Contact: John Clarke, Deputy County Education Officer, telephone: 01962 846464 email: [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 This report summarises the achievements of Hampshire schools during the academic year 2003-2004. It provides headline information relating to test and examination results and the outcomes of Ofsted inspections and offers a commentary on them. Further details will be provided to the Schools Monitoring Panel in early 2005 as they become available.

1.2 Hampshire schools continue to perform well and, in most key stages, improvements were achieved in 2003-2004. The judgements of Ofsted inspectors also show good health in the system. 117 schools were inspected in that school year and 68% were judged to be good or very good, overall, and 94% satisfactory or better. The School Improvement Service is working vigorously with the remainder and they are improving.

1.3 This work supports Corporate Aim 1 - Maximising Life Opportunities.

2 Test and Examination Results 2004

2.1 Charts showing the trend in performance appear as Appendix 1. A list of Hampshire's statistical neighbours appears as Appendix 2.

2.2 Key Stage 1: Headlines

2.2.1 87% of Hampshire's seven year olds achieved level 2+ in reading, one point up on 2003 and back to the 2002 level. This was two points above the national average and slightly better than Hampshire's statistical neighbours. Hampshire's schools continued to perform much better than the national average in terms of the proportion of pupils achieving level 3+ in reading; six points better than in England and four points better than our statistical neighbours.

2.2.2 Hampshire maintained its performance in writing at level 2+, above the national results and those of statistical neighbours, and improved slightly against the national trend at level 3+.

2.2.3 The performance in mathematics at level 2+ improved slightly this year in Hampshire, against the national trend. 93% of Hampshire's 7 year olds reached the national expectation for children of that age, and over a third exceeded it.

2.3 Key Stage 1: Commentary

2.3.1 Hampshire's infant and primary schools continue to ensure a very solid foundation for children's future education and this year has seen slight improvements in most areas, from a very strong base.

2.4 Key Stage 2: Headlines

2.4.1 The percentage of Hampshire's 11 year olds achieving the national expectation of level 4+ in English rose from 78% to 80%, still some way from the county's target but a move in the right direction. Results at level 5+ also improved and are now four points above the national performance - in a year when results in our statistical neighbours declined.

2.4.2 76% of Hampshire's 11 year olds achieved level 4+ in mathematics and 33% level 5, both better than our statistical neighbours and the national picture.

2.4.3 The results for level 4+ science show a one point drop, to 89%, in line with the same small decline in our statistical neighbours; but they improved to 47% at level 5+, a two point rise.

2.5 Key Stage 2: Commentary

2.5.1 At last, results nationally in English at level 4+ have risen. They seemed to have reached a plateau in recent years following a rapid improvement shortly after the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy. Results rose in all but about 30 LEAs in 2004.

2.5.2 All the evidence suggests that level 4+ in English for 11 year olds is the key measure. Failure to reach level 4 disadvantages pupils in their secondary education. Only a small percentage of those who do not reach it by 11 go on to achieve 5 A*-C GCSEs at 16.

2.5.3 The School Improvement Service is working with all schools in the county on improving teaching and learning in the primary years and is engaging fully in all the work which surrounds Excellence and Enjoyment. Breadth and balance in the primary curriculum is important; so is the development of children's creativity; but both of these have to be achieved as part of a continued, concerted effort to raise standards still further in some primary schools, particularly in English.

2.5.4 Other data, not reported here but derived from those schools which administer the optional published tests in year 4, continue to demonstrate that most progress in Key Stage 2 is made in years 5 and 6. This year's data, as last year's, show that that too many children make insufficient progress in the first two years of the key stage and the School Improvement Service needs to continue to work with schools to improve progress there, as well as to support teachers in years 5 and 6.

2.6 Key Stage 3: Headlines

2.6.1 2004 results in each of English, mathematics and science, place Hampshire in the top third of its reference group when compared with its statistical neighbours. The level 5+ percentage for English is up two points to 76% and mathematics is up two points to 78%. Although results in science are down 4 points to 72%, this decline has been repeated elsewhere, explained largely by changes to the test.

2.6.2 There has been a continuing improvement at level 6+ in mathematics of two points to 57%. English has retained its position and in science the fall is 8 points to 39% following a dramatic rise last year. All these trends broadly match the national pattern and retain Hampshire at or above the middle of its reference group with mathematics in the strongest position.

2.7 Key Stage 3: Commentary

2.7.1 The Key Stage 3 Strategy continues to receive good overall support from Hampshire's secondary schools. Now that all elements of the Strategy are in place, including the behaviour and attendance strand, the Education Department is developing a whole team approach with particular schools where improvement challenges are the greatest. There is growing evidence of an improvement in standards, where they are low, when the LEA and the school work jointly on the problem. In 2005 the National Strategy will also encompass Key Stage 4.

2.7.2 County targets at Key Stage 3 were missed in 2004. Put simply, the expectations of the DfES were too high. Whilst the target setting process and associated national tests are largely welcomed and supported, the test regime at Key Stage 3 is dogged annually with difficulties that centre largely on English where, this year, there were problems with the test, the marking of scripts and administration.

