Director of Children Services (DCS) Briefing
December 2013
Dear colleague,I’d like to start this December DCS Briefing by thanking Sara Tough for all the work that she has done over the past five years, and the contribution that she has made to children and families in Swindon. Sara is going to Dorset to be their Director of Children’s Services, and we wish her well.Jo Olsson has been appointed as interim Head of Children and Family Services, and is with us for six months, while a permanent appointment is made.
This December edition of the DCS Briefing includes the following articles:
- Inspection update and the draft Swindon Position Statement
- Strengthening Families Programme
- School Standards update
- Ofsted rates Swindon’s Adult Community Learning Services as ‘Good’
With best wishes, John Gilbert
Inspection update and the draft Swindon Position Statement
In November 2013, Ofsted published the framework for inspection of services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers, and Reviews of Local Safeguarding Children Boards. The inspection is unannounced, and could happen anytime. As our last inspection was in 2010, we think it is likely to be sooner rather than later.
The Inspection Framework can be found at: and it sets out the characteristics of a ‘good’ service against the key inspection judgements.
At the start of the inspection, we will be asked to explain the Local Authority’s context, key strengths and challenges, so we have drafted a Swindon ‘Position Statement’. This sets out the child’s journey through services in Swindon, and shows how the enabling infrastructure of political and managerial leadership, quality assurance and partnerships, build an environment where learning and good practice can flourish
Later in December and in January, Victoria Guillaume will be circulating the draft Position Statement widely, for you to review and discuss with your colleagues, and we want to you let us know if it accurately reflects your view of the child’s journey through services in Swindon.
For more information about the Position Statement or the Inspection Framework, please contact Victoria Guillaume at
Update on Strengthening Families Programme
Family Contact Point (FCP) Pilot:The pilot is now in its third month and the key learning includes the important role that our Early Help services provide to support children and families after contacts have been received. We now understand more about the calls and contacts we receive and how large numbers of these are generated by organisations such as the Police and schools in Swindon. In coming weeks and months we will be working with our partners to explore how we can work more effectively together to support children and families. The team are focused on making good quality decisions about what action to take to support and protect a child and their family within 24 hours of receiving a referral and are making good progress in meeting the statutory requirement.
Fast Team:Three ‘Fast Team’ officers have now been recruited to start in January 2014. They will respond immediately to the needs of families who are experiencing emergencies or on the edge of crisis to give practical advice, support and assistance to prevent breakdown or escalation of issues.
Care & Placements:Evaluation of the Care Package Facilitator was completed at the end of October. This role has been very successful in finding new ways of using a range of resources to support children and young people allowing them to remain in their family and community. Following the evaluation, the programme is now looking at opportunities to extend this practice.
Community Capacity:Phase 1, which looked to test how much community capacity exists in our neighbourhoods, is now completed. The key learning has been that community capacity does exist and it works best when it stems from people’s passions. Building & maintaining relationships are key. Communities & volunteers need on-going support & often need facilitation, and flexible with their expectations. People on the edge of crisis have a lot to offer.
If you have any questions please email us at .
School Statistics Section
Key Stage / Attainment Indicator / Improved against previous year / Improved over 3 year period / Results at least matching latest national average
Foundation Stage / Good Level of Development / Not Avail / Not Avail / Yes
Total Point Score in All Goals / Not Avail / Not Avail / Yes
Phonics / Required standard of Phonics decoding at Year 1 / Yes / Not Avail / No
Required standard of Phonics decoding at Year 2 / Yes / Not Avail / Yes
Key Stage 1 / Level 2+ in Reading / Yes / Yes / Yes
Level 2+ in Writing / Yes / Yes / Yes
Level 2+ in Maths / In Line / Yes / Yes
Key Stage 2 / Level 4+ in Reading / In Line / Yes / Yes
Level 4+ in Writing / Yes / Yes / No
Level 4+ in Maths / In Line / Yes / No
Expected level of progress in Reading / No / Not Avail / No
Expected level of progress in Writing / Yes / Not Avail / Yes
Expected level of progress in Maths / Yes / Yes / No
Key Stage 4 / 5+ A*-C including English and Maths / Yes / Yes / No
5+ A*-C / No / Yes / No
Ebacc / Yes / Yes / No
Expected level of progress in English / No / No / No
Expected level of progress in Maths / Yes / Yes / No
Key Stage 5 / 2+ Substantial Level 3 qualifications / Not Avail / Not Avail / No
The data for Foundation Stage, KS1 and KS2 is validated but KS4 and 5 data is unvalidated.
