'12 years of failure is too long': Councillor calls for financial backing for Central Bedfordshire's education attainment plan

School standards at key stages two and four “had slumped again to the point where in some cases Central Bedfordshire Council was ranked last out of 152 UK local authorities”, said former executive member for children’s services and Independent Leighton Linslade West councillor Steve Owen.

The attainment gap “is visible even among two year-olds”, and councillor Owen “has called for council action to achieve improvements at children’s centres and nursery schools to combat this failure”.

Department for Education (DfE) assistance “is being used to ensure the corrective action reaches the 60-plus schools that are part of academy trusts and so beyond the direct control of CBC”.

One important measure in this plan is “adding extra staff to CBC’s school improvement team to allow council advisers to provide more in-school help”, he explained.

The local education system is complex, with multiple transition points across lower, middle, upper, primary and secondary schools, said a report to CBC’s children’s services overview and scrutiny committee. “Evidence shows this can negatively impact outcomes.

“While academies are directly accountable to their trust boards and the DfE, CBC retains a broader statutory role to promote high standards and champion the needs of all the area’s children.

“Through collaboration, data sharing and system leadership, the council works with maintained schools and academies to drive improvement, inclusion and equity of outcomes across the local education network.

“Key issues include a widening attainment gap across the primary phase, low performance relative to statistical neighbours and below average GCSE outcomes.

“Early years results are now above national averages, but progress slows from year one onwards. Central Bedfordshire ranks poorly in national comparisons for attendance, which has a direct impact on attainment.

“Exclusion rates continue to affect the most vulnerable pupils. Addressing these challenges requires strong system leadership across the local education system, with governors and academy trusts playing a central role.

“The council’s role is to support and influence this work, which is reflected in the education attainment support plan through targeted training, strategic briefings, and inclusion in improvement activity,” added the report.

“CBC has introduced a comprehensive programme of support. This includes a new continuing professional development (CPD) offer for maintained schools, delivered in partnership with Herts for Learning.

“There’s a deprivation-focused officer role, and the Wellcomm pilot to address early speech and language delays. Targeted work on writing, phonics, and pupil premium practice is under way, alongside strengthened governance training and wellbeing support for headteachers.

“Although many schools locally achieve well, there remains a significant breadth in attainment across the system. A wider education strategy is to be developed with schools, trusts, governors and partners during 2025/26.

“This will be informed by local data and priorities, with attendance, disadvantage, transitions and pupil outcomes expected to be central themes.”

After the meeting, councillor Owen suggested that “12 years of failure is too long”, adding: “I welcome the acknowledgement that too many of our schools are underperforming, and that action is needed.

“The committee wants CBC’s executive to provide the resources needed to implement this plan.”