Achievement of Brent's Black Caribbean Boys rises but more to be done to reach the highest level

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The lag in achievement of British Black Caribbean Boys compared with their peers has been a nagging issue in education since at least the 1970s.  Historically there have been problems such as disproportionate numbers of Black Caribbean Boys labelled as ESN (Educationally Subnormal) highlighted by Bernard Coard (1971); disproportionate numbers allocated to Disruptive Units, often known as 'sin bins', both on and off school premises (National Association for Multi-racial Education 1979-81); the need and for, and position of black teachers, and the ongoing issue of disportionate  numbers permanently excluded from  school - often now seen as 'off-rolling': pupils removed from school rolls just before examinations to boost a school's position in the league tables. All addressed as examples of institutionalised racsim.

Throughout these decades there has been a response from the black community which included black parent movements in many areas of the country, supplementary Saturday schools and ongoing campaigns over allocation of black boys to non-examination streams, racist stereotyping, a euro-centric curriculum and much else. The passion that Brent's black community has for education, and concern over under-achievement was very evident at the recent huge public meeting over the future of Bridge Park. The link between that concern and the way the community felt they had been treated was clear.

Brent responded back in 1986 with the Development Programme for Racial Equality (DPRE) which faced a vociferous hostile media campaign about 'race spies' in schools. A further attempt to deal with the issue in 1991 based on  a Warwick University Report 'Creating Equity'  which recommended a race relations policy to the Council, resulted in a rowdy debate that led to a rebuke to councillors from the then Chief Executive Charles Wood:

Without exception it is fait to say we are stunned by the divisions encouraged and emphasised in the comments made and in particular the repeated attacks on individuals and groups of officers.

The night before I listened to the Brent Schools Music Festival - 450 children from all tehnic groups revelling in the sheer delight of sharing their distinct cultures.

It is difficult to relate the debate that followed to the reality of life in Brent today.

To its credit, given that history,  Brent Council decided to again grasp this nettle two years ago with the Back Caribbean Boys Achievement Project which saw 'champions' designated in most Brent schools to seek ways of addressing the under-achievement issues and meet  key targets in 'closing the gap' between the boys and their peers. The boys were the only group in Brent schools that had been significantly under-performing over the last three years. There are 1,810 boys of Black Caribbean heritage in Brent schools, 4% of the school population. The project, led by the Brent Schools Partnership, has set up a portal for parents as a resource to support their child and families in this endeavour. Parents who would like access should approach their children's school.

Thankfully in a period when Black Lives Matter has taken centre stage the project has not attracted press hostility.

A report to be discussed at tonight's Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee sets out the overall context of Brent schools and the progress made in closing the gap. You can see the web broadcast of the 6pm meeting  HERE.

The diverse nature of Brent’s population poses a range of challenges for schools, the most significant of which include the integration of pupils arriving late to the UK education system, high general mobility, language development needs and deprivation. This diversity is not a fixed picture but rather there are rapid changes to the population. A very high proportion of pupils have English as an Additional Language (65 per cent) and a large proportion of under 16s were born outside the United Kingdom, many starting formal education in England much later than their peers, often with little or no English, and sometimes with no experience of any formal education. The largest spoken first languages other than English are: Gujarati (nine per cent), Arabic (eight per cent), Somali (six per cent), Romanian (five per cent), Urdu (three per cent), Tamil (three per cent), Portuguese (three per cent) and Polish (two per cent).

In addition to new arrivals, socio-economic pressures placed on many of Brent’s families combined with a housing stock which relies heavily on privately rented accommodation, contribute to relatively high levels of pupil turnover in many of our schools. The proportion of Brent pupils who are disadvantaged is 24 per cent. There is a higher proportion of pupils identified as disadvantaged in the secondary phase (28 per cent).

The tables below show that the work of individual schools within the project has had a real impact with British Black Caribbean Boys achieving nearer and sometimes above the national average at the expected level, but the percentage at the higher level lagging.  Addressing this is now the focus of the project. Te help you make sense of the tables BBCH stands for Black Boys of Caribbean Heritage. LA is Local Authotiyy (Brent) Figures in green are a positive gap (above the national level) and red a negative gap (below). Key Stage 1 will now be a focus given these statistics. It is important to compare the outcomes  of each group both with the national figure for that group and the Brent (LA) and National figures for all pupils.

