The Family and Children's Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee met to discuss the annual report of the School Improvement Team, and to review the committee's work programme. The committee acknowledged the contents of the annual report, and noted the progress and impact of services for children, young people and their families.

Annual Report of the School Improvement Team

The committee reviewed the Annual Report of the School Improvement Team, which provided an overview of school improvement activity across Northumberland in the academic year 2024-2025. The report highlighted that Ofsted outcomes were the highest they had ever been, and that there were no schools judged to be 'Inadequate' in Northumberland.

The School Improvement Service consists of several teams, including the Early Years Team, Equalities Team, Northumberland Music, School Governance and Data Protection, School Improvement Team, and School's IT.

The report noted the impact of academisation¹ on school improvement, and that engagement with academies and multi-academy trusts varies depending on the philosophy of each trust. The report also noted that the Department for Education (DfE) had removed the School Improvement Monitoring & Brokering Grant from April 2023, which had previously subsidised the cost of providing support to schools.

The report concluded that the School Improvement Team are skilled, experienced and have a track record of supporting schools and improving outcomes.

The committee acknowledged the contents of the report and noted the progress and impact of services for children, young people and their families.

Reports of the Scrutiny Officer

The committee received the Forward Plan of Cabinet Decisions and the work programme for 2025-26. Councillor Wayne Daley, Chair of the committee, suggested that the terms of reference for the committee should be changed to reflect the changes to language in respect of cared for children and information provided to Members on the acronyms used. Members of the Committee were requested to become champions, alongside staff, to promote the importance of the corporate parenting role for which all Councillors had a duty.

Ofsted Inspections

Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills². The report detailed the outcomes of Ofsted inspections between September 2024 and July 2025:

• Graded Inspections: All Northumberland schools inspected achieved positive outcomes across all key judgement areas (Quality of Education, Behaviour & Attitudes, Personal Development, Leadership & Management), as well as in Early Years and Sixth Form Provision where applicable.
• Ungraded Inspections: 78% of schools maintained the standards identified at their previous inspection. However, the report noted that:

Evidence gathered during this inspection suggests that aspects of the school's work may not be as strong as at the time of the previous inspection

at Astley Community High School, Kielder Primary School and Bellingham Middle School. The schools retained their existing single word judgement of Good (Astley Community High School and Bellingham Middle School) or Outstanding (Kielder Primary School).

• Monitoring Inspections: All schools inspected were taking effective action to tackle areas requiring improvement. The schools inspected were NCEA Duke's Secondary School, Haydon Bridge High School and Berwick Academy. All three retained their single word judgement of Requires Improvement .

Schools Judged as Less Than Good

The report identified eight schools in Northumberland that are judged to Require Improvement :

• Bedlington Whitley Memorial C of E Primary School (maintained)
• Haydon Bridge High School (maintained)
• Berwick Academy (academy)
• Cramlington Village Primary School (academy)
• NCEA Duke's Secondary School (academy)
• St Bede's Catholic Primary School (academy)
• St Wilfrid's Roman Catholic Primary School (academy)
• The Duchess's Community High School (academy)

Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams

The report mentioned that the DfE introduced Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams in late 2024. Three Northumberland schools are involved in the RISE programme: Berwick Academy, Haydon Bridge High School and NCEA Duke's Secondary School.