To consider
a report on the above.
Minutes:
Officers
from GwE were welcomed to the meeting.
The GwE
Annual Report for 2020-21 was presented.
In
presenting the report, the GwE Assistant Director (Standards) noted that he
wished to acknowledge the outstanding work undertaken during a very challenging
time in schools.
Then the
Core Leaders gave details of developments for the new curriculum that would
commence in primary schools in 2022.
Members
were given an opportunity to ask questions and offer observations.
Individual
members submitted the following observations:-
·
It was welcomed that the title 'Challenge Officers'
had disappeared and the key words now were 'support', 'development',
'improvement' and 'assistance', etc.
·
Concern was expressed that children, e.g. Year 10, who
received formal weekly tests, did not know if the results of those assessments
would contribute to their final grades or otherwise.
In
response to the observations and questions from members, it was noted:
·
Although performance data would not be available from
now on, the practice of going into classrooms, book scrutiny and talking with
teachers and children was of benefit to the Service to ensure that they had a
very good knowledge of the schools. It was not believed that focusing on a
narrow set of performance indicators at the end of a key stage gave a full
picture of the school, and in moving forward without this data, it was
important to get the full holistic picture of a school around the 4 purposes of
the new curriculum. The Service also looked at children's welfare, how learners
developed towards the 4 purposes, and by forming a baseline, the Service would
prepare a report for every school in Gwynedd, together with a regional report
with a local flavour as an appendix, summarising where the schools were, and
what the standards were. Obviously, it was necessary to be sensitive to the
current situation in schools, and the Service worked very closely with
Authority officers, who had a picture of the situation of schools in terms of
attendance, inclusion, ALN, etc., to get the fuller picture. There was
consistency across the region in terms of the method of operation and
identifying schools, and it was necessary to identify any slippages early on
and to respond and give support to the schools. By taking co-ownership for the
outcomes and working with the schools to put a support plan in place, full
support could be secured to ensure the required improvement. It was further noted
that Gwynedd had taken a lead role and had implemented this very early. As for
every regional plan, a local flavour was required and some minor changes had
been made to the plan in Gwynedd in cooperation with the Schools Improvement
Service.
·
A teacher leaving, who had been responsible for
developing an element of the new curriculum locally, should not be a problem as
the local curriculum had been prepared by the whole school.
·
The intention of the Inspectorate in Wales was to
re-commence school inspections in the Spring term. Regular discussions took
place with Estyn, and the Service needed to be sensitive to the current
situation of schools, and to inspect schools in this context. It was further
noted that Estyn would pilot inspections in around 30 schools initially, and
there was an opportunity for schools to volunteer to be part of this. It was
expected that it would be possible to return to the usual inspection system
after Easter, although the framework had changed somewhat. Messages from the pilot
scheme would be important for schools to be clearer in terms of the
expectations when every school would be able to receive an inspection from
Easter onwards, and by then the situation in schools would be closely
monitored. It was further noted that it
was hoped that the absence of school data would update the inspection system to
consider the context of local schools and children's attainment, rather than
just looking at the bare data, and this process of inspection would result in a
more local and useful inspection report for the school.
·
There was agreement regarding the comment about the
word 'challenge' and the job title had been changed to 'Improvement Support
Advisor', that had made a difference in terms of culture change.
·
Regarding the reference to the local aspect in the
curriculum, there was an opportunity here for teachers to go in depth into
subjects to improve children's understanding of subjects that would give them
work opportunities locally, and also open their horizons to what was in the big
wide world. It was also noted that there was an evident link with the previous
item and the quality of jobs and employment levels in Gwynedd. Getting this right, and specifically perhaps
the STEM subjects, and to target and ensure that children got the depth of
knowledge required in the field, a local flavour would not only ensure that
children gained access to quality jobs that paid appropriately and enabled them
to remain in the county, but would also, considering the experiences and the
qualifications our young people would have, be a means of attracting industries
to Gwynedd.
·
The authorities and the Schools Improvement Service
consistently brought pressure to bear on authorities such as Qualifications
Wales to be clear regarding their procedures with examinations or testing
children and young people, and there was a need for this clarity more than ever
his year. There was mention that the
Government and Qualifications Wales had moved to a model of external
examination next summer, if possible, however, the schools were also preparing
for the possibility of internal assessments. Clarity was required immediately
regarding this for schools to be able to prepare appropriately, however, it was
understood that a decision would not be made until April next year, which was
too close to the end of the school year. It was further noted that the GwE
Joint Committee had written to the Minister calling for an early decision on
this, and the region had also taken a lead role calling on the Welsh Government
and Qualifications Wales for an early solution. In addition, the Cabinet Member
for Education had used every opportunity to send the message and lobby on our
behalf, and had been a key voice in the regional discussion that had led to
sending correspondence to the Government for an early answer.
·
That Qualifications Wales had requested schools to
ensure that they informed children beforehand if an assessment contributed to
the final grade. They could be confident that the schools were aware of this
requirement. The guidelines from WJEC and Qualifications Wales were clear
enough, and in addition to the responsibility on schools, there was also a
responsibility on the Service to remind schools of the regulations and to
support them.
RESOLVED to accept the reports, noting the
observations made during the meeting.
Supporting documents: