Why Do the More Able Make Less Progress?

The Problem with High Attainers (Entering at Level 5)
This is another post trying to give you uses for the Performance Tables.
The first thing to notice is that there are only 62 schools in the country with P8 of 0.5 or higher for students entering at level 5. This compares to 243 schools which reach that P8 figure from students entering at level 3!
This probably goes against our natural inclination – bright students learn quicker and should make more progress, shouldn’t they? What is going on?
We are the problem.
My conjecture is this: we vastly underestimate what our more able can do. The ways we do this are endemic in schools. We set, with fewer top sets spaces than the number of students who should be in them. We exclude the lazy, even if they have very high IQ scores or enter on a level 5. We consequently discriminate against bright boys in particular, as they make up the bulk of this lazy group – we fail to pass on our higher expectations to them. I’m willing to bet that the difference in boys and girls progress is equal to the difference in their placement in top sets. But this data goes far beyond that. it suggests that we don’t stretch our top sets enough, no matter who is in them.
Nationally speaking, have particularly high expectations. If you want to see what is so wrong with our expectations, consider this one fact. Nearly every grammar school sets. So, most students in a grammar school are told they are not bright enough, as they are not in a top set. Imagine that – all these students who have already averaged level 5, and passed an 11+ on top of that, the students who would walk into top sets in your school: well, two thirds of them are told they are not good enough the moment they walk through a grammar school’s doors.
How do grammar schools do? Well, only 14 selective schools make it into this list of 62 schools. There are 164 grammar schools in the country! The progress students make at grammar schools is woeful – those are simply facts.
But let’s not get complacent here. With 3117 secondary schools in the country, only 62 of all schools reach this figure of P8 0.5. That’s 2%! Why?
The answer is so obvious you won’t believe it. It’s this. We limit our more able by entering them for GCSE. We cap them, put on the brakes, tell them to hold their horses. What we should be doing is pricking the sides of their intent with the spurs of AS levels.
Now that these are decoupled from A levels, for our most able, how much more interesting and valuable would an AS level be than GCSE?
I’m also willing to bet that the AS exams themselves are a better test of student – not because they are harder, but because they are also more concerned with the subject. Certainly, at English Language and literature GCSEs, students have to jump through an enormous number of exam based hoops which have everything to do with exam technique and next to nothing to do with ability at English.
In other words, we are not teaching our more able students to master our subjects. Instead we are teaching them merely so they will know more than those who are less able than them. It is a bit like owning a Porsche and taking pride because we can drive it 10 miles an hour faster than a Mini, or hanging out with a fat friend so we can feel fitter, healthier and more attractive than them.
Here is the table of top schools for Progress 8 with students entering at level 5
SCHNAME | TOWN | TELNUM | RELDENOM | ADMPOL | EGENDER | High attainers level 5 total | P8 of high attainers |
Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School | Blackburn | 0125 454021 | Muslim | COMP | GIRLS | 41 | 1 |
St Andrew’s Catholic School | Leatherhead | 0137 2277881 | Roman Catholic | COMP | MIXED | 42 | 0.83 |
The City Academy, Hackney | London | 0208 5255440 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 30 | 0.79 |
Feversham College | Bradford | 0127 4559500 | Muslim | COMP | GIRLS | 17 | 0.78 |
The Compton School | London | 0208 3681783 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 53 | 0.75 |
Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet | Barnet | 0208 4414646 | None | SEL | BOYS | 164 | 0.7 |
Uffculme School | Cullompton | 0188 4840458 | None | COMP | MIXED | 63 | 0.7 |
Tauheedul Islam Boys’ High School | Blackburn | 0125 4918670 | Muslim | COMP | BOYS | 20 | 0.7 |
Nonsuch High School for Girls | Sutton | 0208 3943400 | None | SEL | GIRLS | 165 | 0.69 |
Mossbourne Community Academy | London | 0208 5255200 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 65 | 0.69 |
Our Lady & St. Bede Catholic Academy | Stockton-on-Tees | 0164 2890800 | Roman Catholic | COMP | MIXED | 47 | 0.69 |
Sacred Heart Catholic School | London | 0207 2746844 | Roman Catholic | COMP | MIXED | 26 | 0.68 |
Woodford County High School | Woodford Green | 0208 5040611 | Does not apply | SEL | GIRLS | 95 | 0.66 |
Bolton Muslim Girls School | Bolton | 0120 4361103 | Muslim | COMP | GIRLS | 41 | 0.66 |
Wallington High School for Girls | Wallington | 0208 6472380 | None | SEL | GIRLS | 147 | 0.64 |
