Over 250 professionals working with children and young people will converge in York today (Wednesday 27 January 2016) for the annual No Wrong Door Conference.
Organised by the council’s Children’s Trust Unit, the eighth conference, will be held at York Racecourse.
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Exam results in York click to access more information
The Department for Education has published the results of GCSE exams taken last year. They make grim reading for the York High School where success rates have plunged.
Of course, there may be many reasons for this and parents will be expecting a full explanation from the head teacher and his school governors in due course.
From next year, schools in England will be measured on what is known as Progress 8. Progress 8 will replace the five or more good GCSEs, including maths and English, benchmark as the key measure for all secondary schools.
Progress 8 assesses the progress pupils make between Key Stage 2 tests taken at the end of primary school and their performance in a specified mixture of eight subjects at the end of secondary school. Schools will be given a score based on how their pupils have progressed compared to the national average.
This year, schools were given the option to “opt in” for Progress 8 and 327 schools (around 10%) took this up.
Nationally, head teachers have long complained measuring success on the basis of GCSE results alone is unfair as it does not take into account the intake of the school.
But ministers have maintained parents want and need simple and easy-to-digest information about schools.
The difference in achievement by gender is startling, with roughly a fifth fewer boys than girls reaching the end of Key Stage 4 with a good set of GCSEs.
Some 61.8% of girls got five good GCSEs, including English and maths, compared with 52.5% of their male peers.
And fewer boys than girls made at least the expected level of progress – 65.9% of boys opposed to 76.5% of girls.
More girls (29.3%) than boys achieved the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), which requires GCSEs in two sciences, a language, history or geography, as well as English and maths. Only 19.5% of boys obtained it.
Overall, 24.3% of pupils achieved the EBacc.
There was also a marked difference between the performance of disadvantaged pupils (those eligible for the pupil premium) and their more advantaged peers, with just 36.7% getting five good GCSEs, including maths and English, compared to 64.7%.
The poorest performing local authority was Knowsley on Merseyside, where 37.4% of pupils met the required standard, compared to the national average of 57.1%.
A new £6.2m annex to Scarcroft Primary School for 210 pupils aged 8-11 to be built on the Millthorpe School site, will be considered by City of York Council’s Executive on 28 January 2016.
Proposed Scarcroft school “annex” near Millthorpe school
A consistent rise in demand has led to the need to create additional primary school places in the Southbank area of the city. To future-proof provision against forecast demand over the next ten years and beyond, a new building is proposed to provide 210 additional pupil places.
Scarcroft Primary School currently admits 45 Reception pupils a year and the annex would provide places for up to 75. For the school year beginning 1 September 2017, additional pupil places could be temporarily accommodated within Scarcroft Primary until the additional spaces are created.
The new building proposed on Millthorpe School land will be sited in an area not currently used as play space.
If approved, the project is expected to be completed for 1 September 2018 and the cost will be met from central Government’s basic needs funding.
Other options considered for meeting the demand were:
(a) provide no additional places in the Southbank area
(b) build accommodation for 210 (1 form entry (fe) each year) additional places, as an annex to Scarcroft Primary on the Millthorpe School site
(c) build a 210 (1 form entry) place primary school on the former Terry’s Car Park site at Nun Ings
(d) build a 315 (1.5 form entry) place school on land behind The Grove and The Square off Tadcaster Road
(e) build a 630 (3 form entry) place school at either Bishopthorpe Infant or Archbishop of York CE Junior school sites
Executive will take place on Thursday 28 January at West Offices from 5.30pm and is open to members of the public or is available to watch live online from: www.york.gov.uk/webcasts
NB. Some parents in the area are still embroiled in a battle over proposed “academy” status for local schools. A recent survey of views has apparently revealed that a majority of the parents, of children currently attending the schools, are opposed to the change.
Mentors are needed who have the time, empathy and understanding to make a difference to some of the most vulnerable families in the city, and will make a real difference to the lives of struggling parents and their children.
The Parent Mentoring Service currently has 11 volunteers and now needs 10 more to continue its valuable work running since October 2011.
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Youngsters in York aged 18 and under can travel by bus for free with a YOzone card every weekend throughout January and February.
All of York’s local bus operators, including First, Arriva, Transdev and Coastliner will be taking part in the free travel offer.
City of York Council’s free travel initiative was given the green light by the Executive Member for Transport and Planning,
Of course someone will have to pick up the cost of the scheme so it looks like taxpayers will get a bill for around £50,000. (more…)
The Caddell Centre, York’s new centre specialising in teaching primary-school aged deaf children, will be officially opened on 4 December by six deaf pupils.
The centre has been commissioned by City of York Council and will be run by the York Specialist Teaching Team in collaboration with Hempland Primary School where it is based.
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The North Yorkshire Police Lifestyle Awards Ceremony took place at York Racecourse on Thursday 19 November. The event rewards those who took part in a competition over the summer holidays which encouraged groups of young people to carry out projects that improve their communities.
Now in its third year, one of the aims behind the Lifestyle Challenge is to give young people a voice in their community and the opportunity to make positive changes. Since 2013 it has seen hundreds of youngsters aged between 10 and 17 take part, with hundreds of hours of work put in to projects as varied as cleaning beaches, clearing the gardens of elderly or housebound residents, organising family fun days, bake sales, sports days and launching anti-crime initiatives.
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Click to download
Extra funding of £50,000 was agreed at the July council meeting to fund the Shine programme, which offers a range of activities including sports, arts, outdoors, libraries and play activities in York.
This year Shine has offered 474 activities linked to the school holidays.
These have included
Council support is given to organisations providing activities, ensuring that they have the necessary policies and practices in place to deliver high quality activities.
The funding is predominantly used to fund activities for those children and young people who would not otherwise be able to access mainstream provision. This may be through a grants system or by commissioning providers to address an identified gap in provision.
The report outlines the planned programme of activity and assesses the strengths and future challenges of the Shine programme. As part of this it asks for a review of the wider offer for children and young people in the city, which will help shape the programme for future years.
The Deputy Leader’s Decision Session takes place on Thursday 3 December at West Offices from 4.30pm and is open to members of the public or is available to watch later online from: www.york.gov.uk/webcasts
To find out more about the report, or to attend, click here
Childcare professionals across the city will have the chance to attend the fourth ‘It’s not ok’ professional seminar at West Offices next week [8 December].
The seminar covers ‘sexual abuse committed by trusted adults’ and will be led by Trish O’Donnell and Lynn Cardwell from the NSPCC. It is particularly relevant to people wanting to learn more about the key things to consider in knowing if someone poses a risk of sexual harm to children.
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