Academy is urged to drive up standards as league tables released
Robert Smyth Academy and (below) Cllr Phil King
A former governor at Robert Smyth Academy has called on the school to improve after the latest league tables showed a drop in GCSE performance.
The tables, published last week, show 57 per cent of pupils achieved five or more A* to C grades in GCSEs, including English and maths, compared to 62 per cent in both 2010 and 2011, and 66 per cent in 2009.
Former governor and district councillor Phil King said he hoped the proposed merger with Welland Park would bring improvements.
He told the Mail: “As a former governor of both schools, I am perhaps in a unique position to offer comment.
“I can understand that savings in running costs will be made by merging some back office functions and perhaps streamlining some senior management roles, but fundamentally this merger needs to address how the new school is going to drive up the standards of achievement, especially for the middle and lower ability pupils who comprise over half the school roll.
“Parents, pupils and the local community need to understand how this is going to work.”
“Compare this latest out-turn with other similar size schools such as Oadby Beauchamp, where they achieve 74 percent A*-C GCSE passes. Both schools have similar proportions of ability streams starting in Year 10 and similar Key Stage 2 pupil point score averages as a starting point.
“Despite all the hard work of the pupils and professionalism of the teaching staff, these results for RSA have got to be marked as ‘can do better’.”
Headteacher Colin Dean was not available for comment this week.
When last summer’s GCSE exam results were announced he said he was puzzled by the dip in performance.
He was one of a number of headteachers across the country claiming students had received lower than expected English results after grade boundaries were raised.
An Ofqual report concluded in November that teachers in some cases were guilty of “significantly” over-marking papers amid pressure to produce good results.
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Tuesday 21 May 2013
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