14.11.16
Swindon council accused of failing children ‘at every stage’
Children in Swindon are being failed by the council because of poor education standards in the town’s schools, Ofsted has said.
Bradley Simmons, Ofsted’s regional director for the south west, published a letter to the council’s leaders, saying he was making it public after the council had given a “defensive” response to his concerns.
Simmons highlighted a number of concerns. He said that just 76% of six-year-olds in Swindon meet the expected standard for phonics, placing the borough council amongst the bottom 10 local authorities in the country. Furthermore, only 44% of 11-year-olds reach the expected standards in reading and writing.
“In 2016, Swindon’s children were failed by its schools at every key stage,” he added.
Simmons said that headline measures for key stage 4 pupils were below the national average “across the board”, with less than one-fifth of pupils achieving the English Baccalaureate in 2016.
Three secondary schools in Swindon were downgraded by Ofsted in their latest inspections. Churchfields Academy declined from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’, and the Dorcan Academy and Isambard Community School declined from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘inadequate’. Kingsdown School maintained a ‘requires improvement’ rating.
In total, less than half of pupils in Swindon attend a secondary school with a ‘good’ rating, compared to 52% the previous year.
Simmons also argued that Swindon had an “alarmingly high” rate of fixed-term exclusions. The rate of exclusions to pupils in the town’s special schools was at 68.4%, compared to a national average of 13.5%. For secondary schools, the exclusion rate was at 10.1% compared to a national average of 7.5%.
Simmons pointed out that headteachers, chief executives of multi-academy trusts, political leaders, governors, local authority officers and the regional schools commissioner should “act swiftly and in unison” to improve educational outcomes in Swindon.
Council accuses Ofsted of being ‘harsh and unfair’
In response, Swindon Borough Council published an open letter saying it was “very surprised” by Simmons’ comments.
The letter was signed by Cllr David Renard, leader of the council; Cllr Fionuala Foley, the cabinet member for children’s services; John Gilbert, its chief executive; Steve Colledge, chair of SASH (Swindon Association of Secondary Headteachers); and Gary Evans, chair of SAPH (Swindon Association of Primary Headteachers).
“We feel the data that has been released has been used selectively and to say that schools have ‘failed’ their pupils is overly harsh and indeed unfair,” they said, adding that Simmons’ letter had had a “demotivating” impact on local headteachers.
The letter pointed to a number of successful achievements for Swindon’s schools, including ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ ratings for 98% of early years settings and 92% of primary schools.
It showed that Year 1 pupils caught up in phonics by Year 2, and writing results were lower for 11-year-olds because of a new assessment standard.
The council also revealed that the schools named in the Simmons letter would be placed in partnership with ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ schools, and that reducing the high exclusion rate was “a key target”.
The letter added that all secondary schools in Swindon except one are academies, meaning they are the responsibility of the Regional Schools Commissioner, not the council. Swindon has set up an Education Strategy Board in order to improve education in the area, which includes the schools commissioner.
The concerns over Swindon come at a time of wider debate about how much control councils should have over schools. The new education secretary, Justine Greening, recently indicated that the government will withdraw the controversial Education for All Bill, which would allow the government to force schools in the worst-performing local authorities to become academies.
(Image c. Matt Cardy from PA Archive)
Have you got a story to tell? Would you like to become a PSE columnist? If so, click here.