There were mixed fortunes for Crowborough’s primary schools with the publication of the Government’s annual performance league tables.
The controversial tables record how well all schools are meeting standards targets – ranking schools according to what percentage of 11-year-olds are meeting the expected standard at the end of the primary stage (key stage 2).
But critics say the tables say little about the wider impact schools have on the development of young people, and should be scrapped. They also say percentages can be misleading when schools have very different pupil numbers. One union has described them as “crude and potentially misleading”.
Across England the average school performance is 62 per cent of pupils reaching the expected standard by the end of key stage two.
Locally High Hurstwood topped the table with 80 per cent of its 15 pupils at the end of key stage 2 meeting the expected standard. Next was Mark Cross where 73 per cent of 11 pupils reached the mark, and with 67 per cent Jarvis Brook School was next.
At St John’s Primary school 66 per cent of 29 pupils reached the Govt’s target while it was 60 per cent of 60 pupils at Ashdown Primary, 55 per cent of 31 at Rotherfield, 50 per cent of 10 at Frant, 47 per cent of 32 at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, and 40 per cent of 52 pupils at Sir Henry Fermor School.
But one local teacher, who we have agreed not to name, said: “I would urge parents to treat these tables with a pinch of salt. The are very one dimensional and say very little about how our schools nurture young people, how they help them to be happy, achieve, and thrive. A child might not reach the Govt’s standard for reading and maths but may have made huge progress from their starting point. Education is about far more than percentage points.”
Christine Blower, of the National Union of Teachers said the tables were “crude and potentially misleading”. She said: “League tables are based on a narrow definition of pupil performance. This makes it impossible to capture a school’s contribution to pupils’ wider education or to their social and personal development and fails to reflect the character, ethos and catchment area of a school.”
She said it was important that schools were held accountable, but “the interests of parents and carers, learners, and schools themselves are best met through a dialogue and relationship between schools and homes and families. They are not met through the use of crude and potentially misleading accountability measures expressed in terms of performance tables.”
Beacon still one of the best in the county
Beacon Academy continues to be one of the best performing schools in East Sussex, according to the Govt league tables.
Published recently by the Department for Education, Beacon ranks second out of 29 maintained secondary schools in East Sussex for the number of pupils achieving grade 5 or above in English and Maths GCSEs.
And the school in North Beeches Road is listed as third best performer against the “attainment 8” measure – the students’ average achievement across their best eight GCSE-level qualifications.
More than 61 per cent of pupils at Beacon achieved Grade 5 or above in English and Maths, compared with the national average of 45.2 per cent. And the school was above average for the attainment 8 score too – achieving 50.2 compared to England’s average 45.9.
At the other end of the East Sussex list 25 per cent of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in English and Maths at the Eastbourne Academy, and 37.7 in the attainment 8 measure. St Leonards Academy achieved 25.3 per cent and 33.1 in those two categories.