Key points to note:
- At Foundation Stage In terms of children achieving at least the expected level in each area of learning, Swindon outperformed England in all 7 areas.
- 2012/13 Key Stage 1 teacher assessment results show that Swindon continues to make steady progress: 4 out of 5 subjects recorded their highest results yet in terms of pupils achieving the expected level (level 2 or above).
- 2012/13 Key Stage 2 results show that Swindon has, overall, kept similar figures to previous year’s results.
- The DfE introduced the Secondary Readiness measure in 2012/13, which shows the proportion of pupils achieving a good level 4 (level 4B or above) in each of Reading and Maths along with a level 4 or above in Writing. The rationale for this measure, the DfE states, is that too many pupils that achieve a 4C don’t go on to achieve good GCSEs and are therefore not secondary ready. This combined Secondary Readiness indicator shows that 63% of Swindon pupils achieved a “good” level 4 in each subject in 2012/13, and this compares to 63% in England.
- 2012/13 Key Stage 4 results show improvement in a number of key areas, and in some indicators Swindon closed the gap to the national average.
- At KS5 pupils entered for at least one substantial (qualification that is at least the size of an A level) Level 3 qualification, 83% of students in Swindon achieved at least 2 substantial Level 3 qualifications, and this compares to 90% in England and 90% in the South West.
Ofsted judgements about the quality of overall effectiveness of Swindon schools:
Latest figures published by Ofsted show that 78% of Swindon schools were judged as Good or Outstanding as at August 2013, higher than 71% in the previous comparable period (August 2012). This compares to 78% in England and 81% in the South West. These figures do not therefore reflect inspection outcomes for the autumn terms 1 and 2
However then comparing the proportion of Secondary schools judged as Good or Outstanding, Swindon has lower figures (55%) than in England (71%) and in the South West (73%). In terms of the proportion of children attending schools judged as Good or Outstanding, 72% of children Swindon attended a Good or Outstanding school as at June 2013, compared to 76% in England and 80% in the South West.
- In the secondary sector, we have 11 schools. As at August 2013, 1 is graded Outstanding, 5 are graded Good, 4 are graded Requires Improvement and 1 is graded Inadequate.
- In the primary sector we have 59 schools that have been subject to an inspection. As at August 2013, 15 are graded Outstanding, 32 are graded Good, and 12 are graded Requires Improvement.
- Swindon has 6 special schools. As at August 2013 all are graded as Good. The Pupil Referral Unit is also graded as Good.
Primaries in Swindon were in the top third nationally for % of pupils attending good or better schools, and secondaries were in the bottom third nationally, and lowest in the South West. The more detailed South West regional report can be found at:
We continue to work proactively in partnership with our schools and focus our challenge and support on schools or early years settings currently graded satisfactory/requires improvement (or lower) to ensure robust and effective leadership and management.
We encourage development of school support; commissioned intervention and collaborative arrangements promote and disseminate best local and national practice to raise achievement and build effective leadership capacity.
The LA’s School Improvement Adviser supports school-led action research on the effective use of pupil premium through the cross-phase Pupil Premium Research and Innovation Group (RIG), this is supported by the Teaching School and will include dissemination of effective interventions from schools attending.
We have made good links with our regional HMI and primary and secondary schools requiring improvement are either attending school improvement seminars led by Ofsted or working with an HMI and partner schools on a pilot project based in Swindon. They are focused on ‘closing the gap’ in the context of the individual school.
There continues to be joint working between schools facilitated by the head teacher associations and the LA which we will continue to support.
Exclusions
Permanent exclusion:
- The level of permanent exclusion from Swindon schools has shown is continuing to decrease standing at 13. This is the lowest level since 2008/9 and a 65% decrease from the high point of 37 in 2007/8.
- Permanent exclusion in the primary sector has remained low and in 2012/13 was 1 and this gives a total of 11 in the last four academic years since 2009/10.
