Education ‘everyone’s business’

ESTELLE MORRIS with Jim McMahon

WE have to be in this together is the clear message from Oldham’s long-anticipated education report.

Oldham is to spend £1 million to ensure every education provider in Oldham is rated at least “good” by Ofsted by 2020.

On Friday chairman Estelle Morris handed the £100,000 Oldham Education and Skills Commission report over to Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon, on his last day as council leader. In 2014 Councillor McMahon asked the former Education Secretary to chair the commission and conduct a wide-ranging review of local education.

The independent commission was asked to identify areas of best practice and of under-achievement, investigating the challenges faced and developing a path to future success.

The finished report gives an insight into Oldham education and an encouraging plan on how best to improve it.

The OESC has made 19 recommendations, and focuses on achieving two targets by 2020 - for all performance indicators to be at the national average or above, and for all education providers to be rated good or better by Ofsted.

Ms Morris said: “These are absolutely attainable targets by 2020. To be honest, I think we should reach it before then. There should be no compromise on that and that shouldn’t be changed for any reason.”

A report to Oldham Council’s next Cabinet meeting on January 25 proposes an investment of £1 million over the next three years to provide support and resources to fulfil the recommendations.

The report suggests a “self-improving education system” in Oldham where schools, colleges and other interested parties work in partnership to raise the borough’s standing.

The report states: “Our vision is of successful schools and colleges working in a new collaborative education partnership - a partnership built on the skills and talents of the best of our school leaders, teachers and lecturers, working closely with the council, employers and the wider Oldham community that raises standards by making education everyone’s business.”

Speaking at the report’s launch Ms Morris said it was crucial the findings were honest about the state of Oldham education..

Councillor McMahon said: “I don’t think we should be afraid because it is only by understanding where we are now that we can hope to have a plan for rebuilding. I’m very happy we have opened up and that it is an honest report. This is not about heaping praise on a system that has room for improvement.”



The recommendations

1 Provide an enriched curriculum for schools and colleges to ensure Oldham’s children and young people are school ready, life ready and work ready.

2 Develop strategies to close the performance gap for underperforming groups.

3 Make additional provision to increase the capacity and the types of support for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

4 Develop a new approach to prevent escalation of bad behaviour by earlier identification and improved support and to improve the management of exclusions.

5 Continue and extend the existing good practice regarding international new arrivals and English as an Additional Language (EAL) to ensure integration and provision for international new arrivals which enables every child to be enriched by a wide variety of backgrounds and origins.

6 Identify and record the data needed to support delivery of the recommendations, improve data analysis and agree data sharing protocols to support performance monitoring.

7 Transformation will be driven by high quality leadership in schools and colleges. Oldham’s new Education Partnership will support and promote clear progression pathways to encourage existing and future educational professionals to develop their skills, knowledge and expertise in educational leadership, and to be ready for promotion to key roles within schools and within the local school system.

8 Oldham’s new Education Partnership will support the development and retention of great teachers by providing high quality professional development, peer and mentoring support, capacity building from recognised expert practitioners, access to and involvement with University research.

9 Oldham will develop stronger links with national and regional organisations to support school improvement in the town.

10 Share best practice which already exists in Oldham.

11 Make education “everyone’s business” — Oldham’s new Education Partnership to run a series of high profile campaigns to engage residents, businesses and organisations in playing a role to improve education and aspiration in Oldham.

12 Develop a “Gold Standard” for governors including induction support and accredited training within their first 12 months.

13 Closer partnership working between schools and Oldham’s diverse early years services with a particular focus on working with and supporting parents of under-5s to ensure a smoother transition into primary school.

14 There needs to be strong two-way partnership between parents, carers and schools because children achieve better outcomes if their parents and carers value education and are learners themselves.

15 Carry out a review of current provision of community, parental and family learning, identify the gaps and the opportunities for improvement.

16 Extended use of school premises to improve access for community-based activities which support children’s achievement, such as parental and family learning.

17 An independent review of vocational education to shape the future of provision in the town and inform Greater Manchester devolution.

18 Increase the number of residents with higher level skills (Level 4 and above) including progression of young people to university, apprenticeship or foundation degree and provide routes to support adult workers to progress from Level 2 to higher skills via apprenticeships, foundation degree or degree.

19 Review existing programmes to further engage public and voluntary agencies in finding new solutions to worklessness.

Visit www.oesc.org.uk to read the report in full.