Havering’s Academies On Parade: Choose Me!

In the 1950s children attended their nearest secondary school and four years later they left. They started work the following Monday. And that was that.

It’s more complex nowadays. Schools are expected to be attractive and parents must choose a school. How? Choosing implies knowledge. Diligent parents do research, read OFSTED reports, scrutinise school’s web pages and attend Open Evenings.

Good GCSE results are a selling point for some parents. But what if the school isn’t a stellar performer? What happens then?

They shamelessly duck and dive.

St. Edwards Academy have an out-of-date ‘Performance and Results’ page. This is supported by the government performance website, which tells the reader that the school’s grade is ‘Well above average’.²Expertise is needed to understand the website. The 2022 OFSTED report, which is readable, is good.³

Meanwhile Marshalls Park Academy is, “…incredibly proud of all students….and our 2024 results include many notable success stories.”³ They follow up with a link to the government website.⁴ Its banding is, “Well Below Average”.⁵ Nonetheless the school reaches the national ‘Gold Standard’ GCSE English and Maths grade 5.⁶

Coopers Coburn,⁸ Drapers Academy⁹ and Harris Academy Rainham¹⁰ publish exam results in full. Parents, who care about GCSE results, know exactly where they stand. There’s no ambiguity.

GCSE results aren’t commercial secrets, which need protecting. They’re part of the way in which parents chose a school for their child.

Addendum: Research note

This was written on the 27^th October 2024. The schools quoted are a sample of the 18 academies in Havering. This topic is discussed in more detail here.¹¹

Notes

1 Performance & Results | St Edward’s Church of England Academy

2 St Edward’s Church of England Academy – Compare school and college performance data in England – GOV.UK A dedicated parent would look at this table Download data – Compare school and college performance data in England – GOV.UK

3 St Edward’s Church of England Academy – Open – Find an Inspection Report – Ofsted

4 Marshalls Park Academy – Exam Results It continues, “Our two top performing students were Ralph Gilroy and Caoimhe Juson, with an impressive 16 grade 8 and 9’s between them.” The misplaced apostrophe is unfortunate in this context

5 Marshalls Park Academy – Compare school and college performance data in England – GOV.UK

6 loc.cit. This relates to 2023. It’s included because the school directed the reader to it.

7 loc.cit.

8 GCSE-Examination-Results-2024.pdf

9 Headline-Results-2024-main.pdf

10 Examinations Results – Harris Academy Rainham

11 How Havering’s Academies Conceal their 2022 GCSE Results – Politics in Havering NB Harris Academy have changed their presentation of results since 2022 and are now an example of best practice.

Why isn’t there a Standard Format for the publication of GCSE results?

Havering doesn’t have a standard format for publishing GCSE results.¹ As a result they’re difficult to interpret. Havering’s schools aren’t alone;

Woodford County High, Redbridge²

No of Year 11 pupils	178
No of GCSE entries	1754
% of levels 9 – 7 (equivalent to A*+ A Grades )	80%
% of levels 9	32%
% of pupils achieving 5+ levels 9-5	100%
% of pupils achieving 5+A*-C levels 9-5 including English & Maths	99%
% of students attaining English Baccalaureate	97%

There’s little detail – does the school have any weak subject areas? – but what is published is intelligible.

Hornchurch High School³

This school offers time-lapsed results from 2022, even though the 2023 results came out in late August ’23.

Performance Measure
Progress 8 Score	-0.42
Attainment 8 Score	45.4
% pupils achieving a grade 5 or above in GCSE English and maths	40
% pupils entering the English Baccalaureate (EBacc)	72
English Baccalaureate Average Points Score	4.22
% of pupils staying in education or employment after KS4	88

Who this set of statistics is for is unclear. Current information can be found on the government website⁴ – which the school identifies. That website is full of statistical detail, which might not suit everyone.

Abbs Cross Academy⁵They offer 2023 results without mentioning subject areas beyond an English and Maths analysis. They offer a link to the government’s website for a league table.⁶ (They are average.)

Sacred Heart of Mary
Meanwhile Havering’s top performing school,⁷shows what should done and provides a template for every school in Havering. Every subject is listed with the outcomes and the number of pupils who sat each examination.

Conclusion

There’s no acceptable explanation why Havering’s schools conceal examination results from parents and taxpayers. Last year this blog wrote about the same issue and ONE school immediately took action. Schools should understand that the publication of results is in their interests. This is especially the case in an era of conspiracy theorists.

Notes

1 How Havering’s Academies Conceal their 2022 GCSE Results – Politics in Havering

2 Woodford County High School For Girls – 2023 Exam Results

3 Hornchurch High School » EXAMINATION PERFORMANCE, 2021-22

4 Secondary – Hornchurch High School – Compare school and college performance data in England – GOV.UK (compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk)

5 Achievement And Performance – Abbs Cross Academy The school’s analysis of English and Maths is very technical and beyond most non-educator’s understanding. Effectively it’s meaningless for most parents.

