COUNCILLORS will discuss Barnsley’s provisional education outcomes at a meeting next week.

The purpose of the report, which will be discussed by councillors at the overview and scrutiny committee on Tuesday, is to advise on the education outcomes for children and young people across all key stages - including early years foundation stage, phonics, key stage two, four and five.

The town’s children are often out-performing their near neighbours and the national average - though there are some areas to improve upon.

The report states: “Pupils continue to make strong progress through the early years.

“By the end of the reception year, the proportion of pupils achieving a good level of development remains above the national average.

“Barnsley schools continue to prioritise early reading and, in 2024, only one other local authority achieved higher outcomes in the year one phonics screening check.

“Disadvantaged pupils get off to a great start achieving outcomes almost ten per cent above national figures.

“Barnsley pupils performed better than the national average in the multiplication table check at the end of year four.

“By the end of key stage two the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in all three subjects (reading, writing and mathematics) is in line with the national picture.

“Pupils with an EHCP did better than their regional and national peers.

“We are focused on the attainment of pupils working at SEN support as they performed less well this year.

“By the end of key stage four, the national picture for young people achieving a strong pass in mathematics and English stands at 46.2 per cent, with three of the ten secondary schools significantly surpassing this.

“The national picture for pupils achieving a standard pass in mathematics and English was 65 per cent and again, three of our ten secondaries exceeded this outcome.

“Barnsley pupils with EHCPs exceeded the outcomes seen nationally for this cohort for a standard pass in mathematics and English, for the second year in a row.

“However, the overall results for the borough were below national, regional and statistical neighbours across the key stage four measures.”

Council bosses are also trying to reduce the number of children being educated at home.

The report added: “The number of families choosing elective home education (EHE) continues to rise nationally and within Barnsley.

“Partnership work with school leaders and chief executives of Multi-Academy Trusts operating in Barnsley is focused on the commitment made to reduce EHE through targeted work in schools and in partnership with services across education, health and care.”