Section 3.1 3.1.1
A Transformational Overview Context and Vision
In Sefton we are passionate about ‘unlocking the potential’ of every child and young person. We are a high performing authority but we want to ensure the excellent practices which have made Sefton a 4 Star Local Authority and ‘outstanding’ against many educational indicators are available to all and any gaps between those most vulnerable and their peers decrease then disappear altogether. Sefton has shown it has the vision and the ability to improve and deliver; we will do so with Building Schools for the Future (BSF) too. Our BSF vision chimes with that of the Local Strategic Partnership to make Sefton a great place in which to live, work, learn, visit and do business. We are neighbourhood focused and partnership driven. Area Working in Sefton identifies and meets local need under the Children’s Trust, which exemplifies partnership working. Our schools share our vision to Achieve Success through Challenge and Partnership and BSF will provide the resources and stimulus to inspire communities across Sefton to embrace learning and be empowered to grasp opportunities. BSF will help us to address the main challenges still facing Sefton’s schools which are equity, transition and contraction. Through our Transformation Strategy we will continue to eliminate any inadequate performance in English and mathematics at GCSE, close the gap in attainment levels between the highest and lowest achieving schools and groups and improve the value added between key stages even further. At the same time we will match the supply of school places with expected demand over the next 20 years. Our determination has been supported by PfS and praised by the Office for the Schools Commissioner (OSC) as it seeks to ensure all our children have a positive start in life and a high quality education to enable them to flourish. Over recent years, Sefton has been in the top ten local authorities for primary school standards and OfSTED judges the majority of secondary schools as good or outstanding. School attendance is rising and exclusions are falling contributing to an ‘outstanding’ Annual Performance Assessment (APA) judgement for the Enjoy and Achieve Outcome. However we have six secondary schools in the National Challenge. A comprehensive package has been agreed to support these schools which remain a key focus of our BSF programme. At Key Stage 4 in 2008 the Sefton average for 5+A*-C was 71.2% (national average 65.3%) and for 5+A*-C including English and maths, the Sefton average was 51.4% (national average 47.6%). The Key Stage 2-4 Contextual Value Added (CVA) for Sefton is 1005.1. However, the performance of the secondary schools in Sefton reflects its diversity in terms of prosperity and achievement. The range for 5+ A*-C including English and maths across schools is 21% to 82% and the need to narrow this gap is a key challenge within our BSF strategy. The attainment gap between pupils on FSM and non FSM is greater than the national average with only 22.2% of pupils eligible for FSM achieving 5 A*-C including English and maths in 2008. To meet these challenges we aim to radically alter the organisation and pattern of delivery of secondary education. The LA has a long record of success in working in partnership with schools to help individuals to overcome barriers to learning and tackle underperformance. Our BSF proposals are also linked to the use of Primary Capital Programme funding to help us realise our vision of 0-19 provision for children, young people and their families within our Extended Schools development. Fair access is important in Sefton and we currently meet parental expectations and choice for admissions with around 94% of first preferences achieved for the 2009 admissions round. Although we have eight schools that are oversubscribed we also face a significant reduction in the number of secondary-age pupils. In January 2007, 16 secondary schools had net surplus places (six exceeded 25%) and the most recent projections show surplus places rising to 19% by 2013 and 27% by 2017. We are robustly addressing these problems with one high school already closed and another due to close. BSF will enable us to take a more strategic, a more inclusive and a more radical approach. 3.1.2 Choice, Diversity and Access
In Sefton we are committed to ensuring all children and young people, together with their families, have access to a diverse range of schools based on faith, ethos, character and specialism that will meet their needs and fuel their aspirations. At the same time all schools will deliver the Sefton vision by working in partnerships to pass on good practices, share resources and pool expertise. Our school specialisms are strategically placed across the
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borough for ease of access and the High Performing Secondary Schools will add to this pool, building on extensive and productive inter-school links including with primary school networks. In Sefton there is already a diversity of secondary school provision providing a wide choice for parents where 13 are community schools, seven are Catholic aided and one is Church of England aided. One Catholic aided secondary school is under the Salesian Order and a second under the Sisters of Mercy Order. Some 12 schools offer 11-18 education and 11 are for 11-16 year olds. A new Sixth Form College opens under school regulations in September 2009. In addition, there is one school for boys and one for girls. There are five special schools and one Pupil Referral Unit at KS3 with an alternative curriculum project / PRU at KS4. Through BSF we will increase