Monmouthshire's education services ‘good' says Estyn

5^th March 2009

The quality of Monmouthshire's education services is consistently good across the range of services, according to a report from education inspectors Estyn released last month (23/02/09).

In December 2009, Estyn visited Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) to inspect its educational services and establish the effectiveness of its strategic planning, services, leadership and management.

Overall, Estyn's judgement was that the prospects for improvement are good in all areas with no major barriers.
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Key findings identified in the report were:

• The performance of schools in Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 is consistently amongst the best for Wales. In 2008, performance in the core subjects at Key Stage 3 was ranked the best in Wales.

• The rates of exclusions in Monmouthshire have been low compared to the Wales average.

• MCC manages admissions to schools effectively. Very high levels of parental preferences are met.

• Good communication and consultation underpin the outstanding quality of the relationship between education services and schools.

• Support for governors is outstanding.

• The local authority works well to help vulnerable children and young people achieve good results at GCSE level.

• Attendance in primary schools in Monmouthshire has consistently been the best in Wales in the period 2004 to 2007. Primary schools also have one of the lowest levels of unauthorised absence in Wales in the same period.

• The quality of leadership for school improvement is good and the local authority knows its schools well. The quality of relationships between officers and schools is outstanding and schools have a great deal of trust and confidence in the local authority.

• The corporate director shows strong leadership in developing proposals for improving services for children and young people at risk.

• There continues to be strong political commitment to the improvement of school buildings and a reduction in surplus school places. MCC has developed a very good track record in managing school reorganisation projects and capital investment projects.

 
MCC's Leader, Peter Fox, said:

"We are pleased that we've been able to improve education despite having the lowest amount of money in Wales per head of our population from the Welsh Assembly Government.  In fact, we are increasing spending on education at a faster rate than average in Wales."

"The report shows that we work well with many different partners to produce the best results for our children.

"I'd like to give particular praise to our teaching staff for the excellent job they do to nurture and inspire our children"

MCC's Corporate Director for Lifelong Learning and Leisure, Andy Keep, said:

"We are pleased with Estyn's report - it's an accurate reflection on our strengths together with those areas where improvements need to be made. I'd like to express my thanks to all our staff for their continuous efforts to raise standards in education. Our employees show real dedication to their work and this has been recognised in the positive report.

"There are areas in the report where it was recommended that we could improve our work and we recognise that we need to act to make sure all aspects of the service improve. We are developing an action plan to ensure improvement is maintained and advanced. "

Liz Hacket Pain, Cabinet member for community learning, said:

"This report shows how much we have improved in pupil achievement, building new schools and ensuring we have low absence and exclusion rates.  The report also recognises that parents in Monmouthshire have real choice when it comes to sending their children to school and we are all very proud of the progress that's been made in education."

MCC will develop an action plan to address Estyn's recommendations to ensure this improvement is maintained and built upon

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The Estyn report has recently been published and is available in full from the Publication Section, Estyn, Anchor Court, Keen Road, Cardiff CF24 5JW.  It is also available on the Estyn website at www.estyn.gov.uk and on the MCC website at www.monmouthshire.gov.uk.