6 All schools and colleges in Havering – Compare school and college performance data in England – GOV.UK (compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk)

7 GCSE-RESULTS-SUMMER-2023-v3.pdf (realsmart.co.uk)

How Havering’s Academies Conceal their 2022 GCSE Results

Havering’s academies are unaccountable. Their principal role is educating Havering’s children but how good are they? Looking at their websites (see Addendum) it’s more or less impossible to find out. With notable exceptions, GCSE results are concealed. Drapers Academy demonstrates it’s a choice to prevent understanding.

Drapers Academy: a stellar example of good practice

Compare this with Harris Academy, Rainham1. They present their results as though they are conducting a seminar for education professionals.

And Harris Academy isn’t the worst. Marshalls Park’s results date from 2019. And it isn’t the worst either. Other schools don’t publish results at all. They only give a link to the government website: step forward Hornchurch High School!

The Council have no role in Havering’s Academies, which is disastrous. Academies are run as if GCSE results are a commercial secret. Havering’s academies are adept at cherry picking the information they publish on their websites. Parents literally don’t know whether their children’s schools are successful or not.

Dissatisfied parent should use Freedom of Information2 requests to reveal uncensored GCSE results. Drapers Academy have shown it can be done and other academies should follow them.

GCSE results information is not a commercial secret.

Addendum: Links to each academy’s website exam results page

1 Achievement And Performance – Abbs Cross Academy

2 Key Information – Bower Park Academy Nothing on exam results

3 The Brittons Academy

4 Learning (thecampionschool.org.uk)

5 GCSE Results 2022 – The Coopers’ Company and Coborn School (cooperscoborn.org.uk)

6 Headline-Results-2022.pdf (drapers-academy.s3.amazonaws.com)

7 Emerson Park Academy – Find school and college performance data in England – GOV.UK (find-school-performance-data.service.gov.uk)

8 Secondary – The Frances Bardsley Academy for Girls – Find school and college performance data in England – GOV.UK (find-school-performance-data.service.gov.uk)

9 Gaynes school best ever GCSE results – News – Gaynes School

10 Examinations – Hall Mead School results for 2020 see also Subjects entered at key stage 4 in 2021/22 – Hall Mead School – Find school and college performance data in England – GOV.UK (find-school-performance-data.service.gov.uk) Appears to be slightly above average

11 Examinations Results – Harris Academy Rainham (harrisrainham.org.uk)

12 Hornchurch High School – Find school and college performance data in England – GOV.UK (find-school-performance-data.service.gov.uk)

13 Exam Results – Marshalls (marshallspark.org.uk)

14 Secondary – Redden Court School – Find school and college performance data in England – GOV.UK (find-school-performance-data.service.gov.uk)

15 Sacred Heart of Mary Exam results 22.xlsx – Google Sheets

16 Royal Liberty School – Examination Results

17 Sanders Draper – Examination results (sandersschool.org.uk) A good analysis showing progress over 3 years

18 St Edward’s Church of England Academy – Find school and college performance data in England – GOV.UK (find-school-performance-data.service.gov.uk)

Note

1 As from 14th December 2022 Harris Academy Rainham will adopt best practice.

2 How to make a freedom of information (FOI) request: Overview – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Havering’s Academies’ GCSE Results, 2021

“The government…announced that it would not publish school or college level results data on Compare school and college performance (also commonly referred to as school and college performance tables) in autumn 2020 or autumn 2021, and that this data would not be used to hold schools and colleges to account” (my emphasis)¹

Havering’s academies awarded GCSEs in 2020 and 2021 through teacher assessment. Most of them interpreted the government’s position to mean they shouldn’t publish detailed GCSE results. As a consequence there’s no celebration of achievement or any accountability to students, parents and the people of Havering.

Abbs Cross: their most recent data for 2021 is devoid of content. The summary statement for 2021 is an obfuscation. What does “9-4 English and Maths 78%” mean? This entirely undifferentiated statement is meaningless. Likewise, “9-4 Best English.”² They do say Pupil Premium students achieve significantly less well than the rest.

Marshalls Park: their most recent data is from 2019.³They’ve published a subject list and grades without saying how many students sat each subject. This makes the data ambiguous. Bizarrely the Romford Recorder published a report on Marshall Park’s 2021 results even though the academy didn’t. The most successful students were female in a ratio of 9:4.

Coopers Coburn: is Havering’s Gold Standard for transparency in publishing their 2021 GCSE results.⁴Their data is intelligible and unambiguous. Each subject is listed with the numbers of students and the outcome grade-by-grade.

Coopers Coburn demonstrate how the 2021 exam results should be published. They are the template and inspiration for the other 17 academies.

