January 2000

OFFICE OF HER MAJESTY'S CHIEF INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS

in conjunction with the

AUDIT COMMISSION OFFICE FOR STANDARDS IN EDUCATION

CONTENTS

The numbers refer to the corresponding paragraphs within the four pages of the report.

INTRODUCTION 1-3

COMMENTARY 4-11

SECTION 1: THE LEA STRATEGY FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT 12-29

SECTION 2: SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT 30-71

SECTION 3: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT 72-88

SECTION 4: SPECIAL EDUCATION PROVISION 89-95

SECTION 5: ACCESS 97-110

INTRODUCTION

1. This inspection was carried out by OFSTED in conjunction with the Audit Commission under Section 38 of the Education Act 1997. The inspection used the Framework for the Inspection of Local Education Authorities which focuses on the effectiveness of local education authority (LEA) work to support school improvement.

2. The inspection was partly based on data, some of which was provided by the LEA, on school inspection information and audit reports, on documentation and discussions with LEA members, staff in the Education Department and in other Council departments and representatives of the LEAs partners. In addition, a questionnaire seeking views on aspects of the LEAs work was circulated to 108 schools. The response rate was 83%.

3. The inspection also involved studies of the effectiveness of particular aspects of the LEAs work through visits to two nursery, one infant, three first, six primary, one middle, four secondary, four upper and three special schools. The visits tested the views of governors, headteachers and other staff on the key aspects of the LEAs strategy. The visits also considered whether the support which is provided by the LEA contributes, where appropriate, to the discharge of the LEAs statutory duties, is effective in contributing to improvements in the school, and provides value for money.

COMMENTARY

4. Oxfordshire LEA serves a population which is relatively advantaged compared with many areas of the country. Overall, pupils attainment in key stage tests and GCSE are at or above national averages but below those of similar authorities. A wide disparity exists between the performance of schools even when the socio-economic variations between the areas served by them are taken into account. The best schools achieve results that compare with the most successful schools elsewhere, but in too many there is substantial under-achievement.

5. A number of historic factors have influenced this picture. For several years the LEA has funded education below the level indicated by central government according to its Standard Spending Assessment (SSA). Some schools see this as a significant factor in explaining poor results. The Council has been "hung" for nearly 15 years with no political party being in overall control. This adversely influences aspects of the decision making process and has, until recently, prevented a clear County-wide steer for education and decisive action in relation to national priority areas. In the past, schools have been slow to engage with the national agenda, even to the point of resistance, for example to the national testing regime.

6. Fortunately for the pupils and parents in Oxfordshire, the inspection findings identify recent changes in the LEA which have begun to impact on the expectations schools have of themselves and their pupils. Over the course of the last two years most of the historic factors identified above have been substantially addressed.

There have also been changes to the structure of the education department, which now provides a clear strategic direction in relation to school improvement.

7. The LEA is very lean and well run. It has gone further than most in delegating funding to schools. At the same time, its capacity to support school improvement has grown. It has more strengths than weaknesses. The strengths pay testimony to improvements in the structure of LEA services and the strategies now being employed to improve the standards and quality of schools. The weaknesses are few but they are vitally important, lying as they do at the root of the LEAs aspirations to raise attainment, and they will need the full commitment of the schools and Members, as well as officers, to remedy.

8. The following functions are not adequately exercised:

consistent challenge to all schools to maximise attainment; including the setting of demanding targets

oversight of school improvement by Members

support to schools in special measures or with serious weaknesses.

9. The following functions are performed satisfactorily, or more often well, and they generally reflect good value for money:

clear strategic direction and policy advice from senior officers and an improving partnership with schools; provision of suitable, effective services with good planning and performance management. Examples include governor support, the educational psychology service, the education social work service and behaviour support services

support for school development planning and self evaluation

support to promote access

support for the national literacy and numeracy strategies.

