Parents’ Forum Thursday 14th June 2016

Parents/Guardians of the School In Attendance Parents/Guardians of the School Councillor Teresa Sims, Chair of Governors of the School Mrs Joanne Davies, Assistant Director, School Effectiveness St Helens Council The Senior Leadership Team of the School

Developments Since March 17th Meeting Ofsted Section 5 Monitoring Visits in March and June Local Authority School Improvement Board Meetings Industrial Action Behaviour and Rewards Policy New Website Finalised Parent Mail to be fully run out in September

Industrial Action On the 13th July 2016, the Head teacher and Chair of Governors of the school met with senior representatives of the NASUWT and the Archdiocese of Liverpool to discuss the recent disputes at the school. The discussions were facilitated by ACAS. As a result of these discussions the NASUWT have agreed to end the strike action at the school and end the continuous action short of strike action related to the local dispute. All parties have agreed to the issuing of this joint statement which further commits all parties to working constructively together towards the effective removal of special measures at the next Section 5 inspection due in the Autumn Term. Accordingly, none of the parties represented at the meeting anticipate that any further disruption will take place in the foreseeable future. We hope this statement provides reassurance to parents that the important education of pupils at the school will continue without any further disruption.

Why has the Rewards and Sanctions Policy not rewarded good behaviour? Questions/Queries Why has the Rewards and Sanctions Policy not rewarded good behaviour? On the Reward Trip The eligibility criteria was inappropriate A more transparent solution is required which rewards good behaviour The whole event caused upset and has demotivated pupils The school response Recognition of parental and pupil concern and to offer a full apology to parents and pupils To consider more regular rewards to motivate pupils To plan a Rewards trip next half term which captures and rewards more pupils

Queries/Questions 2. Why has the School amended its Curriculum and its Options choices? To ensure that all pupils can access a suitably challenging curriculum To ensure that the curriculum offer is consistent with the National focus surrounding the E Bacc qualification and Progress 8 measure The school response The school must improve its communication of Options choices The school has introduced a Learning Area structure from September which accommodates all subjects currently on offer

Queries/Questions The school response 3. What will the school do to ensure that the setting of homework becomes more consistent? Learning areas will be supported by school leaders to raise the quality and consistency of homework from September The school response Governors will take a particular interest and receive reports The QA calendar will be amended to spot check homework levels Line management of learning areas being amended Show my work is a good start but further monitoring is required

Queries/Questions School response 4. What is the school doing about supply staff? A designated member of SLT to manage and monitor the quality of work set Sickness levels have been tackled and long term supply has been cut School response School retains only one long term sickness issue New staff employed in affected areas

Report End of Year Target/Result 5. How confident or cautious should parents feel to trust the accuracy of end of year outcomes….? 

School Response Targets have been set this year to go beyond the government’s “expected progress” (which is based on pupils progressing 3 levels from the end of Year 6 to the end of Year 11.)  We have set targets for pupils based on at least 4 levels of progress across the full 5 years and each end of year target reflects this.   For next year, pupil targets are being reviewed in line with government changes which include the new GCSE 9-1 grading system to maintain challenge. Pupil levels are subject to a departmental moderation process that occurs 3 times per year.  There has also been a wide range of external validation used across the school - e.g. visits from exam board moderators and cross-school moderation.

Communication (Mr Toal) 1. New Website Non-Conform (Providers of St Cuthbert’s and St Edward’s Liverpool) 2. New Communication Portal Parent Mail

Other Important Updates Validation from School Improvement Board on positive changes The creation of a Teaching and Learning team to further improve standards Linking with other local schools to effect positive changes Re-structuring of the SLT to focus on key areas and increased capacity Creation of a Behaviour lead in SLT to develop improved standards Strong links with Primary schools continue We know that Section 5 is due next term (November/December)

Other Important Updates Appointment of new school Chaplain Re-structuring of departments into Learning Areas Section 48 Diocesan Inspection due in October School participating in regular monitoring visits from the LA from September Our predicted outcomes are positive