Yorkshire’s best secondary schools according to how much difference teachers are making in class have been revealed.
A group of researchers have measured every school in England against a series of performance metrics in an attempt to improve on the official league tables. Their work on the Fairer Schools Index also aims to remove the built-in bias against secondary schools in deprived areas.
These results, revealed by The Mirror, show the schools where teachers are managing to beat the odds to make the greatest positive impact on pupils up to the age of 16. This study highlights dozens of schools which have climbed up the rankings when you take pupil demographics into account.
You can use the tool below to find out exactly how schools in your area have managed to perform.
In recent years, the government has used the ‘Progress 8’ method to evaluate secondary schools. But critics says this does not take into account factors like the number of children from poorer backgrounds at a school, and in fact hides systemic inequalities and leads to potentially misleading conclusions about school performance.
There are now calls for the government to provide context, and Ofsted is reportedly considering a new range of measurements for schools.
The Fairer Schools Index also attempts to deal with the “false narrative” of a North/South divide in school league tables. Developed by the University of Bristol and adjusts for demographics, ethnicity and deprivation.
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The Fairer Schools Index has been highlighted by the campaign group Northern Powerhouse Partnership as it calls for a better way of evaluating schools in different areas of the country. Across the North of England, there are 233 schools out of 928 in the region which move up at least one band to ‘average’ or better as a result of applying the fairer measurements.
The best schools in Yorkshire and the Humber according to the Fairer Schools Index are:
- Mercia School, Sheffield (3)
- Wingfield Academy, Rotherham (27)
- The Ruth Gorse Academy, Leeds (41)
- Trinity Academy Cathedral, Wakefield (43)
- De Warenne Academy, Doncaster (46)
- The Morley Academy, Leeds (51)
- Cockburn John Charles Academy, Leeds (52)
- The Farnley Academy, Leeds (57)
- Castleford Academy, Wakefield (85)
- Brayton Academy, North Yorkshire (94)
And the highest climbers in the region according to the Index are:
- Oasis Academy Wintringham, North East Lincolnshire (1437) – up 1256 places
- Outwood Academy Carlton, Barnsley (971) – up 1235 places
- The Marvell College, Kingston upon Hull, City of (854) – up 1214 places
- Netherwood Academy, Barnsley (1234) – up 1209 places
- Thrybergh Academy, Rotherham (1650) – up 1131 places
- Barnsley Academy, Barnsley (932) – up 1098 places
- Outwood Academy Adwick, Doncaster (554) – up 1083 places
- The Laurel Academy, Doncaster (349) – up 1082 places
- The Featherstone Academy, Wakefield (853) – up 1041 places
- Ash Hill Academy, Doncaster (1313) – up 1007 places
Henri Murison, Chief Executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “The Fairer Schools Index exposes the shortcomings of Progress 8 being used to measure any school’s performance on its own.
“By failing to account for a number of different variables related to pupils’ backgrounds, the last government labelled many schools in areas like the North East of England as under-performing while failing to account for demographic differences in helping drive higher outcomes in London schools.
“We are advocating for the adoption of a value-added measure side by side with the current, unadjusted data. This will allow us to recognise better those schools that do the most for those children from backgrounds too often let down in modern Britain.
“We must demand the best for every child. Those schools that beat the odds stacked against their pupils should be recognised as being high performing, and that will drive down the disadvantage gap over the decade to come and reduce the gaps which exist across and between parts of England today.”
The Fairer Schools Index reveals teachers are making a big difference to children in some of England’s most deprived areas. For example, the Red House Academy, in Sunderland, was previously ranked as below average, at 2,720 out of 3,259 schools in the Department for Education (DfE)’s tables. But using the Fairer Schools Index, it climbs 1,919 places to be ranked as “average” in 801st position.
Meanwhile Jarrow School in South Tyneside jumps from 2,104 in the DfE rankings to 590 when using the Index. Headteacher Paul Atkinson said: “There’s a bigger story to tell in every school. It’s not just about results. Our students come from some of the most deprived areas of the country. About 33 per cent of our students are diagnosed with Special Education Needs and Disabilities and 48 per cent are on free school meals.
“We would love to have the best outcomes in the UK but in terms of our context, is that realistic? You’ve got to aspire to high results, but you’ve got to take into consideration starting points as well. I think it’s critical to take that into account when evaluating schools, so I welcome the Fairer Schools Index.”
Mr Atkinson, who was the school’s assistant head until 2022, says Jarrow has a child-centred approach and is investing heavily in its teachers. It also offers funded rewards and incentives, such as ski and theatre trips and 48 extra-curricular activities including darts, poetry and coding. “The opportunities we offer are phenomenal,” he said. “Alongside that, I’m really proud of the career side we offer, in terms of raising aspirations and showing students what’s out there.”
Matt Tate is the headteacher of Hartsdown Academy, which climbs 1,656 places from its DfE position of 2,500 to 894, thanks to the Fairer Schools Index. It puts the school in Margate, Kent, where 37 languages are spoken and 65 per cent of pupils are on free school meals, in the top 30 per cent in the country. Mr Tate said: “The majority of our students come from significantly deprived areas of the country.
“Last year, in Year 11, 30 per cent of them didn’t start with us in Year 7 because their accommodation and other things were unstable.”
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When Mr Tate took over in 2016, Hartsdown was one of the lowest performing schools in the country, with high rates of violence and kids smoking in the corridor. But that has all changed now. “Last year, we were the 11th most-improved school in the country,” Mr Tate said. “We’ve gone from one of highest exclusion schools in the country to zero exclusions now in about five years.” A key challenge has been tackling poor literacy. Kids arrive at Hartsdown Academy with an average reading age of eight.
The school implemented an International Baccalaureate programme, in which students stay in one classroom for 20 hours of the week with one person teaching 10 hours of literacy and another teaching 10 hours of numeracy. “They still spend five hours on other subjects but because they’ve got two teachers who know them really well, they really push them,” Mr Tate explained. “We see an average of 18 months’ reading progress in a year. We’re all about setting high standards and intentions combined with expert care and support.”
Of the Fairer Schools Index, he added: “I’m really pleased this seems to be the direction of travel for evaluating schools. Our children need good results to have a great future, so outcomes have to be a key measure. But this should be looked at alongside a more contextual measure.
“The reality is we have a very complex cohort that brings needs and issues and when you take that into account, I think our staff should be praised for the hard work that they do, rather than being compared with a leafy suburban school with a different context.”