Most of the time our work involves using the National Pupil Database to examine particular aspects of the education system. However, it can also throw up interesting insights into the state of the nation more generally. Last year, we wrote about how the percentage of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals (FSM) had [...]
We’ve already looked at the number of schools judged to be below the floor standard, and to be coasting, based on the Key Stage 2 performance tables data published this morning. But, looking a little deeper, how stable are these classifications – how many schools that ended up in one of these groups last year [...]
Key Stage 2 league tables – performance tables, to use their proper name – have been published this morning, identifying those schools below the government’s floor standard, and those judged to be coasting. So what can we say about the schools in these two groups? And are junior schools still more likely to fall into [...]
Today’s Key Stage 2 Statistical First Release provides further information on the 2017 Key Stage 2 results which we first wrote about here. This includes school-level data, plus data on the performance of different groups of pupils. There are some interesting differences in progress scores between ethnic groups There is much greater variation in the [...]
This year’s Key Stage 2 performance tables will be published tomorrow, summarising the attainment of pupils in KS2 tests in reading, maths, and grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS). But how reliable are these tests, and what does this mean for published performance indicators? Getting the right balance A well-designed test should give a pupil the [...]
Latest DfE statistics show that there were almost 16,000 pupils on-roll at pupil referral units, and another 22,000 in other local authority alternative provision in January 2017 [XLS, table 1b]. These are pupils whose education is paid for by the state but who do not have places at state-funded mainstream or special schools. The different [...]
Ofsted yesterday announced its response to the consultation it ran this summer on its short inspections policy. The inspectorate had proposed extending from 48 hours, to 15 days, the window in which a full inspection must take place after a short inspection converts. But it has now opened another consultation [PDF] that proposes that from [...]
This is part four in a series of blogposts exploring long-term disadvantage. Other posts in the series can be found here. At the start of the summer we showed that there are substantial differences in the attainment and progress of pupils who have been disadvantaged at some stage. The main findings of these earlier posts were [...]
1. The percentage of pupils achieving the higher standard has increased We already knew that the percentage of pupils achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and maths increased from 53% last year to 61% this year. And today’s release of provisional Key Stage 2 data shows that the percentage reaching the higher standard increased [...]