the diversity of provision and the quality of choices available to parents. This will involve establishing an Academy and Trusts and co-locating specialist provision. The overriding hallmarks of our Strategy for Change are to close, federate or amalgamate where there is underperformance, expand and transform where there is strength, enrich governance for all, integrate special provision and link pre- to post-16 provision to develop coherence in the new secondary curriculum. In doing so, we will create sustainable 21st century schools providing extended services at the heart of thriving communities. In delivering the new South Sefton Sixth Form College, jointly funded by the LSC, from September 2009 we are providing high quality post-16 education for students in the most deprived area of the borough. Litherland High School, our One School Pathfinder (OSP), is opening in due course. The Design Quality Indicator (DQI) shows a very positive response to the design which augurs well for our future designs through BSF. We are actively exploring with the DCSF and OSC the implementation of a National Challenge Trust around this new school within a ‘Learning Campus’ setting. These successful developments demonstrate our capacity to lead and support significant capital programmes and to manage associated changes to structures, organisations, behaviour and culture while providing value for money. From the very outset, the parents, pupils and other members of the community have been engaged indirectly and directly at all key stages throughout our programmes. All secondary schools too have been fully involved and through them their communities. Our transformation strategy has been shaped by their views including support from the Archdiocese and Diocese. Our Initial Projects received the support of all school communities and a wider consultation strategy involving all pupils, parents and school communities is currently underway and builds on this positive approach. BSF will help to accelerate this programme of collaborative working; strong schools have supported less strong schools through EIC partnerships and will do so more formally through a National Challenge Trust. Rationalisation of school places ensures that successful schools are expanded and all schools develop extended community facilities. Trust Status will bring new governance arrangements and expertise across our community schools to ensure all schools are at least good and most outstanding. 3.1.3 Identifying and tackling underperformance of schools and groups
Success will depend on the provision of excellence in each and every school and the strategic vision to work in partnership within the diverse provision of a family of schools commissioned through the local authority. Sefton has an outstanding record of addressing underperformance in its schools where none is in an OfSTED category of concern and the number of primary and secondary schools judged to be ‘outstanding’ is well above the national average. BSF will help to build on this work, accelerate it and in doing so, help to transform the life of every single child. Our National Challenge schools are moving towards their targets and our Gaining Ground Schools are addressing any identified weaknesses with haste. The Local Authority has a robust system for monitoring its schools and intervening early when necessary to avoid systemic failure in any school. Our focus is on narrowing the gap between those pupils or students not fulfilling their potential and those that are, wherever they live and learn in the borough. This is especially true for the most vulnerable youngsters. BSF will help to ensure there are excellent learning environments in every locality, so that in every neighbourhood there is access to high quality ICT provision and that in doing so whole communities, not just schools, rise up once more. Schools will be both adaptable and flexible to meet the personalised needs of learners and at times beyond the traditional school day. We will ensure our outstanding teaching takes place in high quality environments to maximise the use of the resources including school grounds. The use of integrated ICT systems and Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) will drive up the quality of learning, increase access at
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point of need and expand the sharing of good practices while continuing to roll out laptops and internet facilities to all those pupils and families most in need. 3.1.4 Learning
A personalised approach is at the heart of our vision for BSF. Our strategy is to maintain high aspirations for all children and young people through excellent personalised education and development and to address barriers to learning so young people are not disengaged or distracted from learning. Our BSF delivery model will offer schools an expanded e-portfolio of services and solutions linked directly to teaching and learning. Pupils will experience less restricted e-access, learning paced to their needs with the flexibility to choose both where and when they learn, including home access. Their engagement will be enhanced as they submit homework; talk with teachers, peers and parents; access information, advice and facilitate the social aspects of learning all online to become truly independent learners. Technology will also support target setting, tracking and monitoring of pupil performance and reporting to parents and carers to engage them in their children’s learning. The personalised agenda will be supported through the revised curriculum (2008 Secondary Phase, 2011 Primary Phase) which will ensure that facilities support a