- In the secondary sector the level of permanent exclusion does fluctuate but continues on a broadly reducing trend. The level is now at its second lowest since 2007/8.The work of the Swindon Fair Access Panel continues to have a significant impact on the permanent exclusion figures following on from its introduction in 2009.
- In relation to vulnerable groupings, there has been no permanent exclusion of a pupil with a Statement of Special Educational Need or a Child in Care since before 2007/8.
- Latest national data on the number of permanent exclusions per 1000 pupils in 2011/12 shows Swindon at 0.5 per 1000 pupils which is equal second lowest of 11 comparative authorities and below the English average of 0.7 per 1000 pupils.
- Permanent exclusion broadly falls into two categories either for persistent disruptive behaviour or for a serious one off event. The former is by far the most common.
- The total number of fixed term exclusions has risen over the last two academic years. Between 2006/7 to 2010/11 there was a 50% reduction in the number of fixed term exclusions. In 2011/12 the number of fixed term exclusions rose by 37% to 1456 and in 2012/13 there was a further rise of 5% to 1524 (figures do not include Swindon Academy. Swindon Academy has now begun to report fixed term exclusion to the LA from September 2013).
- Encouragingly although the number of fixed term exclusions has risen in the last two academic years the days lost to fixed term exclusion in the secondary sector fell between 2011/12 and 2012/13 as has the number of pupils receiving fixed term exclusion.
- In the primary sector between 2011/12 and 2012/13 the number of pupils receiving a fixed term exclusion fell from 67 to 60 and the total number of days lost due to exclusion increased from 212 to 234 although the average length of a fixed term exclusion did fall from 1.88 days to 1.72 days.. .
- In the special school sector the number of fixed term exclusions rose by 29% between 2011/12 and 2012/13. The number of pupils subject to fixed term exclusion remained steady at 62/63 as did the average length of exclusion 1.42/1.43 days.
- Latest national data on fixed term exclusion for 2011/12 shows fixed term exclusion per 1000 pupil population in Swindon standing at 47.8 as opposed to the English average of 40.5. Swindon was seventh lowest out of 11 statistical neighbour authorities.
Ofsted rates Swindon’s Adult Community Learning Services as ‘Good’
The Adult Community Learning service that improves the employability of adults in Swindon by boosting their educational achievements and skills has been rated as ‘good’ in the recent Ofsted inspection.
The rating for the service improves on the rating of ‘satisfactory’ given at the last Ofsted inspection in January 2011. The commissioning team focusing on Routes to Employment (part of Commissioning, Economy and Attainment)have worked closely with commissioned providers to raise the quality of teaching and learning in Swindon.
The service supports one of Swindon Borough Council’s main priorities, to have people with the right skills for the right jobs and targets people with low skills, especially those on lower incomes. Programmes help improve the confidence and self-esteem, actively encouraging progression onto to further learning.
Last year, almost 300 courses of 6 – 10 weeks in duration were run, on a wide variety of subjects, in over 60 community venues across the borough. In 2012-13 it had over 2700 individual learners, 93% of whom achieved their learning target, which is 6% higher than the recent national average of 87%.
In giving its ‘good’ rating Ofsted, Ofsted praised the fact outcomes for learners are good. The proportion of learners who achieve their course aims and personal learning goals is high and has risen year on year over the last three years. Many learners also progress onto further learning, into employment or other positive next steps, including volunteering opportunities. They reported that tutors have high expectations and successfully use their good subject knowledge and expertise to motivate and inspire learners. The leadership and management of the delivery is good; senior council officers and elected members provide strong governance and share an ambitious vision for adult and community learning in Swindon. The council’s comprehensive adult learning plan sets a clear direction, aligning adult education to support the council’s wider priorities of economic regeneration and employment and skills.
In order to gain the top ‘outstanding’ rating, Ofsted advised the service to improve its information on learners ‘next steps’ and further improvements on the advice given to learners on their future options. It also recommended embedding a sharing of ‘best practice’ approach among providers.
For further information, please contact Sally Burnett on
Link to report:
Contact for DCS Briefing
Victoria Guillaume
Commissioner, Strategies
Swindon Borough Council
Tel: 01793 463855
E-mail:
1