HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

CHILDREN, SCHOOL AND FAMILIES

EDUCATION PANEL

TUESDAY 18TH OCTOBER 2005 AT 10.00 AM

COUNTY HALL, COMMITTEE ROOM B

Report of the Director of ChildrenSchools and Families

SCHOOL SIZE AND SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS

Report Author: Clive Mitchell, Head of School Effectiveness – Primary

Telephone: 01582 830360

Exec Member:Robert Gordon

  1. Purpose of report

This report seeks to promote a debate on the optimum school size, for both primary and secondary schools, to inform future discussions and decisions about school planning and reorganisation.

  1. Summary

The issues surrounding school effectiveness are complex. There is not a simple causal relationship between school size and national test results. In the primary phase, there are a number of factors relating to school effectiveness which show that in Hertfordshire, larger schools of 300+ pupils perform better than smaller schools. Taken with the funding difficulties inherent in smaller schools in Hertfordshire, this suggests that primary schools of 2FE with nurseries are more effective in terms of overall performance and value for money. In the secondary phase, both national and Hertfordshire data indicate that schools of around 6FE are more effective.

3.Conclusions

The Panel is asked to note the key conclusions from the report and to recommend that they are incorporated into the County Council's policy framework for its School Organisation Plan and inform the forthcoming programme of area school reviews.

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4.Background

4.1The issue of the relationship between school size and school effectiveness has become prominent following recent school reorganisations, particularly in south Stevenage. Here, the original proposal to create a three form entry (3FE) primary school was heavily criticised in public meetings. At the time, members asked for a more detailed analysis of the relationship between school size and effectiveness.

4.2Standards and School Effectiveness have recently commissioned independent research by Juliet Greely from the Local Government Association.

4.3This research examines the evidence nationally and in Hertfordshire in terms of the impact school size upon various aspects of school performance, in both the primary and secondary phases.

4.4The report provides evidence on the following aspects of school effectiveness in Hertfordshire:

  • Overall performance, as measured by schools’ overall Ofsted grades, Hertfordshire school effectiveness grades and DfES value added scores.
  • Quality of teaching measured by schools’ Ofsted grades for teaching.
  • Cost and stability, as measured by funding per pupil and impact of pupil movement on both funding and results.
  • Leadership and management, as measured by schools’ Ofsted grades.
  • Pupil attitudes and behaviour, as measured by schools’ Ofsted grades.

4.5The report compares schools’ performance in relation to these measures based on the following categories of school size:

Phase / Size / Number of Schools
in Hertfordshire
Primary / 100 or less / 32
101 – 210 / 99
211 – 300 / 114
301+ / 59
Secondary / 400 – 900 / 24
901 – 1100 / 28
1101 – 1500 / 24

5.0Summary of findings of the research.

5.1The following chart summarises the reports’ findings. The full report is attached in appendix 1.

Aspect / Main findings
Primary / Secondary
Overall Performance /
  • There is very little difference in terms of value-added grades (KS1-KS2) and school effectiveness grades. However, the Ofsted grades for overall performance are significantly better for larger schools.
/
  • National research suggests that schools of around 6FE produce the best results.
  • Larger schools in Herts perform better in terms of Ofsted, value-added and school effectiveness grades.

Quality of teaching /
  • Teaching is of higher quality in larger primary schools (Ofsted grades).
/
  • Teaching is of higher quality in larger secondary schools (Ofsted grades).

Cost and stability /
  • Larger primary schools are at least as effective as smaller schools with lower per pupil costs.
  • Loss of pupil numbers has a greater budgetary impact in smaller schools.
  • Year on year results are more stable in larger schools.
  • Long term teacher absence decreases as school size increases.
  • Smaller schools experience greater difficulty in recruiting headteachers.
/
  • Larger secondary schools are more effective with lower per pupil costs.
  • Loss of pupil numbers has a greater budgetary impact on smaller schools.
  • Year on year results are more stable in larger schools.
  • Long term teacher absence decreases as school size increases.

Leadership and Management /
  • Leadership and management is of higher quality in larger schools (Ofsted grades).
/
  • Leadership and management is of higher quality in larger schools (Ofsted grades).

Pupil behaviour /
  • There is very little difference (Ofsted grades).
/
  • Pupil behaviour is better in larger schools (Ofsted grades).

5.2As with all such research, these findings need interpreting with some caution particularly given the relative numbers of schools in the school size categories.

6.0Primary Schools Formula Spending

6.1Education Panel received a report from Claire Cook, Head of CSF Finance, on September 8th 2005 entitled ‘Review of School Funding 2006/7'. This report included an analysis of primary school budget share allocation (paragraph 5.5), which compares school size and budget share allocations for staffing, based on average costs,

6.2The report suggests that the primary sector is under funded relative to other sectors and that smaller schools of 0.5 FE up to 1.5 FE do not have sufficient flexibility to meet their fixed costs. Conversely, larger primary schools of 2FE (420 pupils) and primary schools with nursery provision have considerably more flexibility.

6.3The extract from the report is attached in appendix 2.

Conclusions

7.1The report by Juliet Greely illustrates the complexity of the issues surrounding school size and school effectiveness. In the primary phase, it highlights the overall advantagesof larger primary schools and,taken with Claire Cook's report, presents a compelling argument for creating 2FE primary schools with nurseries wherever possible. In the secondary phase, it points to an optimum size of around 6FE.

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