(a)

as Regional Schools Commissioner for the South West, Lisa was able to raise the status of concerns of secondary schooling in Plymouth; she met with the Rt. Hon Nick Gibb MP (Minister of State for School Standards) before Christmas and he agreed to speak at a school improvement conference in the city and was keeping abreast of work undertaken to raise standards;

(b)

Lisa’s team was working hard with the South West Teaching Schools Council to support a targeted group of schools, specifically standalone academies and very small multi academy trusts, by using an underspend of the budget to help specific schools in Plymouth to improve their self-evaluation processes and plan strategically for school improvement;

(c)

work was ongoing to develop a professional learning model whereby nationally recognised educational leaders were brought into the city to provide CPD.  Most promotions in Plymouth secondary schools were internal therefore Lisa’s team were working to get people from outside of the city to work in the schools;

(d)

work was ongoing to provide established MATS into Plymouth to raise standards; national providers were encouraged to get involved in Plymouth but there was no interest due to poor transport links;

(e)

the Regional Schools Commissioner was unable to formally intervene with school standards until the school was judged by OFSTED as being inadequate.

(f)

the Plymouth Challenge was not awarded any funding, unlike the London Challenge previously, as money was no longer available therefore improvements needed to be made, and could be made, within the current system with strong leadership;

(g)

the Teaching Schools Alliance was successful in its bid for strategic bid money for phonics and improvements were already evident; the bid set out what money was required and what research was provided to prove that improvements could be made;

(h)

training for governors had not progressed since the school system had changed and information upon data and standards was not considered sufficient to enable governors to undertake their role effectively;

(i)

the Regional Schools Commissioner had no powers in influencing school recruitment;

(j)

Lisa Mannall was a home worker based in Newquay however had a team of 54, with 45 people based in Bristol and others based in London in the Department for Education; her boundary of responsibility was from Land’s End to Gloucestershire however she was in Plymouth approximately once a month. Lucy Gordon, Deputy Regional Commissioner for the South West, spent more time in Plymouth;

(k)

she believed that schools needed leaders that were capable of leading and who were able to work in collaboration with other schools to improve;

(l)

as Regional Schools Commissioner, Lisa visited all academies over a 2 year cycle; she advised Members that funding was available for schools that were judged as ‘requires improvement’ whereby the Teaching School Council would appoint a national leader of education or governance to work in the school to help identify what they need to do to improve;

(m)

Free schools outcomes were the responsibility of the Regional Schools Commissioner once the school was open;

(n)

the roles and responsibilities of Lisa’s team included:

·         a delivery team whose role was to work with UTCs, Free Schools and Academies; Lucy Gordon was the Lead for Plymouth;

·         a small team that looked after Lisa and the Deputy Directors;

·         support for the Headteacher Board;

·         support for communications and conferences;

·         a small team focused upon emergency bids for schools;