Tiffin School | Kingston upon Thames | 0208 5464638 | None | SEL | BOYS | 133 | 0.64 |
Westcliff High School for Boys Academy | Westcliff-on-Sea | 0170 2475443 | None | SEL | BOYS | 119 | 0.64 |
Wallington County Grammar School | Wallington | 0208 6472235 | None | SEL | BOYS | 114 | 0.63 |
Millais School | Horsham | 0140 3254932 | Does not apply | COMP | GIRLS | 109 | 0.63 |
The Rochester Grammar School | Rochester | 0163 4843049 | None | SEL | MIXED | 130 | 0.62 |
Hethersett Academy | Norwich | 0160 3810924 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 35 | 0.62 |
Preston Muslim Girls High School | Preston | 0177 2651906 | Muslim | COMP | GIRLS | 24 | 0.62 |
The Hertfordshire & Essex High School and Science College | Bishop’s Stortford | 0127 9654127 | None | COMP | GIRLS | 78 | 0.61 |
St Augustine’s Catholic High School | Redditch | 0152 7550400 | Roman Catholic | COMP | MIXED | 40 | 0.61 |
South Hunsley School and Sixth Form College | North Ferriby | 0148 2631208 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 114 | 0.59 |
Wilson’s School | Wallington | 0208 7732931 | Church of England | SEL | BOYS | 132 | 0.58 |
Ursuline High School Wimbledon | London | 0208 2552688 | Roman Catholic | COMP | GIRLS | 85 | 0.58 |
Impington Village College | Cambridge | 0122 3200400 | None | COMP | MIXED | 84 | 0.58 |
King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys | Birmingham | 0121 4443188 | Christian | SEL | BOYS | 77 | 0.58 |
Bishop Thomas Grant Catholic Secondary School | London | 0208 7693294 | Roman Catholic | COMP | MIXED | 75 | 0.58 |
Watford Grammar School for Girls | Watford | 0192 3223403 | Church of England | COMP | GIRLS | 103 | 0.57 |
Balcarras School | Cheltenham | 0124 2515881 | None | COMP | MIXED | 79 | 0.57 |
Outwood Academy Portland | Worksop | 0190 9471010 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 44 | 0.57 |
St Thomas More Catholic Comprehensive School | London | 0208 8506700 | Roman Catholic | COMP | MIXED | 41 | 0.57 |
St Benedict’s Catholic School | Bury St Edmunds | 0128 4753512 | Roman Catholic | COMP | MIXED | 38 | 0.57 |
St Michael’s Catholic Grammar School | London | 0208 4462256 | Roman Catholic | SEL | GIRLS | 95 | 0.56 |
The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial RC School | London | 0207 6038478 | Roman Catholic | COMP | BOYS | 64 | 0.56 |
Ark King Solomon Academy | London | 0207 5636900 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 22 | 0.56 |
Invicta Grammar School | Maidstone | 0162 2755856 | None | SEL | GIRLS | 143 | 0.55 |
St Paul’s School for Girls | Birmingham | 0121 4540895 | Roman Catholic | COMP | GIRLS | 66 | 0.55 |
Heartlands High School | London | 0208 8261230 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 23 | 0.55 |
Greig City Academy | London | 0208 6090100 | Church of England | COMP | MIXED | 22 | 0.55 |
Parkstone Grammar School | Poole | 0120 2605605 | None | SEL | GIRLS | 144 | 0.54 |
Connaught School for Girls | London | 0208 5393029 | Does not apply | COMP | GIRLS | 28 | 0.54 |
Buxton School | London | 0208 5343425 | None | COMP | MIXED | 12 | 0.54 |
Harris Academy Morden | Morden | 0208 6871157 | None | COMP | MIXED | 8 | 0.54 |
Beauchamp College | Leicester | 0116 2729100 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 164 | 0.53 |
Upton Court Grammar School | Slough | 0175 3522892 | None | SEL | MIXED | 116 | 0.53 |
Waldegrave School | Twickenham | 0208 8943244 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 99 | 0.53 |
Brampton Manor Academy | London | 0207 5400500 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 81 | 0.53 |
Wembley High Technology College | Wembley | 0208 3854800 | None | COMP | MIXED | 69 | 0.53 |
Wren Academy | London | 0208 4926000 | Church of England | COMP | MIXED | 67 | 0.53 |
Loxford School | Ilford | 0208 5144666 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 61 | 0.53 |
Bethnal Green Academy | London | 0207 9207900 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 18 | 0.53 |
JFS | Harrow | 0208 2063100 | Jewish | COMP | MIXED | 155 | 0.52 |
St Mark’s Catholic School | Hounslow | 0208 5773600 | Roman Catholic | COMP | MIXED | 65 | 0.52 |
Linton Village College | Cambridge | 0122 3891233 | None | COMP | MIXED | 47 | 0.52 |
Paddington Academy | London | 0207 4793900 | Christian | COMP | MIXED | 42 | 0.52 |
Baylis Court School | Slough | 0175 3531760 | None | MOD | GIRLS | 32 | 0.51 |
Bowland High | Clitheroe | 0120 0441374 | Does not apply | MOD | MIXED | 31 | 0.51 |
St Albans Girls’ School | St Albans | 0172 7853134 | Does not apply | COMP | GIRLS | 86 | 0.5 |
The Heathland School | Hounslow | 0208 5724411 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 75 | 0.5 |
Some Thoughts
24 of these schools are religious. We should ask ourselves what this helps the school adopt in terms of ethos and culture. (Given that these schools are Jewish, Muslim, Church of England and Catholic we can safely assume it is not one particular deity at work).
