Issue - meetings

1.     That the 2015 Education Outcomes as set out in the submitted report be noted, and in particular that the Surrey School Improvement Strategy – Every School a Good School –had resulted in year on year improvements in outcomes for children and young people at each key stage and in Ofsted outcomes.

2.     That improving outcomes of disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils continued to be a key priority for the Local Authority.

3.     That the recently published White Paper – Educational Excellence Everywhere – indicated that Local Authorities would cease to have a role in school improvement from August 2017.

Reasons for Decisions:

To ensure that Cabinet is fully informed of the latest education outcomes and the success of schools in Surrey and likely implications of changes to school improvement.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Education and Skills Board].

The Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Educational Achievement introduced the report by stating how pleased she was to provide an update on the educational outcomes position of Surrey schools for 2015. She said that Surrey schools continued to perform well with 91% of 393 schools being rated as good or outstanding which ranked Surrey as top in the South-East and 26^th nationally. She said that this was a result of a good strategy and informed Members that this meant 92% of Surrey children attended a good or outstanding school.

She referred to the government White Paper and informed Members that the Council was looking at this in detail.

In response to this, the Cabinet Associate for Children, Schools and Families Wellbeing said that it was important to note that some schools had chosen to become academies and had maintained very good relationships with the Council and that by supporting each other this had contributed to achieving 91%. She said that it was important to focus on the quality of education and not the structure and that Surrey had some of best state schools in the country.

The Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Health stated that the report was excellent but it was important to recognise rural schools and said that she had concerns around their sustainability if these were all to become academies and there could be an impact on the cost of school transport if these were to close.

The Leader of the Council closed the debate by saying that it was refreshing to see that the policy implemented four years ago has had an impact. He referred to the good work done by head teachers and governors and the team at the County Council and said that the report was a credit to all those in the education system.

RESOLVED:

1.     That the 2015 Education Outcomes as set out in the submitted report be noted, and in particular that the Surrey School Improvement Strategy – Every School a Good School –had resulted in year on year improvements in outcomes for children and young people at each key stage and in Ofsted outcomes.

2.     That improving outcomes of disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils continued to be a key priority for the Local Authority.

3.     That the recently published White Paper – Educational Excellence Everywhere – indicated that Local Authorities would cease to have a role in school improvement from August 2017.

Reasons for Decisions:

To ensure that Cabinet is fully informed of the latest education outcomes and the success of schools in Surrey and likely implications of changes to school improvement.