Education minister to get tough with Southampton schools (From Daily Echo)

Bosses given just weeks to improve results

11:26am Saturday 5th December 2009 in Politics By Jon Reeve, Education Reporter

SOUTHAMPTON’S education bosses have been given just weeks to come up with plans to improve under-performing schools.

Schools Secretary Ed Balls is demanding to know by the end of next month what is going to be done to boost achievement in the city’s primary and junior schools.

If the plans in place aren’t good enough and improvements are not being made, he could ultimately step in to close schools he believes are failing.

Experts are to be sent to Southampton to assess the strategies in place, what progress is being made and whether the council is capable of delivering improvements.

And the council will be regularly monitored by central Government to check whether standards are rising.

Mr Balls has written to the city’s education chiefs just days after it was named as the third worst performing authority for the number of 11-year-olds reaching expected standards in English, maths and science.

Southampton is one of 12 councils singled out by the minister for urgent attention because of persistent problems.

The Government has set a “floor target” that 55 per cent of pupils achieve level four in English and maths in their Key Stage 2 SATs.

Ten of Southampton’s 39 qualifying primaries did not reach that level this year, joining more than 1,400 across England.

In his letter – sent yesterday to the city’s education boss, Cllr Paul Holmes, and director of children’s services, Clive Webster – Mr Balls said results show Southampton has “one of the highest proportions of primary schools which have been below the floor target for a number of years”.

“I am concerned about the persistence of low attainment and the apparent lack of progress in these schools,” he said.

“There are a large number of authorities which schools face at least as significant challenges as your own where no schools have been below the floor for more than a year.”

Mr Balls wants to know how many schools the council expects to fall below the 55 per cent threshold next year and in 2011, and why, as well as what action the council is going to take over that.

This could include partnering good primaries with poor ones, or sending super-heads in to under-performing schools.

Mr Balls also called for each primary school, or group of schools to have specialist teachers in English, maths and modern languages.

“It’s now down to local authorities to get all schools making progress all of the time and we are putting in place a package of measures which they can use to help them improve their local schools,” he said.

Councillor Paul Holmes, Southampton council’s Cabinet member for Children’s Services said they were keen to address the issues around Key Stage 2 education.

“We already have a number of measures in place to improve our position and, more importantly, the outcomes for children in Southampton – partnerships are already in place which allow schools to share best practices with those that are achieving excellent results; our schools will be making use of targeted one-to-one tuition and we are involved with pilot schemes which are aimed at improving writing and communication skills.

“Sure Start children’s centres have really taken off in Southampton and while it will be some time before they have a measurable impact on attainment at this level, they can help instil aspirations which will lead to greater engagement with education from day one.

“We are confident that we have robust and realistic plans in place that will deliver improvements across the board and deliver the best possible education for children in Southampton,” he added.