School Improvement: The way forward in East Sussex Penny Gaunt Deputy Director of Children’s Services January 2011

CSR – ESCC impact A range of funding announcements were made in the Local Government Financial Settlement on 13 Dec 2010 Picture is clearer but some grants are under review (£10m) some are unconfirmed and some are “missing in action” Funding position for CSA should be finalised by the 31 March when Council sets council tax Final position on Schools may not be confirmed for a further six months

Impact of the Funding settlement is significant - equates to a £10.4m cut in funding for CSD Central Services. *1 A further £1.7m has been cut from the departmental cash limit *1 New spending pressures amount to £5.1m. £3.5m cuts made in grants previously received centrally and are now included in Schools budget baseline In total this is a £20.7m reduction in cash terms. Note 1. County Forum paper Reference paragraph /12 CSA Budget

2011/12 Schools budgets DfE announced 0.1 % pa real terms increase in funding over three years to cover increased pupil numbers and Pupil Premium Minimum Funding Guarantee has been set at -1.5% per pupil for individual schools £38.7m of specific and standards fund grants will be transferred into Schools budget baseline. Excluding the impact of academies expect overall unit cash values to remain unchanged in 2011/12 - there may be increased pressure on headroom funding used to fund central services Additional commitment for Early years PVIs £2.6m Pupil Premium to be introduced in April equating to £430 per deprived pupil (in accordance with eligibility criteria, free school meals / LAC,

2012/13 and beyond ?

Opportunity for reflection

Service Impact (1) Connexions related work Targeted Youth Support Children’s Centres Early Years Provision Disability short breaks Specialist Parenting Services Preventative family support

Service Impact (2) Education Psychology Service Behaviour and Attendance SEN and Disability Targeted Youth Support Standards and Learning Effectiveness Service Support Services Anti-Bullying Language and Learning Support Excellence Cluster Ethnic Minority Achievement

Children’s Services Department: Policy Steers 1.Promote good health for children and young people and reduce health inequalities. 2.Protect children and young people from harm and neglect. 3.Develop resilience in families to help reduce dependency on public services by enhancing their capacity to resolve their own problems. 4.Improve outcomes for Looked After Children and Care Leavers, as well as improving support to children and young people on the edge of care.

Children’s Services Department: Policy Steers 5.Support and challenge schools to raise educational achievement and aspirations at all key stages and target interventions at those most vulnerable to under achievement. 6.Work with partners to minimise the number of young people who are not in employment, education or training. 7.Promote the benefits of young people making a positive contribution to their community and decisions affecting their own lives. 8.Ensure children, young people and families have opportunities to shape the development of a sustainable future for the county.

Position Statement The current proposals for the development of a revised School Improvement Strategy for East Sussex have four central aims: 1.To discharge a set of responsibilities that are statutory or considered essential, within the Children’s Services Department (CSD) with regard to raising standards for all pupils and closing the gap on the outcomes of the most vulnerable children.

Position Statement contd. 2.To develop the role of the Local Authority (LA) with regard to key elements of those responsibilities identified by the Coalition Government including: –Acting as a champion for parents and families –Promoting a good supply of strong schools –Supporting vulnerable children and pupils –Championing educational excellence –Developing school improvement strategies

Position Statement contd. 3. To maintain sufficient leadership and intervention capacity necessary to develop a high quality, effective Traded Services that would operate within and outside East Sussex.

Position Statement contd. 4. To develop high quality services that have sufficient flexibility to respond to the changing context, priorities and requirements and are affordable, in the context of significant, continuing reductions in funding received from the Coalition Government.

Opportunity for reflection

Priorities and planning for the future These proposals reflect the planning across the Council and seek to strike a balance between: meeting the needs of the most vulnerable schools, colleges, and settings and of the most vulnerable children and learners; maintaining sufficient preventative work to mitigate the detrimental impact of service reduction on individual children and learners and on childcare, schools, colleges and settings, without increasing downstream costs.