2.8 Key Stage 4: Headlines

2.8.1 GCSE results in Hampshire rose more than the national average in 2004. Provisional figures compared with this time last year show that the 5+ A* - C figure rose by 1.1 of a percentage point to 57.9%. 91.6% of pupils achieved 5+ A* - G grades (to include English and mathematics) and 97.8% achieved 1+ A* - G grades. All of these figures are above national averages. The figures for A*-G grades are the highest in the group of statistical neighbours.

2.9 Key Stage 4: Commentary

2.9.1 Hampshire's schools continue to develop a range of vocational courses. These are now all accredited alongside GCSE achievements and will be included in Performance Tables when they are published in January 2005. There are individual instances of this helping considerably to boost the performance of some low attaining schools by providing a broader range of qualifications for learners to access.

2.9.2 The county fell short of its target for 2004 by several points although it is likely that, when final results are confirmed, it may be close to its target for average points score that includes all qualifications at all levels. Whilst the comparison with statistical neighbours is heartening, the excellence in A*-G grades needs to be matched at the higher level of A*-C grades, or its equivalent, in the future.

3 Pupil Attendance

3.1 Attendance is measured by aggregating the sessions (half days) missed by each pupil during the school year and expressing that figure as a percentage of the total number of sessions, multiplied by the number of pupils. This gives the `percentage sessions absent'.

3.2 Headlines

3.2.1 Attendance in primary schools in Hampshire is better than the national average and better than the average for statistical neighbours and there has been an improving trend since 2001. The primary percentage sessions absent was 4.9% in Hampshire primary schools compared with 5.1% in statistical neighbours and 5.5% across the country.

3.2.2 Attendance in secondary schools is better than the national average but only very slightly better than in the schools of statistical neighbours. The secondary percentage sessions absent was 7.4% in Hampshire, 7.5% in the schools of statistical neighbours and 8.1% across England as a whole.

3.3 Commentary

3.3.1 Attendance is clearly important. Recent data show, for example, that attendance in year 11 correlates with GCSE performance even more strongly than does prior attainment.

3.3.2 Most of the work to support schools in ensuring good attendance is undertaken by the Education Welfare Service. In the school year 2003-2004 there were 2,716 referrals made to the service and 216 prosecutions were made.

3.3.3 As the County Council's plans for children's services develop, account will need to be taken of the needs of families whose children are at risk of non-attendance and, at the same time, secondary schools, in particular, will need to continue to examine their pedagogy and curricula to ensure the maximum levels of pupil engagement.

4 Exclusions

4.1 Headlines

4.1.1 The number of permanent exclusions from primary schools is very small and continues to fall.

4.1.2 The number of permanently excluded students from secondary schools is much larger and still above the percentage rate for the schools of statistical neighbours, and England, although there was a slight fall from 2002-2003: 201 down to 194.

4.1.3 In the last five years the number of fixed term exclusions has nearly doubled in Hampshire. There were 5,363 in the year 1999-2000 but a steady trend upwards reached 10,428 in 2003-2004, resulting in 36,851 days lost.

4.2 Commentary

4.2.1 The work undertaken by the Behaviour Support Teams in primary schools has been successful. Children at risk of exclusions have received support earlier and, in most cases, exclusion has been avoided.

4.2.2 There are some excellent examples of secondary schools working together, and with the Education Department, to remove the need to exclude pupils permanently. Recent work by schools and the Education Department, especially in Basingstoke, has shown what can be done when there is a real commitment to avoiding permanent exclusion.

4.2.3 This work needs, however, to be more general across the county and external services to support schools in their work with pupils at risk of disengagement and disaffection need to be better aligned. The change to the structure of the Education Department so that all these services are grouped together within the new Children and Families Branch is intended to make this happen.

5 Ofsted Inspections

5.1 117 schools were inspected across the county in 2003-2004, just over a 20% sample of all Hampshire schools. In that year, inspection teams graded aspects of the schools' performance and published the grades, for the first time. The tables in 5.2 and 5.3 show how the overall quality of the schools was graded. Further analyses will be reported to the Schools Monitoring Panel when we have received the LEA Profile in early 2005. Only then will comparisons with schools in other LEAs be possible.

5.2 Ofsted inspections graded the overall performance of schools on a seven point scale where a grade 1 was excellent, grade 2 very good, grade 3 good, grade 4 satisfactory, grade 5 unsatisfactory, grade 6 poor and grade 7, very poor.

Judgements made on the Overall Quality of the School (All Schools)

5.3 Judgements on the Overall Quality of schools, by Phase

5.4 If this sample is representative, most Hampshire schools continue to come through the inspection process well. Inspection measures more than the academic attainment of pupils and the reports provide evidence of good health in the vast majority of Hampshire schools in the wider aspects of education.

5.5 The Ofsted framework is again being revised. Schools will be graded on a four point scale in the future and it will be difficult, until the system beds down, to make year on year comparisons.

6 Legal implications

6.1 None

7 Financial implications

7.1 None

8 Personnel implications

8.1 None

9 Impact assessment

9.1 Race and equality impact assessment has been considered in the development of this report and no adverse impact has been identified.

10 Crime Prevention Issues

10.1 Not applicable

11 Views of the Local County Councillor

11.1 Not applicable

Recommendations

1. That the achievements and commitment to improvement of schools and those who support them are commended.

2. That the report is distributed to all Hampshire headteachers and Governing Bodies.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

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