cross-curricular, skills-based and thematic approach to learning. The needs of individual pupils will be identified through the Assessing Pupil Progress initiative following which personalised interventions will be implemented including 1-1 tuition for those pupils at risk of failing to achieve national expectations and also support for those pupils identified as Gifted and Talented. Through the Assessment for Learning coaching programme, in-school differentials in terms of teaching and learning standards will be addressed by linking good classroom practitioners with less skilled colleagues. We will build on the innovative work of our two City Learning Centres and their Learning Laboratory approach to using technology such as video conferencing, e-learning platforms and hand-held technologies to support a wide variety of learning styles and content. We will also enhance the role of learning mentors, peer mentors and personal tutors to ensure that all pupils have the personalised attention and support to maximise their learning. We will ensure that the needs of all pupils, including those on free school meals, those looked after and those with disabilities are met. We will provide a flexible, personal curriculum that allows young people to access qualifications when they are ready rather than at pre-determined ages. This will be enhanced through more flexible timetabling and variations in the school day. We will build upon the work already undertaken in relation to helping students set goals, form positive self-perceptions and become motivated so they respond to challenges well and show resilience and independence in meeting them. Associated initiatives will be delivered by trained school staff using SEAL, Learn2Learn approaches and Investment in Excellence programmes. Through BSF we will develop 21st Century school designs with 21st Century technologies with the flexibility to support a variety of learning approaches including small groups, extended investigative work, spaces to be quiet and reflect and spaces to interact or perform for pupils, staff and the wider community. The best work of our Change Schools involved in Creative Partnerships (CP) programmes will continued to be shared and supported by Sefton’s Arts and Leisure Directorate. Creativity is a priority for our CYPP and CP colleagues have agreed to support the CPD programme underpinning BSF in Sefton so children and young people ‘learn in, about and through culture’. This includes learning outside the classroom from re-designed school environments to international links, which take our children across the globe and bring new ideas and friends back to Sefton. 3.1.5 Curriculum
In Sefton there is a clear and shared vision for 14-19 entitlement in education across the borough created through a well-established 14-19 Strategic Partnership. Collaboration and partnership working are embedded and 14-19 provision, including the development of Diplomas, is planned and delivered through five Area Collaboratives and two Diploma Consortia. These are led by senior staff from schools, colleges and work-based learning providers together with the local authority and LSC. There are currently 12 schools with sixth forms, a range of work-based learning providers, two FE Colleges and one Sixth Form College. South Sefton Sixth Form College will open in September 2009. In our recent APA in Sefton such work and outcomes contributed significantly to a judgement of ‘outstanding’ for the Economic Well-being (EWB) Outcome under the ECM
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framework. Sefton has subscribed to the implementation of the ‘big picture’ for the curriculum to ensure provision in the future leads inexorably to successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens. Sefton has been particularly successful in the creation and delivery of the diploma programme and in Gateway 3 we were judged to be an exemplar of good practice, securing many diploma lines due to the quality of our strategic approach, of individual bids and of our collaborative working. We are committed to providing learning pathways for each and every young person delivered through learning partnerships of schools, colleges and work-based learning providers. Through BSF, we will include our Academy and new Trusts to enrich the mixture of provision available. This will be extended formally to HEIs, which will significantly enhance each Pathway and the facilities and support available to young people. Learning opportunities will be extended to the wider community to make lifelong learning a reality, especially in areas of deprivation, through the Initial Projects. BSF will add value to our 14-19 entitlement by enhancing existing capital and revenue investment to provide world-class facilities for diploma and other innovative curriculum developments and to reduce unnecessary travel for learners by locating new provision within the collaborative clusters. The development of new forms of governance in our secondary schools will strengthen partnership working and provide additional expertise through business and university partners. A BSF enhanced improvement strategy will: • • • • improve retention and outcomes for all learners as a result of our joint strategic approach to collaborative 14-19 provision to meet agreed participation targets, provide accessible, adaptable, high quality facilities for all learners with improved access to vocational facilities and work based learning across the borough, offer all the new lines of learning available in the National Diplomas from 2013, provide facilities that engage and motivate all learners including those ‘hard-to-reach’.
