A third Welsh council has been told to improve its schools in a hard hitting report by education watchdog, Estyn.
Pembrokeshire County Council education services “are causing significant concern and require follow-up activity” the report says. Estyn will now monitor progress.
The report highlights how: “Standards in literacy, numeracy and Welsh second language require improvement in around half of primary schools and all secondary schools inspected since 2017.”
It comes less than two months after Estyn told Wrexham County Council to “urgently improve outcomes for learners” and five months after many secondary schools in Powys were branded “weak” by inspectors.
It also comes less than a month after the departure of Pembrokeshire’s director for children and schools, Kate Evan-Hughes. She left late last month to take up an appointment as strategic director with a local authority in England while Pembrokeshire’s former deputy chief education officer Steven Richards-Downs has replaced her in an acting capacity.
Today’s 16-page report on Pembrokeshire’s education services says “there has been insufficient focus on improving teaching and leadership in schools”.
Inspectors recognised there have been some areas of improvement made by the local authority since 2012, when it was placed in the highest follow up Estyn category of special measures, but said, “pace of improvement has been too slow”.
The local authority maintains six secondary schools, two all-age (3-16) schools, 52 primary schools, one special school and one pupil referral unit.
During the last three years, Estyn has judged standards as good or better in around half of primary schools, well below the national average. In this time, two primary schools have been placed in a statutory category, although one has since been removed. Of the three secondary schools inspected, one was judged good for standards, one adequate and one unsatisfactory.
Currently, three secondary schools are in a statutory category. One secondary school placed in an Estyn category of follow-up in the previous cycle, The Greenhill School in Tenby, has not improved and is now in special measures.
On teaching the report adds; “Shortcomings in the quality of teaching, includes low expectations and a lack of progressive and planned opportunities to develop literacy, numeracy and Welsh second language across the curriculum limit the progress pupils make...
“... Most primary schools and all secondary schools inspected since 2017 have recommendations to improve aspects of teaching.”
On a more positive note the report said there is a clear strategy for school re-organisation across the county and work to develop Welsh-medium provision in recent years “is particularly noteworthy”.
On Safeguarding inspectors add: “The authority has an appropriate range of policies and procedures to support the management of safeguarding
duties within the department and across the local authority’s
schools.
“In particular, the policy and procedures around safe staff recruitment are clear, and provide a suitable structure to ensure this aspect is properly managed.”
Pembrokeshire is one of the six local authorities in the ERW regional consortium for school improvement.
Estyn concluded: “Pembrokeshire local government education services are causing significant concern and require follow-up activity.
“The provider will update its improvement plans to hows how it is going to address the recommendations. Estyn will review the provider’s progress through post-inspection improvement conference and progress conferences. A monitoring visit will take place about 30 months after the publication of this report.”
In a statement Pembrokeshire council said: “The Council will work with all schools to ensure that the required improvements are made.
“The local authority is currently developing its post-inspection action plan and revised strategies to ensure that all learners receive a good education and that all children are equipped with good literacy and numeracy skills.”
Councillor Guy Woodham, cabinet member for education and lifelong learning, added: “While there is recognition by Estyn of the progress made since 2012, the pace of change across the local authority has been inconsistent and has not taken place fast enough.
“In going forward it is important that all those involved in education now focus on urgently raising performance outcomes and improving the quality of teaching across all our schools.
“Our ambition remains the same that every learner achieves more than they thought possible.”
How Pembrokeshire's school spending and population compares
- In 2019-2020 the council’s net education budget is approximately £88m
- Budget per pupil £4,856 per pupil, the 13th highest of all 22 local authorities in Wales.
- 16.2% of pupils aged five to 15 are eligible for free school meals, slightly lower than the Wales average of 17.8%
- 12.1% of pupils are fluent in Welsh, which is lower than the Wales average of 16.2%.
- 24.3% of pupils have special educational needs, higher than the Wales average of 22.2%
- 5.6% of pupils aged five and over are from ethnic minorities, below the Wales average of 11.4%
- 64 children per 10,000 were looked after by the local authority in 2019, which is lower than the Wales average
