Vicky Beer CBE Regional Schools Commissioner Lancashire and West Yorkshire

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1 Vicky Beer CBE Regional Schools Commissioner Lancashire and West Yorkshire

2 Regional Schools Commissioners - regions Vicky Beer Manchester

3 Regional Schools Commissioner: Lancashire and West Yorkshire The Regional Schools Commissioner for Lancashire and West Yorkshire is responsible for making decisions about academies and free schools in the following local authorities: Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Halton Kirklees Knowsley Lancashire Leeds Liverpool Manchester Oldham Rochdale Salford Sefton St Helens Stockport Tameside Trafford Wakefield Warrington Wigan Wirral

4 Executive Principal West Trafford Learning Partnership Director of Teaching School & SCiTT Additional Ofsted Inspector Local Leader of Education National Leader of Education Chair By School for Schools Board member of NWSiPB ASCL Reference Group Trafford The Dean Trust Ashton on Mersey pupils, Statements Chair TSC 350 pupils, Statements 63% FSM Good Principal Sponsor MUFC National Teaching School SCiTT National Maths Hub Outstanding x 5

5 Vision of the academy system School-to-school support and collaboration: redefine the concept of school as a group of schools (Federation or MAT) Self-managing, self-improving system including at trust/sponsor level: the importance of MATs, governance and RSCs as well as TSAs Goal: More children achieving much more, regardless of starting point

6 Regional Schools Commissioners: Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) are responsible for making decisions about the academies and free schools in their region on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education. Their main responsibilities are to: Monitor the performance of the academies in their area and take necessary action when an academy is underperforming. Approve changes to open academies, including: o changes to age ranges, o mergers between academies, o changes to multi-academy trust arrangements. Decide on the creation of new academies. Encourage organisations to become academy sponsors. Make recommendations to ministers about free school applications.

7 Regional Schools Commissioner: I am advised by Lancashire and West Yorkshire Headteacher Board (HTB), the members of which are listed below: Jane Acklam Moor End Academy, Kirklees elected Pamela Birch Hambleton Primary Academy, Lancashire elected Martin Shevill Consilium Academies, Yorkshire elected Alan Yellup Wakefield City Academy, Wakefield elected Sir Iain Hall Great School for all Children, Warrington appointed Tom Quinn St John Plessington Catholic College, Wirral co-opted

8 Language and terminology Academies are publically funded schools, independent of the local authority, held accountable through a legally binding funding agreement with the DfE. Staff are employed by the academy trust. Academies have more control over curriculum design and staff pay and conditions. Sponsored academies previously underperforming schools which were taken out of LA control and matched to an academy sponsor in order to provide support in order to secure sustained improvement, Converter academies high performing schools which have opted out of LA oversight, Multi-academy trusts (MATs) - groups of academies that have come together to form a charitable company, with a single group pf members (who have an oversight on governance arrangements) and a single board of trustees or directors. Teaching school Alliances (TSA) groups of schools supported by a teaching school. These are often loose collaborations with no shared formal accountability

9 Regional picture: There are 529 open academies in Lancashire and West Yorkshire: o 248 of which are secondary o 251 of which are primary There are 17 all-through There are 13 special schools and 3 PRUs There are 54 open free schools (inc UTC and studio schools) There are currently 109 sponsors in the region with 6 in the pipeline Nov 2015

10 Ofsted Annual report 2013/14 84% of primary pupils in Bury attend a good or outstanding school, Bury is 16 th out of 23 in the North West and 15 th out of 25 in Lancashire and West Yorkshire. The council is placed 62 nd nationally. 91% of secondary pupils attend a good or outstanding school, Bury is ranked equal 1 st with Trafford out of 23 NW and 25 Lancashire and West Yorkshire. The council is placed 20 th nationally.

11 Benefits of school collaboration A richer curriculum through the ability to recruit and deploy more specialist staff. Better staff retention and professional development and progression opportunities for staff. Bigger leadership challenges for ambitious heads, and new leadership roles. Financial efficiency through shared procurement. Economies of scale that make for instance employing specialist finance directors and business managers with vital skills more feasible. Ultimately, better prospects for pupils.

12 Standards Beacon School Sports College 5 x OfSTED Outstanding High Performing Status Applied Learning Training School National Secondary Support School National Teaching School Maths HUB SCiTT MAT & Sponsor Collaboration

13 There is an increasing body of evidence for the benefits of close collaboration between schools. Evidence suggests that formal collaborations, where there is shared accountability, are more likely than informal partnerships to deliver the benefits Looser collaborations do, of course, have an important part to play in a self-improving school-led system however, formal partnerships are more likely to lead to long-term school improvement. Forming or Joining a Group of Schools: staying in control of your school s destiny

14 What does good look like? Quality, supply & reach of system leaders? Effective commissioning & brokerage of support? Clear accountability & strong governance? Securing impact & continuous improvement?

15 Education and Adoption Bill Inadequate schools Coasting schools Schools requiring improvement

16 What the Bill does It makes a new group of schools eligible for intervention coasting schools. Puts a duty on the Secretary of State to make academy order for all inadequate schools. It gives Regional School Commissioners (RSCs) the same power local authorities already have to give warning notices to maintained schools Introduces flexibility around warning notices so there is no time limit for compliance and removes the appeal mechanism to Ofsted. Where an academy order is made, the Bill removes the requirement for consultation on whether a school should become an academy. However it also introduces a requirement to consult on the sponsor choice for certain schools (i.e. church schools). 16

17 Coasting schools policy A school is coasting - not consistently ensuring that children reach their potential, The definition is based on performance data over 3 years, not Ofsted judgement. No school will be identified as coasting until the end of RSCs will have the discretion to make judgements about whether and how to act in coasting schools - some will have the capacity to improve, some may need support and becoming a sponsored academy will be the best solution for others. 17

18 Underperforming maintained school Good or Outstanding Coasting School Academy Sponsor Academy Order MAT A School Requiring Improvement Expand the MAT? Sponsor? Free School?

19 Multi-school governance Strong and dynamic governance to underpin a self-improving and autonomous education system. We need to focus even more on skills. We need to see more boards governing groups of schools. A smaller number of accountable bodies governing larger numbers of schools is a crucial step to higher quality governance across the system - fewer, more highly skilled people with a more strategic perspective at board level, who can compare and contrast performance across their schools to create more robust accountability, greater efficiency and more effective school improvement. 'If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together African proverb