The full report is HERE

Brent's drive to improve educational achievement of Black Caribbean boys under scrutiny on Monday

Monday's Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee will be considering a report they requested from the Strategic Director for Children and Young People on the Council's efforts to improve the educational achievement of boys of Black Caribbean heritage. This is a welcome move, not only because this is a long-standing issue but because it marks an increased level of interest in education by the committee which called for the report after being given the statistics at an earlier meeting.

A close look at the reports above will reveal the main dimensions of under-achievement.

Although Brent secondary schools are mainly academies, while most primary schools remain with the local authority, the Council retains an interest in all schools through the Brent Schools Partnership (BSP).

Although white disadvantaged boys are the most 'under performing' group nationally and locally, Black Caribbean boys in Brent  are the only group that has continued to underperform over the last few years.

The BSP set up the Black Caribbean Strategy Group, chaired by the headteacher of Chalkhill Primary School  which has become the BSP Specialist Centre for Black Caribbean Achievement. Chalkhill was chosen because of the quality of its work with Black Caribbean boys and their families. Over the last 2 years  the Centre has shared their best practice with other schools through training, school visits and shared activities including aspirational careers events and advice.

The report states that the project has undertaken:
 

·      A supported rigorous and robust analysis of the performance of pupils of Black 
Caribbean heritage and the effectiveness of key aspects of schools’ practice to 
ensure the pupils achieve well. 


·      The designation of a Black Caribbean Achievement Champion in every school in 
Brent for a period of two years. The Champion will lead on the school’s plan to improve outcomes for pupils of Black Caribbean heritage, including monitoring its impact and engagement with parents/carers. 


·      A programme of half termly training for Black Caribbean Achievement Champions to ensure high levels of skills and competencies to deliver their role effectively, leading to real impact on outcomes in schools. 


·      A programme of training for groups of staff and for school governors. 


·      The development of online resources for parents on strengthening their role and 
contribution to improving their children’s learning and progress, and reducing the likelihood of their children being excluded from schools. This would provide links to opportunities for accreditation, face-to-face advice and workshops. The resources will draw on the experience and expertise of local community groups. 


·      Leadership and management of the overall Black Caribbean Strategy, including regular collation and analysis of the attainment and progress of pupils of Black Caribbean heritage.

 Gail Tolley, Strategic Director for Children and Young People notes:

The project is very much focused on ensuring the best possible provision for every boy. It is important to state that over 40 per cent of the group are meeting national expectations for results at the end of the primary and secondary phases, and their success must be celebrated alongside the success of the majority of pupils in Brent. This project is aiming to ensure that the boys in the 20 percentage point gap also attain their full potential. The evaluation of provision in each school will identify the factors that affect the group and individual pupils which may vary across the borough. It is important to avoid any over-generalisation of the factors that may be affecting the boys who are underperforming. The Champion is instead expected to monitor the data for every boy which includes their attendance and progress data (that school leaders usually collect from teachers every term), and to put in place the appropriate actions and interventions that address any individual boy’s underperformance. 


The late Basil Bernstein noted decades ago that 'education cannot compensate for society.' By that he meant that schools alone could not solve society's problems. It is worth remembering that when so much is expected of schools, although of course they work extremely hard to give pupils an equal chance and this project is a big step forward.

It was with Bernstein's quote in mind that I suggested at a recent Governors' Briefing on the Black Caribbean Strategy that the Council needed to situate the initiative in a wider context which would include addressing some of the issues where the Black Caribbean community feels it is not being fairly treated. The most high profile example at the moment is the future of the Bridge Park Complex but there are others including the closure of Stonebridge Adventure Playground, the cuts in the youth service and the closure of Children's Centres. Nationally the Windrush Generation scandal and Theresa May's hostile environment have increased uncertainty and disaffection.

Schools don't exist on a sanitised island.

The Scrutiny Committee takes place on Monday 18th March, 6pm at the Civic Centre, Wembley Park and is open to the public.

