Council leaps to St Cuthbert’s defence
ASCHOOL’S performances has been defended after it was identified as failing to meet minimum progress standards.
St Cuthbert’s RC High School, on Shaw Road, Rochdale was one of 36 secondary schools across Greater Manchester named on a Department for Education list showing which schools are failing to meet the ‘floor standard’.
The Progress 8 tables are based on how much pupils have progressed between their Key Stage 2 SATs and their GCSEs.
St Cuthbert’s was also among 26 schools judged to be ‘coasting’ - that’s when pupils have consistently failed to make adequate progress over the past three years.
However, Rochdale council said the school, whose headteacher Shaun Shields was appointed last September, has already made ‘significant’ strides recognised by Ofsted.
Coun Kieran Heakin, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “We have seen some great improvements across our secondary schools in terms of increases in the number of children attaining five or more standard passes and increases in those attaining a strong pass in English and maths.
“We acknowledge that there is still some work to do with a small proportion of secondary schools and this is a priority of our work so we will continue to work closely and support them.”
Commenting on behalf of St Cuthbert’s, Coun Heakin added: “Their recent Ofsted inspection recognised that they had identified the issues and had put in place strategies to address them which we are confident improve outcomes in the future and we will be supporting them with that.
“As a result of their developments they retained their ‘Good’ rating as it was evident that significant improvements and progress were already under way.
“It’s important that performance tables are not taken in isolation and our schools work tremendously hard in supporting pupils and raising attainment.
“We will continue to work closely with our schools in supporting them.”
Overall, across England, there were 381 schools below the floor standard in 2018, and 294 that were coasting.
The government insists its Progress 8 data ‘rewards schools for the progress made by all their pupils’, but it has faced criticism that the simplistic nature of it punishes schools in deprived areas - because test and exam scores are only part of the picture when judging a pupil’s performance or a school’s effectiveness.
The National Education Union has said the tables are ‘not an accurate or reliable indicator’.
A DfE spokesperson said: “We publish a wide range of performance data - including Progress 8 scores and what pupils go on to do after school or college – to help parents decide on a school for their children and for schools to measure their performance. We do not put schools into league tables.
“Our school accountability measures reflect our high expectations for all pupils, whatever their background.
“Progress 8 takes prior attainment into account and rewards schools for the progress made by all their pupils, not just those at particular grade thresholds.”