1. Welcome and Update Tim Coulson

2. A chance to update on the following: Changes to the council School budgets 14-15 Safeguarding – Domestic violence referrals Essex Teaching awards School improvement (NET review, Teaching schools, Excellence Board) SEND strategy Attendance Progress with RPA and next steps 2 Summary 2013 provisional results Careers guidance Apprenticeship programme STEM project PRU developments Pupil premium Exclusions

3. Priorities for the year: Improving 11 year old outcomes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuqhWz5rfGk 3 Changes to the council School budgets 2014-15 Safeguarding Essex Teaching awards

4. School improvement priorities: 4 NET review on secondary school improvement and next steps –Maintain focus on standards – work with individual schools to tailor approach –Raised focus on higher attaining pupils, SEN pupils without statements, pupils eligible for Pupil premium –Develop further expectations of post 16 outcomes Working with academy trusts and quality assurance role Teaching schools –Ten approved, with a further round underway. –ECC providing a strategic overview across teaching schools Excellence Board –Two meetings to date, main focus review of bids from grade 3 schools and analysis of 2013 outcomes Curriculum changes in 2015 /16, and particular issues eg ICT

5. Summary 2012/2013: Primary provisional results Phase20132012ChangeProv. Nat. EY52%// Phonics67%54%+1369% KS1 2B+ Reading80%77%+379% KS1 2B+ Writing68%64%+467% KS1 2B+ Maths80%77%+378% KS2 L4+ Reading86%87%86% KS2 L4+ Writing83%81%+283% KS2 L4+ Maths84% 085% KS2 L4+ Comb r,w,m 75%74%+175% Expected progress 86% 088% 5 EYFSP – now matching national average KS1 – year on year increases secured KS2 – remaining broadly in line with national averages 39 primary schools below the floor target

6. Phase20132012ChangeProv. Nat. KS4 5 A*-C GCSE’s EM 61%59%+2/ KS5 % pass A* - A27%24%+326.3% KS5 5 A level pass98.6%98.9%-0.398.1% NEET (Nov - Jan)5.7%6.4%-.0.75.8% 6 Summary 2012/2013: Secondary provisional results Despite impact of GCSE changes, Essex secured 2% point increase at 5+ A*-C GCSE’s (incl EM), which appears to compare well with national trends Seventeen schools made improvements of over 5% from last year’s result. Partial sharing of college results secured (collected for first time) – will build on this next year to give better overall picture for post 16 achievement

7. Strategy for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) 2014 -19 The strategy’s vision: To ensure that all Children and Young People with SEND have a full range of support and opportunities available to them and are provided with opportunities to maximise their life chances, goals and aspirations Next Steps 23 Sep 2013 - Draft shared with stakeholders for comment 17 Dec 2013 - ECC Cabinet asked to approve Strategy and implementation plan 01 Jan 2014 -Strategy launched

8. 8 1 - Ensure every child with SEND can go to a good or outstanding school or education setting Where schools offer good or outstanding provision; children and young people with SEND can be supported to achieve their ambitions and make good progress. Essex and national data shows us that a significant number of children and young people with SEND do not make good progress; reach their potential and are not well prepared for the next stages of their lives. Essex families would like to work closely with their schools to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people and feel strongly that increased awareness and joint training around SEND issues would make a significant positive difference. 2 - Commission/deliver a range of high quality provision for all children and young people with SEND Individuals should be able to access a range of high quality services when required to meet a wide and varied range of needs. Essex Partners will seek to develop SEND Provision in consultation with, and in collaboration with, its customers, recognising the challenges imposed by financial constraints in times of austerity and the need to be opportunistic and flexible in their approach. 3 - Ensure a smooth progression to adulthood for all young people with SEND A focus on a smooth transition through life stages and into adulthood can support the achievement the best possible outcomes for each young person and maximise their independence, choice and control as they enter adulthood. Essex County Council and its partners are committed to work together to overcome obstacles and join up services in order to achieve this aim. 4 - Improve the Assessment and identification of SEND across agencies Effective assessments following early identification is the first step in reducing the need for more costly and potentially less successful provision later on. This is both in terms of statutory assessment and also prior to this assessments by schools and teachers. SEND Key priorities:

9. Attendance Priorities for 2013/14 Reducing high levels of sickness absence across schools, through closer working with health services Investigating reasons for increasing levels of elective home education (focus on Yr 11) Embedding new EWS systems, including convening School Attendance meetings and issuing Penalty Notices within shorter time periods Forthcoming conferences for primary/ secondary sector in Oct/ Nov – priority for schools with highest absence / PA rates New EWS database being implemented from Jan 2014 onwards – will enable improved intelligence on absence 9 Secondary2009/102010/112011/12 Essex - Overall absence 7.046.706.20 Eng – Overall absence 6.886.505.90 Secondary Autumn 2012 EssexSNEngland Persistent absence 8%7.9%7.7% Essex rank9/1189/150

10. Increased Participation (RPA) and Next Steps Refreshed RPA Strategy benefiting from inclusive contributing policies - NEET Reduction strategy, Opportunities with Training strategy & IAG NEET prevention plan. To reach an acceptable level of participation ECC have set a target of 97% of 16 year olds remaining in learning. To achieve this ECC will need to reengage an additional 840 young people from the 2013 cohort by the final Activity Survey reporting period as @ 31 st October 2013. (DfE are expected to review reported figures in April 2014 to evaluate progression towards RPA) Planning for 2014/15 (the first cohort required to remain in education until their 18 th Birthday) there is a need to focus on a reduction in “drop-outs” as historically a higher number of year 13 students choose not to continue in learning (current figures suggest a 10% fall)

