There is only one place to start my blog this week. Yet again as a Council we were forced to respond to national figures citing the OfSTED performance of our Secondary schools as a reason to undermine the borough of Knowsley.
We received a letter from the regional Head of OfSTED Mr. Christopher Russell earlier this week outlining the issues from their perspective. This was followed immediately by the national Head of OfSTED, Michael Wilshaw, taking to the television studies to ‘challenge’ Liverpool, Manchester, Knowsley and other North-West authorities to improve standards in our Secondary schools or risk the future success of the so-called Northern Powerhouse.
The immediate result of this furore is further demoralisation of both leaders and pupils in our Secondary schools in Knowsley. Some of you may have seen my own response as Cabinet Member for Children’s Services to the ‘North-West Tonight’ programme on Tuesday evening. When I saw the programme, however, and its piece on education in Knowsley I was immensely proud and appreciative of the honesty and determination of several pupils of the Lord Derby Academy in Huyton. They spoke in a very passionate and articulate way about how they feel improvements have been made at their school and the demoralisation they feeling after the comments from OfSTED leaders. Well-done to all of the pupils. Well-done also to their teachers for supporting them in the daunting task of facing the cameras.
Are we responding to the challenge set by Ofsted
I have to tell you that as a Council we are already committed to the task of trying to turn around the fortunes of our secondary Schools. We now have several Academy Trusts running our schools and we are hopeful this will bring the change we require in education outcomes. As a Council we also want to invest time and resource in seeking out the best for our children and young people. In his letter of response to OfSTED, Knowsley Council Leader Andy Moorhead discusses a number of the key issues and ways in which we are aiming to respond imaginatively to the challenges. Among them is the creation of an Education Commission:
“… I very much welcome and share your desire for Knowsley children to achieve better educational outcomes, and that has been one of my top priorities since becoming Leader of the Council last May. As you are aware, I have recently established an Education Commission for Knowsley (even though you declined to join it), and, as part of the Council’s forthcoming budget for 2016/17, I will be proposing a £1 million investment to support the work of the Commission. I am also working with business leaders across the Liverpool City Region to support them in their desire to establish a University Technical College to specialise in advanced manufacturing and engineering”.
Read the full text of Councillor Moorhead’s letter here
We do recognise the need to improve standards in our Secondary Sector. We want to work with anyone who can offer solutions. But changes have been made and there is evidence of progress. I hope OfSTED will join us on our commission to help sustain and improve upon this progress.
I want to finish by listing the positives about our broader educational achievements in Knowsley. I hope you too can take this message out to family, friends, colleagues, to anyone who will listen.
- All of Knowsley nurseries and childcare settings are rated Good or Outstanding – 100%
- All of Knowsley’s Children’s Centres rated Good or Outstanding. This includes Kirkby Children’s Centre which is one of only three ‘Groups’ of Children’s Centres nationally to achieve the grade of ‘Outstanding’ – 100%
- 90% of our Primary Schools rated Good or Outstanding
- All of our Special schools rated Good or Outstanding – 100%
- Knowsley Family & Community Education Service rated Good through an inspection that took place as recently as January 2016
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