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London Borough of Barking & Dagenham

School Improvement Arrangements

Date: December 2019

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Contents Page

1.Introduction 3 2.National and local context 3 3.The Council’s role and responsibilities 4 4. The role and purpose of BDSIP 7 5. School improvement quality assurance process including inclusion, SEND and vulnerable groups 9 6. Compliance with SEND statutory duties 10 7. Vulnerable children and young people at risk 11 8. Vulnerable schools 12 9. Special schools and specialist provision 12 10. Appendices: 13

a) BDSIP school improvement visit proforma b) BDSIP SEND compliance visit proforma

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1. Introduction

1.1 This document sets out school improvement arrangements for Barking and Dagenham from September 2019. The Council takes seriously its responsibilities for championing the best possible provision and outcomes for all children and young people, especially those who are vulnerable or in need of additional support if they are to make the most of their education. 1.2 April 2018 saw the formation of Barking and Dagenham’s School Improvement Partnership (BDSIP), a company jointly owned by Barking and Dagenham schools and the Council. Its purpose is to provide schools with good access to high quality professional expertise in school improvement and other areas – determined largely by the needs of the schools. Most of the Council’s school improvement staff transferred to BDSIP and this represented the biggest change to school improvement arrangements in the borough since the service was set up almost 30 years ago. 1.3 The following pages set out how Barking and Dagenham Council has interpreted government policy, how it intends to carry out its school improvement duties including through commissioned activities and the respective roles and functions of the Council and BSDIP.

2. National and local context

2.1 The last decade has seen a national policy focus on school autonomy alongside a corresponding removal of Council funding for education duties – but not to date accompanied by a reduction in those responsibilities. With the focus on school to school support in the context of a school improvement system, it is for each local authority to decide in collaboration with schools and other key partners what this looks like. 2.2 As at September 2019, the borough is home to 60 schools – a mix of local authority maintained and academies/Free Schools. There are currently 7 academy trusts. Barking and Dagenham Council fully supports school autonomy alongside schools working in partnership and supporting each other. The borough has a long and proud history of working in strong partnership with schools on shared priorities which are jointly owned and delivered. The track record of impact of all schools bears witness to the success of the approach. 2.3 Between 2013/14 and 2018/19 the proportion of schools rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ increased from to 69% to 91.7% (at August 2019). 2019 saw encouraging improvements at GCSE. The borough’s headline Key Stage 4 measure on children’s progress in secondary school (‘Progress 8’) exceeded the London benchmark in 2017, was in the top performing quartile nationally in 2018 and has remained in the top quartile in 2019 (based on provisional 2019 data). Pupils with SEND make good progress and Barking and Dagenham generally performs strongly for Looked After Children and Children in Need at ages 11 and 16. For total permanent exclusions in 2017/18, the borough was in the top performance quartile nationally.

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2.4 Examples of effective partnership work and school to school support are plentiful. There is ongoing school to school support for vulnerable schools in the borough. Schools regularly deliver Maths network hub meetings. The teaching schools play an increasingly important role often in partnership with BDSIP and there are many examples of schools with particular expertise successfully supporting others. 2.5 However, Barking and Dagenham faces some longstanding and new challenges. Post 16 outcomes for young people with SEND and attainment at Key Stage 2, particularly Reading, require sustained collective attention in order to make improvements. Driving up and maintaining standards which are above national and then in line with London at Key Stage 4 is a shared priority. Working to prevent exclusions, including at transition points, is critical and a focus on reducing persistent absence must be maintained. 2.6 Nationally and locally, quite rightly there is increasing attention being placed on ensuring that the most vulnerable children are safe, making good progress in school and receiving the right support - both academically and for their wellbeing. This requires strong partnership work between schools, the Council and other key partners such as Children’s Social Care and Health. There is increased recognition and information indicating that some of the most vulnerable children are those who are less visible to the education system, for example, children electively home educated and children who have left a school roll. Pupils at risk of exclusion, pupils with higher absence rates, children with SEND and Children in Need are other key vulnerable groups. 2.7 Barking and Dagenham’s priorities for education and participation are set out in the new Education and Participation Strategy 2018-22, developed with schools ( https://www.lbbd.gov.uk/education-and-participation-strategy ). The priorities are underpinned by headline actions led by schools, BDSIP, the Council and other key partners and set out the strategic context for school improvement and inclusion in the borough.

