| 1 | % children taking up the Statutory entitlement to early education for all eligible 2 year olds | % | 90 | 85 | 90 | Termly | Green | Green |
| COMMENTS: In reality there was 1 more child in a place in the spring term. Such impressive levels of take up were consistently better than the National Average of 74%. |
| 2 | % getting their first choice of primary school | % | 98.2 | 96 | 97.7 | Annually | Red | Green |
| COMMENTS: Almost all applicants once again got their first choice of primary school for the academic year starting in September 2024. This result is almost identical to the previous year and Northumberland continues to be one of the top performers in the country. It continues to be above the national average of 93.2%. |
| 3 | EYFSP - % of pupils achieving a Good Level of Development | % | 69.2 | 69 | 69.2 | Annually | Green | Green |
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| 4 | % gap between FSM eligible learners and non FSM eligible learners achieving a 'Good Level of Development' at end of EYFS | % | 21.1 | 19.8 | 21.1 | Annually | Green | Red |
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| 5 | Phonics - % of year 1 pupils working at the expected standard | % | 80.4 | 80 | 80.4 | Annually | Green | Green |
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| 6 | % KS1 - % of pupils achieving the expected standard in Reading, Writing & Math | % | 56.2 | 57 | 56.2 | Annually | Green | Amber |
| COMMENTS: This is a 2% improvement on the previous year and just below the target of 57%, hence the amber rating. |
| 7 | KS2 - % of pupils achieving the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths | % | 55.8 | 58.4 | 55.8 | Annually | Green | Red |
| COMMENTS: *PROVISIONAL* |
| 8 | Number of permanent exclusions from primary schools in academic year | Number | 6 | 0 | 7 | Monthly | Red | Red |
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| 9 | % pupils in primary schools judged by Ofsted as good/outstanding | % | 95.6 | 92 | 94.9 | Quarterly | Red | Green |
| COMMENTS: The latest figure of 94.9% remains significantly better than the national average of 90%. |
| 10 | % getting their first choice secondary school | % | 95.5 | 92 | 95 | Annually | Red | Green |
| COMMENTS: The vast majority of applicants once again got their first choice of secondary school for the academic year starting in September 2024. The figure of 95% continues to be significantly better than the national average of 82.9%. |
| 11 | KS4 - average Attainment 8 score | Number | 44.4 | 49 | 44.4 | Annually | Green | Red |
COMMENTS: External examinations returned for the second time since 2019. Nationally, it was determined that grades would, overall, fall back to 2019 levels, so a fall in the percentages in comparison to 2022 was expected. Northumberland achieved 44.4, slightly below what was achieved in 2019, and below the national average of 46.2.
ACTIONS: The School Improvement team will continue to work with the 4 (soon to be 3) remaining LA maintained secondary/high schools, and academies if they request our services. We will also continue to press academy CEOs and/or the relevant Dioceses around improving performance at Key Stage 4. |
| 12 | % gap between disadvantaged and non disadvantaged learners' average attainment 8 score at the end of KS4 | % | 16.6 | 17 | 16.6 | Annually | Green | Green |
| COMMENTS: A 1% improvement on the previous academic year and below and therefore better than the national average of 18.1%. |
| 13 | KS4 - average Progress 8 score | Number | -0.2 | -0.1 | -0.2 | Annually | Green | Red |
COMMENTS: External examinations returned for the second time since 2019. Nationally, it was determined that grades would, overall, fall back to 2019 levels, so a fall in the percentages in comparison to 2022 was expected. The score of -0.20 is poorer than the national average of -0.03, but better than the regional average of -0.27.
ACTIONS: The School Improvement team will continue to work with the 4 (soon to be 3) remaining LA maintained secondary/high schools, and academies if they request our services. We will also continue to press academy CEOs and/or the relevant Dioceses around improving performance at Key Stage 4. |
| 14 | Number of permanent exclusions from secondary schools in academic year | Number | 89 | 57 | 96 | Monthly | Red | Red |
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| 15 | % permanently excluded pupils receiving full-time education by 6th day following exclusion | % | 57.7 | 75 | 55.3 | Monthly | Red | Red |
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| 16 | % pupils in secondary schools judged by Ofsted as good/outstanding | % | 83.6 | 82 | 83.8 | Quarterly | Green | Green |
| COMMENTS: All secondary schools that have been inspected this year have retained their previous grading. Northumberland remains better than the national average. |
| 17 | Overall absence rate | % | 7.3 | 7.5 | 7.3 | Annually | Green | Green |
| COMMENTS: Improvement in 2022-23 school year and just better than the national average of 7.4%. |
| 18 | Persistent absence rate from school | % | 19.9 | 26.4 | 19.9 | Annually | Green | Green |
| COMMENTS: Improvement in 2022-23 school year and better than the national average of 21.2%, but the figures are still too high, especially for those who are in the Severely absent cohort (missing more than 50% of school sessions). |
| 19 | % of 16-17 year olds NEET and Not Known | % | 6.3 | 5.3 | 7.2 | Quarterly | Red | Red |
COMMENTS: The quarter 1 figure of 7.2% is a decline compared to the same period the previous year (6.0%). Of the 7.2%, NEET was 5.3% and Unknown 1.9%). The national figure is 5.1% (of which NEET 3.4% and Unknown 1.7%).
ACTIONS: Weekly progress review meetings with careers assistants have been implemented that monitor the level of contact with NEET young people and provide better visibility/tracking of journeys and outcomes. A newly appointed Preparing for Adulthood lead began in April and will work to develop and maintain increasingly effective methods for developing and monitoring quantity and quality of pathways post-16. Replacement of the current Cognisoft Database IO system with Capita One Integrated Youth Support Service (IYSS) will provide a more intuitive case management platform, greater data and analytics, and bring together other Capita managed data to enhance interventions and outcomes – this work is advancing at pace between Capita and NCC colleagues with LIVE Migration planned for 2nd August 2024 |
| 20 | % of new Education Health and Care Plans successfully completed within statutory 20 week time scale (monthly figures) | % | 34 | 70 | 39 | Monthly | Green | Red |
COMMENTS: The figure of 39% is for April, May and June combined. This is an increase on the previous quarterly figure of 34% and 29% prior to that. It reflects significant pressures on the SEND teams due to high demand and reduced or static workforce numbers. The national average was 50.3% for EHCPs issued in 2023). EHCP caseworkers have almost double the caseload that they held in 2020. There were 256 requests for an Education, Health and Care needs assessment in Autumn 2023, an increase of more than 100 compared with Autumn 2022.
ACTIONS: There is an ongoing recruitment drive, increased recruitment of assistant educational psychologists, development of locum pool and continued review of internal processes within EP and SEND team. The service undertook value for money assessment with Deloitte partners in Spring, with effective practice but insufficient capacity being the overall outcome. EHCP officers hold almost 500 EHCPs in their caseload, compared with approximately 280 in 2022. Digitalisation of process, in line with SEND and AP improvement plan, is being explored internally. |
| 21 | Job starts - no. of residents progressing from an NCC delivered or commissioned employability programme into paid employment | Number | | 75 | 83 | Quarterly | N/A | Green |
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