Record Attendance And Results As Education Services Improve
Record attendance alongside record results are among the benefits being enjoyed by children thanks to improved services in Swansea.
The latest inspection of the Council’s Education department shows services for children and young people are continuing to improve.
Swansea Council has made progress against every one of five recommendations made by national inspectors Estyn following a routine inspection of services in 2013.
Attendance in secondary schools has hit an all-time high for 2015-2016 at 94% per cent, placing the city 10th in Wales after five years when the ranking was 15th or 16th.
Primary attendance is up to 94.9% overall with eight schools exceeding 96% making Swansea rank a vastly improved 11th across Wales.
And that has seen learner outcomes and results at key stages of their education have improved too.
Cllr Jen Raynor, Swansea Council Cabinet Member for Education said: “I am pleased to say education’s contribution towards our key priorities of improving attainment and achievement and reducing poverty has been strong again this year.
“Our latest self-evaluation report shows the present quality of Education services is good and the capacity to further improve outcomes is also good.
“Attendance is up, performance is up, and the quality of challenge, leadership and management is also improved. Our safeguarding arrangements are robust and carefully managed.
“However there is still more than can and will be done and we are determined to see further improvement despite the budget challenges our local authority and schools face.
“That’s why this report not only highlights progress but also actions we can take to give every child what they need to achieve their full potential.”
Swansea Council Education services were inspected by Estyn in 2013 where inspectors found many good features and services. The local authority’s performance was then judged to be adequate and the capacity to improve to be good.
The report made five recommendations for improvement in attendance, challenge to schools, leadership and management, provision for pupils being educated other than at school, and consistency of self-evaluation and improvement planning.
The local authority has reported progress annually since and in the latest report based on the situation as of October, 2015, good progress had been made in three out of five the areas including attendance and some progress has also been made against the other recommendations.
The latest report will be presented at Swansea Council’s Cabinet when it meets on March 17th.
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