Sheffield schools: Silence from some city trusts and council after two years of weak GCSE 'league tables'

The latest figures are in for how England’s secondary schools are doing - and, sadly, they show Sheffield's is lagging behind the rest of the country on average.

The Department for Education has published its ‘Progress 8 scores’ for the 2023/24 academic year, which are seen as the 'league tables' for how the country's schools are doing.

And, they show the Steel City is vastly performing below the average for England.

Out of the 28 Sheffield schools with reported results, the majority - a total of 15 - are now producing grades rated ‘below average’or ‘well below average’ for England. Just nine had a positive score, and only six are considered ‘above average’ or ‘well above average’ for England’s grades.

2024’s results are worse than the figures produced last year - figures which themselves at the time were called ‘mixed’ by the council and ‘horrendous’ by a Lib Dem spokesperson on the education committee, Mohammed Mahroof.

Those 2023 figures prompted Councillor Dawn Dale, chair of the Education, Children and Families Policy Committee, to claim the council was taking “concrete steps” and “our aim is to work towards at least ‘average’ or ‘above average’ scores for every school in Sheffield.”

But now, a year later, more schools have slid to ‘below average’ levels, and some have scored worse.

Despite this, when The Star approached Sheffield City Council, its education committee, and the city’s academic trusts for comment, many offered no response at all.

No comment

Following these weak results, The Star contacted Sheffield’s local authority, its numerous education trusts and its education councillors for comment on what has led to these two consecutive years of Progress 8 scores.

We also asked what the trusts in control of the weakest performing schools - Chaucer, fir Vale, Stocksbridge High, Park Academy, Handsworth Grange, Springs Academy and Oasis Academy Don Valley - were doing to improve and how could they assure parents their children were getting the best education.

The council, too, was asked what intervention and action they were taking to raise achievement, and how would the council assure parents that Sheffield is a good city to educate and raise children.

Minerva Learning Trust

Stocksbridge High School fell from ‘below average’ to ‘well below average’ in their Progress 8 scores, from -0.41 in 2022/23 down to -0.77 in 2023/24.

But a second Minerva school, Handsworth Grange Community Sports College suffered even worse, tumbling from a commendable ‘average’ score of -0.18 down to a ‘well below average’ -0.65.

When contacted for a comment on what action it was taking, Minerva Learning Trust did not reply.

United Learning Trust

The two secondary schools operated by United Learning Trust in the city, Sheffield Springs and Sheffield Parks, scored 'well below average results'.

Interestingly, these represents an improvement for Park on their 2022/23 score - which went from -0.8 up to -0.65 - but a worse results for Springs, which dropped from -0.46 to -0.62.

When contacted for a comment, United Learning Trust did not reply.

Tapton School Academy Trust

Sadly, after a turbulent few years, Chaucer School came in as the worst performing non-special school in Sheffield, with a ‘well below average’ Progress 8 score of -1.14. The school was sent reeling from an 'inadequate' report from Ofsted in 2022, but inspectors this year said behaviour around school is now "calmer" but called lesson quality "variable."

A second Tapton institute, Bradfield School, also did not rank highly, with a 'below average' score of -0.47.

When contacted for a comment on how it would improve, Tapton Trust CEO Lee Barber claimed better days were ahead for both Chaucer and Bradfield because the recent string of poor results were caused by bad attendance.

He claimed attendance at Chaucer last year was down to just 79 per cent, but has now risen to over 90 per cent.

Mr Barber said in a statement: “We are realistic we still have a long way to go, but combined with significant improvement in behaviour and teaching, we are moving rapidly towards a picture of good progress for current and future pupils.”

Meanwhile, the CEO said Bradfield “has all the hallmarks of a potentially outstanding school” now pupils are in their seats.

Oasis Academy Trust

Oasis Academy Don Valley took a severe tumble from an 'average for England' Progress 8 Score of -0.13 in 2022/23 to 'well below average' in -0.58. This is after it was rated Good in all areas in an Ofsted report published in December 2023.

Executive Principal, Nichola Smith, said: “At Oasis Academy Don Valley, we take pride in striving to provide every young person with the best possible academic and extra-curricular offer.

“We are confident that this will soon begin to show itself in our results as we continue to implement improvements and raise outcomes for all of our students.”

Ms Smith added the school saw more pupils than ever enter for the EBAAC, the name given to a set of broad scope GCSE subjects, with 70 per cent of our students going for it compared with the 38 per cent local average.

Fir Vale School Academy Trust

Fir Vale School was rated the worst performing school in Sheffield in 2022/23 with a Progress 8 score of -1.1. This year, it again scored -1.1 and is rated as the second worst-performing school, behind Chaucer.

Fir Vale School Academy Trust replied to say it was investing in ensuring “every student in KS4 had a digital device” to help learning which would soon be handed out.

Headteacher Rachel Smith said: “We understand the strong correlation between quality home learning and positive academic achievement. We are removing financial and technological barriers associated with this by providing every student in Key Stage 4 with a digital device.

“This will ensure they can effectively build and extend their knowledge beyond the classroom. We are also actively improving awareness around the cognition of learning by providing our students with access to revision conferences and residential activities.”

Sheffield City Council

Nearly all secondary schools in Sheffield are no longer maintained by the city council.

However, as previously stated, after 2023’s results, Chair of Education Councillor Dawn Dale was able to comment on the figures on that occasion, and said in a press statement: “Currently there is a mixed picture across the city, but our aim is to work towards at least ‘average’ or ‘above average’ scores for every school in Sheffield.

“Some of our schools have reported results below the national average, and we are taking concrete steps to focus on these schools, working with our school trusts and school improvement partners at Learn Sheffield to develop strategies to support them.”

However, when contacted about 2024’s considerably worse results, Sheffield City Council offered no comment.

The city council works with third-party group Learn Sheffield, which liaises with academies and offers guidance on improvement in schools.

Learn Sheffield did not comment on the results, but added that that overall Progress 8 score for Sheffield in 2023/24 is -0.16.

The Star also attempted to contact Councillor Dawn Dale directly for several days and received no reply.

Neither the committee’s deputy chair, Toby Mallinson, or its group spokesperson, Mohammed Mahroof, could be contacted for comment.