3. The Council’s role and responsibilities

3.1 The Council’s Director of Children’s Services (DSC) has overarching statutory responsibilities for:

• safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children;

• improving outcomes for children and young people; and

• ensuring that children with disabilities and children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) can access high quality provision that meets their needs.

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3.2 DfE guidance supports the Council’s responsibilities in key areas of school improvement and inclusion. This includes ‘Schools Causing Concern Guidance (2018)’, the SEND Code of Practice, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education (2019)’ and ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018)’. 3.3 In practice, working with headteachers, school governors and academy sponsors and principals, local authorities should promote educational excellence for all children and young people and be ambitious in tackling underperformance. The DfE document ‘Statutory guidance - Directors of Children’s Services: roles and responsibilities (2013)’ sets out the following responsibilities for promoting educational excellence:

• take rapid and decisive action in relation to poorly performing schools, including using their intervention powers with regard to maintained schools and considering alternative structural and operational solutions; develop robust school improvement strategies, including choosing whether to offer such services in a competitive and open school improvement market, working beyond local authority boundaries;

• promote high standards in education by supporting effective school to school collaboration and providing local leadership for tackling issues needing attention which cut across more than one school, such as poor performance in a particular subject area across a cluster of schools;

• support maintained schools in delivering an appropriate National Curriculum and early years providers in meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (as outlined in the EYFS Statutory Framework);

• establish a schools forum for their area, maintain a scheme for financing maintained schools and provide financial information; and

• undertake specified responsibilities in relation to the staffing and governance of maintained schools.

3.4 Following the launch of BDSIP in April 2018, Barking and Dagenham Council has retained a small core of staff in the areas of school improvement and inclusion led by the Head of Performance and Partnerships to oversee educational standards, progress and provision and to track vulnerable pupil placements, exclusions and attendance. In tandem, the Council commissions BDSIP to undertake a range of school improvement and inclusion activities. Council structure chart

3.5 The Council’s staffing structure for school improvement and inclusion is set out overleaf:

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4. The role and purpose of BDSIP 4.1 BDSIP is a school improvement organisation jointly owned by schools and the Council. Its objectives include supporting school improvement, brokering school to school support, developing partnerships and providing access to the services and high-quality training that schools and the Council require. Working with teaching schools to signpost areas of excellent practice within and outside of the borough remains a key area of work for BDSIP. 4.2 As at September 2019, key priorities for BDSIP are: to continue supporting key subjects of reading, writing and mathematics in the primary phase and the development of the wider curriculum in primary and support for secondary schools; working with schools and partners to prevent exclusions; providing inclusion support during Year 6/7 transition; providing support for vulnerable groups; and embedding and further developing SEND specialisms. BDSIP structure chart 4.3 BDSIP’s staffing structure for school improvement and inclusion is set out overleaf.

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5.School improvement quality assurance process including for inclusion, SEND and vulnerable groups

BDSIP commissioned responsibilities

5.1 BDSIP is commissioned by the Council to:

• provide an overview of school standards, provision and progress through an annual visit to all schools1 which includes a focus on children with SEND and vulnerable groups. For academies, these visits will focus on safeguarding, SEND and vulnerable groups;

• gather evidence and assurance on compliance with SEND statutory responsibilities across all schools;

• monitor and support the inclusion of vulnerable children and young people through two visits to all schools to review children at risk of exclusion/persistent absence and focus on systems which support inclusion; and

• carry out additional visits to local authority maintained schools where the local authority has concerns.

5.2 A summary of BDSIP commissioned visits is set out below:

For all schools For all LA maintained schools causing concern/vulnerable schools

• 1 school performance visit: o LA maintained schools – overview of

performance, headline data and performance of key groups.

o Academies - the focus will be more on vulnerable children/groups and safeguarding.

• Additional commissioned visits.

• 1 SEND compliance visit – to review with schools that they are fully compliant with SEND requirements.