11. 11 Sustained Participation and Tracking Supportive action from schools: early identification of disengagement, facilitating intervention including Mentoring programs, and via Area Planning forums the formation of managed moves groups, consideration should be given to extending such grouping to include local training providers. Robust tracking procedures, supported via data sharing protocols: to-date the majority of schools, colleges and training providers have signed a data sharing agreement with ECC. ECC’s ability to accurately report to DfE on the September Guarantee is heavily reliant on schools with 6 th forms sharing lists of joiners and leavers early in the Autumn term. Current recorded offers of learning are - 2013 cohort 92.4% compared with 70.81% recorded at the same period last year, and 2012 cohort 82.7% compared with 74.15% Timely coordination of the 2014 Intended Destination Survey will enable sharing of individual student post 16 pathway planning. Survey will be forwarded to schools in November with a January reporting deadline, which will enable ECC to disseminate relevant cohort information early March.

12. 12 Participation and IAG support Participation Consultant team will continue to support schools towards the recognised delivery of independent impartial Advice and Guidance, supporting schools to attain/maintain the RoQA award. Information will be shared with individual schools on the progression of students post key stage 4 to support schools to benchmark value added results of IAG delivery Continued support for school delivery and assessment of the Employability for Life Charter, enabling students to demonstrate their “softer employability skills”.

13. Fixed term exclusions Essex has the highest rate of fixed term exclusions from secondary schools amongst its statistical neighbours Over 17,000 days lost to exclusion in 2011/12 Schools and districts developing new approaches which are reducing exclusions significantly in some parts of Essex BAPs to collect and analyse fixed term exclusion data half termly LA to provide comparison of performance across the County and between districts BAPs to provide a forum for sharing developing good practice across the County and not just within a district 13

14. PRU development - What has been done? All secondary schools consulted on the funding model for 2014/15 Schools asked how they want services for pupils unable to attend school to be managed in the future Mid, NE and South – schools accepted devolved responsibility with funds held and provision made by PRU West – schools accepted devolved responsibility with funds held by a lead school Consultation started on proposal to close West Essex CSS 14 Allocation of places: Each PRU will have a pupil number which determines funding from central government. Places are allocated to each ASHE group based on formula for behaviour referrals (25% number on roll/75% prior attainment, deprivation) and medical referrals (100% number on roll). Management Committees assuming responsibility for admissions and provision

15. PRU development – Next steps? 15 Service Level Agreement with PRU management committees: Expectation of full time provision Reintegration to mainstream Accredited courses including access to GCSEs Vocational opportunities Improved behaviour Improved attendance Commitment to reduce per pupil cost Reduce permanent exclusions Consultation with primary head teachers with an objective to move provision to school based settings Confirm admission arrangements for 2014/15 with PRU management committees PRUs and schools to demonstrate they are ready to provide the service LA to put in place monitoring and QA Wider discussions around use of other AP – outcomes, cost and quality

16. 2012 figs %fsm primary % fsm achiev L4+ Eng/ maths KS2 rank % fsm secondary % fsm achiev. 5+ A*-C’s (EM) KS4 rank% of 19yr olds fsm qual to level 2 % of 19yr olds fsm qual to level 3 KS5 rank Essex13.86210111.034.467302988 Top quartile 694036 Essex shortfall 75.67 16 Pupil Premium overview For 2013/14 Essex schools will receive additional funding of over £35M to spend on improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils Ofsted have indicated this issue will be one of the highest priorities in forthcoming Ofsted inspections Between 2011 and 2012 both the performance of FSM pupils in Essex increased and the FSM/non FSM gap decreased at all key stages Essex tends to have just over average when compared to SNs in terms of the proportion of FSM in the year group cohorts. At KS2 Essex is the 4 th ranked SN for performance, 1 st at KS4 and 4 th at KS5. In overall rankings, Essex is generally in the third quartile. Plan quadrant focus on narrowing the gap – led by Standards and Excellence commissioners “It is not the funding itself that will improve attainment gaps, but how schools use it” (DfE)

17. 17 The Essex Apprenticeship Programme The Essex Apprenticeship Programme forms part of the Economic Growth Strategy and is targeted towards sectors that show the most potential for growth e.g. health & social care, engineering, energy, construction, creative & digital, ports & logistics etc. The programme provides a £2500 grant to businesses recruiting an Apprentice. The programme commenced in 2009 and to date we have supported over 2300 Apprenticeships and over 1500 businesses. Phase 3 of the programme commenced in April 13 and aims to support a further 400 Apprenticeships per year for the next five years. In 2011 Essex saw an 83% increase in enrolments into apprenticeships; 89% of our Apprentices have either progressed into employment or into further education. We work with 90 Training Providers to deliver over 95 different frameworks - ranging from Support workers to Laboratory Technicians to Surveyors; at levels 2 and 3. We currently have over 190 business actively looking to recruit Apprentices.

18. Education/ industry STEM project Launched in 2011 in response to Engineering companies reporting skills shortages and an ageing workforce A menu of exciting interactive STEM activities offered to students in Years 7-9, supplemented by the offer of STEM industry visits, work experience placements and group mentoring sessions for a group of “core” STEM students in Years 10 and 11 2570 students across 4 Secondary Schools participated in at least one STEM activity 2011-2013 76 STEM Ambassadors/mentors recruited from local industry to support STEM activity in Schools 135 students benefitted from STEM mentoring/industrial visit and or work experience Based on industry need, project being rolled out to Billericay, Harlow and Chelmsford 2013-2014 33 mentors already recruited to support phase 2 18