10. The LEA has recognised that the most pressing issue for Oxfordshire is the under-performance of many of its schools and it has, appropriately, made the raising of attainment central to its planning and resource allocation. Oxfordshire LEA provides a range of high quality, self-critical support services, which have a clear focus on school improvement and which are generally well targeted. The main and crucial exception to this is the unacceptable variation in the effectiveness with which link officers and advisers challenge schools to improve. This is still too variable to prevent some schools from coasting and others from establishing targets that are insufficiently demanding. Members also have a greater part to play in providing an unequivocal endorsement of the need for many schools, especially those which do not perform as well as similar schools, to improve.

11. The view of the inspection team is that, overall, this LEA has made much needed progress and it is providing cost effective, and often good quality, support to schools. The important caveat, however, is that too many Oxfordshire schools are still coasting and pupil performance overall is not as good as it should be. Evidence of more rapid and sustained improvement in standards of attainment will be needed before it is possible to say that Oxfordshire LEA is fully effective. However, it undoubtedly has the capacity to make further progress and is well fitted to address the recommendations contained in this report.

SECTION 1: THE LEA STRATEGY FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

Context

12. Oxfordshire LEA serves a relatively affluent population. The proportions of pupils from homes where adults have higher education qualifications and/or belong to social classes 1 and 2 are above average for the country as a whole. The proportion of pupils who are eligible for free school meals is below average, as is that for pupils in primary schools who have statements of special educational need. In secondary schools there is a similar proportion of pupils with statements of special educational need to other LEAs. The proportion of pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds is in line with that for similar LEAs but it is much higher in some areas such as Banbury and Oxford City than in other parts of the County. Unemployment in Oxfordshire in March 1998 was 1.8% compared to the South-East average of 3% and the national average of 5%.

13. Schools within Oxford City are organised into three tiers with transfer from First to Middle school at 9 and from middle school to Upper school at 13. The organisation of these schools is currently subject to review. In the rest of the LEA there is a Primary/Secondary system with transfer to secondary school at age 11. The number of each type of school is shown below:

Nursery schools (including 7 attached to Primary or First Schools) 15

First and Infant schools with nursery classes 17

First and Infant schools without nursery classes 17

Junior schools 6

Junior and Infant schools with nursery classes 34

Junior and Infant schools without nursery classes 160

Middle schools 10

Secondary schools (11-16) 8

Secondary schools (11-18) 21

Upper schools (13-18) 6

Special schools (including hospital schools) 14

Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) 6

14. These schools are spread across a wide and varied geographical area including sparse rural communities and rapidly growing County towns. Almost 60% of the schools in the primary sector are voluntary schools. Overall, the number of pupils in LEA schools between the ages of 5 and 11 years is approximately 43,300 and there are 30,300 pupils aged from 11 to 16 years. The LEA estimates that 13% of the school age population is educated in independent schools compared with seven percent nationally.

Performance

15. A detailed analysis of the performance of schools in Oxfordshire has been supplied to the LEA in the form of the OFSTED statistical profile, from which some of the following information has been extracted. Other information has been supplied directly by the LEA.

Oxfordshires baseline assessment data shows that pupils attainment on entry to primary schools is above average. However, pupils start in mainstream schooling as rising fives, slightly older than the age of admission in many LEAs.

In the 1998 tests Oxfordshires performance was generally at or above national averages but below that for similar LEAs at Key Stages 1, 2, and 3 in both English and mathematics. Attainment in GCSE was also above national figures but below that for similar LEAs. Complete comparative figures for the 1999 tests are not yet available, but at Key Stage 2 (KS2) standards are rising in Oxfordshire schools faster than those in similar authorities. Early indications are that improvement at GCSE is less pronounced and, in particular, the differences in attainment between schools in similar contexts within Oxfordshire remain too great.

The attainment of boys in literacy is lower than that of girls at each of the Key Stages but the gap is wider than that nationally at Key Stage 3 (KS3).

OFSTED reports show that the quality of teaching in primary schools is broadly in line with national figures but worse than that in similar LEAs; that in secondary schools is slightly higher than in similar LEAs and better than that found nationally. The proportion of primary schools requiring some or much improvement is higher than the national figures and those for similar LEAs. The proportion of secondary schools requiring some or much improvement is broadly in line with similar LEAs and considerably lower than the national figures.