The full report is HERE

Brent School Improvement Service sets out changes as interim head leaves

Rebecca Matthews, Interim Head of Brent School Improvement Service, is ending her contract and will be leaving tomorrow. Sara Williams is currently trying to find someone to cover the role. Clearly given the events at St Mary's RC in Kilburn and the concerns raised in the report of the Education Commission, a quality permanent appointment is essential.

Matthews today wrote to Brent headteachers announcing changes in the core offer made by Brent School Improvement Service: 

One of the main changes to the Core Offer reflects our determination to get the right level of support to schools as soon as possible.  To that end, link advisers and school improvement leads will be undertaking data analysis during July and August as soon as provisional data are available.  

If this early analysis raises concern, at the start of the autumn term, we shall write to you and visit your school as soon as can be arranged so that we can discuss the appropriate levels of support.  It may of course be the case that provisional data will change as there are always marginal changes when dis-applications are taken into consideration.  However, we agree that waiting for Raiseonline data in October/November means that we lose critical months.  Evidence shows that the sooner we can establish Rapid Improvement Groups, the better the progress within the school, and the greater the involvement of governors, the school improvement service and other relevant partners, including school to school support.

For some schools this will mean a change in their School Improvement Partner, an individual who monitors and supports the school.

The accompanying document sets out the role of the local authority: 

Brent is committed to working with schools to ensure that all are good or outstanding. The School Improvement Service recognises that much of the expertise to ensure this happens resides in schools.   It also recognises that the pressure on schools to secure or retain good and outstanding judgements requires focussed effort and the danger of stretching capacity too far can result in a fall in standards.  

It is therefore essential for the local authority to retain a leadership role; as the guardian of quality and standards for all schools; a coordination role in order to capitalise on expertise in schools and facilitate its use to ensure that standards are not diluted elsewhere; and a brokerage role to identify and sign post good practice.  

The partnership between the School Improvement Service, the Brent Schools Partnership (BSP) and the two local Teaching School Alliances offers an exciting and creative opportunity to develop new ways of working that will benefit all schools, leaders, teachers, children and young people.  Such partnerships are best developed over time, and this core offer is revised in July 2014 following the first full year of implementation, learning lessons from the past year and receiving feedback from schools and school improvement staff involved in the process.  During the course of the coming academic year, ways of working collaboratively will continue to develop.  

It is the LA's responsibility to maintain a full overview of the effectiveness of all schools including sponsored academies, converter academies, free schools, the local college and training providers.   This responsibility is fulfilled through desk top analysis as well as through visits to all schools.  All schools are allocated a link adviser who will respond to the statutory responsibilities through at least one visit per year to each school.  

For maintained schools, we will deliver a differentiated Core Offer which departs from the more universal offer previously in place. The purpose of this Core Offer is to provide an appropriately differentiated offer for the most effective and efficient use of public funding.  It will ensure that the best schools are able to define and develop their improvement journey as they see fit, purchasing support from the LA or elsewhere as required.  For those schools not yet good or outstanding, intensive, skilled and purposeful support and monitoring will challenge and encourage the school to improve at speed, and result in intervention if this is not successful.

Where academies, free schools, the college and training providers fail to provide the standards required, it is appropriate for the LA to hold these establishments to account.    This will be through robust discussion with the head teacher and sponsor or trust representative and for 16-19 institutions, with the principal or director.  For academies the LA may raise concerns about performance directly with the Department for Education. (Schools causing concern; Statutory guidance for local authorities; May 2014)

Brent has had several schools now which had been judged 'Good' by Ofsted previously now being down-graded to 'Requires Improvement' or 'Inadequate'. An early-warning system for such schools is essential and the document sets out what will be provided: 

For schools which are good or outstanding, and whose data shows improvement, the LA’s involvement will be light touch.  Once a year, maintained schools will be visited by the school’s link adviser.  Other institutions will be visited by a local authority officer.  The meeting will address a range of issues, depending on the context and situation of the school.  These could include:

·    Standards at the end of each key stage

·    Attainment and progress at the end of each year and for all groups

·    The impact of the pupil premium for low achievers and the more able

·    A review of Ofsted key issues

·    A review of previous recommendations from the School Improvement Service

·    The school’s key priorities

·    Moderation of the school’s self-evaluation

·    A learning walk to judge the quality of teaching and learning

·    The opportunity to identify good practice.

