Education authority in national pilot scheme

The county council is one of ten local authorities that have been announced by the Department for Education and Skills which will take part in the pilot to improve the rate of progress children make year by year, as well as between the key stages.

The council's Director of Children's Services, Matt Dunkley said: "We are obviously delighted to have won through in a competitive process to be selected for this pilot. We are hoping that through our participation we will be able to make a real impact on improving students' progress across the county."

The pilot was first announced by the Government in the consultative document "Making Good Progress" published on 8 January. The announcement of the participating local authorities is the first step.

East Sussex County Council will now appoint a pilot leader, and identify schools wishing to take part in the pilot which will run for two years from September 2007.

The pilot will specifically introduce changes to assessment, allowing children to take national key stage tests as soon as they are ready, rather than only at the end of a long key stage. It will also trial one-to-one tuition in English and/or mathematics, to lift the performance of children who entered Key Stage 2 or Key Stage 3 behind the expected level. Children will receive up to 20 hours of individual tutoring to get them back on target and help them sustain progress.

Under the pilot new progress targets to measure the school's success in moving pupils forward will be introduced. It will also trial a progression premium, payable to schools in the pilot which make excellent progress, which could be used to further enrich the school curriculum.

More schools news in the Sussex Express, published on Fridays.