The Quality of Education Committee met virtually on Tuesday 5th December 2023. Jan Neish clerked for the Trust and the meeting was chaired by Mary Foreman. Those also in attendance included the OWN Trust CEO, Stuart Mansell, headteachers from Woodston, Orton Wistow, and Nene Valley Primary School, the OWN Trust Executive Deputy Headteachers, and one of the governors, Amir Ghaffari.

We looked at the Pupil Premium numbers in the schools, and it was noted that the applications for Free School Meals in Early Years were low. There may be some parental awareness issues regarding the need to apply, or they may feel they don’t need to when Key Stage 1 meals are free anyway, not realising the impact on the school budget. The universal infant free school meals entitlement possibly hinders their understanding of why we need to pursue this.

We also discussed in detail the work needed regarding the publication of strategy statements for this targeted funding. All the schools’ champions are feeling the weight of this responsibility and are keen to work collaboratively. Becky Ford highlighted the need for a forensic understanding and analysis of pupil premium needs in each school and spoke positively about a recent Powered by Equity conference and the intention of attending a further conference in March.

We all recognise that parents of all pupils have high aspirations for their children and Pupil Premium is about overcoming any barriers.

An update was provided on the “Our Purpose” part of the Trust Improvement Plan. We acknowledged work already completed on quality assuring our curricula in each of the schools. We are excited about the work under development where we will be able to triangulate and form a consensus view on the quality of teaching. We recognised that the WALKThru resources are great for improving certain aspects of teaching, but are not a summative judgement or a tickbox exercise. Collaborative work with the headteachers, Executive Deputy, Nick File, and Sarah Levy will take place over the year to pull together an agreed system with shared language and expectations.

To conclude, we re-examined our Attainment Forecasts. We have used current data and baselined where we are now, with a full understanding that this will be revised and reviewed as more data becomes available after recent tests and following rigorous pupil progress meetings and Targeted Intervention Groups.

Our next meeting is scheduled for 12th March 2024.