, the suspension of delegated authority or to seek academy sponsorship for the school.  The Local Authority also had a statutory responsibility to take action when a school went into an Ofsted category of concern, with an expectation by the Department for Education that where a school has been judged by Ofsted to require ’Special Measures’, conversion to an academy with a strong sponsor would be the normal route to secure improvement.  There were currently three primary schools in Bromley that had been judged to require ‘Special Measures’, with one convertor academy judged as ‘notice to improve’.  Two Local Authority Maintained Schools in Special Measures would become sponsored academies by September 2013.

In considering the report, a Member suggested that it would be useful for the information provided on schools’ Ofsted outcomes to show each schools direction of travel through Ofsted levels to make it easier to identify where schools were showing improvement or where there was a need for school improvement measures to be put in place.  There was also potential to map risk factors for each school, such as having a deficit budget or upcoming senior staff changes to support long term planning.  A Member asked that case studies be used to demonstrate how the school improvement strategy had helped support individual schools to improve.

A Member underlined the importance of the ‘critical friend’ role of a strong Governing Body.  The Chairman also highlighted the value of schools developing links to Higher Education, and it was noted that the Bromley Schools’ Collegiate, which offered training in the Secondary sector was now expanding to the Primary Sector.

RESOLVED that Members’ comments on the current school improvement strategy and how this accords with the local agenda for the future be noted.