• 2 inclusion officer visits – to discuss and review children at risk of exclusion/persistent absence and systems which support inclusion.

1 Please refer to the section at the end for information about special schools.

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Annual school improvement visits For LA maintained schools Each school will receive a half-day visit that will consist of discussions with school leaders focussed on:

• significant areas identified at the end of key stage outcomes;

• progress of vulnerable groups: disadvantaged pupils; SEND pupils; and White British pupil groups;

• self-evaluation judgements and progress in the priorities identified in school development plans;

• preparation and readiness for the next inspection;

• any known issues facing the schools e.g. exclusions, off rolling and 3-year GCSEs.

• further requests for school support.

In some schools the discussions may be supported by a learning walk focused on key aspects of the school visits. Schools will be contacted up to two weeks in advance to arrange a suitable date and time and to agree the best areas of focus. Copies of school self-evaluation and development plans will support the preparation for these discussions. A summary agenda will be sent confirming the focus areas and the times. Schools will receive a report setting out the focus areas and any agreed actions. For Academies and Free Schools The local authority would value a professional conversation between BDSIP officers acting on its behalf and each academy trust about overall school performance. In accordance with overarching responsibilities of the Director of Children’s Services for all children and young people in Barking and Dagenham, the focus of this visit would be on the school’s arrangements to safeguard and support vulnerable groups including children with SEND, children at risk of exclusion, children with poor attendance and Children in Need.

6.Compliance with SEND statutory duties SEND annual compliance visit

6.1 All schools are legally required to comply with the DfE’s SEND Code of Practice. In order to obtain assurance that all schools are compliant, the Council has commissioned BDSIP to undertake:

• one visit to all schools by the Summer term to collect evidence of the school’s compliance with SEND duties; and

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• a follow up visit to those schools where matters of compliance/quality are raised to review progress and the impact of actions taken.

Other commissioned activity to support quality in SEND/Inclusion: 6.2 In addition to BDSIP’s commissioned activities as outlined above, the Council commissions BDSIP to deliver the following activities to further strengthen the quality of inclusion and SEND support in the borough:

• termly network meetings of Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCos) for primary and secondary phases;

• at least one annual conference for Headteachers and SENCos on key themes in SEND; and training on Team Teach.

7.Vulnerable children and young people/at risk

7.1 In relation to support for inclusion and tracking vulnerable children and young people to ensure that as far as possible they remain in school and with their families, BDSIP are commissioned to:

• undertake two visits to each school – one visit in the Autumn term and one in the Spring term – to discuss and review children at risk of exclusion/persistent absence and systems which promote inclusion;

• update and maintain the Council’s ‘At Risk of Exclusion’ register and database and share information about vulnerable children/children at risk with the Council in a timely way;

• work with schools to identify children at risk at the earliest possible opportunity. Review with the school how its approach to inclusion and early intervention will help keep these children connected and in school; and

• check that schools are making appropriate and effective use of information and data that they hold to inform any applications to Panels.

7.2 BDSIP are also commissioned to track pupils transitioning from Year 6 to Year

7 as this is recognised as a potentially challenging time for some children. There is a pattern of increasing exclusions in Year 7 which needs to be addressed. BDSIP is commissioned to:

• Organise annual transitions arrangements with schools;

• Identify vulnerable Year 6 pupils and provide an overview for each secondary school by the end of May 2020; and

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• Track vulnerable Year 7 pupils through their transition from primary to secondary school and review with schools the kind of support arrangements which will help these pupils to settle successfully into their secondary school.

8. Vulnerable Schools 8.1 Barking and Dagenham local authority considers ‘vulnerable schools’ as those which are either not judged ‘Good’ by Ofsted or are at risk of not being judged ‘Good’ at their next inspection. There may though be other reasons why the local authority would judge a school to be vulnerable. 8.2 For vulnerable local authority maintained schools, BDSIP is commissioned to provide enhanced specialist adviser visits and to broker support from local teaching schools/or schools with outstanding practice in particular areas. 8.3 For vulnerable academy schools, the local authority will maintain a dialogue with the academy trust and, if necessary, the Regional Schools Commissioner. BDSIP is available to broker support if required.

