The Croydon Learning and Schools Support service is a new and unique team established during 2008 to develop the capacity within the Council to work with and support Croydon’s 127 schools.

The need for the development of such a service is based upon a number of factors, including:

• Joint Area Review performance
• Levels of attainment within schools
• Mixed leadership and management performance in schools
• The secondary strategy review, Building Schools for the Future plans and the Primary Capital Programme
• London Challenge support in Croydon
• Ofsted school inspection outcomes
• Resident feedback and feedback from schools via the Audit Commission

The structure of the service has been defined and a team developed, currently consisting of a combination of permanent staff, interim consultants, improvement partner consultants and secondees from Croydon’s education community.

The performance of schools within Croydon is mixed. Whilst three of the Borough’s secondary schools and three special schools have been judged as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, four primary schools and one secondary school have current ‘notice to improve’ status.

The Council recognises that there is significant good practice in schools and that there is a requirement to facilitate the sharing of this to develop innovation across the Borough. It also recognises the achievements of schools in a variety of spheres including sports and the arts, contribution to the community, support for vulnerable children and health promotion.

The involvement of London Challenge in Croydon is welcomed by the Council. CLASS (Croydon Learning and Schools Support Service) has been established in response to concerns and progress to date. There is still work to be done, particularly around improving standards in teaching and learning, leadership and management, standards of attainment and achievement, behavior management and attendance. Data and performance management with the Council requires improvement and a professional lead for this area has been put in place.

CLASS is led by Mandy Miller, Head of Service for Learning and Schools. Mandy joined Croydon in June 2008 and has set about building a team of educational professionals to implement the support service. There are five Principal Advisers within CLASS. These roles have been developed to add senior capacity to the central education function, bringing a high level of personal experience, credibility and leadership to the Council’s role in leading and commissioning education in the Borough. 

The five Principal Advisers cover:

• Learning and Teaching
• Leadership and Management
• Assessment
• Inclusion
• Educational Transformation

The Assessment and Inclusion posts were filled in September 2008.

Our Structure Chart is available to download.

London Challenge has identified 16 work streams to address relevant issues within Croydon:

1. English & Maths
2. Sciences
3. 14-19
4. Underperforming Groups including EAL
5. Behaviour Management
6. Attendance Management
7. ICT
8. Good to Great
9. Restructuring of School Improvement Functions
10. Secondary School Review
11. School Reputation
12. Integration of the Work of DCSF Partners
13. Integration of Other Partners e.g. TDA, NCSL
14. Peer to peer support
15. Data Management
16. NEETs Strategy

Priority areas are:

• Delivery of 14-19
• Science capacity and performance
• English and Maths capacity and performance
• Working with stakeholders and developing additional support for the Borough

Croydon Council’s Children, Young People and Learner’s Service has started the journey of radical change. CLASS is a key component of the Directorate and has a crucial role to play as an agent of change, working with schools and improvement partners to deliver for the people that matter most; the children, young people and residents of Croydon.

Further Information

School Improvement Strategy

Croydon Schools Directory

Croydon CYP Plan

Croydon JAR – June 2008

Croydon APA – December 2008