Big ambitions for educational success as teachers, governors and county council team up

A new policy, which saw the start of “a true working partnership” between the council and educators was introduced at the first meeting of the Education and Skills Forum on Thursday (October 22).

Called The Policy Agreement for Education in West Sussex 2015-2019, it laid out the responsibilities of schools and the council and set targets for where they would like to be by 2019.

One of those targets was for the county’s educational performance to rank in the top 25 per cent, compared to similar authorities.

Jeremy Hunt, cabinet member for education and skills, said of the policy at the meeting at County Hall North, in Horsham: “Although it’s got West Sussex County Council on the front, it’s a joint level agreement for education in West Sussex put together by representatives from all the schools and governors.”

Mr Hunt said 99 per cent of the trusts which run the county’s academies supported the policy and added: “There’s a lot of exciting work ahead.”

When it came to the performance of the 11-year-old students at the end of Key Stage 2, there appeared to be a lot of hard work ahead if West Sussex was to make it into the top quartile.

The policy report placed the county 26th out of 33 similar authorities in 2013, leaping to 18th in 2014, before dropping back to 29th this year following results Mr Hunt had described as “disappointing”.

At the end of Key Stage 4, however, things looked much better. In 2013, West Sussex placed 20th out of 33 and rose to 15th in 2014. Regarding the 2015 score, the report said the early indication was West Sussex results had improved by at least 1 per cent.

Another aspect of education which the group aimed to improve was the proportion of pupils who attended schools rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.

Jay Mercer, interim director of education and skills, pointed out that one-fifth of the county’s children attended schools which either required improvement or had been rated ‘inadequate’.