9. Special schools and specialist provision

9.1 ARPs and special schools require a consistent and regular level of assurance and specialist professional dialogue between the Council or its appointed Body and the school. This is owing to the complexity of need of the children and young people placed there and because the Council has a direct responsibility through its commissioning of places. 9.2 A separate document sets out arrangements for quality assurance and oversight of ARPs. 9.3 For 2019/20, the Council will retain quality assurance and oversight arrangements for special schools. The model of termly visits by local authority staff and annual external reviews will be similar to the model proposed for ARPs. Arrangements will be reviewed for 2020/21.

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10. Appendices

Appendix A – BDSIP School Improvement visit proforma

LA Commissioned Annual Review Visit

School Name

School Personnel:

Date of Visit

External Reviewer

Previous Ofsted Inspection Grade: Date

School Self Evaluation

Quality of Education Grade

Behaviour and attitudes Grade

Personal Development Grade

Leadership and Management Grade

Early Years Education Grade

Sixth Form Provision Grade

Areas of focus (identified though end of key stage data; school self-evaluation judgements and progress in

priorities contained within development plans; progress of vulnerable groups (disadvantaged, SEND and White British

pupil groups); areas from previous Ofsted inspection and any known issues facing the school.

Summary of visit:

School Context:

Progress since previous inspection:

Curriculum intent, implementation, impact

Intent (curriculum design, coverage and appropriateness)

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Implementation (delivery, teaching and assessment)

Impact (attainment and progress; reading; and destinations)

Commentary on specific areas: (Secondary – off rolling and three-year GCSEs)

Progress of vulnerable groups (Disadvantaged, SEND and White British pupil groups)

Agreed areas of Good practice which could be shared with other schools

Advised areas for further development

Documents seen (please tick)

School Development Plan

Self-Evaluation Statement

ASP

External Reviewer Signature

After the Annual Review Visit has taken place a copy of this report is sent through to the Local Authority and then forwarded to the school.

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Appendix B – BDSIP SEND Compliance Visit Proforma

SEND: School Declaration of Statutory Compliance

Name of School

Date of Visit

Name & titles of school representatives

BDSIP Adviser

Statutory Requirement

Fully in

place

Partially in

place

Not in place Evidence provided with

dates OR identify action to be taken

The school’s SEN policy meets the requirements of the updated Children and Families Act (2014).

The SENCO is a qualified teacher.

The SENCO has attained the National SENCO accreditation (if in post after 2007).

There is a Single Equality Plan in place and this is reviewed annually.

Y

The SEN Information Report is on the school website and is current. It includes each of the following requirements:

Y

Policies for SEND identification Y

How SEN progress is assessed Y

SENCO: Name and contact Y

Details of SEND/Inclusion Team’s SEN expertise and training

Y

Details of SEN equipment and facilities

Y

Home-school partnership arrangements: the role played by parents/carers in supporting SEND

Y

Details of SEND Support Services for parents/carers

Y

Complaints procedures & the role of the Governing Body

Y

A link to the LA’s Local Offer Y

Processes for annual reviews and transition plans comply with the requirements set out in the CoP (2014)

Y

The SEND/Inclusion Team are fully conversant with their responsibilities with respect to Keeping Children Safe in Education (2019).

Y

This should include evidence of dates of completed training for all SEND/Inclusion staff.

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There are appropriate arrangements in place for supporting pupils with medical needs.

Y

There is evidence of training for relevant staff involved in supporting pupils with medical needs. This should be completed annually.

Y

The Health and Safety Audit and Inspection has be completed and a school H&S Policy is in place.

Y

Risk assessments are in place and updated, as required.

Y

There is a published Accessibility Plan.

Y

Staff, pupil and parent/carer surveys have been completed.

Y

There is evidence of actions taken in response to staff, parent/carer and pupil surveys

Total

Visit Summary/Analysis

Key Actions

Action By who? Completion Date

After a visit, this form should be:

• completed and sent to the school for comments within 7 working days. • shared with the Education Core Team within 10 working days. Note: Concerns with respect to compliance should be reported to the Education Core Team within 24 hours.