Haringey's GCSE Results Outstrip National Average

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Permalink Reply by Protheroe O'Shea on October 23, 2013 at 19:55

That's disgraceful. Haringey is supposed to be crap at everything.

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Permalink Reply by Liza on October 23, 2013 at 20:12

Well it is , and I don't think this was in Michael goves plan, can't turn them all into academies. Sad.

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Permalink Reply by matt on October 23, 2013 at 20:03

Completely outrageous. 'Good news' - people won't know what to do with themselves.

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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on October 23, 2013 at 23:41

I think these results lend credence to Sir Michael Wilshaw's (of Ofsted) claim that the problems of improving underperforming secondary schools are no longer London based where great improvement has already taken place but countrywide, including the leafy shires and the south coast where schools have been er 'coasting' with little real improvement over years.

All the more reason why Haringey should be comparing its schools' GCSE, 5/5+A*-C results, not with nationwide averages, but with London averages over the past four (or ten) years. In fact the above figures show Haringey steadily closing the London gap.

The "11 mainstream secondary schools . . . currently rated by Ofsted as 'Outstanding' or 'Good'" include Heartlands High (not yet in the GCSE results table) but not John Loughborough School (closed for good on 31st August, but included in the 2013 GCSE, 5/5+A*-C results at 41%).

While the same could be said of any Local Authority, Haringey's average for 11 schools was inevitably skewed downwards by its weakest link. Had John Loughborough (a school that began with the best of motives according to its own principles) closed on 31st August 2012, Haringey's 10-school average for 5/5+A*-C would have been 66.3%, almost 2% above the all-London average. But every LEA has its weakest link, results-wise.

More to the point, Haringey's 11-school average was inevitably skewed upwards by its top performers. Omit the top 3 (St Thomas More, Fortismere, Alexandra Park) and the remaining 8 show an average of 57.75 - i.e. almost 1% below the England average and 6.65% below the London average. Omit Gladesmore and  Highgate Wood, jointly tied on 67%, and the remaining 6 schools average 54.67%, nearly 4% below the England score or practically 10% below the London average.

Whatever the faults of Ofsted in its various incarnations over the past 20 years, it has certainly helped to tighten up schools' (and yes! teachers') performances.  There was a time in the late 1980s and through a big part of the 1990s when whole rafts of schools in these neighbouring boroughs seemed fated to stay stuck forever with the then equivalent of the 5/5+A-C barometer hovering between 18% and maybe 35% - often not including many passes in English and/or Maths. (Yes, for several years with my colleagues I found myself afloat on such a sea of doldrums, rudderless!)  While there may be an element of 'grade inflation' concealed in the great improvement in schools' average GCSE results, and while there may still be vestiges of the rash of 'soft subjects' with deceptively high %age passes in the upper ranges which crept into schools in the 1990s, there is no doubt that schools' improved showing on exam results over a greater range of subjects reflect real improvement in teaching and learning. Without Ofsted and all that goes with it, this improvement would not have happened.

But maybe 4 or 5 or 6 of Haringey's eleven schools need the sort of turnaround treatment that brought St Thomas More's back to its earlier promise and then some over the past five years. That certainly doesn't mean turning them into "academies", that much abused word that's now apparently being rebranded and dressed up with customerfriendly tags like 'community'.

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Permalink Reply by Helen Riley on October 24, 2013 at 12:37

Interesting figures and analysis from Admin and OAE. But do 4-6 Haringey schools really need a turnaround? More support perhaps, but given the demographics / the deeper pockets in some parts of the borough / all the shuffling that goes on around school places, all schools seem to be doing well and promise better to come. It's early days for me (and touch wood, of course) but my first half term experience of having a child at Greig City has been 100% positive. 

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Permalink Reply by Helen D on October 24, 2013 at 15:03

Hurray for a good word for Greig and so pleased your child is happily settling in! As a governor there I know how hard the school has worked to improve results. The levels of progress of pupils in the school are outstanding but we can never compete with Fortismere when the single biggest indicator in a child's educational outcome in this country is the parents' income.  

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Permalink Reply by Karen Alexander on October 24, 2013 at 16:03

My two children are at Greig City Academy and I have to say we have been absolutely delighted with their progress there, they are very happy and doing really well - it is a fantastic school.

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