Currently eight of Oxfordshires schools require special measures, a further 14 have been judged to have serious weaknesses and 26 schools have been identified as a cause for concern to the authority.

In both primary and secondary schools attendance is higher than the national average and slightly below that in similar LEAs.

The proportion of pupils permanently excluded from primary schools and from secondary schools is lower than the proportion for similar LEAs and the national average.

Funding

16. Overall, Oxfordshire has funded education below the SSA level for the last three years. It has spent above SSA on nursery and on post-16 education, but below SSA on primary and secondary education.

17. There is clear evidence that the lower overall level of funding compared to similar LEAs is constraining improvement in service delivery in some central services such as financial support and ICT. The impact is also discernible in schools, for example in terms of the low level of investment in buildings and ICT, increasing class-sizes outside Key Stage 1 (KS1) and the comparatively high teaching commitment of headteachers of small primary schools. Over half of the schools visited reported an increasing need to develop voluntary fund raising or other help 6 from parents and the local community to sustain and improve their work. The LEA has recognised this and is committed to funding at least at SSA level from next year.

18. Oxfordshires 1999/00 Local Schools Budget per pupil of £2490 is exactly the same as the average of its statistical neighbours, but below County and national averages.

19. The LEA delegates a higher than average proportion of funds to schools and has streamlined central services as far as it can whilst maintaining an effective discharge of most functions. It has retained the lowest amount per pupil for strategic services in the country at £17 per pupil compared to £42 statistical neighbours and £39 counties average. Even allowing for the national differences in definitions of functions and the balance of strategic challenge and traded support in some areas, this is a very lean service. The amount it must delegate next year to complete Fair Funding is also the lowest, £18 per pupil compared to £43 average for both statistical neighbours and counties. The LEA is, therefore, already well on the way towards the targets set by central government for delegation to schools.

20. The LEA has been successful in attracting other sources of revenue funding. The Standards Fund 1999/00 total budget is £9.13m, of which £3.85m is LEA funding, though the LEA is concerned about meeting the matched funding for possible growth in this in future years. There are very positive partnerships with the Training and Enterprise Council (TEC) and Education Business Partnership (EBP) linking learning and economic development though innovative projects and staff development in schools. The LEA facilitated the Education Action Zone (EAZ), which is jointly led and part funded by the Hamilton Trust, and increasingly, the LEA is helping to develop specialist schools.

21. The Council has improved its overall financial standing and control over the past few years. It now has a three year plan and each service has medium term budgets. Funding is generally well managed, targeted and monitored each year, and there are early indicative budgets. However, late decisions on the final budget have caused unnecessary uncertainty and delay to schools.

22. There are appropriate mechanisms for involving governors and headteachers in discussing priorities for budget growth and reviewing the formula for allocating funds to schools. A full review of the formula is underway for the year 2000 because some aspects of the current formula do not fully support the present educational policy. There is very little explicit small school protection and the real terms cut in fixed costs has particularly affected small schools. Funding is based only on the most recent January roll figures and does not include a part based on estimated numbers for the following year. This is unfair to schools with rising rolls, as the current trigger means they are not fully funded for increases in pupils and staffing. The significant pupil turnover suffered by schools serving the armed forces is also insufficiently recognised within the present formula.

23. The LEA is low-spending on capital with a budget in 1999 of £3.7m, £45 per pupil, less than a third of the average of its statistical neighbours and below the County average. Historically low capital spend and low revenue spend on repairs and maintenance has led to deterioration and poor quality of many school buildings. However, the LEA has maximised the use of capital receipts and New Deal for Schools to replace the worst temporary classrooms, and improve technical and specialist provision. It has also secured private developer funding to expand and build new schools.

Go to page 2

Crown copyright 1999

Office for Standards in Education

33 Kingsway

London

WC2B 6SE

Tel: 0171 421 6800

This report may be produced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that all extracts quoted are produced verbatim and without adaptation and on condition that the source and date thereof are stated.

A further copy of this report can be obtained from the Local Education Authority concerned:

Oxfordshire Local Education Authority

Macclesfield House

New Road

Oxford

OX1 1NA

This report can also be viewed shortly at www.ofsted.gov.uk

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.