This visit will ensure that the LA can validate the school's own assessment of its strengths and areas for development.  It will also allow for an assessment of the school's capacity to sustain its position and bring about further improvement.  We will support and challenge good and outstanding schools where specific improvement is required and we will celebrate good practice and disseminate it across all schools. 

This will lead to a short report providing an annual ‘health check’ for the school with any recommendations that result from the meeting.  Support to implement the recommendations could be purchased by the school from the School Improvement Service or any other provider or brokered through the Brent School Partnership or with the Teaching School Alliances.  Opportunities for support still exist for these schools, but they will be provided through the traded offer.

It is noteworthy that Brent now recognises and claims a role in monitoring academies and free schools and it will be interesting to see how this develops and whether doors are opened to LA officers:

Academies and 16-19 institutions judged as requiring improvement, serious weaknesses or special measures will also be offered the RIG process without cost, but if they accept, they will be expected to source their own additional support which could be from the local authority or elsewhere.  If an academy or 16-19 institution chooses not to accept the RIG (Rapid Improvement Group), the local authority will ask for details of the actions that the trust, corporation or board will be putting in place to secure improvement, and would request a termly update on the impact.

 However action by the local authority if such interventions are unsuccessful is limited as academies and free schools are directly accountable to the Secretary of State and FE colleges have their own management boards.

Ironically, academisation, which reduces the LA's powers of intervention is listed as a possible solution for failing maintained schools:

The production of the action plan will be the responsibility of the school, working with the link adviser.   The content of the action plan will lead to the implementation of a support programme, with help from the School Improvement Service, the Brent Schools Partnership or the Teaching School Alliances as appropriate, which will be monitored and reviewed at each half termly meeting.  The plan should be specifically tailored to the needs of the school to include support for leadership and management, teaching, learning, inclusion and governance.

Improvement for schools in these circumstances must be swift and embedded in sustained good practice, recognised by Ofsted monitoring visits or LA reviews.   If improvement has not been demonstrated, the LA will use its powers of intervention to ensure improvement.

LA powers of intervention for maintained schools include:

·      Requiring a governing body to enter into arrangements to secure improvement

·      Appointing additional governors

·      Appointing an Interim Executive Board

·      Suspending the delegated budget

·      Considering academy status.

Michael Pavey, previously lead member for children and families in Brent, when first taking over the role had opposed academies and free schools but later acquiesced in the forced academisation of Gladstone Park Primary and actively supported Copland High School's take over by Ark Academy. Little is known of the new lead member, Cllr Ruth Moher's views, but a policy of forced academisation in a Labour authority is bound to be controversial.

Finally there will be efforts to ensure the quality of 'school improvement specialists' and the move to 'school to school support' will continue:

The local authority is well placed to have an overview of quality in the borough.   It will broker school to school support as required.  We recognise that we will not be the only agency involved in this work, but we can offer a broad overview of all schools when required to identify appropriate support.  We will work with the Brent Schools Partnership and Teaching School Alliances to secure leadership capacity and appropriate support to accelerate improvement.  We will work with partners to assure quality and review the impact of support, training and service delivery.  We will share our findings with head teachers and chairs of governors.

We will work with partners to increase leadership and governance development opportunities. Together, we will provide an enhanced range of support and training as required through a needs analysis.

We will provide support both from school improvement specialists and encourage school to school capacity.  We will ensure that school improvement specialists are highly qualified and experienced, most having recent and relevant headship or senior leadership experience, Ofsted training and wide experience of school improvement strategies from a variety of contexts.  We will involve schools in the appointment of these staff and look to secondment opportunities as appropriate.

Not mentioned sufficiently in the proposals is the funding implications of the proposals with the Brent Council budget expected to be under severe pressure next year.  The School Improvement Service has already suffered cuts, the financial compensation for schools engaged in 'school to school support', and the capacity of sufficient numbers of schools to buy into the Brent Schools Partnership are all issues to be addressed.

After all, Michael Pavey claimed that forced academisation of Copland was necessary because Brent Council did not have the capacity or resources to manage the school improvement process itself, and needed Ark to do the job