Conclusion

Havering’s Academies ‘coast’ by dodging scrutiny.⁵ They specialise in misinformation and fluffy generalisations. Positive and negative feedback is avoided by concealing GCSE results. Havering’s academies are excellent at bombastic drivel. Harris Academy Rainham said this 2020, “We are….immensely proud of our students for the results they achieved and wish them well with the next stage of their education.”⁶ Needless to relate there wasn’t any data supporting this statement.

Havering’s academies are doomed to repeat the same failed teaching strategies each year as they don’t engage with the actuality of their performance. Public accountability is an essential part of the learning process that all organisations must undertake as part of constant improvement.

Addendum: research note

Research for this blog was done on October 10^th 2021. Eleven Academy websites were reviewed and there was a consistent theme of shifty evasion about GCSE results.

Notes

1 Coronavirus (COVID-19): school and college accountability 2021/22 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

2 Achievement and Performance | Abbs Cross The academy costs £5.14 million per year Abbs Cross Academy and Arts College – Schools Financial Benchmarking – GOV.UK (schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk)

3 Subject-breakdown.pdf (marshallspark.org.uk) Surprisingly there was a press release which sort-of summarised the 2021 results GCSE Results 2021: Romford school shares students results | Romford Recorder The academy costs £6.24 million per year Marshalls Park Academy – Schools Financial Benchmarking – GOV.UK (schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk)

4 GCSE-Results-2021.pdf (cooperscoborn.org.uk) The academy costs £9.39 million per year The Coopers’ Company and Coborn School – Schools Financial Benchmarking – GOV.UK (schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk)

5 Havering and Redbridge: A Tale of Two Boroughs – Politics in Havering

6 Examinations Results (Not Current) – Harris Academy Rainham (harrisrainham.org.uk) The academy costs £6.16 million per year Harris Academy Rainham – Schools Financial Benchmarking – GOV.UK (schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk)

Marshalls Park Academy: a Critique

Introduction

Marshalls Park is an average academy in Havering,* which is why it was chosen for this critique. This is intended to be constructive criticism, contributing towards a reorientation from the merely peripheral to substantive educational issues.

Discussion

On the academy’s website, the Headteacher in his 18th September, 2020 blog remarks that, “….it’s that schools are under constantly [sic] scrutiny by the whole community and that just magnifies the pressure.”** It isn’t “community….pressure” calling for transparency about GCSE results, it’s a perfectly normal expectation. The presentation of the 2019 GCSE results was opaque. Let’s take the top line:-

Subject ……………….9-4…………….9-5……………..9-7

English Language 68.26%……….52.10%……….7.19%

There’s no explanatory note explaining grade boundaries. Grade 9 is an outstanding result. Grade 4 is a bare ‘pass’ with a three grades beneath them: Grades 1-3. The results don’t show the 31.74% of the 2019 cohort sitting English Language who achieved grades 1-3. It’s as if a third of the school is invisible and unwelcome because they’ve failed the school. The students might say that they have been failed by the school of course.

The Headteacher sings from a different hymn sheet. His 2nd October, 2020 blog focuses on the new Barnes building. The site manager is warmly praised despite the building being delivered late. Astonishingly, the teaching staff’s unique role in 2020 is ignored, as is the implementation of a new system of teaching and learning. The staff’s stellar efforts maintaining progress through the lockdown is taken for granted.

A Headteacher’s blogs are an important mechanism for setting the tone of an academy. The priorities embedded within blogs guide the expectations of the reader. Both of this term’s blogs are unfortunate. They go a long way towards showing why there’s systemic weakness in Havering’s academies. Only sharply focused senior management teams, who aren’t in denial about their GCSE results, will break out of mediocrity. Parents and the wider community are entitled to know in detail the outcomes of GCSE results. They should not be concealed or underplayed on school websites.

Notes

* See https://havering.blog/2019/11/29/havering-and-redbridge-a-tale-of-two-boroughs/

** http://marshallspark.org.uk/2020/09/18/joy/

*** See my https://havering.blog/2020/07/04/haverings-2020-gcse-results-part-one/ The government changed their position on GCSE results when they fully appreciated that grades were being awarded on the historic outcomes of the school not the individual student. There were massive disparities between teacher assessments and the standardisation principles embedded in the original documents. See also https://havering.blog/2020/07/11/haverings-2020-gcse-results-part-two/

Source

The GCSE results for 2019 at Marshalls Park academy. As of 6th October 2020 these 2019 results were still being described as ‘provisional’ fourteen months after being announced.They missed the announced date of April 2020 by six months.http://marshallspark.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Subject-breakdown.pdf

For other key metrics 2017-8 see https://www.bing.com/search?q=marshalls+park+academy&form=ANNTH1&refig=db21274807a54e57bb9bfa2d7497fecf&sp=1&qs=HS&pq=ma&sk=PRES1&sc=8-2&cvid=db21274807a54e57bb9bfa2d7497fecf These statistics are the most recent published.