Purpose

There are 79 primary schools in Herefordshire,
of which 54 are Local Authority (LA) maintained. In addition, 32
academy primary schools have nominated Herefordshire to also
provide the following services for them each academic year.

The provision of Key Stage 1 & 2 moderation and Phonics
Screening Checks is a statutory requirement for Local Authorities.
All service requirements are directed by the Standards and Testing
Agency (STA), an executive agency sponsored by the Department for
Education (DfE), and these can change throughout the year so the
provider needs to be aware of and flexible to meet Herefordshire
Council’s statutory obligations.

The Education (National Curriculum) (Key Stage 1 Assessment
Arrangements) and (Key Stage 2 Assessment Arrangements) (England)
Order 2004 (article 6) (made under section 87 of the Education Act
2002) sets out the requirement for local authorities to moderate
teacher assessments in at least 25% of schools (14) which they
maintain to ensure consistency of standards, and states that Local
authorities must visit 10% of schools (6) administering National
Curriculum Tests (NCTs) for monitoring purposes. In addition to the
above, at least 25% of both LA maintained primary schools and
academies must be visited on a least a four year cycle to conduct
moderation checks, as required by the STA.

Provision of this service was halted during the Covid-19 pandemic
and lockdown, so whilst some preparatory work to train and assess
was conducted, no actual moderation or phonics visits took place.
The moderation cycle re-commenced from September 2021, and since
then the Provider has worked above contractual visit numbers to
complete the work that was postponed during the pandemic.

For the academic year 2020-2021 (year one the current three year
contract) Marlbrook Federation of Schools charged Herefordshire
Council £2,975, resulting in an under-spend of £16,025.
This is the reason why the value of the extension period is only
£2,975 instead of £19,000 for the year. Contract spend
for year two and the forecast for year three is at the contractual
cost of £19,000 each year.

Following a review of this contract in March 2023 the Operational
Lead, Head of Service - Learning and Achievement, confirmed that
they were very satisfied with how the service has performed and
been delivered to date. Everything has run smoothly, with no issues
being raised by either the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
or Department for Education regarding the service providers’
data submissions.

Due to the large amount of planning required the current provider
has already scheduled visits in for 2023, and has shared this with
the Operational Lead for the contract. These include schools that
were last moderated in 2017, and should have been visited in
2021.

The recommendation is to vary the existing contract with Marlbrook
Federation of Schools for a further 12 months to enable the
provider to undertake both the routine and the additional visits
that had been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic
lockdown.

This will also allow time for the service specification to be
further reviewed and updated, which will lead to a new open tender
exercise. This is in light of recent communications from the
Standards and Testing Agency (sponsored by the Department for
Education) regarding Key Stage 1 ‘Reading Writing and
Maths’ visit requirements which will no longer be compulsory
from 1st September 2024.