Secondary schools fail to hit mark

12% fall below Tories’ new tougher standard

ONE in eight secondary schools under-performed last year, figures show.

A total of 365 schools in England, 12%, missed the new tougher “floor standard”. In 2016 it was 282, or 9.3%.

The figures mean 260,783 children are now being taught at below par secondaries.

Schools now fall below the government’s performance standard if pupils fail to make enough progress across eight subjects, including English and maths. Angela Rayner, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, said: “This Government has slashed funding and imposed real term cuts in pay, making it harder to recruit and retain teachers.”

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, added: “A school is worth more than the shaky data that progress scores and league tables have contrived to present.”

But Schools Minister Nick Gibb insisted: “Academic standards are rising thanks to our reforms and the hard work of teachers.”

Numbers starting apprenticeships fell 26.5% in the first quarter of the 2017/18 academic year.