Archived decisions
Item 8
Hampshire County Council
Executive Member - Education
23 January 2003
Advanced Schools
Report of the County Education Officer
Contact: Bob Lloyd-Jones, ext 6364
1. Summary
1.1 The following decision is sought:
The County Council as the local education authority adopts the Advanced Schools policy described in Appendix 1.
2. Reason
2.1 The Department for Education and Skills recently announced a programme to establish Advanced Schools (secondary) in order to support teaching and learning improvements in secondary schools.
2.2 The County Council will be expected to write a letter of endorsement for those schools making a bid for Advanced status. For this endorsement to be provided, it is suggested that the County Council should require criteria of its own to be met (see Appendix 1).
3. Other options considered and rejected
3.1 None.
4. Conflictions of interest declared by the decision maker or a member or officer consulted
4.1 None.
5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee
5.1 Not applicable.
6. Reasons for the matter being dealt with if urgent
6.1 Three schools are already constructing bids for Advanced status and will be asking for the County Council letter of endorsement before the end of January 2003.
Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents
The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.
NB The list excludes:
1. Published works
2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.
Information about Advanced schools printed from the DfES Standards website.
TITLE FILE
Approved by Date of decision
Councillor D Allen
Appendix 1
Policy statement: Advanced schools
Hampshire County Council will endorse applications to the DfES for Advanced school status from those schools which meet the following criteria:
1. High standards of achievement: a school must be in at least the upper quartile of Hampshire secondary schools and be judged to be 'highly effective' according to the county's own categorisation process.
2. Evidence of collaborative working: a school must have a proven record of active and effective collaboration with other Hampshire secondary schools, in support of teachers' professional development.
3. An admissions policy with no criterion related to Advanced status: the County Council will not support any bid from an admission authority school which, for example, proposes to introduce an admission criterion allowing them to select pupils on the basis of aptitude for a particular subject.