Tory Councillors in York have taken the unusual step of issuing a leaflet claiming credit for funding a primary school in Seacroft.
With cash strapped schools in Scarcroft in York hoping for investment to deal with overcrowding, we doubt that local parents will be too impressed with the move!
Tory leaflet March 2017
Of the 150 local authorities across the country, attendance data for the autumn and spring terms 2015-16 show that City of York Council is the ninth best performer of all other local authorities.
Compared nationally, York’s overall attendance level has further improved since 2014-15 when absence was 4.2 per cent. In 2015-16, it improved to 4.0 per cent for same period. York’s performance is better than the national trend which shows that levels of absence fell from 4.5% to 4.4% in the same period. Levels of pupils who are regarded as persistently absent in York – absent for 10 per cent of available sessions – are shown to be the eleventh lowest in the UK with 8.8 per cent for York compared to the national figure of 10.3 per cent.
Compared regionally, York has the second lowest figures for absence in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Regional figures are 4.4 per cent for overall absence and 10.8 per cent persistent absentees respectively.
Absenteeism can be due to a number of factors including parental neglect, truancy, holidays or non-essential appointments. Pupils who miss between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of school tend to have lower attainment levels than average, with only 35 per cent achieving five A* to C GCSEs, including English and maths.
The full data is at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-autumn-2015-and-spring-2016
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.
The Council has revealed details of a new staff structure in its “learning” team. The restructure is aimed at saving £284,000 a year in staffing costs and has been influenced by the conclusion of some Europe funded projects.
Some voluntary redundancies have already taken place. Three existing staff face compulsory redundancy
The background report says,
“Many of these savings are coming from reduction in management posts, but there will also be some savings in direct service delivery, including reductions in some teaching staff, reductions in employability programmes and provision to support mental health issues.
These reductions are going to have a serious affect on the service’s ability to support individuals seeking work and those who require help with recovering from mental health issues”.
The decision was taken at a “behind closed doors” meeting held on 21st December.
Representatives from the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government, researched Educational Psychology Services (EPS) which are run by UK local authorities.
Impressed with the planning, vision and standards of York’s Educational Psychology Service, the government team asked to meet with lead officers, school Special Education Needs Coordination Officers (SENCOs) and visit a school setting, to see first-hand how the service supports schools catering for children’s diverse needs.
(more…)
click to enlarge
Exam results at both GCSE and advance level stages show an improvement over the previous year.
OFSTED inspections reveal that, as of 9th October 2015, 89% of York secondary schools are rated “good or outstanding”, 88% of primaries are “good or outstanding” and 100% of our special schools are “good or outstanding”.
This means that overall, of the 64 schools in the city, 89% are good or outstanding.
At most education stages the difference in achievement between less well off pupils (entitled to pupil premium) and others, has either narrowed or remained constant, although the gap widened in mathematics at Key Stage 2
Detailed performance graphs can be found by clicking here
If you need your English and Maths for a higher education course or to improve your job prospects, look no further.
To offer you the best chance of attending an assessment with us, we run sessions all across York on different days and different times of the day.
To cofirm a slot on one of our assessments or to ask any questions, email york.learning@york.gov.uk or call 01904 554277.
Clickhere to find a time and date to suit you
The Council has also released details of overcrowding at some schools following a Freedom of Information request
In 2014 there were 8 infant classes with a size of over 30
These were at Poppleton Ousebank, Wheldrake, Elvington, St Lawrences, Bishopthorpe and Ralph Butterfield (3)
By 2015 this figure had increased to 12.
The schools affected are
click to access
Although the number of pupils achieving 5+ A*-C GCSEs including Maths and English in 2013/14 was good, the results for those from disadvantaged backgrounds was worse then elsewhere in the country.
The gap in York at primary school age (KS2) is 23 percentage points.
This widens to a 40 percentage point difference between disadvantaged pupils and their peers at GCSE level: just 29 per cent of disadvantaged pupils in York achieve five or more good GSCEs, while 69 per cent of their peers do.
The government’s flagship “pupil premium” funding was intended to address this issue.
Someone at the York Council needs to start explaining why some secondary schools seem to be letting down those pupils from a disadvantaged background.
Council Leaders have been quick to jump on any good news from this organisation.
When a downturn in performance become apparent, silence isn’t an adequate explanation.
