Education watchdog warns council over poor secondary school ratings
ANOTHER Welsh council has been warned it is failing its pupils.
Wrexham County Council has been told to “urgently improve outcomes for learners” and particularly those aged 14-16 in the key GCSE years.
In a hard-hitting report published on Friday, December 20, education inspectorate Estyn warned that poor secondary school performance is impacting on the future education, training, employment and wellbeing of young people in the county.
Standards in English and maths are so low that pupils’ opportunities post-16 are affected.
Education outcomes in most of the county’s secondary schools are “well below” those of their peers around Wales, and since 2017 the rate of fixed-term exclusions over five days has been the highest in Wales, the document adds.
Two of the county’s nine high schools – Ysgol Clywedog and Ysgol Bryn Alyn – are under special measures, the highest statutiry category of Estyn intervention.
The report into Wrexham comes three months after many secondary schools in Powys were branded “weak” by inspectors.
Estyn said Powys Council had not addressed some schools’ financial problems and raised concerns over a high exclusion rate.
After inspecting Wrexham in October, Estyn has now reported: “In a majority of secondary schools, pupils are performing below the average for their counterparts in similar schools.
“A particular concern is that, across a majority of Wrexham secondary schools, standards in English and mathematics have been poor in recent years.
“As a result, pupils’ choices and opportunities at post-16 are more limited. In the secondary schools where pupils have underperformed over the last three years, only a very few show an improving trend.
“The implications of weak outcomes in secondary schools in Wrexham are significant for young people’s wellbeing and their future education, training and employment.”
Vulnerable learners, including pupils eligible for free school meals and pupils with special educational needs, perform well below the average for their peers across Wales, while the most able pupils in a majority of secondary schools do not make enough progress, Estyn found.
The report goes on: “The legacy of ineffective intervention and support over many years has resulted in only limited improvement in many secondary schools.
“The scale of the challenge to improve outcomes in secondary schools means that Wrexham is an authority that is causing significant concern.”
While pupils’ attendance in primary schools is “satisfactory”, at secondary schools it has remained below expectations in a majority of schools for the past four years. A third of secondary schools have seen an increase in persistent absence during the past two years.
The rate of both permanent exclusions and fixed-term exclusions “remains too high”.
Inspection judgements on secondary schools in Wrexham compare badly with those of other secondary schools nationally and Wrexham “has not secured the improvement needed within its education services”.
At primary school level the report is more positive, saying that “overall, pupils make good progress in primary schools”.
Estyn also points to a will to improve: “Recently, senior leaders in Wrexham have articulated a vision for education services that sets out their ambition for all learners.
“There is a clear political and officer commitment to improve outcomes.”
And inspectors praised the council’s school budgeting, saying: “The local authority’s allocation of resources to its education services and schools reflects the high priority given to education in the corporate plan.
“The authority has shown its commitment through taking decisions to protect education budgets wherever possible at a time of budget reductions across other services.
The schools and authority work well together to understand the financial pressures that they face in the short and medium term.”
The education watchdog will now review and monitor Wrexham’s education service to check it is addressing failings highlighted.
Estyn has told Wrexham Council it must:
■ Urgently improve outcomes for learners, particularly at Key Stage 4 ( school Years 10 and 11 when pupils are aged 14-16);
■ Improve attendance, wellbeing and behaviour of secondary school pupils;
■ Strengthen joint working across service areas relating to all aspects of wellbeing; and
■ Improve the quality of self-evaluation and improvement planning across all education services.
Responding to the report, Wrexham Council chief executive Ian Bancroft implored parents to “work with us”.
In a video message posted on YouTube, Mr Bancroft promised the council will work with secondary schools and governing bodies to ensure improvements.
“We’ll strengthen our leadership of educational services, and we’ll continue to make sure that we protect school budgets and invest in education,” he said.
“We ask that you continue to work with us, building on the success at primary, and Year Three, Year Nine (sic) in secondary schools, and that we translate that into improved performance at GCSE results.”
The chief executive pointed to the good news at primary level, claiming: “That report tells us that we have some of the best primary schools in Wales.
“It also tells us that we have strong leadership, direction and vision for the improvements and aspirations we want to see in secondary schools, and it’s this vision and direction that for the first time, this year, has translated into us being above-average performance at Key Stage 3 in Wales – and that’s the third year at secondary school.
“So we’re seeing that change, and that improvement from primary schools, translating itself into the third year at secondary school.”
But he acknowledged: “The inspection judgement is mainly focused around our performance at Key Stage 4 and GCSE results. As we haven’t yet translated those improvements at Key Stage 3 into GCSE results, the inspection judgement finds that we’re a serious cause for concern.”