Priorities and planning for the future contd. Our planning must recognise significant changes in context: the development and promotion by the government of new school systems; the commitment of the government to provide better services to the public, with greater efficiency, at lower cost; increased emphasis on partnerships between schools; a very limited role in school improvement for SIPs;

Priorities and planning for the future contd. developments in schools’ accountability including changes in the focus and frequency of inspection; new performance measures for schools, colleges and settings; the end of the National Strategies programme; the reduced LA involvement in FE and the wider 14–19 reform; and the shift of resources from LAs to schools.

Priorities and planning for the future contd. We will target our work with schools, colleges and settings; key activities (some of which will be delivered through a high quality traded service[1]) will include:[1] analysis of performance data and identification of risk of failure and key strategies to secure on-going improvement in childcare, schools, colleges and settings; commissioning a diversity of high quality provision 0-19 from a range of providers to meet the needs and ambitions of children and young people in childcare, schools, colleges and settings; [1][1] During the last six months Lou Carter, Assistant Director, Planning and Performance Management has led a programme to develop a Traded Services provision for the whole of the CSD.

Priorities and planning for the future contd. identification of the challenge and support required to improve satisfactory and inadequate childcare, schools, colleges and settings; intervention in childcare and schools where there is failure, including overseeing the transition of the school to new management if appropriate; support for childcare, schools and colleges to develop targeted strategies and practice to improve the performance of the most vulnerable groups;

Priorities and planning for the future contd. support for schools and teachers to prepare for and manage developments in the curriculum and in performance measures; support for schools to implement effective policies, strategies and procedures to ensure the safeguarding and welfare of pupils; support for teachers to improve the quality of teaching; support for middle level teachers to enhance the effectiveness of leadership and management

Priorities and planning for the future contd. support for schools to develop effective strategies to manage pupil behaviour and safety; support for Governing Bodies to strengthen strategic direction; support for clerks of Governing Bodies; support for Governing Bodies for specific strategic activities e.g. consideration of alternative approaches to leadership and to school organisation including partnership and federations; headteacher appointments etc;

Priorities and planning for the future contd. develop a strategic role as champions for parents, families and vulnerable pupils and ensure appropriate provision to meet identified needs; support for schools, colleges, settings, parents and young people to secure participation in education, employment and training to 18; facilitation of school to school improvement through partnerships, collaborations, Federations, Trusts and academies; management of change in the school system to mitigate the risk of detrimental impact on schools and learners; shaping the educational vision for East Sussex to support economic growth and community cohesion;

Priorities and planning for the future contd. The service will develop effective partnerships to deliver improved outputs and outcomes, the priorities are currently: raise standards at each key stage and outcomes for Level 2 and Level 3 at 19; increase the percentage of young people staying in learning to 18 and reduce the percentage of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET); narrow the gap, particularly in the foundation stages between outcomes for the 20% most deprived and other children and for pupils entitled to free school meals in all key stages;

Priorities and planning for the future contd. improve Key Stage 2 results, particularly in mathematics; secure in all schools a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ Ofsted judgement for pupil behaviour; ensure that no school is in an Ofsted category and increase the proportion that receive inspection judgements of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’.

Opportunity for reflection

Traded Services Services currently reviewing their existing work with schools, and identifying those that may need to be traded from April 2011 This is in addition to the current existing services that are currently provided through services to schools Service managers are developing how the service offers which will be available to schools to buy

Traded Services Consultation with schools over new service offers is happening now. Primary SMB meeting in January has presentations on traded services offers. Tight timeline. Aim is to have all service offers available for schools to view by February 2011 Service Offers would then take effect from April 2011 Bursars conference arranged for March 2011 where services to schools will be covered

Traded Services DfE has decided to discontinue the OPEN Marketplace from 1st April Alternative processes including building on existing electronic ordering and invoicing capabilities being explored. Plan for offers to feature on Czone as web pages

Questions and comments