Through BSF, every school will be developed to have the best accommodation and facilities that reflect and enhance their specific specialisms, each working in partnership with other local schools and FE institutions to deliver their part of the 14-19 entitlement. This will be supported through a high quality ICT infrastructure delivering Information Advice and Guidance (IAG), fully accessible in places and at times to meet the needs of youngsters; especially those likely to become not engaged in education, employment or training (NEET). 3.1.6 Integrated Children’s Services, ECM and extended schools
Our BSF strategy can only be delivered effectively through joined up services. As the main universal children’s service, schools are ideally placed to identify and help to address additional needs early. Sefton's Children’s Trust will lead on the continued integration of services. By 2011 all appropriate children and young people’s services will be aligned across three main delivery areas: South, Mid- and North Sefton. The area working models have been informed by our Change for Children Integrated Processes Implementation Project. Three Area Managers have recently been appointed who will drive the delivery against all five ECM Outcomes. Our BSF strategy will build upon our successful track record of integrating services through, for example, Excellence in Cities, Extended Schools, Healthy Schools and the Integrated Youth Support Strategy (IYSS). Sefton has sixteen Phase 1 and 2 Children’s Centres too, each linked to an Extended Schools Development Worker with 79% of all Sefton schools meeting the full core offer (nationally it is 77%). Seventeen of our secondary schools (81%) are meeting the full core offer and we are well-placed to meet the government’s target that every school will be an Extended School by 2010. A further three, school-based Children’s Centres are planned in Phase 3. With partners and under our IYSS, we will use new BSF facilities to more easily meet the PE/Sport and Cultural offers within the Sefton strategy to provide more ‘places to go and things to do’. Every new BSF school will be both flexible and adaptable to ensure there is capacity for a range of services and partners to operate from the school in both universal and targeted ways in order to put the young person at the heart of what we do. Community use will be extended and parental involvement, already strong, will be enhanced. Our strategy for BSF will enable our schools to play a key role in identifying and helping to address needs, working at the centre of a system of early intervention and targeted support. We will continue to work with the Primary Care Trust and other partners to ensure that all our schools are health promoting organisations. Sefton has a higher than national proportion of schools with the Healthy Schools Mark which shows our
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determination to promote health and learning. The OSP is producing an exemplar design to facilitate such work from attractive eating spaces and leisure facilities to integrated Travel Plans and enhanced bicycle facilities. The co-location of special and mainstream schools and a new range of partnerships through Trusts will enhance opportunities for integrated workforce development, facilities and expertise. They will also form community hubs to retain youngsters in their home areas and raise aspirations to remain in learning and training. We will realise opportunities for training and development throughout the supply chain in the procurement of buildings in order to strengthen communities, meet expectations and promote community cohesion. 3.1.7 Inclusion
The Sefton vision for ‘quality in the community’ will ensure appropriate and personalised provision for every child and young person on their doorstep and especially for those most vulnerable. The strategic location of learning centres and specialisms together with fair access arrangements will champion the needs of all youngsters and ensure they receive the personalised support they require to stop any underperformance of individuals or groups. Integrated work between educational welfare services, schools and other agencies will ensure every child is provided with opportunities and BSF will ensure they are both appropriate and accessible. The quality of provision at our highly successful secondary-age Pupil Referral Units will be significantly addressed though the BSF programme. Excellent support to schools and good practices ensure the number of pupils excluded from learning in Sefton is low and reducing with strong links between schools and provisions adding to the quality of personalised care. The rebuilding of our Key Stage 4 provision (IMPACT) will produce the facilities youngsters working outside mainstream education require and the resources the high quality staff need. These will be extensively enhanced through BSF, with the possibility of developing into a Studio School. It will allow more regular and flexible links with partner providers to ensure youngsters, particularly the most vulnerable, can access specific and targeted resources. It will also provide environments to attract those most at risk of truancy and non-attendance, offering facilities for both them and their families to engage with teachers and mentors providing the personalised support they need. Excellence in Cities provided targeted resources to support the most gifted and talented youngsters in our schools and drove up standards as a result. BSF will help to provide the facilities that were denied to them or they had to travel for using extended hours opening and shared facilities within communities. In other ways partnership working between schools and other schools, colleges and Higher Education Institutions will develop further, especially under Trust Status with the AimHigher programme continuing to help raise aspirations and provide support those most in need of help into higher education. The Virtual School for Looked After Children will be based in new facilities to reinforce the value we place on supporting such vulnerable youngsters. 3.1.8 SEN
There are currently five very successful special schools in Sefton, each of which is judged to be good or outstanding by OFSTED. These schools include provision for social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) for 5-19 year olds, moderate learning difficulties (MLD) for 11-19 year olds and specific learning difficulties/autistic spectrum disorders (SLD/ASD) for 2-19 year olds. In addition, there are additionally resourced primary and secondary schools providing support for SEBD (20 places), language difficulties (34), MLD (80), ASD (36), MLD/SEBD (20), PD (39) and SLD (32) across the full primary and secondary spectrum. The pattern of this provision is under review to ensure an effective match with both local authority and pupil needs as mainstream schools become more inclusive. There has been significant capital investment in the special school estate over recent years. Our BSF proposals will ensure investment in made in special provision that has not yet been brought up to the highest standards. The Authority believes that there continues to be a need to retain a small number of high quality special schools and additionally resourced provision, but would like to see this provision co-located with mainstream schools wherever practicable. The Initial Projects allow for the co-location of two special schools with mainstream schools on the same site. There will be a re-designation of the schools to meet the strategic needs of the youngsters in the borough while complementing the quality and range of provision for such pupils in mainstream schools. Co-location will allow
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for joint arrangements, including joint governance, to make better use of the enhanced facilities and to further develop the quality of leadership, styles of teaching and range of curriculum on offer. BSF is also about professional development and here the specific skills of individuals can be shared and good practices developed. BSF will also enhance our Accessible School strategy providing centres that are physically accessible but also through the transformation agenda, centres of personalised learning for all children, including those with SEN. Already personalised funding is used to provide an individual approach to the curriculum offer. Enhanced ICT facilities will enable further individualisation of the curriculum offer as we build the capability, capacity and confidence of mainstream schools to provide for a more diverse pupil population. 3.1.9 Leadership and Change management
Sefton has significant and successful experience of change management. Over the past five years the authority has transformed itself into one of the best performing authorities in the country, which demonstrates our competence and capacity to undertake strategic change. Transforming secondary education in Sefton will require significant investment in continuous professional development (CPD), workforce development and programme leadership. We have already held discussions with the Office of the Schools Commissioner (OSC), secured the support of the Public Private Partnerships Programme (4Ps) and made links with the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) to make full use of the existing frameworks and programme support. We are committed to developing a workforce with 21st century skills and to get the very best out of the new facilities and resources. We already have extensive arrangements for professional development to build upon, from training on the use of on-line learning and Virtual Learning Platforms across every school to leadership development programmes for new and aspiring Headteachers. Initially staff development will focus on the staffs of the Initial Project schools but will rapidly be rolled out to all staff under our Children’s Workforce plan. All Children’s Services staff will be re-skilled in integrated working through inter-Merseyside Authority led training delivered by partner HE institutions including John Moores University and Chester University. Our strategy includes a 2014 Vision for some and 2020 Vision for all. It will be rolled out as we enact our Readiness to Deliver to bring schools on board when appropriate. These improvements will link to the Strategy for Change every school will be developing referencing the government’s 2020 Vision and good practices such as Leadbetter’s Ideas for 21st Century Learning. Both the strategic plans through the local authority and individual school strategies will produce change over the long term that is both comprehensive and sustainable. We have begun work with governors to look at new governance arrangements as our schools embrace Trust School Status. The partnership arrangement with NCSL in relation to succession planning with all Local Authorities has enabled funding to support and develop succession planning strategies. Within Sefton we have developed a number of responses under the working title of “Aspiring Leadership Programme Support” Our strategy is aimed at supporting existing Headteachers and providing professional development opportunities for the leaders of the future. It is already achieving positive outcomes in securing new Headteachers for Sefton. Student voice is both valuable and valued here in Sefton with young people being increasingly consulted and involved with major developments from the Youth Opportunity Fund to the design of the new OSP school. In Sefton, the involvement of youngsters is no add-on; it is integral to all that we do. Schools are a major player in the consultation and development of the Children and Young People Plan (CYPP) with pupils within the schools consulted using online questionnaires (using Viewpoint), through school council forum events and by creative consultations. Children with disabilities were also supported through this process. Borough-wide and local forums are being set up to enable children and young people to have a say on local facilities and issues that affect them with the area forums linking to local youth provision, school forums and the UK Youth Parliament. 3.1.10 ICT
Sefton recognises that ICT is one of the key elements to learning transformation and the successful delivery of the ECM agenda. To ensure schools, the local authority and the wider community can fully realise the potential of their investment, ICT will be embedded throughout our strategy and processes for change. Sefton has developed an outline vision for an ICT Strategy through consultation with officers and Headteachers, which
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recognises that ICT represents the foundation on which ‘transformation’ will be built. Sefton will continue to develop ICT solutions and services to transform learning in accordance with the DCSF Harnessing Technology Strategy, and in particular we will focus on: • • • • • • the personalisation of learning and the transformation of teaching, facilitating integrated multi-agency working and supporting leaders and organisations, providing universal and secure access to resources for learners, workers and the community, promoting community cohesion and engaging and involving the community and learners, enhancing administrative productivity, thereby maximising workforce resources and time, ensuring financial and environmental sustainability.
Sefton will achieve this through:
• • • • • • • •
•
leaders trained to manage change effectively, developing confidence and competence with ICT to ensure all stakeholders are empowered to take full advantage of the digital technology resources available , a workforce trained appropriately to harness new technologies and learn effectively, capitalising on existing Authority investment in infrastructure, learning platforms and management information systems, maximising opportunities for enhancement rather than replacement, developing the existing managed service for schools that provides a common core infrastructure, this is sustainable, safe, reliable, resilient, efficient and responsive to users’ changing needs, providing support to schools to benefit from the economies of scale offered through a collective service and we will continue to work with schools to “shape” solutions and enable community access, provide appropriate access to a wide variety of resources that support personalised learning, communication, personal organisation, collaboration and creativity-focused tools for all, develop an ICT infrastructure that enables learners, the workforce and the community to seamlessly to move from one physical ICT learning space to another which is personalised to them, develop synergies and inter-operability with other systems across Children’s Services and supporting partner agencies that enhance the communication and sharing of data to support the co-location of these services, strengthening partnerships and the delivery of services for all, new buildings designed to enable sufficiently flexible and sustainable use of ICT to ensure schools are at the hub of learning communities supporting communications and access to digital resources.
The local authority wants to see technology benefiting learners, their families, the economy and wider. Our strategy is to raise awareness among parents, carers, employers, teachers and learners of the benefits of the use of technology in education to support the next generation of learners and drive whole-school improvement. Sefton will create better learner experiences and outcomes by putting technology at the heart of our schools and through better use of it. We will enhance learning through technology by: • • • • securing fit for purpose technology and the right support service at the right price, protecting and empowering everyone to keeping safe and being secure when online, enabling parents to access and use technology for a positive impact on their child’s learning, ensuring that teaching is used to provide better outcomes and learning experiences for all. Sustainable Schools
3.1.11
In order to promote sustainable behaviour among schools and their communities and create opportunities for education about sustainable development, the local authority will: • • • appoint a senior leader within the LA to drive forward the sustainable agenda in schools, promote the ‘eight gateways’ (Food and Drink, Energy and water, Travel and Traffic, Purchasing and waste, Buildings and Grounds, inclusion and Participation, Local wellbeing and the Global Dimension) as part of the curriculum and wider participation for pupils, staff and the local community, place sustainability at the centre of school improvement and combine learning from emerging science and arts and from direct environment contact to achieve Sustainable Schools Status for all our schools by 2020.
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Sustainability has been an integral part of the OSP programme, our pilot school, where we are rehearsing and refining a sustainable approach. Our school designs have sustainability at their heart focused on energy efficiency, reduced carbon footprint with BREEAM ratings that are “very good” as a minimum, re-use and recycling in construction and the sustainable sourcing of materials. Our young people have been actively engaged throughout the design process. We have factored in the exploitation of learning opportunities during the build too from contributing to engineering, science, and vocational courses to extended work experience and environmental monitoring opportunities. Sefton’s three newest schools have biomass boilers and consideration will be given to setting up a local wood chip business to provide the fuel in conjunction with the local Ranger Service. We are already engaging communities in determining factors such as community facilities, accessibility and travel, mitigation of building impact on the community, design quality and establishing each school’s “place” in the community. Sefton has been selected to take part in the Low and Zero Carbon School programme and the British Embassy chose Sefton to showcase leading examples of energy efficiency to visitors from the Ukraine due to our excellent reputation in this field including the building of an eco-school and our focus on education for sustainability. The efficient use of energy is a priority with extensive evaluation of low energy technologies and sustainable sources leading to low energy consumption, especially through lighting and ICT. Energy efficient heat sources are being integrated and include ground source, thermal mass, photo-voltaics, solar heating, combined heat and power units, biomass and even wind power across adjacent property estates. The buildings themselves will arise from thermally efficient building construction with the minimisation of cooling (Server and ICT rooms only) and maximisation of natural ventilation and lighting. 3.1.12 Key Performance Indicators
The local authority has been successful in recent years with a large number of targets being either met or exceeded. However, we are not complacent and we will use the strong links between our identified priorities and the proposed BSF programme opportunity in order to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Raise educational standards overall, Increase value-added measures, Narrow the gap in achievement between schools and between vulnerable groups and their peers, Ensure no school has less than 30% of pupils getting 5 GCSEs at grades A*-C incl. English and maths, Reduce the number of youngsters not in education, employment or training (NEET).
We have been successful in the past in working with the Government Office in identifying ‘stretch’ targets through the Local Area Agreement (LAA) programme and have adopted this approach to provide a set of performance indicators which would be enacted should the local authority be successful in entering the BSF programme. Such indicators are aspirational but realistic so that improvements can be both reasonably expected and delivered. They are supported by a set of expectations as the goals following the BSF programme focus on outcomes to improve the lives of every child and young person in Sefton. Internally, through the use of the SIPs, the advisory service and with the National Strategies and Government Office, progress would be monitored and evaluated on a regular basis with agreed ways forward and targets both secured and enacted. Based on the current performance of Sefton Primary schools by 2013 the aspirational Sefton secondary GCSE average for 5 A*-C including English and maths should be in the region of 80%. By 2018 it should be 85% and for 5 A*-C it should be 95%. We monitor provision but evaluate impact. We are focused on the benefits to young people and progress towards both accumulative targets and personal goals. We use service and departmental plans to address issues and regularly monitor progress against the indicators and actions to achieve them; an approach strongly supported through the APA and GONW Priorities meetings. In addition, the newly implemented corporate quarterly monitoring of NIs in the current LAA includes all statutory education targets so that reviews lead to actions which are also monitored through robust Performance Management systems. Evidently, Sefton, including all our schools and partners, is committed to the Building Schools for the Future programme. Not only are we ready to deliver, we will deliver, and do so for the sake of all those we serve.
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