An overwhelming number of these schools are in the south and London. Apart from funding, what else might be contributing to this? This is interesting, because the bias toward London was not apparent with students entering at level 3.
Because there are relatively few such schools outside of London, it will be well worth visiting them to see what they are achieving without the apparent advantages London and the south have.
Here is a table of all those schools outside London
SCHNAME | TOWN | TELNUM | RELDENOM | ADMPOL | EGENDER | High attainers level 5 total | P8 high attainers P8MEA_HI |
Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School | Blackburn | 0125 454021 | Muslim | COMP | GIRLS | 41 | 1 |
St Andrew’s Catholic School | Leatherhead | 0137 2277881 | Roman Catholic | COMP | MIXED | 42 | 0.83 |
Feversham College | Bradford | 0127 4559500 | Muslim | COMP | GIRLS | 17 | 0.78 |
Tauheedul Islam Boys’ High School | Blackburn | 0125 4918670 | Muslim | COMP | BOYS | 20 | 0.7 |
Uffculme School | Cullompton | 0188 4840458 | None | COMP | MIXED | 63 | 0.7 |
Our Lady & St. Bede Catholic Academy | Stockton-on-Tees | 0164 2890800 | Roman Catholic | COMP | MIXED | 47 | 0.69 |
Nonsuch High School for Girls | Sutton | 0208 3943400 | None | SEL | GIRLS | 165 | 0.69 |
Bolton Muslim Girls School | Bolton | 0120 4361103 | Muslim | COMP | GIRLS | 41 | 0.66 |
Tiffin School | Kingston upon Thames | 0208 5464638 | None | SEL | BOYS | 133 | 0.64 |
Wallington High School for Girls | Wallington | 0208 6472380 | None | SEL | GIRLS | 147 | 0.64 |
Westcliff High School for Boys Academy | Westcliff-on-Sea | 0170 2475443 | None | SEL | BOYS | 119 | 0.64 |
Millais School | Horsham | 0140 3254932 | Does not apply | COMP | GIRLS | 109 | 0.63 |
Wallington County Grammar School | Wallington | 0208 6472235 | None | SEL | BOYS | 114 | 0.63 |
Hethersett Academy | Norwich | 0160 3810924 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 35 | 0.62 |
Preston Muslim Girls High School | Preston | 0177 2651906 | Muslim | COMP | GIRLS | 24 | 0.62 |
The Rochester Grammar School | Rochester | 0163 4843049 | None | SEL | MIXED | 130 | 0.62 |
The Hertfordshire & Essex High School and Science College | Bishop’s Stortford | 0127 9654127 | None | COMP | GIRLS | 78 | 0.61 |
St Augustine’s Catholic High School | Redditch | 0152 7550400 | Roman Catholic | COMP | MIXED | 40 | 0.61 |
South Hunsley School and Sixth Form College | North Ferriby | 0148 2631208 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 114 | 0.59 |
King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys | Birmingham | 0121 4443188 | Christian | SEL | BOYS | 77 | 0.58 |
Impington Village College | Cambridge | 0122 3200400 | None | COMP | MIXED | 84 | 0.58 |
Wilson’s School | Wallington | 0208 7732931 | Church of England | SEL | BOYS | 132 | 0.58 |
St Benedict’s Catholic School | Bury St Edmunds | 0128 4753512 | Roman Catholic | COMP | MIXED | 38 | 0.57 |
Balcarras School | Cheltenham | 0124 2515881 | None | COMP | MIXED | 79 | 0.57 |
Outwood Academy Portland | Worksop | 0190 9471010 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 44 | 0.57 |
St Paul’s School for Girls | Birmingham | 0121 4540895 | Roman Catholic | COMP | GIRLS | 66 | 0.55 |
Invicta Grammar School | Maidstone | 0162 2755856 | None | SEL | GIRLS | 143 | 0.55 |
Parkstone Grammar School | Poole | 0120 2605605 | None | SEL | GIRLS | 144 | 0.54 |
Loxford School | Ilford | 0208 5144666 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 61 | 0.53 |
Beauchamp College | Leicester | 0116 2729100 | Does not apply | COMP | MIXED | 164 | 0.53 |
Linton Village College | Cambridge | 0122 3891233 | None | COMP | MIXED | 47 | 0.52 |
Bowland High | Clitheroe | 0120 0441374 | Does not apply | MOD | MIXED | 31 | 0.51 |
St Albans Girls’ School | St Albans | 0172 7853134 | Does not apply | COMP | GIRLS | 86 | 0.5 |
You may notice that 6 of the top 11 have a religious denomination. Something clearly 1s up. What is it about the culture of these schools, and how can we find out?
One way is to visit. That’s why I’ve kept the phone numbers for you.
Another is to add comment below, especially if you teach in one of these schools, and we can crowdsource some solutions all schools can steal.