The Education Scrutiny Sub-Committee for Redbridge Council was scheduled to meet on Tuesday, 8 July 2025, to discuss several topics related to education in the borough. The agenda included the election of a chair and vice-chair, a verbal report on smartphone use in schools, a report on education attendances, and a presentation on Key Stage 5 (KS5) performance and improvement. The committee was also scheduled to review the minutes from their previous meeting.

KS5 Performance and Improvement

The Education Scrutiny Sub-Committee was scheduled to receive a presentation on KS5 performance and improvement. According to the report pack, the report provided:

an overview of the 2024-2025 strategy for improving the A Level Outcomes in schools and provides the context as to why overall A Level performance is below national averages.

The report stated that Redbridge's performance in maths, psychology, and economics was similar to the London average, but there was a negative difference in biology, chemistry, physics, and government and politics. The report also noted that outcomes in KS5 were declining and that this remained a key area of focus for all schools.

The School Improvement Service ¹ had formed a Sixth Form Strategy Group in September 2023 to strategise an approach for improving KS5 outcomes. All 11 maintained schools ² with sixth forms had committed to the group, and academies ³ were to be invited from September 2025.

The report identified several factors that may be contributing to the current A-level outcomes:

• Socio-economic factors, such as disadvantaged students pursuing facilitating subjects ⁴ and parental education levels not always supporting extra-curricular learning.
• Systemic factors, such as teacher quality and teaching styles, and students not always having the independent skills to develop critical thinking and learning skills.
• Legacy factors, such as students' mental health, with increased anxiety and stress post-pandemic.

The report outlined improvement strategies at three key levels: Redbridge Local Authority (LA) approach, school-level approach, and a collaborative approach through the Sixth Form Strategy Group.

School-level strategies included strengthening the role of the teacher through professional development, making better use of assessment and Alps data ⁵, providing emotion-based student support, earlier identification for intervention, and a recruitment drive into the sixth form.

Redbridge LA-level strategies included visiting every maintained secondary school to discuss A-level outcomes, reviewing the quality of provision and teaching in some schools, and working with individual heads of sixth form to complete Sixth Form Improvement Plans.

The Sixth Form Strategy Group was scheduled to extend its invitation to academies from September 2025 and increase its focus on the review of the quality of education.

Education Attendances

The committee was scheduled to consider a report on education attendances.

Use of Smart Phones in Schools

The committee was scheduled to receive a verbal report on school policies relating to the use of smartphones in schools.

Previous Meeting

The committee was scheduled to approve the report of the previous meeting held on 1 April 2024 for chair sign off. The previous meeting included discussions on trauma informed practices in education and schools, pupil and staff well-being, and home education including medical tuition provision.